When I close my eyes and think about my grandparents, I can
visualize a plethora of memories I have of them. To me, the word ‘grandparents’
is synonymous to ‘Love’ – the very word triggers the emotion for as long as I
remember they have been showering me with the same. I consider myself lucky to
get the love of my two sets of grandparents. My maternal grandparents were aged
compared to my paternal folks. I visited them twice or maybe thrice a year. On
the other hand, my paternal grandparents lived with us. They have been a part
of my growing up and so their memories are vividly etched in my mind.
I have always been my grandfather’s dearest. He would pamper
me a lot and obviously I loved all of it. I remember an incident from my
childhood where I had accidentally broken an expensive china dish while playing
with it despite repeated warnings from my parents. My parents rushed to the
room hearing the sound of the dish breaking, ready to scold me right away. With
them came my grandfather- ‘Dadu’ as I lovingly called him. I was scared as I
knew I was in trouble. To my surprise, Dadu asked my parents to refrain from
punishing me and took me to another room. He gave me another toy to play with
and shortly I was immersed in my own world of playful imagination. After some
time he called me to sit beside him and explained to me the gravity of the
matter. I promised never to play with china again. Now when I think of the
incident, I realize that it was the first lesson to accept the worst in life and
move ahead on a better path.
‘Mummum'- my grandmother was my buddy. She was my dance
partner, games partner, my favourite story-teller and my teacher. She used to
teach me songs and poems. She had an amazing memory back then. She could recall
the poems she learnt as a child and passed them on to me. She would tell me
stories of Ramayana, Mahabharata and other stories. I would literally absorb
them. By the time I was 3, I could narrate the entire Ramayana and Mahabharata
by heart. She would sing me to sleep every night and I remember her humming as
the very last thing before I drifted off to dreamland.
As days passed by, Dadu and Mummum grew older and older.
They were struck by the inevitable – old age. As I grew up, I became engrossed
it other activities- school, extracurricular activities, watching tv. I got
another playmate in the form of my little brother. My interaction with my
grandparents reduced eventually. I felt that now they are in their own old
world reminiscing about their youth, their life before they grew old but they
were not detached from the present. I remember the happiness in their eyes in
form of tears around the corners when I touched their feet before heading out
for my first class X board exam. I knew it was their way of letting me know
that they are proud of me.
My grandfather passed away last year and my grandmother 3
weeks ago. I feel a void right at the middle of my heart. My two most loved
people left me in a span of a year. Though I accept their passing away as the ultimate
destination of life, I am unable to fill up that hole yet. Whenever I go to
their room now, all I can see their empty chairs. I miss their presence
immensely. I like to think that spending 25 years with grandparents is the
result of a good karma, for their mere touch is the unadulterated potion of
pure love.
