I’ve been particularly lucky to have had the opportunity to spend time with my grandparents right up to their last days. Grandparents are really special people and in my case they were both more my friends as much as grandparents! I have many things to say about them, and this post is more of a placeholder.
As they grew older, it used to take a lot of imagination to do something to get them occupied or keep them entertained because they have various constraints like not being able to go outside, etc. They become more and more like children 🙂
I had composed a long list of things that I had come up with, but have no clue where it is. I’d been writing since a long time even before I started this site, and some of the entries are from old emails to family and friends. I recently dug up some emails written to family members, to give an idea of various aspects about Ajji (grandmother) and Tata (grandpa – pronounced as thatha), and maybe next weekend will try putting up some photos of some nice trips we had when we went out as well.
Due to weakening of her optic nerves, Ajji’s visibility had reduced so much that she was virtually blind for her last few years. This had led to a great deal of insecurity, worrying about every sound that she heard – “what? who was that? is the front door locked?…”
——–
Date: Tue Oct 13, 1998 7:35 pm
Subject: The Adventures of Ajji and Tata (#9112218)
Disclaimer: This is sad in a way, but if you remember the ending that nothing bad happened, then you might find it funny…
Yesterday evening around 7 PM, Ajji heard a voice from Tatas room “Sumathi,
sumathi, bega baa illi!!”
Ajji went went fast to his room, and saw him lying down on the bed
perpendicular to it, so that his head was towards the bookshelf and his feet
were on the floor.
He shouted to her, “yelee yelee , aske na yelee”! (pull, pull, pull the
bed!!)
She wondered what was happenning, and pulled at the bed with all her
strength, and with a lot of effort could barely move it.
He shouted “aakade alla, ennoundh kade thallu, yeli beda, thallu!!”. [not that side, push the other side, don’t pull but push!!]
Then she started pushing, a bit franctic now, and finally giving up called
Atthe who came running wondering what she was so panicky about.
Then they found that Tata had gotten his hands stuck on the other side of
the bed (below the bookshelf), that too not one arm, but both his arms had
gone all the way down and thats why he was lying helpless like that on the
bed. Then Atthe untangled him from the mess, and then Tata warned Ajji not
to tell this to anyone.
Later when I came home and Ajji told me all this (while shaking the divan
trembling with laughter and tears rolling down her eyes), she said she didnt
ask him what he had been trying to do, she didnt even want to know. But I
found out from Atthe that it seems his walking stick had fallen down, and he
had stretched out one arm to reach for it, then the other, then had realised
that he was sort of locked in that position.
———–
Date: Fri May 23, 2003 8:22 am
Subject: music to our ears
I bet u’ll never guess what Im talking about…
I never imagined that hearing a person snore would be nice…!! 🙂 Ajji was
peacefully snoring away to glory this morning… she was in quite good
condition and ate one full dosa (quite an achievement, because off late
she’s been eating very less). Whenever she eats properly shes ok as long as
she dosent talk too much. [Going to the bathroom is her main problem, she
feels very tired for 15 minutes after that].
——-
Date: Fri Aug 1, 2003 2:33 pm
Subject: RE: Ajji now ok
I was in UK when I got a mail from my sister saying Ajji was ok
Thanks… these type of messages mean a lot to us… dont hesitate to spam my mail box with even hourly updates… Ajji got up, ajji ate, ajji sneezed… ajji snored, etc… I would be more than happy…!!
Old age is inevitable but can be terrible sometimes. I have observed it closely in Ajji and Tata. When people close to me go through something, I feel as if its my own experience – because I try to put myself in their shoes. I can write a long essay but will keep it to one sentence… that it is very important to make sure Ajji dosent feel she is a burden to others. Inspite of all attempts she is going to think so anyway, so only thing is to remind her of all the good things she has done to so many people so that she does not undestimate herself, and of course try to make her laugh!
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