An extraordinary girl

Elder Uncle — 2

Now about Elder Uncle. He is very clever, practical and conscientious regarding others' affairs, but about his own he is extremely careless. He loses his money and things often without knowing it. His wife would boss him around and make him do her will in all matters big and small. One day I told him, "Why do you accept all this hectoring from your wife in such a sheepish manner? You are a man, after all; why should she lead you by the nose?"

"What can I do?" he replied humbly, "She won't do a thing!"

"Then you have to tell her that you are the master of the house. If she doesn't cook, go to a restaurant and have your meal there. Do this once or twice and she will fall at your feet."

In this way, I have straightened his backbone to some extent. His wife was very jealous of me because of his friendly and docile attitude towards me. One day she came to my house and asked why he was so attentive to me.

"I can assure you," I said, "I have no possesive feelings towards him. I have no guardian to help me in my worldly affairs about which I am extremely ignorant and inexperienced, and his help is invaluable to me in those matters. Besides he is a very good man, you know that quite well."

"Yes, I do."

"Then why this jealousy?"

She could not answer. Very probably she could not bear to see him doing so much for me and almost nothing for her. That seems natural.

When his wife would go to Bombay, he would not call her back.

Now let me recount how he rendered me help in a trivial matter which appeared to me serious. My mother and myself used to sleep together and go on talking till midnight. One night, I felt a salty taste in my mouth. I went into the bathroom and found that there was blood in my mouth. I got a fright. I called my son who was sleeping in the next room. He too became nervous. Our whispering and movements woke up Mother. Seeing fresh blood seeping from my mouth, she said, "Call Elder Uncle." I said, "No, we shouldn't disturb him at this hour of the night."

But they insisted. We telephoned him and my son went to fetch him in his car. What he did was so simple and yet so effective. He brought out two big pieces of ice from the fridge and applied them on my chest and back, and gave me some ice to suck. I had done that before without any effect. But Uncle's treatment had a quick result; the blood flow stopped. Next day the doctor was called. His examination yielded no clue. There was no sign of T.B. Later, an X-ray revealed that there was something like a hole in the left lung. The doctor said that blood might have oozed out from that suspected spot.