My Grandma

She still lives

I was 20 when I received the fabulous news that my grandma was coming over to stay with us for a few months. Even when I was little, she used to visit us frequently, which made me really excited as a kid. In anticipation of her visit, I began jumping with joy even as I enquired about the exact date of her visit from my Mom. I had to ask for the date so that I could tweak my schedule a bit and bring her home myself.

I grew up from a little kindergarten boy to become a more responsible and mature college guy but the passage of time couldn't bring about any visible changes in Nani. Her beauty and grace remained intact as if time had frozen for her. Her vibrant and vivacious image belied her age. She still looked as pretty as she had looked some fifteen years ago.

When I was a kid, she read me bedtime stories from children’s books. Her soothing voice and warm touch of her hand on my forehead worked better than any other sedative in the world and made me fall into a beautiful world of wonders and magical dreams where there was no darkness. In the mornings, I would sometimes ask her to give me a head massage with lots of coconut oil. There never came a time when she refused me one. She would go on for hours at length until I asked her to stop.

With a cute round face, baby like curls of stark white hair and the disarming smile of an innocent child, my Nani was oozing with senescent grace. Whenever she laughed, she did so with her heart’s content. Just by looking at her infectious smile and listening to her pleasant laughter, everyone else in the house felt light and cheerful.

She knew I was doing engineering from a college in New Delhi. She would bless me every day when I left for college in the morning and would eagerly wait for my arrival in the evening with an eye fixed on the main door. She heartily laughed and clapped her hands in excitement every time she was reminded that her grandson would be a proud engineer a few years down the line. She was obviously more happy for me than I was for myself. She had much more confidence and trust in me than any other person I have known in my life. She was a pious lady and fervently prayed to God for my success and well being and never forgot to wish me good luck before exams. She was my saviour and a true friend.

Now that she was visiting again, I got lost somewhere in a stream of thoughts and became nostalgic. I stepped back in the real world where the same excitement engulfed me once more and I began to look forward to her visit. I was about to meet her again after a long wait of one year. I hoped she would be the same old lady who was full of life and exuberance. Alas, she couldn't make it to our house and had to be taken to a hospital far away from our place. I was in my hostel at that time. As she was being attended to in the hospital, her condition got worse and she finally succumbed to her old age, closing her eyes forever. I was totally unaware of these events and didn't even know that my dear Nani had passed away that night.

She never died, for I never saw her leaving me. She never forgot to wish me luck, then how could she forget to say good bye to me one last time? I know she hasn't forgotten anything and I am very sure that she still lives. I am now 22 and she continues to live in my heart.