Four Generations and a sewing machine!

Hope Karthikyean would come today, said my mother looking expectantly at the gate. And who is Karthikeyan? He is the handyman from Usha sewing machine company.. and my mother own a sewing machine which is around 35 years old. Usha sewing machine company has come a very long way from the hand machine days which my mother owns proudly. In between the 35 years, many a times, the hand machine went in for an exchange for a new automatic electric designer sewing machine, but the emotional connect mother had with the machine, ensured it came back home every time mother took it for an exchange during the festival seasons.

This sewing machine was bought by my maternal grand mother when she was in Bombay in early 70's. Grandma was a complete housewife and I will write about her very soon. She was very popular for her byriyanis, painting, embroidery work and pickles! She loved the way the Punjabi's and other North Indian friends used sewing machine to stitch their clothes and got one Usha sewing machine for herself. While moving out after her marriage, my mother opted to take the sewing machine with her. My father recollects how his old shirts, faded bedsheets etc were designed by mother as tiny frocks for me...he says, I try to guess which of my lungi or the bed sheet would you be wearing in the form of a frock as I walked back home from the bank! :)

I recollect my childhood days when my brother and I would very excitedly fill the bow pin of the machine with thread ... this was an easy task given that the machine had to be rotated in the opposite direction...my brother, being the muscle man between the two of us, would rotate the handle with all his might and I would direct the thread to fill the bow pin...at times we would fill the bow pin with multi threads in our excitement of having got the sewing machine for ourselves!!! Mother would realise this only when she uses the machine on a later date.

But for the past few years, mother had not touched the sewing machine. It would come with us every where we shifted home. At times, mother thought it was an added luggage but brother and I were sure, we will not sell it at any cost. And then came the fourth generation - my little one. Seeing her grow up, mother was back into her designer mode! She would look at the sewing machine lying idle and loads of clothes like my cotton dupattas, cotton bedsheets and other 'rags' and would sigh...telling my little one, If I had this machine back in shape, you would be getting to wear clothes fit for this climate!! I would cringe at the thought of seeing this 2 1/2 feet tall 3 year something wearing the black cotton duppata as a knee-length-round-neck-with-no-buttons dress as I walked in home from work. But mother was working towards making my fear come true. She searched the newspapers for sewing machine repair shops, through them got the details of Usha sewing machine shop and from them their service handyman. And as she had set her mind to put her 35 year-old sewing machine back into action, got it converted into electric machine with a few plug-ins here and there but retained the same iron-body, faded paint, same wooden handle though she does not need to use it as it is now connected to electricity. This helps mother a lot as she just need to press the pedal and the machine works, thus no need to rotate the handle.

On February 22, 2009 the Usha sewing machine was attended by Kartikeyan. This ensured the sewing machine got back into making small frocks out of the cotton dupattas, bedsheets etc, once again. Mother wore glasses as she measured, cut clothes, got them stitched and with such excitement made her grand daughter wear her designer wear! And the little one joined her in the excitement and does not allow me to go near it....its her grand mothers.....as it is my grand mothers too!!

As mother was engrossed in stitching a pink frock for my little one, I strongly felt my grand mother too joining us around my mother and her 35-year old Usha sewing machine! I pledge to keep this going .... and so will my little one, I am sure! :)