Sunday evenings with Chatterjee aunty❤️ Part 1

Hey my readers, the write-up I am sharing now was originally written as an email to one of my friend, Raahi in January 2025. 

This is a description about my dearest friend Chatterjee aunty who left us on 4th March 2025. I feel the entire world should know about her existence, therefore sharing the introductory part written before she left us.

My neighbour aunty's name is Mrs. Ruby Banerjee (actually Chatterjee), now aged 70+. She is a retired Vasant Kanya Mahavidyalaya's teacher. Manisha Koirala once was her student. Mr. Banerjee was an architect. He died when I was in 5th standard due to multiple organ failure. Today, Mrs. Banerjee lives alone. The couple didn't have any children. She survives on the interest accrued on her bank deposits. 

Mrs. Banerjee (let's call her aunty), has seen me grow. Younger me used to play with her, 6th standard me used to take english grammar lessons from her, 23 year old me just goes to listen to her. When I read A man called Ove, I could find so many similarities between Ove and aunty. Aunty is one of the strongest women I know. Surviving old-age alone as a women is quite difficult.

As Ove liked to maintain his condo, Aunty is also concerned about cleanliness of our apartment's common staircase. Rarely anyone visits her but she deep cleans her house daily. Aunty cannot walk properly now, a stick is needed to support her. Well, I respect and appreciate aunty's indomitable will to live a lot.

You know Raahi, there was a time when I struggled with finding a reason to live. I used to analyse other people's life and introspect why are they voluntarily suffering without any particular purpose. Aunty also was among my subjects. I couldn't find a purpose for aunty's existence. She taught me to live, just for the sake of living. Going with the flow as I said earlier. One doesn't need a purpose, one is a purpose.

I cannot make tea for myself. There has to be another tea-thirsty person so that I can finally make tea for the two of us. This is a case of not prioritizing self. Well on the other hand, aunty makes two sabzis daily just for herself, eats a big bowl of fruits regularly and practices all body hygiene routines daily. This is the case of prioritizing health and self.

Well, I could continue describing about aunty in few more paragraphs but let's get to the main part i.e. my sunday evenings with her. Aunty was familiar to me since childhood but our conversation lasted for minutes only. It was on 7th January last year that I went to meet aunty. Aunty according to our other neighbours is quite rigid. She doesn't sugarcoat her opinions which sounds rude to listener's ears and upsets their heart. So naturally I also used to feel intimidated by her.

I don't remember our exact conversation on that day but I made a promise to visit her every Sunday after coming from my library. Aunty was delighted but also knew I won't be able to keep up to my promise, maybe coz other's might have made similar promises (now broken). Well I was able to meet her nearly twice a month if not thrice.

Each meeting started on similar lines with aunty describing her week to me and asking about my preparation. Aunty is a staunch Modi supporter, she believes everything he says. She usually sleeps by 10 pm but postpones her sleep by 2 hours just to see Modiji on Aap ki Adalat. Her obsession with him is cute. She discusses with me about his latest speeches and schemes. Her youtube is filled with party propaganda. My education allows me to entertain different opinions even if it absolutely disgusts me to the core. So I simply nod and appreciate her points.

Aunty spends her day watching TV and youtube. Apart from fan-girling on Modiji, she also enjoys watching singing reality shows like Indian Idol. She used to think everything is live, no cuts, no script just raw talent and appreciation. Here I played an evil role by breaking it to her how audience buys tickets to watch shooting and everything is scripted. After seeing her changed expressions I regretted it immediately. Never break it to a child WWE is scripted and Undertaker does not have 7 lives.

There was a time when my sunday meetings with her and indian idol screening time clashed. I felt like a hostage when aunty forced me to appreciate cringe worthy Neha Kakkar's comments. I eagerly waited for advertisements to start so that we could talk. 

What's the point of telling the demerits you may ask. Well, what I want to convey is how irritating it could get to hold on to someone. I like aunty when she describes about her life but for that I have to bear through these seemingly unbearable moments also.

Aunty trusts me, she feels free to talk about things which for some reason cannot disclose it to others. Like I know of an injury in aunty's leg which she hides from others except me and her doctor. Aunty does not like to ask for help from others but I have the absolute privilege to bring her medicines, cut her nails, check her sugar levels. 

I have lost both sets of my grandparents so aunty is now my means to understand the older generation. I learnt how to test blood glucose level just for her. The advantage you gain by hanging out with different generation is, you become slightly more accommodative, more empathetic, more aware. You get to know about their age-specific problems like unable to sleep due to un-tiredness(if that's a word). Watching TV and youtube doesn't physically tires you it may numb you, pass your time, save you from overthinking your existence.

I may not like Modiji personally but when aunty was upset that she may not be able to vote due to her restrictive movement, I volunteered to accompany her to the polling station and thus she was able to cast her vote. Aunty cannot keep herself awake to watch the entire grand finale of Indian Idol. She was upset on not knowing the order of winner. I also couldn't bear to watch it on her behalf but then I could simply google the list and slide a note with winner and runner-up list through her door. 

Earlier our conversations moved from topic to topic with long pauses in between to find the next topic of our discussion. Now our conversations moves in a flow and lasts for approx a couple of hours. At the end of our conversation, aunty feels delighted and relieved.......and that my friend is my purpose of existing.