Goodbye, Tata

Tata, a man who lead a highly disciplined life, a human with immeasurable patience, a leading example to all his family members, an earnest student whose quest for knowledge and information assimilation did not die down until his last minute. By this time, any reader would have understood that this great man is no more with us. Especially, my grandfather, is no more with us. It has taken me quite some time to come to terms with this fact and put down my fond memories into words.

Where shall I start? From the early days of inculcating his discipline in me or the innumerable hours that he patiently spent with me during my childhood or all those times that we spent together watching sports on the tele? I am sure the list will be endless. I still vividly remember the routine he had set up for me as soon as I started going to school. The study table and two sharpened pencils used to welcome me as soon as I used to come home in the afternoon from school. These of course was in preparation to help me finish my home work. Lunch would of course follow later. This simple habit helped me go a long way in being independently capable of handling my school work for the years to come. I am always told that grandsons get very close to their grandfathers but in my case, as ever, there was an exception. I grew very close to my grandfather. There was definitely no lack of mischief on my part. In the afternoons, just after his lunch, tata liked to relax with a book before his siesta. I used to silently pull down all his neatly stacked books from his rack and pile them on the floor. When greeted by this sight he used to always put them back with a smile. Well that says a lot about him.

Taking me by bus to the park was not a chore for him. He enjoyed doing this. Nor was it boring for him to teach me to draw water from the well to water the plants. Even in his 80s he had bravely gone down the well to fetch the bucket that had fallen in. He did it so silently that even Pati did not know this until he safely came out. It sounds unbelievable but its true. He had a passion to be independent. The bank and the grocer would definitely be surprised if tata did not visit them everyday. It was his routine. It was also his routine to read all my textbooks every year as soon as I got them. Not just read them, he would assist my mother and me to cover all of them and made sure that I kept them neat and clean over the entire year. I am yet to meet another reader who was as voracious as him. In my opinion the only way I can remember him is by reading. As long as I read, I will never forget him.  

As I grew up, he could not involve himself in my life as much as he would have liked to but he had already influenced my way of living by then. His keenness to know the details of job once I started working, his interest in my day to day activities when I moved out of India and his concern about my work life in an alien country; always reminded me that he still treated me the same way as he did twenty years ago. The role played by a grandparent in a child's life is very important. My grandparents definitely ensured that their legacy would always live on with me. There is not a day that goes by without remembering my grandparents. Great people!!! I hope they are having a great time together even now; wherever they are.