Cheers Grandpa!

It was my grandpa’s birthday two weeks back and had he been alive today he would have turned 97.

I have been intending to write this post for a long time and so here it goes-to the person I totally look up to…

My grandpa was a lawyer who started his practice somewhere in the mid 1930’s. He used be proud of his English, since he had done his schooling during British rule in India. He was the walking dictionary for us- the grand kids. His knowledge about Sanskrit was also superlative.

He used to tell me stories about his life… like how he used to trek to this holy shrine, every time taking a different and difficult path, about how he learnt astrology just by listening to people having the knowledge, his travels to Burma by ship for his work when he used to work as a legal advisor to the Raja of Chettinad who had business in Burma and my favorite story of them all- a dog which he owned and also a cow (!!). Almost every house in the village had a cow in those days, but this cow made it a habit to go to the village court, where he used to work and wait for him to take it home! As a kid I used to find all this pretty amusing and adventurous.

Grandma tells us that he was a very handsome man in his youth and he worked out and swam regularly and he used to be impeccably dressed in a suit even in those days. Even when he was 90 he used to tell me with a boyish smile how a beautiful Burmese lady asked him to marry her when he was already married to my grandma and was a father to half a dozen kids!

His stories totally fascinated me and I saw and still see him as someone who has lived his life fully. He was a religious and also a spiritual person and read the Ramayana every day without fail for almost 40 yrs or more.

He was also a very stubborn man and would not listen to anyone in the family and since he was the eldest, no one really could say anything to him. We both used to fight when it came to watching T.V. He would want to see the news all the time and me as a kid wanted to watch cartoons.

He was always so proud of every small thing his grandchildren did. He used to go to grandma and say, ‘Look at her, she can draw so well!’ and his eyes would well up with tears of joy. He grew very emotional and sentimental in his old age.

He used to treat me like a small kid, even when I was 15. If I happened to be around, when my grandparents discussed about someone’s tragedy, he would say, ‘Don’t mention that in front of the poor child, she’ll get scared!’ And none of us could sit backwards on the chair or on the edge of the bed, when he was around, he would totally start panicking that we would fall off, even if it was my 20 year old brother!

He loved food even when was too old and had only ten teeth or so. He slept well for his age and never took sleeping pills. I remember this one incident where he slept off at noon and woke up at 1:30 pm and went slowly to the basin and started brushing his teeth. We were wondering what he was up to and then he asked me isn’t it 6 in the morning?

I also remember him putting bindis on all my photos because according to him south Indian girls shouldn’t be without a bindi! It used to drive me so wild.

He wanted to live till 100 and more if possible! When my grandma used to say that she has seen enough and wants to the die happily, he used to tease her saying, ‘Go if you want to, I want to live some more.’

His simplicity was something I can never forget. He never wore any piece of jewelry. He hardly ventured out of the house unless it meant going for a hair-cut every month or travel, after he turned 85. His belongings included two kurtas which he took out only for these occasions, a few veshtis (which looks like a lungi but its plain white), his books and a chain of beads which he used while meditating.

My grandpa’s death was something unreal to me. He passed away almost three years back and it was the first time I lost someone who meant a lot to me. The worst part was I couldn’t even be there when he passed away and I had seen him a few months ago. In a way I am glad that I didn’t see him during his last days because I remember him as someone who was healthy and happy all his life, unlike the person who looked all frail and weak in the photograph I saw later.

Like most people do, I started wondering about life and death and what happens to you when you die, when he passed away. And I realize that there is so much I want to tell him and ask him and I can’t anymore. Many a times I was busy with my life to spend much time with him.

Nothing I write here will be enough to describe him. To me he was an extraordinary person, who will always have a special place in my heart.