Remembering Morris

On an overcast day in January 1947, the day of the delivery, we found her outside the showroom, completely drenched. The manager introduced us to an experienced chauffeur, sensing that none of us knew how to drive. Morris reached home but had to be housed in a makeshift garage for some time.

Morris proved lucky for us. Dad was allotted an out-of-turn garage-attached bungalow. The chauffeur disposed of, it was merry-making time for Morris. She roamed about with her master and mistress at the saddle, to office, social gatherings, friends. The baby had grown up to be freely and frequently groomed, and we were bestowed with the privilege of dusting, washing or even taking her out for a ‘warm up’. Her master’s colleague borrowed her service to attend receptions at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Curious onlookers crowding at fuelling stations had to be helplessly tolerated. As she rested beneath the tree on the grassy lawn and we gazed at her from our bungalow, barking domestic pets circled around Morris like playmates.

It was the privilege of Morris to bring Ma Anandamoyee to the new house dad built after his retirement. She lived on with us to watch her master and mistress pass away. She assisted the bereaved mistress in organising the husband’s funeral. I married after 20 odd years of her stay with us. Her presence and performance so rejuvenated the children that they would forget their studies and meals to play near her.

Her glitz and glamour meant that there was no let-up in the demand for her. She was summoned at a moment’s notice to hospitalise a patient, to help someone participate in the Republic Day pageantry, to take friends on a picnic spree, and to carry guests through the hazardous city streets to the railway station and even, on one occasion, to help a groom fetch his bride. All this was not her job but she never demurred.

She started showing signs of sluggishness in her 30th year. Much later, as deep scars and rust surfaced on her body, fear gripped me about her well-being, idling as she was for some time. One winter evening, in 1989, I goaded her to accept a new master, and she obliged!

The vintage beauty remains a verdant memory to those who knew her.