Friday, October 12, 2007

My Grandpa

Today, it has been a year since my grandpa bid farewell to the world. It's an emotional moment because I continue to miss him. This post is an attempt to blog down my memoirs and the qualities I admired of him.

I have observed that grandfather- grandchildren relationships are always special. The closeness and rapport that children share with grandparents is almost equal and comparable to that they share with parents. This has been my observation at least.

When I was young, I was in awe of him. So, at start, the relationship had more of a respect quotient than love. He wanted all of us to have good education and hence used to always ask about our studies. Over the period of years, the talks became much casual. Sometimes he used to talk candidly about his struggle.Grandpa's mother died when he was very young. He used to speak with great respect about his father's devotion in bringing up the children. Then, he toiled hard to get a law degree. He used to walk and not take horse cart ride to save 2 annas. Sometimes, he even used to skip the meals to save money.

After hearing about his struggles, my respect for him increased multi-fold. We had casual and funny conversations as well. I still remember that once he had heard me singing hindi song "Kya aada kya jalve tere paro..." and then whenever he used to see me, he used to tease me in loud voice "oh paro!". I used to be so embarrassed that I used to avoid coming in front of him for days together . Those were the days of innocence!

when I was in X standard, he used to take extra care so that I could concentrate more on studies. He saw that I didn't have watch and in midst of that year brought me a cool Titan watch. It was a PLEASANT surprise for me. The watch continued to be my prized possesion for years and when I lost it,I sulked badly.

I got good marks in XII standard. I missed the merit list rank just by 2 marks and was topper in city.He was so proud of my performance! :-)

One of my most memorable moments was to see my grandpa (age 82 years) and my grand mom (age 75 years) do impromptu dance on stage in front of hundreds of people. They were so happy to see my marriage and enjoying a lot. This is what I call unadulterated happiness!

But, after 2-3 months, he was diagnosed to have serious disease. And then there were frequent hospital visits and on 12 October, 2006 he passed away.

I had privilege to see grandpa from closed quarters . He had amazing qualities. Some of them are:

1) Dedication:
if somebody asked me , which is the one thing that grandpa could not live without? I would say - His law practise. Such was his dedication that he was revered and respected by his peers as well as opponents. He used to wake up at 5:30 AM (almost daily)to write notes. He used to fight a case as if it was his personal case. Also, he fought many poor people's cases at minimal or at no cost.

In hospital, due to his disease, He used to go in trans. Subconsciously, He used to plead for cases and used to speak for hours as if he was in court. Such was an impact of his practise on him.

2) Satisfaction:
Starting from scratch, grandpa progressed step by step. To bring up and educate 7 children was a tough task. This meant that he and grandma had to give sacrifices daily so as to provide good platform to children. They did a very commendable job for all my uncles (4 of them) are well educated and well to do. But, in spite of all this sacrifices, he was a satisfied man.

After he was diagnosed with disease , I used to bring & read out poems to him to keep him entertained. He used to listen to them keenly and used to discuss & smile at me (just to make me happy) even when his hearing and other senses had gone weak.2 days before his death, Seeing that everyone was sitting glum faced in front of him seeing his health, He forced everyone to bring sweets from market, eat them and smile at him.To see the death approaching and still put a smile on face. This is bravery & satisfaction at its best!

3)Financial Planning:
In spite of limited resources, my grandpa (grandma especially) had a penchant for saving & that helped him in his old age.

& many many more....