देऊळ पलिकडे तरीही...

त्याला जाऊन आज जवळ जवळ सव्वा वर्ष झालं... नाई, म्हणजे या  opening statement  ने असं वाटू शकतं की त्याचा मृत्यू अकाली झाला किंवा अपघात वगैरे... तर असं काही नाही... ९३ वर्षांचं प्रदीर्घ आणि ठणठणीत असं आयुष्य होतं त्याचं; शेवटल्या महिन्यातलं आजारपण आणि दवाखाना सोडता.
त्याचा जन्म आपला देश पारतंत्र्यात असताना झाला पण क्रांतिकारकांच्या यादीत त्याचं नाव नव्हतं...प्रत्येकाचं कसं असेल! मुद्दा असा की आजपासून किमान ३ पिढ्या मागे अशा काळात त्याचा जन्म झाला...गरीब किंवा  lower middle class  म्हणता येईल अशा घरात...  sorry  देवभोळ्या आणि कर्मठ घरात[ हा दोष नव्हे किंवा  pseudo secular  नसल्यामुळे मी हा दोष मानत नाही]... त्याचाच परिणाम असेल कदाचित ... त्यामुळे धर्म-अधर्म जात-पोटजात सोवळं-ओवळं स्पृश्य-अस्पृश्य भक्ष-अभक्ष पेय-अपेय अशी सगळी व्यवधानं त्याच्याभोवती आयुष्यभर फेर धरून राहिली आणि जोडीला "लोक काय म्हणतील?" चा पिंजराही होताच... मग का बरं लिहावसं वाटावं त्याच्याबद्दल... सामान्य माणसातलं  असामान्यत्व किंवा अपूर्णातलं पूर्णत्व मला भावलं त्याच्यात कायम दिसलं आणि तो गेल्यानंतरही ते अजून माझ्याभोवती कवचकुंडलासारखं अभेद्य उभं आहे म्हणून
तर हा गरीब मुलगा... पितृभक्त मुलगा खूप कष्टानं  pre-degree  पर्यंत शिकला म्हणजे  formal school  मधे तोवर गेला; मग घरची नड म्हणून असेल किंवा आणखी काही पण सरकारी नोकरी लागली... यथावकाश लग्न-संसार चालू झालं... सततच्या बदल्या,नोकरीतले त्रास तरीही सरकारी नोकरी म्हणजे शाश्वत खाली मान घालून पण एक आण्याचाही गैरव्यवहार न करता, करत राहिला... ४ मुलं, बेताचाच २७ रुपये पगार,मुलांची शिक्षणं हे सगळं जपताना नाकी नऊ  येत असतील तरी हा पुंडलिक आयुष्यभर आई-वडिलांच्या पायाशी राहिला... कमवणारे दोन हात; खाणारी आठ तोंडं अशा परिस्थितीतही तो ताठ मानेनं जगला... मुलांना म्हणजे  मुलींनाही पदवीधर होण्याइतकं यश मिळू दिलं हे सगळं झालं; सगळं  typical  मध्यमवर्गीय ... इथंवर करोडोंमधला तो ही अगदीच  non-glamorous  असा सामान्य माणूस पण इथे संपत नाहे... इथे संपते ती एका संसाराची ओळख...
यापुढे सुरू होतो तो... इथून पुढे उभा राहतो तो एक सच्चा रसिक,उमदा बाप,निस्वार्थी शिक्षक/गुरू, आणि आजन्म शिकत रहिलेला विद्यार्थी... इथून दिसू लागतो तो गंगौघ.
प्रत्येक आणा... अगदी अर्धा आणासुद्धा चार-चारदा विचार करून वापरणारा हा... म्हणजे आजच्याच काय पण त्याही काळात लोक "चिंधी" म्हणू शकतील इतका हिशोबी पण शास्त्रीय आणि नाट्यसंगीतवर त्याने मोजदाद करण्यापलिकडे प्रेम केलं.... बालगंधर्वांचं नाटक पुन्हा पुन्हा बघता नि ऐकता यावं म्हणून कित्येक वर्षे तपश्चर्या केली.पैसे वाचतात म्हणून ओंकारेश्वर ते पुणे स्टेशन असं अंतर पायी कापणारा पण नाटकाचे खेळ न चुकवणारा हा सच्चा रसिक...
मुलांची शिक्षणं होईपर्यंतच नाही तर त्यांच्या नोकरीच्या काळात,संसारात तो पहाडासारखा अचल होऊन त्यांच्या पाठीशी उभा राहिला...पहाटे एकट्याला जायला लागू नये म्हणून लेकाला रोज... कित्येक वर्षं तो शिवाजीनगर रेल्वेस्थानकाला सोडून आला. लेकींचा संसार सुखाचे  व्हावेत,त्यांची घरं उभी रहावीत य एका ध्येयापायी,  पेन्शनमधून पैसे वाचवून ओंजळ रिती करत राहिला. लेकीची एक फेरी वाचावी म्हणून नातवंडाना लेकीकडून घेऊन ६०+ वयात २-४ किमी चालून शाळेत सोड, नातवंडाना पाळणाघर नको म्हणून आपलं निवृत्त आयुष्य निवांत न घालवता त्यांचा पालक हो... असं जमेल ते सगळं केलं. अगदी मृत्यूच्या आदल्या महिन्यापर्यंत "हे तुझ्या खाऊचे पैसे" अशा भावनेनं लेकींना स्वकमाईतला काही भाग द्यायला नुसतं बाप असून चालत नाही, बाप व्हावं लागतं.
काही काळ गरज  म्हणून असेल पण आयुष्यभर नाही... शिक्षकीपेशा नसूनही आयुष्यभर कधी अगदी क्षुल्लक किंवा मोबदला  न घेता हा शिकवत राहिला. गणित इंग्रजी,संस्कृत,मेघदूत,गीता,वेदांमधल्या ऋचा ... ह्यानं काय शिकवलं नाही! इतके विविध विषय लीलया शिकवणारा माझ्या ओळखीतला हा एकमेव शिक्षक... बर मोबदला घेतला तर किती... अगदी  २००० सालीसुद्धा महिना ५०/- ... हो पन्नास रुपये ही त्याची इंग्रजी शिकवण्याची फी... बाकी संस्कृत,गीता, मेघदूत वगैरे तर फुकटच. त्याचे विद्यार्थी जगाच्या कित्येक देशात स्वत:चा झेंडा रोवून आलेत;पर्यायानं आपल्या गुरुचाही.
तो उत्तम शिक्षक होता कारण तो आजन्म विद्यार्थी होता. शेक्स्पिअर आणि कालिदास दोन्ही आत्मसात करणारा हा हिरा... गीतापंडीत ही पदवी असूनही पाय घट्ट जमिनिवर ठेवून अभ्यास करणारा आणि इतरांच्या ज्ञानाचा आदर ठेवणारा...अगदी नविन तंत्रज्ञान, फ़ेसबुक सारखी माध्यमं म्हणजे काय हे नातवंडांकडून माहित करून घेणारा....
रामायण,महाभारत,वेद, उपनिषदं , इथपासून हॅम्लेट,औथेल्लो ,मेघदूत असा लीलया विहार करणारा हा राजहंस... त्याच्या नातवंडांचे भौतिक लाड त्याने फार केले नसतील पण शरीर , मन अन बुद्धीला पोषण मिळावं म्हणून खूप यत्न केले.हॉटेल मधे नेलं नसेल पण पुरणपोळी भिजेपर्यंत तुप पानात पडलं नाही अशी अपवादाला सुद्धा खेप नाही.त्याच्या खिशातून भेळ खायला पैसे सुटले नसतील पण सुकमेवा कधी चुकला नाही. त्यानं कधी सिंड्रेला, जादूची कांडी, बेडकाचा झालेला राजपुत्र अशा कथा ऐकवल्या नाहीत; पण ५००० वर्षांची संस्कृती , महाभारत...उपनिषदं,वेद यातल्या गोष्टी वाड्यातल्या अंगणात बसून विनासायास रुजवली. सच्चेपणा,कष्ट, प्रयास, शिस्त हे स्वत:च्या वागण्यातून न बोलता शिकवलं.
सामान्य माणसाचे राग-लोभ, हेवे-दावे,कर्मठपणा हे सगळं त्याच्याठायी होतं... माणूस म्हणलं की दोष आलेच... ते नाकारता येणार नाहीतच तरीही.... त्याचं मोठेपण टिकलं त्याच्या  acceptance  मुळे.
"माझ्या लेकींइतकी क्षमाशीलता माझ्याकडे नाहीये" असं किती बाप मेल इगो बाजूला ठेऊन म्हणतात; "माझ्या लेकी शिकल्या ते माझ्यामुळे नाई, तुझ्या आजीमुळे" असं कुठला नवरा सहज स्वाकारतो... तारुण्यात घरातला चमचा सुद्धा इकडचा तिकडे केला नसेल तोच विनातक्रार "तिनं माझा संसार सोन्याचा केला, मला तिचं आनंदानच केलं पाहिजे" असं म्हणत लागेल ती सेवा म्हातारपणी करणारा नवराही विरळाच..... तुम्हांला मी इंग्रजी शिकवलं,पण माझी नात लिहिते तसं काही मला कधी जमणार नाही" असं शिष्याचं मोठेपण मानणारा गुरूही ऋषितुल्यच...आपल्यामुळे कुणाला त्रास होऊ नये म्हणून तब्येतीची पथ्य कडक पाळणारा आजाही सहजी भेटणं कठीण...
उत्तम नाही पण बरं इंग्रजी, वाचनाची आवड, शास्त्रीय संगीतातली रुची....  sincerity , integrity, accountability,  सगळं सगळं त्याचं ... इदं न मम...
त्याच्याभोवती असणारे आम्ही दगड की लोखंड यावर वाद होऊ शकेल... पण तो निर्विवाद परीसच...
अशी दंतकथा आहे की माणूस वारल्यावर १ वर्षाने चित्रगुप्त म्हणे त्याचा हिशोब करतो आणि मग स्वर्ग, नर्क याचा चर्चेअंती निर्णय होतो... खरं खोटं माहीत नाही ..क्षणभर खरं मानलं, तर आम्हांला न सरणारी शिदोरी देऊन गेलेला पारसमणी छाती ठोकून सांगू शकेल....

देऊळ पलिकडे तरीही, मी ओंजळ फुटला खांब

बुबुळाच्या क्षितिजावरती मी उरलासुरला थेंब...

image credit : Google.com

Selling Goods, Spreading Love.....

      She had been brought up like princess …. She always thought she would be a great home maker and never go out to earn bread ‘n butter….. She was youngest and quite a pampered child…. But life thinks different and bigger for us…

      For many reasons, with the education she got… she started working and kept going on… After marriage it was also the need of hour to get out of abode so that her children could get the best of life…. Though she never wanted to work, she was a sincere employee and always in pursuit of perfection. She went on this journey for more than 2 decades…. And suddenly there came abrupt end to this journey…. She had been associated with this company for all her professional life…. Yes, it sounds weird these days, but previous generations did not work just for increments and hikes… they worked with emotions more…. They worked with faith… more in pursuit of stability than monitory growth…. The set back was too huge to digest… Her elder child was in teens and had opted engineering course… her younger angel was still in secondary school and had long way to go…. She herself was nearing 50 and it was hard for her to find another job at this age….

      But being optimist… she never stopped trying. Everywhere she went… they said,” Your experience is too much to afford “. It’s really hard to digest when your qualities or expertise start becoming your enemy. Almighty was testing her strength I believe…. With finance, emotions, her self esteem … and what not!

One fine day, one firm said it’s too much of experience and it would be unjust to pay her less salary … all that they could afford… It was less than 1/5^th of what she was earning till 6 months before….. But she accepted… for her children… For their future… For their pride…. She opted to come down to such less pay…….

      It was a stock point of food products… She started working… I never could imagine what she must have gone through… But whatever she does… does with 1000% of conviction…. Change in the field, change in the type of work, less CTC… Nothing could stop her… She can draw happiness in anything everything…

      She started studying about the products in depth; she started gaining knowledge as much as possible…

Though a quality brand, they work on the basis of mouth publicity and principles of network marketing… In turn everyone walking in needs full orientation. I have seen her explaining everything patiently till even an illiterate person understands… I have seen utmost irritating people around her asking the same questions over and over… And I have seen her answering with the same smile and calm tone all the way… I have seen her helping people selflessly to achieve their targets in their business… I have seen her giving the products away free of cost for no profit of hers… in fact it has been from her pockets itself….

      I have seen her walking extra miles for people with all her heart in the journey. We have told her many times that she could make money much more than what she does…. But she follows the path of nature… path of nurturing, path of giving away, path of serving wholeheartedly… Her job is to sell the products available… But she sticks to the forte of sharing Love….. And the sale falls in place….

      It has been more than a decade now, working there. She can retire now, but she won’t… How can a loving soul unsubscribe unlimited data pack of love!!!

She has again earned CTC more than what she used to get in her career before… but more than that she has been a role model for hundreds of people. She has earned dissoluble trust of her employer and the people coming in. She is mother figure for youth there. She is a strong shoulder for those who need support.

She is the Love and Care in disguise… You wanna experience this? You can meet her @ Valsala Foods, 2^nd Floor, Ekbote Hospital, Shivaji nagar, Pune…..

   

      I have met her and seen her in many roles…. Fortunately, I am that elder child who completed engineering after she joined this new field…. I am the blessed and proud daughter … and this elite class soul is my Mom…who continues her journey of selling goods …. Spreading Love….

Ever Since I met You

Today is one of the most precious days of my life…. Yes! You read it right…I met you today.....

I still remember all that insecurity, all the hatred, I would say, I had for you. I was scared of losing my lovely life…. losing all the attention…losing the importance and losing all the love that mom has for me. Now I know, it was not me but the thoughts put by people in 3^rd STD kid’s mind. They had scared me of your arrival in my life. They had portrayed you to be my competitor. And it was hard for me to understand that it was just another joke. Life was just a nightmare those days… and May 13^th was the day when I was so lonely ….you had made “my” mom get admitted to the hospital. I could not see her around. I was scared of losing her for no reason…. I wanted to cry … I wanted to scream ... but no one would pay heed to me, I knew. Everybody was busy to be ready to welcome you… And I was busy thinking how I get rid of you….What do I do to get my mother back to me….

14^th Noon…. Masi came to me saying “Apla chota baal alay, gora gora paan….tappore dole…. Yetes ka bhetayla? Chal na TAI….” TAI……Suddenly in a moment I was “The Elder” child, the responsible,the caring sis… I hardly could understand though… All I wanted to do was to meet my mom and hug her tight and get her back to me… 

Hospital room … mom was tired, much weaker than I saw her couple of days before…. But I was happy to see her… I was happy to see the same love in her eyes. She held me for a while and just pointed something….I reached on the other side of her bed in a li’l hesitation… 8 pound mass was looking at me with twinkling eyes…Magic happened I suppose....You changed me in a second…. Now you were mine…. I forgot all my negativity….

                Ever since I met you, Ever since I saw you… you have made me a better person every day. You were the reason why I wanted to be the best… the role model for my sweet angel… I wanted to be perfect so that you follow the correct path when you keep your steps on the same footprints… (Yeah! yeah… I know I am not perfect… but I really tried it every day till you copied all my styles)

You are the reason I learnt loving someone so immensely and so selflessly. You are the reason why I would share something even when I badly wanted the same thing. You are the only person against whom I would enjoy all my defeats. You are the person who made me realize fights are beautiful… You are the person who becomes my team when mom tries to drop in to resolve the fights… You are the reason for spending hours doing nothing and still making the time most memorable… you are the one with whom coffee tastes like elixir….you are the one whom I feel responsible about… You are the one who has seen and been together through all thick and thin… You are the reason for discovering my strengths in disastrous times …. You are the reason which increased my patience to a level…. You are the one whom I can share anything with. I am not alone at any point of time for I know I can share with you if not anybody else… You are the reason why I met some wonderful and everlasting relations…. You are the one who can teach fashion to a person as illiterate as me…. You are the one whom I look up to when it comes to emotional detachment…. You set an example of detaching oneself,

for an emotional fools like me …You are the one who becomes “psychologist” or “philosopher” as Tai needs timely…. You are one of the reasons; I don’t need any other critic outside home.

Yes… You are reason for my anger too… You are the reason for my concerns too… you are the reason for my worries too… But more than that you are the reason for my smile… and moreover the precious tears as well…. You are the only reason why mom becomes runner up and holds 2^nd position in my life…..Nothing can scare me more than the thought of losing you …. Believe me… we all have gone through this thought and nothing … nothing on this earth is as scary…. You are my strongest weakness…but the strength as well…..I can't be thankful enough to almighty and my parents.... for YOU are the best present they have ever gifted :)

Ever since I met you… life is not just a walk to remember but a blessed journey to cherish all the time…. Happy Birthday Darling…..

Dream : All Masks Uprooted

    Is he just a colleague … no…. is he my friend … not really, but he is more than a colleague for sure. To me friend is part of my soul residing in other body. Friend is one whom, I can share at least a part of personality, with….whom I can talk my heart out, to, about something. One who does not scare me with the targets of expectations from each other.  One can say that should be your spouse, but no… being a spouse I do expect from my partner, so does he and fair enough. But a friend is a person where I get and grant forgiveness on not fulfilling the expectations. Sorry I went off track … so the bottom line is he is not the very special friend for sure. But I can’t put him in the dry list of “just colleague” category too.

In prologue I said I would write about people who teach me something special… So if he is not special what makes me write about him……It takes me to memories when I first met him 4 years ago. He was neither my boss nor the junior. He was just a consultant outsourced for one of the projects in the company. So certainly I was not supposed to prove myself in any sense. I was not compelled to be in his “good books”. I had no burden of being the most efficient team member. I had no targets of setting an example of a brilliant senior either. In short, I needed no mask in front of him. I was just myself and it’s the same till date even when we are working together or sharing about the common interests.

    Yes, we do need masks while we deal with people. Mask of sugarcoated words when we actually want to kill the person. Mask of sanity in some place when some other stuff is making you insane. Mask of detachment when you want to avoid some undesired things along with the desired one. Mask of smile when you don’t want your tears to be seen by the whole world. The mask of being “anonymous” while commenting for various reasons. Mask of pseudo anger to teach lesson to someone at fault. The list is endless and we do wear them at some point of time in our lives. It may be my weak observation or least knowledge or inadequate experience … but I haven’t come across a single person who has never put a mask on himself at any point of time. If somebody claims that, at least for now, I will call the person a big liar.

    But with this person, this colleague of mine, I don’t remember wearing any mask.  Junior colleague are even scared of me while talking about him for they think I could be his spy. J This certainly does not mean that we agree upon every single point. This also does not mean that this is the best relation I have ever had. No. But this is pure for sure. We agree to disagree easily. We tend to respect each other’s opinions effortlessly. Being a senior, he has taught me some techie stuff, some tips of the art form which he is better in; but more than anything else, this person has made me realize that ‘relations where you don’t compare, expect, moreover be yourself without any mask and don’t want others to wear one… turn out to be the relations, you would cling on to, all your life’.

    Some day, I hope to see myself with all the masks disappeared, anywhere, everywhere. The day when I would not be scared of anyone, when I am not concerned about my so called “image”, when I would not explicitly try to impress anyone, when I would do the things only because they are right to do and expect nothing in return…. Just needed to pay heed to this distant but respectful relation and thank this person to give this dream of being a pure beauty with “all masks uprooted”.

image :courtesy: internet.

Smile …. Wave back….

What would be different in routine of a middle class person!  Yeah it was just another day … same schedule … come to office, return time not fixed, same traffic, same irritation, same state of mind, same cursing to the system :)…. All in place as it is.

It must be 8:30 pm when I was on my way back. The day had been really long and was not really fruitful as far as dead lines were concerned. But music is something which helps me detach from all those nagging thoughts. So unknowingly I was singing one of the favorite gazals, “ Seene mein jalan”. It was a huge RED signal of 90 odd seconds. Suddenly I could sense somebody looking at me eagerly while I was busy with my gazal. I looked back…she leaned more to see if I respond. I thought she would not know even if I smile as I was wearing a scarf all over my face. I smiled anyway and smile made my eyes twinkle for a while. Surprisingly she recognized and smiled back. We played hide and seek for next 30 seconds. Every time she turned back to see me looking at her, her smile got bigger and more adorable. She was certainly happy to play this remote game, she told this with the cutest flying kiss in the world. Soon the signal was green and her dad started riding again. She waved continuously till she could see my bike. Her mom was then surprised and looked back whom she is bidding a good bye. Yeah she was just a kid, may be 2-3 yrs old.

This is just an incident and anyone can experience. But that made me think about us, the elders.  Do we really smile without knowing a person? Do we wave back if some stranger smiles? Do we really retain this innocence, the trust, the faith in just another human being? Just take a pause and try to remember, when did we last smile looking at stranger? When did we tell our name if asked by somebody, we    don’t know? We have lot of doubts if somebody smiles, or asks our name? May be because we read too many negative incidents in news, day in day out. We don’t trust anymore. We hardly have faith that somebody can interact for no reason. Somebody can talk to you without having anything in mind. I do understand that there are adversities, there are bad people around, there are unwanted, undesired things happening around. But is everybody bad? We have probably made mathematical equations… politics implies corruption, artists implies to addiction, boss bole to jhanjhat, biwi bole to jhagda, a girl and a boy… bole to lafda….

Can we forget this for a while? Can we just believe in purity? Can we just try and trust someone without a reason or a proof. Can we just smile often? Can we protect a child within? Can we allow that child to peep out more often? The child did this even without seeing my face… The eyes were enough for her to get connected… why can’t we then?  Yeah some people may think I am mad (and that I am) if I do that… but if 1 in 10 smiles back, it’s worth it. It’s a pleasure beyond words when you connect to eternity with such small things. It’s not wealth that brings happiness… it’s attitude. It’s the purity within self. It’s the faith within. I am sure the supreme power won’t let us down if we have faith in this innocence.  I am gonna smile often, I am gonna listen to the child within… I am gonna wave back …. Will you?

This is the time … this is the moment!!!

I am late in posting the article … because I decided to change the article at the last moment. As I have already mentioned this is about real world around me, this is something that made me change the article & write new one.

We are a big family. My paternal cousins must be more than 50 in number and then their spouses & children add the strength. Being such big family, it’s obvious that everybody is not equally attached to each other; but we cousins have a good rapport for sure between all of us. Childhood days allowed us to meet each other in summer vacations and on occasions like weddings & other family functions. The age afterwards stole this luxury. The frequency of meeting reduced while we entered colleges & then the jobs.

This cousin of mine was thus insisting on planning a big family meet since last couple of years. It was his idea to meet at our native place for at least couple of days. Every time we met he asked us when we would plan this get-together. He also offered all the service that was needed to plan this meet. We of course wanted this to happen soon; but whenever he talked about the meet, we would have some or the other excuse ready. We would promise him to take time out for planning & execution & would easily say, “Dada, we have all our life left. We will meet soon. “He would just smile & the topic would end this way.

Last week, he left home not to return again. We lost him in road accident. He has started his journey in the different world. We are still here and thought of meeting him remains the thought itself. Now how much we repent does not matter. Over the week, his voice I hear which says,” See, I tried to meet so many times.” Now even if, we cousins, meet thousands of times in family meet, he would not be there with us. We will miss him & will not get his company. We can’t see him anymore. We can’t get that cozy hug again.

Life keeps teaching something or the other, sometimes in weird ways though. Or perhaps we are unable to learn when it gives opportunities to learn in good ways. I have now learnt that I have to meet my loved ones often. I have to listen to my heart when it tells to have a word with our own people. I have learnt that we can neglect the inner voice very easily but then we pay the price & huge one. I have learnt that we can’t be sure when death will take us apart.

So, don’t make the same mistake I did. Whenever your heart tells you to meet someone, to talk to someone…… understand THIS IS THE TIME … THIS IS THE MOMENT… we never know what life would be the next moment……

They are my siblings, my child !!!

I was a kid then. I used to get curious whenever I saw him. He was a grandpa by age but he looked like innocent & enthusiastic child. Energetic yet calm; wrinkled but a very happy face. Busy yet satisfied…

I always saw him with them. He used to talk to them for hours. Some of them were small & young, but his favorite seemed to be those who were almost his age or even elder to him. He used to share so many things with them. I had seen him smiling, laughing & even crying at times. Their chats used to go on for hours & hours. At times, he suddenly used to get up & hug them tight… A cozy hug indeed. He nurtured them, pampered them, and scolded them some times. They looked fresh when he used to be around. They used to dance on beats when he sang. We could see their response when he talked to them.

One could easily see his deep love & attachment with them. Moreover he was never bothered to express   his feelings even if people looked at him with all possible weird looks. He just would give a lovely smile to those in return. Of course who cares about strangers when loved ones are together!

Many times we friends stopped our bicycles in front of his abode & observe him for a while and we would find him lost with them. Sometimes when he noticed us, he would call us inside. We were indeed shy and hesitant to enter there. We also had our classes lined up so for couple of years we just saw him for a minute or two and leave for the classes; but we could sense our own curiosity about his inclination & love towards the elder ones.

One fine day, I gathered all my courage to ask him the question nagging me since ages. It was Saturday noon and morning school was already over. City of Pune was not so crowded those days. There were smaller roads with a little traffic during noon. The retired people & children could easily walk on roads without any fear of traffic. It was all about bicycle riders & vehicles were not so common. The roads used to be quiet & calm for the same reason. I entered the main gate. He gave a warm welcome by saying,” hey, come my child. We know each other. I see you every day when  you come for your classes here. “I was touched by the warmth I felt. I told my name and told him that I needed to ask him something.

He first offered some cookies & then allowed me to ask whatever I wanted to. Though I had his permission I was a bit hesitant to ask a direct question. So I started asking him about them. He introduced me with all of them. After some 10-15 mins, I said, “Grandpa, we have been watching you for some time now. You love the elder ones more it seems. Isn’t it?”

He smiled and appreciated the observation. He took a couple of seconds in between and then as if talking to self, he entered the memory zone. With all his love we had seen so far he said, “they are my siblings my child. My mom planted them. She had a great knowledge about gardening. She loved the nature and trees in particular. These are the trees she brought up while she brought me up. She loved them exactly like her own child. She gave me all her knowledge & these loved ones as my most precious assets. Whenever I talk to them, share my pain or happiness, whenever I hug them, I can sense her presence with us. They are my family, my small world. I may be alone but I will never be lonely. My mom and my siblings always have been & will be my support system.”

He kept quiet after that. It was quite hard to digest for me as a kid, but he unknowingly taught me to love & to love selflessly with all my heart. I have not seen him for years … but I get to meet his sibling even now. Whenever I pass from his place, I can still feel the warmth he planted & love that still can be seen on those trees. I could never thank him for the best quality he gave. All the selflessness he gave.  So a try to express the endless gratitude…. Thank you grandpa… Whenever I can love people… It’s you, your mom and your siblings who reside within…. Thank you so much.