iDEATE: miss you grandpa ...

iDEATE

Doodling my heart out about all things 'creative' ...

Saturday, January 3, 2009

miss you grandpa ...

my grandpa used to maintain a diary, where he's poured out his heart and much more, for nearly half a century. from 1959 to 2008, every single day of his was chronicled in that diary. the people he met, the things they said, the things he saw, everything that he even remotely felt 'connected' to, went into that diary. August 2008 was his last entry as he got sick after that. a couple of weeks back, just before x'mas, my grandpa passed away. he was 75.

i was brought straight to my grandparents home from the hospital i was born in. i was brought up by my grandparents and i learnt to babble and crawl around, under their loving eyes. both my parents are bankers by profession, and it followed that my share of being doted on came from my maternal grandparents. my parents used to visit me every weekend, whilst i learnt my first alphabets and numbers from my 'ajji' and 'thatha'. my grandad was an incredible man. he was the only person in living memory who could talk about paris hilton and the vedas in the same breath. he taught me my first prayers. he opened up the fascinating world of 'books and reading' for me, when i was still a little bundle. he made me who i am, and for that, i'll always be grateful to him. he gave me a very rich childhood, a childhood filled with love, books, music and laughter. and that, i shall always count as my most cherished blessing, ever. he had chronologically filed all my articles that were published in the newspapers, meticulously, with a mention of the date and publication that it had appeared in. he had mentioned my birth on 4th may 1985, in his diary fondly as, "A baby boy was born today to my daughter. my first grandchild". he named me. he filled my existence with 'life' and taught me the need to yearn for a happy and zestful life. i don't think i'll even miss my parents more, than him.

there's this other hilarious entry that dates back to 1973, when my mom was in school. i guess she had lost her fountain pen that eventful day in school. his entry reads, "vasantha lost her fountain pen in school today. very CARELESS."! right from my first babble to my first crush, everything's been documented by grandpa in his diary. when they went to the US in 2000, he actually stayed up during the whole 22 hour flight from b'lore to new york, recording the cities they were flying over and the exact time then (both IST and the respective city's time). his memoir on his trip to the USA is both rich and exhaustive. every mention of an Indian restaurant they ate in, in the US, is followed with a review on the kind of gourmet that was dished out, and (believe this!) it's address mapped out to the exact longitude and latitude. one can feel him revel in the white house and general assembly experiences, as can one feel the rush he felt aboard the maid-of-the-mist when that boat went neath the niagara. his authority on art was phenomenal as he's talked passionately about a renoir painting displayed in the MET (metropolitan museum of art). i didn't know it took only 10 mins to fly from italy to vienna till i read his diary, as his diary reads, "5.20 a.m (IST) Italy. 5.30 a.m (IST) vienna".

he was the most knowledgeable man i ever knew, and i only hope i live my my life at least half as meaningfully and happily as him. i miss you grandpa.

Labels: it hurts when you lose the people you love ...

posted by Mister Avant Garde @ 2:14 AM

7 Comments:

At January 3, 2009 at 3:47 AM, PI said…

he sounds like the most incredible man! u'r lucky to have had him in ur life. am sure the memories would always make u smile :)
At January 3, 2009 at 4:01 AM, Mister Avant Garde said…

yeah tripts, he was quite an incredible guy... will miss him, big time ...
At January 3, 2009 at 6:22 AM, ReVelatIon nd TrutH said…

Wow...your love and respect for him has been very nicely expressed Vinay...God be wit u nd your family...
At January 3, 2009 at 8:38 AM, Anonymous said…

"he was the most knowledgeable man i ever knew, and i only hope i live my my life at least half as meaningfully and happily as him" - Such a true statement. This story brings in such reality to what is so true. You have written it well and makes us go back to those memorable days in our own lives!

Keep blogging my friend.. you do it well!!

Btw: I am Ranjana's cousin- Varun
At January 3, 2009 at 10:02 AM, Nikita said…

I never saw my nani and dada and don't have many memories of nana and dadi as they passed away when I was very young. I see other people being loved and pampered by grandparents and acutely feel their absence in my life.
I am so touched by your post, I wish I had a grandpa like yours and shared many moments with him.
Incredible man, God bless his soul.
At January 3, 2009 at 2:18 PM, Unknown said…

Trust me!!! u gonna be a great man buddy.Period.
At January 4, 2009 at 8:55 AM, Mister Avant Garde said…

@ ranjana : yeah kanoo, he was a great man, was my thatha :)

@varun: caught up in the rush of youth, we at times tend to forget that our elders are the role models we need to look up to... we keep hamming about a non-existent gen-gap, as it doesn't occur to us that our elders have actually 'lived' life way more zestfully than our 'cool' selves...
btw, bout the vote of (blogging) confidence, thanks mate :)

@ nikita: he truly was an extraordinary man da ... am sorry bout your grans girl... i know now what it is like not to have your grandpa around, to listen to your rants on college, life, women, politics, sports, movies, books and much, much more ... it's funny how we keep playing the last conversations we've had with the loved ones we've lost, repeatedly in our heads ... recurring thoughts only make us wish we could go back in time and embrace life MORE with our loved ones...

@ anki: thanks for the words of support anki... u guys mean a lot to me bud :)