Write Tribe always comes up with something that makes me smile. This week’s 100 words on a Saturday prompt is one such prompt. With this I now have the opportunity to write a few lines about my grandmother, my Dida.
You know there are ways in which life teaches us lessons and shapes us? Sometimes it’s through a certain acquaintance, a certain relation. It is sly, this thing we called life. It drops subtle hints and takes us along towards those curves where we learn and sometimes unlearn.
When I look back at my life a handful of people come to my mind. A bunch of people who have made me who I am today, shaped me if I might say so. My grandmother was one of them. She was one who had had an immense influence on me and in a way her thoughts still guide me to this day. Free-spirited, intellectual and broad-minded I think these words fall short of describing the kind of woman she really was. I don’t know many adjectives really that can do justice to the woman she was.
I remember she had told me once when I was just a little girl that I should always aim to live my life on my own terms, as an independent individual. That today is the mantra of my life. I’m fiercely protective of my independence. How I miss her today? I wish I could have brought her to live with me. You know every evening she would sit with the newspaper or a book. Maybe that’s where I got my love of reading from? She always knew what to say and how to say. I remember her quoting from Jawaharlal Nehru’s letter to Indira Gandhi on what to do when at life’s crossroads. My grandmother said whenever in doubt I should think if what I’m about to do needs to be hidden. If not, then I should go ahead unabashed. This has stayed with me ever since.
She was one of the strongest women I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately it’s going to be 3 years since she left this world for her heavenly abode. Sad thing is after June 2006 I just couldn't make time to meet her. College, career and what not took over. But I also think somewhere I fell short of making a genuine effort to meet her. I know I could have met her one last time if only I had tried a little harder. Well it can’t be undone now. I just wish I have a second chance to see her, even if once. Perhaps one day beyond the horizon, on the other end of the rainbow?
I know I’ve crossed the 100 word limit for the Saturday prompt but when it’s about Dida how can I not?
