Tuesday 2 April 2013

Grandma/Grandpa's tales - 1

Oh, how I wish I could remember all the stories we got to hear from our grandparents when we were kids. I remember these in bits and pieces now. Ofcourse grandpa would narrate the Ramayana and the Mahabharata and tell us tales from there and I would ask questions he would perhaps be embarrased to answer. I realize this years later, on how he changed the topic or answered something vague so as to divert me from the original question or at least convince me with the answer! Once I had asked him if it was possible to have children without getting married in the middle of some story from the Mahabharata!

Grandma's stories would be woven around her domestic chores. She would tell me often how she got married early and picked up tasks from her mother-in-law.

There is one major difference which I remember and will always remember is how they each treated 'fear'or the 'unknown' factor. When I was very young, very very young, I remember that the lights had gone off one evening and me and my brother sat with our grandpa waiting for our parents to return from work. I somehow said that I was scared of the dark and then what grandpa said has stood with me since then. He said 'fear' is what is in your mind, the so-called ghosts are your servants and when God resides in your heart, there is nothing to fear.

Contrary to this, my grandma asked me once (and I was much older then) if we were not scared when the old lady who lived as a tenant in our house had passed away! I didn't understand the question then and said 'but why'. She then told me how the soul remains in and around and she kind of introduced the concept of 'ghosts' in a closer way. No, it didn't scare me as I always stuck to what granpa had said about God being in your heart protecting you!

No comments:

Post a Comment