My Grandmother

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Where the school was concerned I have a few sharp clear memories. First one is my Granny waiting for me for seven hours in the hot sun. The workers in the school used to give her a cup of tea as nothing was available around the school.She used to sit in the school driveway adjacent to the fields for hours for me without eating or any other comforts. She was very used to fasting and knew of so many religious festivals. She celebrated all by donating something to the poor and the needy and to the brahmin. In her times we had a string of sadhus, priests, saints visiting home. She was always welcoming them and cooking meals for them.She coould cook really well and real fast and in great quantities. She never wore footwear after my grandfather passed away and that was barely three and half years into her marriage. She raised her two children staying with in laws and taking care of all. The amazing thing was she was never scared of any kind of work.
She had filaria in her foot but she could walk more than all of us. Inspite of walking barefoot all her life, she never had a thorn piercing her or any cuts in her feet. She would go to Badrinath, Kedarnath, Pashupatinath etc all without footwear. She knew the historic and religious significance of each town, city village in India. She travelled a lot to all places and went by public transport. In days of no mobiles and no STD booths, she kept in touch by beautifully written postcards. She had studied till fourth standard but could read english and Hindi signs, directions and her written Gujarati was immaculate. She taught me to read and write gujarati.

She was very well informed of world affairs and her world was all the people she knew. She knew saints of different ashrams in holy places. She taught me all the stories I know and all the shlokas I know. I never learnt anything after her. She was people friendly and loved meeting people and being in their world. She did a lot for the sick. All this in a very selfless manner.
We all children stayed with her all the time and slept in her room. She would pray and tell us stories.She had great patience with all of us.

Are all grandmothers like this Larger than Life?

Comments

  1. vinayApril 28, 2009 at 7:43 PM

    dear Parul,
    very touching.
    It must be your grandmothers blessings that you write so good .

    my salute to your grandmother.

    regards.

    ReplyDelete
  2. MallikaMay 5, 2009 at 6:00 AM

    Dear Parul,

    I believe all grandmothers r like this, Larger than life.
    I would write a whole big page about my Dadiji who did so much for us,her presence in our lives is just so comforting!
    Salute to your grandma!

    love.

    ReplyDelete

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