Earliest Memories - Part 7 - Munni Ki Neeli Chunni (Munni's Blue Scarf)

Munni Ki Neeli Chunni

(Munni’s Blue Scarf)

The object of  Harpreet’s  affection was called Munni (little girl) by everyone in her family. It was a nickname she acquired at the age of two, when a friend of her father, from another state, visited them and called her ‘Munni’  before he knew her name. It stuck! Her official name was Varinder Kaur, by which outsiders addressed her. She was the youngest daughter of her parents. She was demure and quiet.  She had an older sister who was a couple of years older. She, like all girls her age, mostly wore the typical Punjabi women’s style ‘salwar’  (traditional trousers) and ‘kameez’  (traditional shirt)with a ‘chunni’  (a long scarf worn around the shoulders and used to cover the head sometimes).  Typically, the three items would have to ‘match’ – they would either be a complimentary colour and fabric or would be made of the same identical fabric. The Chunni would complete the outfit and made to match in colour or in identical fabric. A girl or woman would usually have many sets of Salwar-Kameez and Chunni , from very fancy, elaborately embroidered ones for formal occasions to plain, simple ones for everyday use.

Munni was very friendly and kind to the little boy and his sister.  They were allowed to call her Munni too. She often came to help feed them, clean the dishes or help their mother as her pregnancy advanced. She and her sister sometime took care of the little boy and sister in their rooms as their mother rested or slept. They played games with them. The girls taught them words in Punjabi, learned words in Tamil, practised them and had great laughs and a lot of fun.

Munni knew that Harpreet fancied her, but would not directly talk to him or about him. She was spirited and quite energetic in her house, but strangely turned quiet and shy when outside or in sight of Harpreet, who she had known and played with when they both were very young children. Now that they were almost grown up, they maintained the distance and reserve expected of them socially. He was sometimes heard referring to her as Munni  among his close friends. When he came to the house to help, he would refer to her as Varinder in front of others and grownups.

The family started to notice that Munni seemed to prefer wearing her blue set of Salwar-Kameez and Chunni  often. She had only one outfit of that colour and it seemed to be washed most often.  One day, as she was helping her aunt cook blowing air over the glowing lumps coal in the clay-lined stove through a pipe, a stream of embers streamed out from the stove back at her and landed on her precious blue Salwar and Kameez.  They burned little holes in her dress and she had to rush out and pour water over herself. She was lucky the dress was made of cotton and did not catch fire and burn quickly. But that dress was ruined. For reasons of safety, she usually did not wear the Chunni which tended to trail around her arms when worn over the shoulder. So her blue Chunni, was safe and just as good as ever. It did not ‘match’ with any of her other sets of Salwar-Kameez.

It puzzled many that she would continue to wear the blue Chunni with other dresses. She would take extra care of it and it seemed very dear to her for some secretive reason. 

Her sister would often tease her about her ‘Neeli  (blue)Chunni’. Only she knew the secret.  It was this:

One day Munni and her sister had gone to buy something from the shops and they came across Harpreet. He nodded acknowledgement and stopped in his tracks looking at her walking towards him.  Perhaps because all his attention was focussed on Munni once he spotted her, he had not noticed Munni’s sister in the crowd of people and believing he had a moment ‘alone’  with just  Munni, had ventured to let out some of the feelings of his heart. It was an act of sudden, desperate, spontaneous courage and foolishness.

“The Blue dress is looking very good!” he said out in Punjabi, quietly but clearly, as she passed by next to him, with her eyes fixed straight ahead. She had already seen him at a distance and was prepared to not make eye contact. But upon hearing his comment, her eyes turned to him and flashed lightning (as the expression goes). She was happy he thought she looked good, but livid that he did not realise her sister was right behind and had probably heard the whole thing!

Harpreet was puzzled and suddenly came to his senses when Munni’s sister said, “The Red dress will look even better!” (Girls usually wear a red wedding dress).

Both Harpreet and Munni blushed deep red. Harpreet walked away quickly, stunned. Munni did not speak to her sister for a while, but was thankful that she did not tell anyone else about it. It was a secret between sisters.


Copyright  (c) Kannan Narayanamurthy 2014

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