3 minutes read

“Get down kiddos, dinner’s ready!”, Meera said.

Both kids got down from the tree house and went inside. After supper they went to their father who was flipping through old photo albums.

“Papa who is this?”, the boy pointed his little index finger to one old lady in the photographs.

“That’s my grandmother”, said Anuj, “She is the greatest blessing we could ever had.”

“What’s a blessing?”, asked the little girl climbing over her father’s shoulder.

“Let me tell you a story.

“I was 10 years old when my grandmother fell sick. Being the only child to my parents, she loved me so so much.

“The other day I sat upon the mango tree in our backyard when she came up to it, teetering on her frail legs.

‘Beta Anuj!’, she said,’come down beta. I need to show you something.’

I looked at her pitiful picture and immediately got down without saying a word.

‘Come beta. How many times I have told you not to climb that tree. Don’t disrespect it. It is your grandfather’s. I’ll meet him there.’

Daadi had Alzheimer’s and would forget things after she said them, however nonsensical they might seem. But she always remembered me telling things. Maybe she didn’t actually had the disease. I don’t know. Nevertheless, I held her arm and escorted her back to her bed.

‘Listen beta, take this’, she said and handed me a small silver coloured chain. It had a small C shaped pendent attached to it. There wasn’t anything special regarding the item. Neither had I seen it before on her person.

‘Take this and keep it with you always’.

“I took it and clenched it in my hand.

‘I promise daadi. I’ll keep it.’

Daadi smiled and placed her hand on my head.

‘Love you baccha’, she said and sent me away as she wanted to rest.

“Two days later she passed away and after some time everything went back to normal. I would miss her now and then and would look at the pendent. I never thought of anything else of it other than a token of her remembrance.

“Then one day, dad met with an accident and passed away. It happened all too soon and suddenly to make sense of it. I was 14 at that time and mother was overwhelmed with the responsibilities. Both of us tried working day and night to make ends meet but it was difficult. Some nights I could hear her crying in her room while I pretended not to hear and focus on my studies. Every now and then I wished things were different and that we got out of this misery.

“One day in the evening as mother and I sat at the front door, I had the chain in my hand and suddenly it slipped through my fingers. It so happened that a mouse roaming just nearby got hold of the thing and made a run for it. Caught by the sudden occurrence, I stood up and ran behind the creature.

A few paces away it dropped the chain to the ground and disappeared. As I extended my hand to pick it up, it slid through the soil and disappeared. I was surprised and started removing the dirt to pick it up again, but it slipped again and sank further into the ground. Again, I would dig, see it lying there and again it would slip beyond. It wasn’t long before mother and I both were digging into the ground. After about fifteen minutes we stopped when the shovel hit a metallic object resulting in a dull clank.

“We pulled the heavy trunk out and dragged it into the house. Both of us were exhausted and as a young lad, I was expecting exactly what any young boy of fourteen would. And we weren’t disappointed.

“The trunk was filled with letters enclosed in envelopes and multiple valuables. Both mom and I looked at the shiny things in front of us. My mom put her hand on her mouth and smothered a cry, but I couldn’t. I grabbed her and hugged her so tight and both of us cried for some time.

“Mumma carefully took away the valuables and steadily turned our life around. We knew that it was daadi who heard us and helped us get out of the misery. Every year we celebrate her birthday and pray to her for our well-being, and I believe she hears and blesses us the same way she did years ago.”

Anuj turned to look at the little fellows, but they were already asleep. Both Meera and him, picked them up and tucked them.

“What about those letters?”, asked Meera.

“Love letters. That my grandfather wrote to daadi”, smiled Anuj.

“And the pendent?”, Meera asked.

“Why, it was found at the bottom of the trunk, magnetically attached to another C shaped pendent forming a heart.”

Meera looked confused.

“The mouse dropped the chain at the base of that mango tree. That’s where we dug. That’s where daadi led us. That’s where she was always meant to be. With my grandfather.”