It was her 95th birthday when I got the news that
my grandma passed away. Known for her will-power and the way she brought
together and held a family of seven with ease and sternness, to have seen three
generations and to have spread her knowledge with ease to not the second but
the third generation.
I never had
much of memory with my grandpa, for I was a toddler when he reached god. I know I loved him a lot and I feel confident about it thanks to the stories my sister
and parents tell me. While my other grandpa, unlike with the other three
grand-children didn't spend his time bringing me up but, he alone treated me like the
princess of the family. I have always felt both these men were the perfect
inspiration for me, and never did once I believe anyone telling me that they
used to get quite angry and would punish people when they do something wrong.
Though I know none of
them where immortals, I always wish they were as I tend to miss them. It is the love and knowledge that the current generation kids miss when they are left in a crutch and not
with their grandparents.
Spending
ample time with grandparents is very important in a child's life for
grandparents turn out to be your best friends, guides, philosophers, teacher,
and emotion partner (you can't discuss everything with your parents or siblings. The best part, as grandparents they get very lenient even though they were very strict to their children).
When I was a toddler, my parents say I used to sit
with my thatha whole day and sleep on him during the nights. Whatever my pati
used to give me, I used to go show it to thatha and share the snacks with him.
He used to teach me slokas and there were times when I used to wait for him to
complete his morning prayers just so I can lay my hands on the bananas. Pati
used to shout from the kitchen asking him to complete it quickly for I was
waiting. He used to only smile and give me the fruit even before his prayers were
over.
Both my Grandmas were brilliant cooks, both of them
where brilliant debaters too. The most fight in the house will be between me
and my grandma. It would normally start with
a T.V serial, while I hate them, she passes her time with them. After a
long discussion and remote moving hand to hand a lot of times, she would either
land up watching a cartoon with me (shows which needs no language), or I would
sleep through her serial.
Everyone at home knew not to take these fights
serious for we were also the best of buddies. Where-ever she went shopping,
she used to look for a dress even to me. She used to give to me and when I wear
the old ones she gave, she used to tell everyone, look at her, she keeps all
that I give her very safe and she never tells a no to what I give, look how
beautiful she looks!!!
I never learnt my mother tongue properly(I speak
Tamil, but take an hour to read a page), she used to read the newspaper even
till the mere six months back without her specs. I used to then take it from
her and in the name of improving my skills, try reading for her. While my mom gets really annoyed listening to it, my pati
never got tired.
Pati at the age her 90's would sneak into the
kitchen, call my mom for help and do a lot of snacks for me and my sister that
would last a month. She would keep adding the snack rack with a different new
snack every alternate day. She would also be right there during the festivals
to direct us and teach us how to go about it traditionally and also to do it
right while also enjoy doing so.
If this is the story of one, my other grandma, even
now feed those she cares so much that they won't be able to move from the dining
table. Her chapatti's made from milk and not oil used to be light, soft and
would not just fill a person's stomach but also their hearts. Her spend all her
time pampering and taking care of my cousins day and night however old they
grow.
For my grandpa, the four of us (his grandchildren) would
fill our hands and frock with flowers from the garden for his daily pooja. Cone
Ice-creams were the sole reason for praying god that my grandma must miss
something in the shopping list from we can go to the shop with him again the
next day. He used to wrap our school books, label them when we were in
school.
It still gets funny when my sister tells the three
of us how when he keeps me on his laps, my two cousins, wherever they were, would come crawling in all the speed they can to sit on his lap with me! God knows
how he even grabbed a bit of sleep with all the three kids (me and my cousins)
slept around him.
He used to narrate the
Ramayana and Mahabharata for us, and best of all, teach our school science subjects. Being a
chemistry professor, I somehow feel, the marks in my boards in that subject was
half his blessings!
Grand-parents are what a child needs to turn out to
be a happy, stress-free, innocent champ. They will be ready to fight with their
children when our parents scold us or beat us. That by any chance doesn't mean
they let the kid do whatever it wants, but they know always know a better way
to tell the child what is wrong.
