From the moment I have stepped
onto the threshold of this dusty planet to gradual maturity, in addition to numerous
blessings, God has laid his hands on me with a fringe-benefit in the unique shape
of my maternal Granny. To the best of my recollection, I have always found this
wrinkled woman with me exactly in the manner we carry breaths inside our bosom;
holding me in her luxurious lap, singing lullabies to me in the times of
melancholy, washing my soiled stuff, taking care of my belongings and narrating
bed-time tales of Shal-kak and Hemaal – something, at least in what I believe, the luckiest grandson on
this earth.
The amount of
her love I have felt myself engrossed in is simply irreplaceable. She is the
treasure in the cradle of life, a kind word uttered to me by deity, a star from
the heaven, a droplet to drown my child-like thirst, even as I have grown
through many summers now. It feels like God has used her rib to create me like Eve
was created from Adam’s rib. It feels like I’m the fruit and she is the
forbidden tree and nobody shall detach us.
Not only to
me but all around she has remained eternally nice, sympathetic and ready to
lend a hand to the deprived folks, to her fellow citizens, to every needy person
who comes her way. A very plain, down to earth lady who had no extravagances –
only fathomless necessities, I can still reverie in my head that in the
catastrophic times how she would conceal her glumness behind the wide smiles.
After every dreadful
moment she would assure her family that God will consider her every sacrifice
and tear yonder – while rolling her eyes heavenward – he will bless us with
fortitude and aid. Being unlettered woman, she would occasionally preach like a
thinker, “and whosoever suffers the
obstacles while fulfilling the responsibilities handed over by him [God];
whosoever plant tears in his [God’s] way will harvest smiles”.
In her wise
counsels, one goes like this “never get
afraid if you fall short in one subject it doesn’t mean you failed your life,
conquer and triumph over all the hardships of life, they will enrich your
strength that will assist you to complete the voyage of life. My prayers are
with you my son”.
Besides my mother
and the rest of affectionate members, granny has gifted me with a pair of
lovely women –maternal aunts; who have had nurtured me like a monarch, who have
endured my every bitter nature, who have taught me the world and the life we
breathe within its confines. My granny would be the cause behind all my
victories – more than for myself, I have always wanted to win for her.
In her mid-sixties
now – the once energetic and lively woman, has now been enduring with a brain tumor,
the extra mass the family would never have imagined she would need to carry one
day. Doctors seem to have given up, medicines go ineffective, and prayers
–bunch of which she once showered on everybody – also seem to be going unheard.
This unkind
malady is dragging her towards the door of death and I’m standing here unarmed
before God’s will. It feels like my world is falling apart gradually and I can
do nothing to prevent the arrival of an impending catastrophe.
A version of this article was also published on the print edition of Greater Kashmir on Friday 13 March 2015, http://www.greaterkashmir.com/
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