With the death of the last of the nine siblings of Mrs. Joy Elias in Jan 2018, a generation passed on!

My grandparents from my mom’s side, had nine children—eight daughters and a son. While in their teens, people affectionately referred to the nine as “ the eight beauties and one karate master.”

They were from the Badaga tribe in Kodanad estate in the Nilgiris hills. Their father was a violin maker and he saw to it that his children received a decent level of education and imparted to them an ear for music. It’s no wonder that the second generation had some talented musicians and the third generation of the family has some world-class musicians today! The girls did their initial schooling from a boarding school in Calicut but would always return to their home in the hills that they loved. They had some stunning names too:

• Lillian Daisy (Lilly aunty)
• Dainty Thomsiana (Dainty aunty)
• Victoria (Vitty aunty)
• Gifford (Gifford uncle)
• Maud Alice (Maud aunty)
• Honour Georgiana (Honor aunty)
• Anne Beatrice (Anne aunty)
• Daughty Cinderella (my Mom)
• Godsent Joy (Joy aunty)

My Mom regaled us with stories of how she practically lived off the pear tree on their land. And being very agile she was always the one running up and down the hill to fetch errands. One day she wandered into the forest by herself and suddenly found herself hedged in by tall trees with a pile of snakes in the middle. She doesn’t know how, but she recounted how she hopped, jumped, and ran for her life from that spot.

Once a visiting uncle gifted her with five rupees while she was in the boarding school. So, she and her younger sister, Joy visited the nearby shop and asked for sweets. The shopkeeper gave them a packet that contained 100 toffees! Both were delighted and started eating the toffees and finished all hundred. The next day they were sick! Their elder sister (Honor) was a strict disciplinarian and chided them severely. But these two were always up to something. One afternoon when no one was around, they wandered into the kitchen and came across a bottle of vanilla. It smelt good and they applied it on themselves like perfume. At the dinner table, everyone was expecting some nice desert to come up when Honor realized what her younger siblings had done!

Well, soon it will be our generation to pass on, but in the meantime like in the song from Memories let’s toast to the ones who’re here today:

Here’s to the ones that we got
Cheers to the wish you were here, but you’re not
‘Cause the drinks bring back all the memories
Of everything we’ve been through So Toast to the ones here today
Toast to the ones that we lost on the way
‘Cause the drinks bring back all the memories
And the memories bring back, memories bring back you.

Jean Rao