My Grandfather

I was born in a small village.In my childhood, I often confused between my father and grandfather.I didn't know the difference between them either.But I can distinguish between my mother and grandmother as my mother always used to beat me and my grandmother used to protect me...!My grandfather is the one who has the gift of gab combined with strong morals and a bit of self centredness.I vow all my proficiency about Indian history (I don't call it Mythology) to him.I didn't know there are some things called countries and continents.I didn't know that it can rain at some place and the other place can be dry.I lived in that small pollution free village with my grandfather and grandmother in a big building.We have a lot of open space around the house and after 20 years, I still remember the way I used to spend my nights with my grandfather on my side.We used to spend time watching the moon and stars and he used to tell me the stories of Ramayana and Mahabharatha in his own style and many stories about animals and angels and inspirational stories about the way the people succeeded in their lives.Most of them used to be about education.

I used to spend most of my day fighting with my grandmother who tries to feed me as much as she can.I would be very glad at the arrival of my grandfather in the evening as he would always take my side and order my grandmother to take a break from doing her favourite business. I didn't have any idea what he used to do apart from going on a motorbike in the morning and coming back in the evening.When I moved on to Ongole (a small town) with my parents, strangely I never felt like missing my grandfather or the village though I had a great time there with many people around my house.He used to come almost everyday to Ongole to see us and every week, I and my brother used to have a tour to our village on my grandfathers bike.

I don't know how and why, he got this feeling that I am too weak to survive in this world.So he took the trouble of protecting me.Always supporting me, I don't remember this but my mother said that he used to happily bare the beatings to make me laugh.Even after 20 years, I am the same weak kid to his eyes.Even  the small things that I do, like going from ongole to a village by bus alone is a matter of great achievement in his terms and he used to be really worried about my journey.Surprisingly, my brother who is 3 years younger than me, taking my mother to another village on a bike is not a news for him.

There are things that are best kept unsaid about him.They were told to me by my mother but they are really great and I think he is the most spiritually enlightened member of our family the one who actually added some key elements to my character.