We got a call this morning that Arun's grandmother, mine too has passed away.
I have not known her for long, but for the brief period I knew her and from the stories I have heard from family, she was a courageous and strong woman, who loved and held her family close. Extremely energetic, until the last few years when she became bed ridden and lost her sight completely in one eye due to glucoma.
It was her wish that she should be around for Arun's wedding and I am happy that it could be fulfilled.
When in Gopalapuram, I have seen her move in and out of her senses, and during one of those times when I was sitting by her side, she said, "I see light, somebody is at the door, Shilpa go open it".... When I said the door was opened she was not convinced and sought after Jayanthi Chitti, Amma and Uma Chitti...
She has suffered so much in bed, these last few years, it is hard to explain. I have seen her being washed and scrubbed, fed timely and being given medicines and taken care of with so much affection... I had the opportunity during my short stay to feed her dosa once, braid her hair and scratch her back.... Today I feel happy that I could at least do so much for her, though nothing compared to what her sons and daughter in laws have done.
The last few months her situation only got worse. Even while I was there she couldn't open both her eyes, they had become very sensitive to light. Her skin all over her body, specially her legs had become so dry and sensitive.
I still remember the first time I saw her in Alwar thiru nagar, in her Chungudi yellow sari and a lovely red kumkum on her fore head. She glistened like gold..(I will always remember her as so...)
I am grateful to her for all the things she has done for Arun and the many years she took care of him.
I am standing upon the seashore.
A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze
and starts for the blue ocean.
She is an object of beauty and strength,
and I stand and watch until at last she hangs
like a speck of white cloud
just where the sea and sky come down to mingle with each other.
Then someone at my side says,
" There she goes! " Gone where?
Gone from my sight . . . that is all.
She is just as large in mast and hull and spar
as she was when she left my side
and just as able to bear her load of living freight
to the place of destination.
Her diminished size is in me, not in her.
And just at the moment
when someone at my side says,
" There she goes! "
there are other eyes watching her coming . . .
and other voices ready to take up the glad shout . . .
" Here she comes! "
~Henry Van Dyke
Comments
Thank you