Chilligavva

Today is my dad’s birthday.. He is 67! I called him last night US time, early morning Indian time to wish him. I just miss him so much. I made this card for Miti to send to Tata. [Thats Grandpa in Telugu.]

My fondest memory of my dad was story time. He can tell some amazing stories. I always felt that he should have been a writer. Its because of him that I can read so much. My sister and me both have inherited his love of books. One summer during our childhood, we three kids were reading about antiques.

My sister was playing with her old “uggu ginna” an Indian style milk dropper made for babies. The uggu ginna looks like a tea kettle but can contain around 75ml of milk. Kids drink milk from the spout side.

My eyes fell on it and I was very excited, as the dropper was made of silver. We promptly rushed to my dad and asked him whether it would qualify as an antique. My dad was trying to be extremely patient with us as we were very high on excitement, money making hopes etc. His answer is something I shall always treasure..

“Your ammamma’s [mother’s mother] uggu ginna is a family heirloom or a hand me down, Jayachamaraja Wodeyar’s (King of Mysore, a South Indian State) uggu ginna is an antique!”

And there was our first lesson of antique evaluation, financial status and class.