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Saturday, October 2, 2010

Be Happy and Go...

Ok, so I have been lazy too lazy to blog…uh??? No I have been busy..busy at work..busy at home..(Dint I tell u guys…when I came back from vacation, my mom dint join us…as she is taking care of her sister…who is on bed rest after a surgery…uhmm..) Now, with no other option, I had to takeover her responsibilities too..Now, I have to cook and do all house chores, take care of my son and still go to Office…grrr…so this made me tooooooooooo busy that I didn’t even call back home for past 2 weeks… and yesterday my Grand pa phoned me…He called me as he didn’t hear from me for long time…How sweet of him…Hey, have I ever told you about him…??? About my grandpa…my dear Appups…

Now, in our language Appuppan is Grand father…and I lovingly shortened it to Appus or Appups to address my dear Grandpa… He is popularly and widely known as Daddy among family and friends after his kids started calling him Daddy…I know only very few people who doesn’t call him Daddy…It just became his name…and indeed he was precious enough to be a Daddy…a good daddy…the most Cool and loving but still strict and disciplined Daddy…

A small past on my Appups…He got married at a very young age, had 3 daughters...his wife, my grandma passed away during her 4th delivery due brain tumour…rather the truth is, she died on the operation theatre table, when she was 7 months pregnant…the baby (my Uncle) was operated out from grandmom’s dead body…My mom was just 11years old then and Appups some 33…the 7 year old baby, in my mom’s words looked like a frog and was taken to incubator and later taken care of by my grandma’s sister…anyways, that’s a different story…

My grandpa who was still very young was forced to get married again for the sake of the 3 young daughters aged 11, 7 and 3…One day, he asked his younger daughter (my aunt who is under bed rest now…) if he can bring another mom for her…and she said NO (but today, she regret that... as she feel if she hadn’t had said NO that day, maybe her father wouldn’t have been alone at his house today…)…my grandpa told everybody “NEVER EVER TALK ABOUT A SECOND MARRIAGE FOR ME”…from that day, he has been living for his children…and so you can imagine how close a relation could be between those children and father…their Daddy…

He was in Army then..and served several years in Security Forces…and then for the sake of his daughters, he voluntarily retired from Service and started a business…He is 80+ today…still he follow the same routine that he followed years back…Regular morning walks…controlled and timely food…and so on…he is as healthy and strong as any of us, if only better than us…even if he has all the different diseases a man can get during Old age, he never show them out…That is how my Grand pa is…

To be frank, as kids he was a “Warning” to us kids… bcoz …as he didn’t live with us, during vacations we used to go to his house to stay with him for a few days…These days, days which was supposed to be ALL PLAY NO STUDIES/WORK was changed to a different style due his disciplines and creative ideas to make us kids work…haha…He had this way of luring kids with promises of Gifts for the kid who does the best S U P W…haa!!! I really forgot what it exactly stood for…I think it was something like Socially Useful Productive Work…grrr…he used to tell that kids need to work hard and learn to earn and then save them…We would enthusiastically jump into the trap and then soon find ourselves carrying buckets of water from the well / pond to the plantain fields or cleaning the plant pots or brooming /moping the floor and so on…and every now and then one of us used to hear his MASTERPIECE Phrase… “You are an Irresponsible IDIOT”…as long as the receiving end was not one self, the rest of the kids used to giggle hysterically when they hear this…(he doesn’t mind using this statement to his children or grandchildren even today…lol!!! And its still EMBARASSING…)

He never allowed us to sleep after 8am…which was a shock… A Glass of Milk was compulsory during breakfast, which I hated…we were not allowed to waste food…and that made us sulkingly sit in front of the plate with vegetables…had to push them down our throat… the worst was the Ginger drink that was forcefully poured into our mouth every Saturday morning…he said it cleans our stomach and keep us healthy…I haven’t actually heard him scold any of us ever…he dint look like a Villain out of any Action movie nor he used any Action stunts with us kids…still, none of us ever did anything against what he asked us to…WHY, I don’t know…maybe bcoz of respect…maybe bcoz of the love we had inside our hearts which we never realized during those days….

But as years passed by the bonding between us increased…when I was in college, he used to come daily afternoon to my house and have lunch and then take a short nap…I would be reaching home after College when he would be taking his evening Tea…I would sit with him and say all news and gossips of college…he would eagerly listen to them, gossip with me..joke with me..till he leave to go back to his house…with these evening talks our love grew…our bonding grew…we became so close to each other that, it was difficult for us to not see even for one day… if he missed seeing me any day, he would wait for me the next day…

I still remember, how hard was it for me and him when I was leaving my home to pursue my future in this land…I still remember how he comforted me when I cried at the airport…I could see tears in his eyes…but still he strongly said… “Hey…dear…why r u crying…you are going for a better future…u can come here any time to see me na…then why are u crying…Be strong…and be happy…only when u r happy Appups will be happy…Now be a strong girl…Be happy and go…” … Even today, he is staying all alone in that same old house…a house maid cooks him food on time…Even though his children loves him so dearly, their responsibilities force them to stay at different parts of the world…all his children never lose one chance to visit him every time they could…Still the yearly vacation is the time when some of us get to see him and relish some memorable days with him…Whenever we land at the Airport, I know, whoever may come to receive me or not…My Appups will surely be there waiting for me…

Its been years after that day at the airport…Even today whenever I am at the airport and hugging him Good Bye, tears fill our eyes…and his words are still the same…

“Be happy and go…”
NB: The kids in this story are majorly, myself, bro and cousins. We all used to visit him during vacations and those were the days when his house was filled with screaming, laughter and shouting...heehe!!

4 comments:

lakshmi said...

sweet grand pa.............

anupama said...

Dear Friend,
Good Evening!
It's has been since ages we vosited each other.[I mean blog].Hope you are fine.
Pranam,love and respect your Appups.I attended Grandparents' Day celebration and gave a talk.I shared the fond memories of my Achamma[Father's Mother].I was so happy to meet my Amma's student outside Kerala.When he was invited to speak,he was so emotional and could not talk.He was in tears.
A grand and great ceremony of felicitating Grandparents.
I wish good luck,long life,peace and health to your Appups.
Wishing you a lovely evening,
Sasneham,
Anu

KParthasarathi said...

A touching post indeed

Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas said...

Read all the posts…..

I hope apooppan is doing good….it’s a blessing to have our grandparents/ parents around….