Unforgettable memories - this cycle is kept in running condition for 30 years, in her memory

The topic to write on Grandparents is pretty intense, thank you @galenkp for coming up with such a great topic. We had only maternal grand mother and we were very closely associated with her. Unfortunately, we do not have any digital photograph of her,with us, because we did not own any sort of camera that time, I have captured these photographs from some bindings kept at home.

The photograph above is from 1972, where she is sitting with my father, mother and my elder brother(1-2 years old). She was married very early ( could say child marriage, practiced during those times), lost her husband when my mother was yet to come to this world. And her struggle was not easy, belonging to a very conservative brahmin society, from those times. Imagine, they belonged to a brahmin society, where people from no other caste were allowed to enter their village lane, during any ceremony. She gathered courage, migrated to another place and did a job of health worker in government hospital, where she was going every day in cycle covering a distance of 9 km. Raising two kids as a single parent in sixties with these difficulties and giving them proper education and culture is really commendable. You can see my mother and my uncle in the below photograph taken yesterday on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan. They still follow the discipline taught to them in childhood in their seventies. And it was the value taught to them, which helped them to upbring us with so much difficulties.

When we were in schools, there was no other forms of entertainment other than outdoor sports. And every year, we used to visit our Grandmother in summer holidays. That time, there was no proper communication. Only one or two buses were running, and then some private Tracker Jeeps were available. They would load double the passenger capacity and only then they will start. The journey was hectic in today's means, but we really enjoyed them that time - the joy of going to the Grandma's house was the most happiest times of the year.

She waits for us every year, and do the year long planning for us. She had quite a few small ponds, and there would be lot of fishes ( small and big), she would make people ready to catch fish ( Fish was the only non-veg items allowed to eat that time) when we visited. She also used to make some fishing rods ready, made out of bamboos for us and taught her how to do fishing. I remember, she would ask someone to gather some earth worms, as the food for those fishes and as soon as we finished her breakfast, she would go with us and spend time to catch some small fishes. After we do fishing for few days, she would call those men to put nets and catch large amount of fish from those ponds.

She had lot of coconut trees ( even today) and the entire time we were there, she would have one men come in the morning every day and get tender coconuts from the trees. Fresh from trees, I really miss them. Today we have coconut trees, but the amount they charge to procure from the tree, is lot more than the price in market. We just leave them, till they mature and fall down 😀.

One thing that I have not tasted since those times is the buried palm fruit cakes. Every year during the summer, she would get a lot of palm fruits and then call someone to dig the ground and put those palm fruits to rest for a year. And then when we visited, those will be digged again and brought out. The taste of the cake that would have formed inside those palm fruits, really hunts me till date. So much that, I have tried few times, to get them from my native place, and not succeeded.

She had lots of guava and ebony (tendu/kendu) trees in her backwards, and we would spend some good times climbing those trees and eating those directly from the tree. It's very difficult to find ebony (tendu/kendu) fruits now even in market. Her home was a descent home that time, with lot of space for us. I remember, couple of rooms were with ceilings made out of bamboos and mud. Though she had electricity / fans, it was barely available for few hours and we would take some hand fans and sleep in those rooms during day time. And they were very cool in the night. Spending a month at her home was always less for us. Sometimes we would demand to stay for some more days and ask her to come with us and leave us. But those days were really enjoying.

She is the one who gifted me a watch when I was about to appear my 10th board exam. I remember, it was a trendy watch, and having a wrist watch was kind of a status icon in that age😀 The cycle you see here, was gifted by her to my younger brother in 1991 in his thread ceremony. Thread ceremony is celebrated very grand in our religion, its more than a marriage. And this was from the top brand that time, parked like a bike in that function. We have kept this fit and running since then in her memory. I ride it sometimes even today.

She was a very disciplined lady and strict for my mother and uncle. I have seen they fear as well as respect her for the values. Interestingly, there were no rules for us. She would only scold some times, if we break something, that would cause damages. But otherwise, she was very friendly to us. She would barely come to our house, as going to daughter's house and staying there is considered unethical, even today. But her memories are with us forever........