Nana
How many times must have we said ''How Time Flies By" ... so much that it might need to be categorised lower than a platitude. But time does fly supersonic, and every time we pause to realise it, we are far ahead in time, from where we were, well, just a little while ago....!
Yesterday, 17th July 2006, was my Grandpa's 99th Jayanti, or Birth Anniversary. Implies he would have been 99 yesterday, starting 100. He passed away when he was 81. Implies 19 years have passed since he left. 19 YEARS...! And it seems like not much time ago... But it is.
I have vivid memories of Nana, as we all used to call him. He was absolutely a very meticulous and disciplined man. He looked after himself almost till he breathed his last. Making his bed. Going about his daily ablutions, that included neatly cleaning his set of dentures.
His discipline and meticulousness helped him in tiding successfully, times, which were not at all that affluent. He, at times much earlier, performed two jobs, one apart from the regular Stamp Office one that he had. I, on the contrary, find it difficult, to be in time for the single job that I do. Wish some of the discipline and meticulousness had filtered down to me.
Though he could not see clearly in the later half of his old age, he went about all of this without much help. He did not have many demands. The only thing I remember he demanded, was somebody reading him the daily newspaper. And I was not a very good gransdon, as I tried to run away whenever he asked me to. Methodically, he would ask me to read the headlines, and then any topic of particular interest. Then the daily almanac. And the daily Rashi Bhavishya (horoscope). Then to finish it off with sports news. The earlier memories yet, were him telling me the story of the Cap Seller and the Monkeys. This was my favorite story, and I asked him to recite it to me n number of times. He used to sit on his bed in the typical style he did, and recited the story to me. And also during those days, I remember when he used to shave, I used to sit beside him on the floor, as I used to find the whole setup used to make, very interesting.
A very simple life he led, and I don't remember him having anything more than his daily meals, and tea with paav (costing 35 ps then) in the evening , and tea with Marie biscuits (which had to be bought from Mhambre) in the afternoon. Specific times for everything, he had. You could set the clock by his routine. Truly, it was difficult to say whether he went by the clock, or the clock went by him.
His Black Coat hung on the nearby hook for all the years he was there. Though I saw him wearing it only twice, once during my Thread Ceremony, and then during Pradnya's marriage.
He could even calculate better and faster than any of us. And, in his mind, he would say confidently (remember he oculd actually not see the passbook) whether the Bank Pass Book had been tallied properly or not. I remember an incident when the State Bank Of India clerk refused to accept his mistake, but relented later, on careful inspection.
He certainly had his differences of opinion, but he sure took his views seriously. And he had distinct opinions about the situations within the family.
He was born on the 17th of July 1906. The year seems pretty historic to me now. But, it probably is not, since it was not too many generations away. Man, How Time Flies...! :-) ...
Yesterday, 17th July 2006, was my Grandpa's 99th Jayanti, or Birth Anniversary. Implies he would have been 99 yesterday, starting 100. He passed away when he was 81. Implies 19 years have passed since he left. 19 YEARS...! And it seems like not much time ago... But it is.
I have vivid memories of Nana, as we all used to call him. He was absolutely a very meticulous and disciplined man. He looked after himself almost till he breathed his last. Making his bed. Going about his daily ablutions, that included neatly cleaning his set of dentures.
His discipline and meticulousness helped him in tiding successfully, times, which were not at all that affluent. He, at times much earlier, performed two jobs, one apart from the regular Stamp Office one that he had. I, on the contrary, find it difficult, to be in time for the single job that I do. Wish some of the discipline and meticulousness had filtered down to me.
Though he could not see clearly in the later half of his old age, he went about all of this without much help. He did not have many demands. The only thing I remember he demanded, was somebody reading him the daily newspaper. And I was not a very good gransdon, as I tried to run away whenever he asked me to. Methodically, he would ask me to read the headlines, and then any topic of particular interest. Then the daily almanac. And the daily Rashi Bhavishya (horoscope). Then to finish it off with sports news. The earlier memories yet, were him telling me the story of the Cap Seller and the Monkeys. This was my favorite story, and I asked him to recite it to me n number of times. He used to sit on his bed in the typical style he did, and recited the story to me. And also during those days, I remember when he used to shave, I used to sit beside him on the floor, as I used to find the whole setup used to make, very interesting.
A very simple life he led, and I don't remember him having anything more than his daily meals, and tea with paav (costing 35 ps then) in the evening , and tea with Marie biscuits (which had to be bought from Mhambre) in the afternoon. Specific times for everything, he had. You could set the clock by his routine. Truly, it was difficult to say whether he went by the clock, or the clock went by him.
His Black Coat hung on the nearby hook for all the years he was there. Though I saw him wearing it only twice, once during my Thread Ceremony, and then during Pradnya's marriage.
He could even calculate better and faster than any of us. And, in his mind, he would say confidently (remember he oculd actually not see the passbook) whether the Bank Pass Book had been tallied properly or not. I remember an incident when the State Bank Of India clerk refused to accept his mistake, but relented later, on careful inspection.
He certainly had his differences of opinion, but he sure took his views seriously. And he had distinct opinions about the situations within the family.
He was born on the 17th of July 1906. The year seems pretty historic to me now. But, it probably is not, since it was not too many generations away. Man, How Time Flies...! :-) ...
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