I Start With A Tribute To My Grandfather

The Reasons I miss my grandfather

• The First and the most important thing that I miss is the Love and Warmth which he used to give me when I needed it the most
• The Assurance that he is there for me whenever and wherever
• The Knowledge that he imparted which is carried over from legacies about our traditions, rituals, culture
• His self belief and confidence which rubs off on us and his SHEER DETERMINATION to Live a Disciplined life and most importantly giving least trouble to anyone..
• His motto in life has been “Let me struggle, but my children and grandchildren should live happily”
• Whenever I used to call him. The first thing he used to ask me is that do I need anything from him and at that time I used to say that I jus need ur love. Now I feel I should have said that I want u to live a long life…
• Whenever I needed something. without even thinking for a second he would buy it for me
• In spite of living far away from him. I would eagerly wait every year to spend time with him. But now when I am near him he has gone far away from me, so far that even if I need to be with him also I cannot.
• He would fondly refer to me as “Konthe”. Now my ears wait to hear that loving words but they know that ,no one can refer to me in such a loving way
• I miss the journeys which we took together. He was a simple man that in spite of the fact that he could afford a car he would take a bus. I have travelled the length and breadth of Kerala with him. Even if the bus is crowded he would get in and if I say I won’t b able to get in he would push others and make way for me so that I don’t get sandwiched. He would take all the pushes but would protect me always. Such was his greatness…
• The last one month of his life I was lucky enough to spend with him completely. I served him the best possible way I could. At those hard times also he would say to me that ”KONTHE IM SORRY FOR TROUBLING YOU SO MUCH”
• I learnt the technique to make the perfect TEA from him. Every morning he wud wake me up and say lovingly that he needs ma special tea. “APPAPA I get up everyday early now but I don’t have anyone to make that special tea”
• In the evenings he would tell me to go for walk and while coming back he would tell me to get peanuts or vegetable puffs for him without anybody’s knowledge. Nowadays I don’t eat peanuts as I don’t have company.
• He was a great singer and anyone in his locality can vouch for that fact. He was fondly referred to as “PATTU PADARA THATHA”. Many people know him by this name only?
• In the last one month where we had no other source of entertainment. He would tell me all his stories and the position he has reached to be by sheer determination, struggle and will power. He used to tell me that whenever he used to think about those times “blood used to flow from his eyes and not water”
• In that one month he made me understand the different kinds of people and their way of behavior. Thanks to both our experiences we were able to understand the real nature of people and were able to see the real persons hiding behind the mask.
• At one point of time his frustration got into him due to various incidents which made him feel that he has become handicapped in life , and at that moment he told me that “konthe let us go to Bombay”
• There were many promises made to him but none were fulfilled. Even at that time he used to say that “konthe we both are enough for each other and we don’t need anyone else”
• In this period of time he realized that who were his friends and who were his foes. He forgave even those people who had done wrong to him, and accepted those people who were made to look bad in front of him by other people.
• I still know that in spite of not being physically with me. He’s there with me in an invisible state.
• Some view points of his was not agreeable to me, but now I realize his view points were spot on and I was wrong
• On the way back to Mumbai, I still remember the hearty laugh we had together when one of the passengers after boarding the plane asked the airhostess whether this flight is going to Mumbai. The way we laughed is still fresh in my ears.

These are jus sum of the reasons why I miss him. If I start listing everything, I may end up writing a book. I needed a medium to vent out ma feelings for him and is there any other way than by paying tribute to such a great man