There was a time when kids grew up hearing stories and folk songs from grandparents. The kids who grew up with grandparents were always invariably attached to them. They grew up religious, they used to respect their elders, and grew up as kids. Nowadays electronic gadgets took up the job of story telling; Respecting the elders became not so cool.
I was recently part of a conversation between three mothers.
Mother 1: Do you stay with your in-laws?
Mother 2: No way.
Mother 1: Lucky you. You can bring up your kids the way you want.
Mother 2: It’s not like that dear. You are lucky actually. Your kids get to feel the love of their grandparents. That is priceless.
Mother 1: (Made a face and turned to me) What about you?
Me : I stay in an extended family
Mother 1: No wonder you thought of having a third kid.
It was my turn to make faces.
Is it your luck or not to grow up with your grandparents is all up to you. But growing up with their grandparents or at least spending time with them never made a child ineligible. Why I came up with this topic all of a sudden? I saw the movie ‘Oru Muthashi Gadha’. Though the director did not grow up to the benchmark set himself, the storyline covered up all the cons of depiction. Needless to say, Rajini Chaney and Bhagyalakshmi stole the show and rocked the silver screen. There has been a surge of so-called New Gen movies these days, wherein Grandparents were invisible. So were parents, for that matter.
Photo courtesy: https://www.rediff.com
The movie will force you to look back to your grandparents’ life and wishes. Creating a wishlist for your grandpa may not be an idea that comes to everyone’s mind nor teaching them the latest gadgets. I could connect to the character of Leela since she reminded me of my granny in terms of smartness. She used to ride a pillion on a two-wheeler till she was 75. Yes, we get old but they don’t.
Next time you see your child being fed chocolate or any other restricted items please don’t prevent it. This tiny naughtiness is all part of life and will let them live young forever. I wouldn’t count myself as a good grandchild but I am sure my kids will be.
I dedicate this post and Oru Muthashi Gadha to Balakrishnan Nair, Rema, Anilkumar, and Geetha four wonderful grandparents.
Also to my and my better half’s paternal and maternal grandparents. I hereby pledge that I will make my kids be what I was not to my grandparents.
