Love Wrinkle and Reality

I recently had a chance to get back home from my busy schedule abroad and very badly wanted to make a lot of shopping and business since I had just a 2 weeks time to get back to London for a business trip and had a tight list of things to get done with.

My dad who has always been a laid back wise personality wanted me to spare at least 3hrs on the coming weekend, where in he said we could go as a family and visit my ailing grand ma who was in the Old age home, 15kms away from the city. Even though I felt it was too tight, I said ok and went on with my weeks list of things to get done.

Weekend arrived and we all got ready to make the trip to go and visit my grandma... It was a tiring journey as the roads to the place are very bad and there is loads of heavy traffic all the way; in the middle dad got down to buy some fruits and eatables for her.

We finally arrived at the home and got down, got our faces cleaned from the mess of the outside heat and slowly walked inside.... The first thing I saw was a dog.... A very old dog, he just wagged his tail and I could see that he did that with the least amout of energy his age could spare...

he looked very tired and old and had no hair on his body, but looked me right through my eye... it was as if he told me "this is just the beginning".... I walked in thinking of what I saw and we were welcomed by a old man.. I guess he was the watchman of the place, he asked us who we wanted to see and my dad told him the details.. We went in and turned right to get into the ward where my grandma was.... I noticed her from far away, her bed was the first to the right, and she was looking at something through the window... My dad went in and said hiiii mom... she turned and looked at us with a tired sight, and she figured out that her 4th born son has come with his family.... she smiled and she hugged my dad, I guess her prayers through that window were answered..... My grandma was 13 when she got married, my granddad was 16, I guess they were just kids who were asked to start and run a family by the local elders... And they did !!!!

Infact they did it so well, they had 9 kids (5 boys and 4 girls) and my dad was the 4th. My granddad was a simple Ambulance driver, but he was the best, he drove the biggest Ambulance in India, it was presented to the Madras Hospital by the then Prime Minister of India by the President of Romania. My grandma was a simple housewife, by the time she was 32, she had 9 kids, with that meagre salary, the whole family ate, spent, slept and even went to school....

I even wonder now.... 9 kids !!! All of them married, all of them settled with property and all of them married and living with their own families, the total worth of my grandparents earning in today’s riches might easily cross 4 million Rupees, (she baught 7 houses, and she owned 19 acres of land) , an amount even professionals like me love to come near to... Well, they did it 25yrs back...!!! How was it possible ???? How did they do it ???

When families, nowadays cant even live happily and together with 5 million for 5 years, how did they live with 9 kids together for 75 years ??? These questions bewildered me so much.... I had no answers.....@

She looked around, and saw me in the corner standing next to mom, with a very thoughtful mind, she held my hands and pulled me near her, asked me to sit down next to her, and I did.

She asked me how I was, and told me I looked very smart and handsome now. I felt very happy hearing that and thanked her, told her about my business trips and what I do for a living, she pretended to understand but I knew she was helping me feel better...She gave me a pack of biscuits and asked me to take them, I took them and thanked her but never ate them.

I saw her hands holding mine, it was all wrinkled and old, for the hands of all the young girls I've met, and for all the most hottest hands I have kissed, this hand was the most ugliest I have ever seen, but yet, I held it so strong, because I knew these hands might not be the sexiest I could have come across, but they are sure the most legendary hands I could ever hold on to...

The hands which supported by granddad and my dad, the hand that fed 9 kids and dozens more, the hand which started working when it was just 13, and a hand which has seen millions of money flow through its palms.... I saw it all right there, in front of my eyes.

After speaking to her, I was so much in deep thoughts that I walked across the lawn and sat down in the bench overlooking the garden, and though about the whole thing. She had 9 kids, but there was not 1 who was ready to keep her with them, not 1 single child who wanted her to be a part of their family.... They wanted her wealth, her possessions, and her earning, but not her.

They felt she was too much a burden to be taken with, and left her in this old home which has served her these 5 years has home... My only question was : What did she do, to deserve this ?"

I looked around and saw a old woman sitting right by the bench, on the floor, she folded her hands and said hello, I really didn’t talk much, but she told me an entire story of how she ended up here even though she had 5 kids.... I had heard enough of this, it was too much to take for me personally and walked away into the garden, while walking I had too much questions inside, just questions but no answers....... I felt something close to my leg, I looked down and it was that old dog I met while i entered the home, it looked at me again, and sat right next to me, I didn’t know what he wanted, I smiled at him and gave him all the cookies my grandma gave me except one.

He wagged his tail and ate them slowly, I knew he was that old.. he didn’t even have the strength to bite them with force...

Heard a call from my dad, we were ready to leave, so I went there and got a blessing from my grandma, she kissed me and asked me to be a good boy, I smiled and said I will....

She turned around and blessed my mom and then my dad... She finally said one little line which I remembered very well, " I am tired and weak, I guess am just stuck here"......

I looked at my dad, he didnt answer anything, he just held her tight and said; Bye mom...

And we all left the place and sat on the car, I whistled goodbye to my old dog who was still eating the 2 cookies I gave him.. I sat with my window open, gazing through those open fields and took out that last cookie and ate it.... I took my first bite ; I knew, "I was wrong, all along"........

Dedicated to my loving Grand Mother, who lives in me always and ever.