Lovable Ayahs

by Alan Lane

The story told by Gumi Malhotra is excellent and certainly brought back memories of my Nepali ayah way back in the late 1940s.

To be honest, once the planters had a good ayah they were very reluctant to let them go!
Even though in the majority of cases the ayahs spoilt “their” children terribly.

A few days before my father passed away, he told me of a couple of nursery rhymes that my Ayah used to tell me. These were the standard stock that I am sure most expatriate ‘char babas’ were told.

“Little Jack Horner”:
 Chhota Jack Horner
Kona par beta
Khatata Kismish mithai
Angli gussaya
Kishmish nikhalaBola
“Kya good boy ham hai!”

“Humpty Dumpty”:

Humpty Dumpty upa me bita
Humpty dumpty girghia phut!
Sub Rajah ka monas,
Sub Rajah ka ghorra
Humpty dumpty kubbi nay jora

And:
Neeni, baba neeni, roti, mucken, cheeni
Roti mucken hogia, chota baba sogiar.

And I had not heard this nursey rhyme that Carol Penstone (nee Graham, whose father was a long-time manager at Pahargoomiah TE ) shared – have you?

Little Miss Muffet:

Mukati My, Dood Millai
Ghass mer bite parr Khai
Aya muckra sari pukra
Bagh geer Mukati Mai

To be honest, the only one that I can remember is the Humpty Dumpty rhyme, because my aunt (my mother’s sister, born in Allahabad in 1914)  used to tell me that every time I went to see her, even when I was in my teens! Do any other ‘char babas’ remember these?

When I was about three years old, after a bath, I escaped from the ayah, and running around naked, my father admonished me by telling me that I might lose my ‘little worm’ as the ducks would peck it off. A few days later, another ayah came to the bungalow with a little girl and both she and I (of the same age then) were given a bath together. Apparently, I was most upset, and on being asked why by my father, I told him that the little girl must have lost her ‘little worm’ to the ducks!

Is this your first visit here? Welcome to Indian Chai Stories!
Do you have a chai story of your own to share?  
Send it to me here, please : indianchaistories@gmail.com. 

My name is Gowri Mohanakrishnan and I'm a tea planter's wife. I started this blog because one of the things that I wouldn't want us to lose in a fast changing world is the tea story - a story always told with great seriousness, no matter how funny - always true (always), maybe a tall tale, long, or short, impossible, scary, funny or exciting but never dull.
 Happy reading! Cheers to the spirit of Indian Tea!
Meet the writer:

Alan Lane, a 'cha ka baba', was born in Bombay. His contribution to Indian Chai Stories goes beyond the written word: he keeps a large number of people all over the world connected with their roots in India. In his own words, 'My wife and I still have lots of connections with India and we are, as you may well say, ‘Indophiles’.' Alan and Jackie Lane live in the UK; they left India a little over fifty years ago. Read the story of this cha ka baba's return to the tea gardens of Assam as a Crossley engineer here: Indian Chai Histories.  You will find more stories by Alan here.