Grandfather (Dadaji), a quintessential figure of every family who binds each member to a particular set of values and act as a guardian to the whole family. I find myself lucky enough to experience it and to cherish it for over two decades.
I could proudly claim that I had not witnessed any other person having such a rigorous routine and maintaining it for so long. You had inspired me on so many levels that it couldn't be articulated.
Although I would admit that a part of your role also involved pampering your grandchildren which you had dutifully fulfilled. From giving us pocket money to buying toys and gifts.
I would remember you fondly until my last breath....
Our discussions on cricket,
Your opinion about football being a great sport,
Your tech-related curiosity,
Your fondness towards gadgets,
Your made-up non-humours jokes,
Defending our mistakes from parents,
Buying us mango bite,
Teaching us how to solve practical problems of life,
Your narration of the pre-independence era,
Your affection towards dogs,
And the list would never end...
To know that this is your last struggle against dying; there is a hidden relief amidst the deep sea of despair. That is the rarest experience of life, for it only happens at the last moments before temporality ceases to be.
R.I.P Dadaji (1928-2021)
“Maybe Life and Death seems so contrary to us because of the way we have comprehended life for all these times. And maybe, just maybe, they are one and the same thing. We have indeed made possession an indispensable part of our lives, the amassment of wealth as an intrinsic part of ourselves. Whereas death confronts us with its finality, dispossessing us from all our accumulations and from what we considered as ourselves. Maybe we can comprehend death by understanding life not as the sole purpose of our existence but as a mere point of our inception. Existence consists of two phenomena in totality; life and death. Life is an event of temporal nature identified by its subjectivity. While death is a phenomenon preordained by the presence of life itself and is recognized by its objective nature providing closure to its preceding event. Both are equally significant to ourselves. Life is not to be considered as a sole precious possession of ours which death puts away. It is not which we possess, it is us, a part of ours just as is death.”
― Aman Tiwari, Memoir: The Cathartic Night