I have never lived with my grand parents, maybe a little during my vacations during school days. Because of this I never knew them well. All I knew about them came from my parents.
I remember when I was small and came to India, don't know when, but at that time the only language I could speak was English. Talking to people was a tough as most of the people in the villages could not speak English
My Grandfather was not one of them. My grandfather could read, write and speak good English. Hell, his vocabulary at one time was better than mine. All thanks to the British rule. My mom used to tell me stories about my grandfather. He had worked for Brits in Bombay, then he bought a taxi and then another. Having two taxis in Bombay at that time was a big thing apparently. Probably still is.
He used to travel once a year, every year to Mangalore which probably explains the one year gap between most of my mom's siblings. My mom used to tell me they used to wait for their father to come because he used to get lot of gifts for them and for other children in the village. In short, My mom and her siblings had a good and comfortable upbringing. All because of my Grand Father.
Sometime back in January, I decided to go to Mangalore. My uncle was
turning 50 on Feb 1 and there was a big celebration planned. I did not want to miss this. Normally I would have travelled back to Bangalore on 1st Feb as it was a Sunday, but something made me take 2 days leave from work and extend my stay. During one of those days I visited my Grandfather in his village.
He looked the same, Healthier infact. He could walk, talk, laugh and still could tell stories about him and his brother. He told me to be careful when taking reverse in my new car as that is always tricky. The following day I went back to Mangalore. When saying good bye, I could see the reason I felt like taking leave in my Grandfathers eyes. I knew it and so did he. We both would never meet again. It was the same picture drawn on my other grandfathers eyes when I met him 12 yrs ago. He died a year later.
My mothers father passed away on 1st April 11PM IST.
You will always be missed grandpa. Bailoor will never be the same :)
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