Chhoti Chhoti Baatein . . . .

i have lost both my grandfathers (maternal & paternal) over the last 3 months.
They were both old, but not ready to leave this world ... they fought against disease all they could befor succumbing to its powers ...
i believe they are in a better place now .. god bless your souls..

Like many youngsters in current day Mumbai, i stayed in a nuclear family, away from my grandparents..
Inspite of many efforts of my parents to make me do so, i did not stay much in touch with my grandparents..
it was always "later mom"... "not today, im tired.. had a lot to do in college"..."im too sleepy, i ll meet them 1st thing tomo morning" ..
i never realised tht "later", "tomo morning" etc never came ...

yes, i did meet them on occasions - birthdays - mine, theirs, anniversaries, festivals .. before my exams, after my results .. etc ... always for a purpose.. wishing them, taking their blessings ..etc..

never did i go meet them jus for saying .."kem chho ba, dada" ...

it is these things that matter ..
after my dada's death, i missed him like hell ..
i remembered the things he did for me when i was a child ... the things i thought were normal, i expected them from him, never realising tht these are the things that are most special ..

like ... when ther was a cricket match and i had school, he would watch the match for me, keep a track of scores, wickets, batting n bowling figures etc, write them all for me so that i could read it n get a feel of the whole match... it had become a done thing for me ... i would even get upset at him for not doing this, never realising how sweet he was to do this .. i had taken all this for granted ..

now, after his death i miss umpteen such things ...
i along with my mom n dad was going through his cupboard looking for important papers, documents etc ... i found something tht made me cry ..
i had some years back topped in a prestigious exam ...
filed meticulously among other important documents of dadaji was a xerox of th marksheet and passing certificate of that exam ! ! ...
i dint even recollect when i had given it to him ...

im cryin while writing this ...

it reminds one of tht Times Of India ad with an old guy replacing a newspaper cutting of him being dropped from th hocke team with a cutting saying tht his grandson is selected ...

i also found a letter i had written to him in gujarati ( as a part of school projects, when we were taught how to write letters) ...
it was just a minor thing i had done coz it was told to us by the teacher "write a letter to ur grandparents... "

it was for us to learn how to write, stick a stamp, post a letter etc ...

he had saved this letter for over 14 years .. the only letter i had written to him ...

i miss him now ... n i regret not having spent time with him when he was here .. among us ..

so, for all people u r close to ... u love ... find time for them ... forget any misunderstandings .. be with them ...

life's not too short ... but it passes by quite fast .. u dont even realise it .. time once gone doesn come back

spend ur time in such a way tht u dont regret doing certain things later ..

and yes, for all those who are still lucky to have both their grandparents, meet them, spend time with them, talk to them ... they deserve that and much more ..
bcoz all they've done for u ... u ll never be able to giv back to them ..

remember these chhoti si baatein ...