Gaamccha, my gaamccha...

Thankfully, the salad is delicious and I have bananas and oranges to tide me over till dinner. Don't suppose a dozen catch cakes topped by 4 dollops of the most sinfully luscious chocolate is a good idea at this particularly fraught point of time in my life. The sight of my newly presented gaamccha gives me some solace. Transported from Gariahaat, crisply starched, the checked blue gaamccha trimmed most becomingly with a dark red is a bhadralok of gaamcchas.

My first memory of a gamccha is that of it being red and attached to Kolkatar Didi (my maternal grandmother). Every time she was near the bathroom, it appeared and clung to her. She took it in with her for a bath, got it completely soaked, somehow magically wiped herself with it and then had it draped around her body or hair. I was fascinated. But somehow, it was just something that Didi had and used and that was that.

That is, until a few years ago, many years after that wonderful lady passed away that my mother was headed back for a visit and asked me what I wanted. "A gamccha" I squeaked. Huh? Where did that come from? She looked at me strangely. "A gamccha?" said my mother. "No, really, what do you want me to get for you?". " A gaamccha", I repeated. She started sniggering. I insisted, she giggled. I glared, she roared. "There so cheap and silly", she gasped. I shrugged. She gave me the look that implies you're a moron, but you're my daughter and I love you. I never got the gaamccha. But I secretly coveted it. I wasn't sure what exactly I'd do with it, given my preference for rough towels that scrape off water most satisfyingly (in case you're wondering, a gaamccha is just a length of cotton fabric, usually always in checks, used by true blue Bengali's as a towel type thingy. It's soft and wringable)

Tail end of last year, my banker and I trade holiday plans.. he's off to the Sunderbans and asks me what I'd like from Calcutta. Unbidden, my mouth opens, "A gaamccha", I declare. A moment of silence as he registers my voice and then he laughs. "A gaamccha?" "Yes.". "But why? Only you would come up with something that mad". This time, I have a plausible response....apart from the entirely legitimate, I want! "I thought I could use it when we go diving... between dives to dry off... they dry off really quick as well don't they?". He keeps shaking his head so I launch into red checks. "Well, they should be available all over Gariahaat". I hasten to insist that he doesn't go out of his way, feeling a tad foolish now the words are bouncing around the meeting room.

Come New Year and we catch up so I can get a desk calendar for 2014 and voila! There it is, complete with sticker for Rs.120 from Gariahat, my gaamccha!! I'm so thrilled, I trill my pleasure. He's amused and leaves me to it. The gaamccha is now draped over my sofa pretending to be a comfort blankie and keeps my skin from sticking to the sofa. A knight in shining armour even when dry :). One of these days, I'll even take it to the bath....