He is the man of my dreams,
He is the most handsome and intelligent man i have ever seen,
He is the kindest of all,
He is the BEST..and he is noneother than my grandpa!!!
Yes, not a single day goes without me thinking about him!!I have longing to write about him for quiet sometime..and today i got the oppurtunity..when i am a little relaxed...Almost for 20 years i was fortunate to have him by my side, to guide me, to be loved and cared for.
My grandpa was , is and shall always be the hero of my life!!A great man, extremely intelligent-he was a scientist..worked in planning commission..he has been so helpful to evryboday around him!
Till date evrybody remebers him for his kindness and warmth that he spread wreevr he went.Even my maternal granmother keeps talkng abt him, how he treated her as his sister and nott he typical sambandhi types, visiting them whenever he cud, attending all the family function!he neevr missed any even though we wud all ask him not to travel alone coz of his age...he was the man of principles and lived life to the fullest.
Since my childhood, he has taken care of me.Mom is a teacher and dad an engineer.Mom and i wud come back from school around the same time(2:30)..and thr grandpa wud have kept the lucnh ready for us both..for me he wud hav already kept sambar rice, curd rice etc..ready in the plate..all i had to do was wash up and eat!!!he even used to spoon fed me on few days..
he held our familt together..my athai chitappa dad..we wr lik one family..and still are thanks to grandpa..on all festive occasion our house wud be full of guests and ppl from from far away wud come to vist grandpa, just to get his blessing...our distant relation, dads friends, my friends..just about anybody and evrybnody!!
One eccentric characteristic of my grandpa which i can never forget is that even though we had a nice lil washing machine...he wud put his dhoti and all to the dhobhi,..whos used to come to ur house from dhobhi ghaat just for him!!!..our loyal old dhobi..buoy...even he wud never miss coming to our house thanks to granpda..grandpa wud pull his leg..talk to him as though he wr his buddy!..
and in our apartments.evrybody would wish him evrytime he went out for a walk .they wud stop by and talk to him..the watchman, mali, uncles aunties..evrybody!
almost evrybody in our family have been helped by him in somway or the other..be it for career gudance, jobs, fmily problems just baout evrything unde the son u can think of..
Few thing i can neevr forget..evryday he wud get by by 5..have his bed coffee that mom wud come and give in his room..then he wud keep ling on hi sbed and make sure he woke me up ontime for schooll..i used to sleep in his room most of the days..and my sis..
then he wud red the newspaper for sometime and then get up and made it a pount to help ma out in the morning!!!i dont know somhow i used to be amused at this.. beat ...once a scientist..a man who was once incharge of scientific projects for the benefit of the country..going about doing small chores in the kitchen in his cute lil costume--yeah..banyan and shorts!!!..hehe..just used tio love watching him taht time!!
for him my dad was still his 5 year old kid.
amma wud have finished making breakfast and lucnh and would pack her's mine and my sister's lunchboxes to be taken to school and sometimes for dad too but that was left to grandpa as he enjoyed doing that!!dad wud go drop me and sis to bus stop an later mom to school as itw as close by...
by the time he wud return, grandpa wud be busy packing his sons lunchbox..he wud mix rasam and rice in perfect proportion(yummmy!!)...mix curd rice..rich..full of creamy curd and milk..(by the way his way of making curd rice is so popular in the rajagopalans family that till date we all remember the taste and try to make it his style!!) i wud oftentease my dad nd call him a spoilt brat as even in his middle age, he old fatehr wud pack his lunch..for me that was amusing!!!i thot its hud be teh otehr way round..
but na grandpa loved doing it...and once when my maternal grandparents wr home and grandma asked y he did that for his don still and asked if she cud pak, he wud say,...na my sons still doesnt know all this..he wudnt eat properly if he himself packed it and that he was used to someone doing this for him since chilhood!!..man..comedy..my dad used to laugh at this..but hey it was fun watching grandpa!!
till today my mom keeps saying that she is blessed to be married int o this family and to have grandpa asher fatehr in law whi int he true sense was liek a father to her..he neevr treated my mom any separate from his own children..infact he wud help her in running the house..actually more than my fater, it was grandpa whi wud contribute int he running of the house...mom and grandpa wud sit down and make the lits of things to be bot brom departmental store...then he wud check the billone amazing this that i must tell is that he never used a calculator!!!!!!..even for the long list of almost a 100 items..he wud manually do the calculations..he nver used a calculator and his calculation wud be perfect!!!!!buoy...i think at 70 i wud be senile and wont be able to count even from 1 to 50!!
welll..i can go on and on abt him..he has been a great influence in my life and many otehrs....he sttill lives in our hearts...
cheers
lavanya