The Granny in the train…

I saw her today morning in the train just like yesterday.. just like the day before… She always smiles at me.. a small acknowledging smile I always loved to see that and reciprocate the same…


My grandmother passed away when I was 8 till then I was her favorite grandchild but after that there was a voidity in my life… My dad always said that his mother was a lady with so much of pride.. she always gave me Rs 50 every time I went to my native till her death and it was her money.. she never accepted the money given by my dad she had a small house in her name near by our ancestral house. She lived off the money she gets from the rent and saved it to buy toys and sweets for us…


This grandmother I see every day in the train is a replica but in a different way… she had the dignity, even in the ragged unclean dress there was a cleanliness in her, and she amused every one in the compartment.. she spoke to who ever who would turn their heads towards her about any thing in the world.. from MGR to Dhoni she knew every thing… I was a great fan of her talks and her toothless smile..
Once she told that her son had abandoned her in the central station before 10 years, and when she got no food she begged for few days but her dignity came between and she got a small job in the nearby school as a sweeper…. And lived off the money. Never have I seen her complain about her son or the daughter in law but always said that God wanted her to struggle and achieve and she does that… I wondered what had god wanted her to achieve… may be he wanted all of us to know that a person can live with humanity and dignity even at this situation… When a pregnant lady gets into the train she would be the first person to get up and give place…
Today a mother with a small child got into the train and they sat next to the old lady.. the child was non stop crying and the mother could not do any thing to stop it.. the granny pondered inside her bag for a few minutes and took out a small new keychain with bells and gave it to the child. The small piece of metal stole the child’s interest and it started playing with the key chain…
When the granny opened her bag to get the key chain, I noticed that her torn bag had some 5 to 6 key chains few mobile covers, few ear rings and so on… I wondered what she does with that…. someone else also noticed it.. and asked the grany.. “Yenna paati kasu ellanu sonna… eppo ulla evulo vachirukka? Ethellam yengerunthu??? “ (What granny u said u have no money and now there are plenty of stuffs.. from where did u get these??) there was suspicion in the voice and people started wondering if the granny stole these things from them…
The granny remained silent… Just then a small girl got into the train and she gave granny a small cheap pearl necklace and the granny gave her money… “varen paati” (bye granny) the girl said and went about with her business of selling these cheap goods… Once the girl had passed the granny said, “That is child will be of the age of my grand daughter and every day if she leaves empty handed her parents would torture her so.. I buy some thing from her even if I do not need it… Every one felt ashamed and sad… and started buying one thing or the other from the child and with in 15 minutes all the things were sold out..


But I couldn’t resist the smile curving in my lips… U would know the reason if I had I mention that this old granny lived near my locality and this was her grand child and she was living a happy life with her son and daughter in law and grand children!!! And this was the way of life for them!!!
This grand mother is definitely a replica… to every other grandmother but of cours  in a different way because she some how made money for her family… :-) is it a good way or a bad way I do not want to debate… Every one of us struggle to earn our living and this was her way of struggling....!