This article is dedicated to my paternal grandmother, Mrs. Vathsala Badrinarayan, who celebrates her 78th birthday on 22nd January 2019. Here's wishing her a very, very happy birthday. May the year lying ahead fill your life with a lot of happiness and light!
A few days back, I decided to experiment doing something. In other words, I decided to take a break. I left everything aside- books, computer, mobile, everything you could think off. All I had with me was me and my inner soul.
Over a period of time, I had realised that I often took the wonderful aspects of my life for granted, and my mind drifted towards negativity.
I closed my eyes and decided to think about all those wonderful things gifted to me by the Almighty. The first image that came was that of my wonderful family. I decided to delve a little deeper. I wanted to find out what was it in my family that made me (or for that matter anyone else) respect it.
And, the first image that came up was- my grandparents.
Well, if you are wondering why; I have my paternal grandparents staying with me, while my maternal grandparents too occasionally come over to Pune. I consider myself very blessed, and every day thank the Almighty for giving me the opportunity to stay along with such jewels, filled with such a lot of knowledge and wisdom.
As a Chinese proverb rightly goes, 'If a family has an old person in it, it possesses a jewel.'
Each one of my grandparents is unique in their own way. If I sit down and interact with them even for a few minutes, it fills me with lots of thoughts and ideas. I do frequently have debates and mild arguments with them, because of the generation gap between us. But, with each one of our discussions, my respect only grows for them. I always try to soak in their words, as I know that their experience of life is immense.
I always feel that words spoken by grandparents are like the droplets of rain falling from the skies. The droplets shine and bring light into all our lives. A few of them are used to irrigate fields, while most of it goes underground, to come of use sometime later. Like water seeps through the ground and is brought out later, most of the knowledge given by grandparents hold a lot of importance, and comes of use at most critical times.
Well, it is difficult to explicitly mention all what we learn from grandparents. This is because there is so much to learn from them. But, here are my learnings in the form of an acronym- GRAND.
G- Gifted- Senior citizens are very talented. If given an opportunity, and if circumstances are propitious, they can even display their talent. More importantly, their skills come to the fore when they are really needed.
R- Responsibility- Their sense of responsibility is amazing. If they commit themselves to performing any task, then they see to it that they perform it with utmost sincerity and conviction. This is something that we need to imbibe from them.
A- Affection- this is perhaps on the top of the charts for every kid. The kind of love and affection given by a grandfather or a grandmother cannot be given by anyone else. Their concern for all of us actually gives us confidence to perform our roles all the more better.
N- Natural- Grandparents never display artificial feelings. Whatever they do is from the bottom of their hearts. I love this quality inherent in them.
D- Discipline - I always look up to my grandparents for the discipline with which they lead their lives. Even though their lifestyles might be different, one thing that stands in common is their wonderful attitude towards life, to share whatever they have gained over the years with everyone.
Grandparents are indeed important for all of us. But, so are all other senior citizens. When you wish any senior citizen, the smile that appears on their face is so soothing, and makes us want to converse and learn from them.
A message to my grandmother specifically- We love you a lot. Keep your spirit going, and inspiring all of us to the utmost. Thank you for all your unconditional love and support.
A few days back, I decided to experiment doing something. In other words, I decided to take a break. I left everything aside- books, computer, mobile, everything you could think off. All I had with me was me and my inner soul.
Over a period of time, I had realised that I often took the wonderful aspects of my life for granted, and my mind drifted towards negativity.
I closed my eyes and decided to think about all those wonderful things gifted to me by the Almighty. The first image that came was that of my wonderful family. I decided to delve a little deeper. I wanted to find out what was it in my family that made me (or for that matter anyone else) respect it.
And, the first image that came up was- my grandparents.
Well, if you are wondering why; I have my paternal grandparents staying with me, while my maternal grandparents too occasionally come over to Pune. I consider myself very blessed, and every day thank the Almighty for giving me the opportunity to stay along with such jewels, filled with such a lot of knowledge and wisdom.
As a Chinese proverb rightly goes, 'If a family has an old person in it, it possesses a jewel.'
Each one of my grandparents is unique in their own way. If I sit down and interact with them even for a few minutes, it fills me with lots of thoughts and ideas. I do frequently have debates and mild arguments with them, because of the generation gap between us. But, with each one of our discussions, my respect only grows for them. I always try to soak in their words, as I know that their experience of life is immense.
I always feel that words spoken by grandparents are like the droplets of rain falling from the skies. The droplets shine and bring light into all our lives. A few of them are used to irrigate fields, while most of it goes underground, to come of use sometime later. Like water seeps through the ground and is brought out later, most of the knowledge given by grandparents hold a lot of importance, and comes of use at most critical times.
Well, it is difficult to explicitly mention all what we learn from grandparents. This is because there is so much to learn from them. But, here are my learnings in the form of an acronym- GRAND.
G- Gifted- Senior citizens are very talented. If given an opportunity, and if circumstances are propitious, they can even display their talent. More importantly, their skills come to the fore when they are really needed.
R- Responsibility- Their sense of responsibility is amazing. If they commit themselves to performing any task, then they see to it that they perform it with utmost sincerity and conviction. This is something that we need to imbibe from them.
A- Affection- this is perhaps on the top of the charts for every kid. The kind of love and affection given by a grandfather or a grandmother cannot be given by anyone else. Their concern for all of us actually gives us confidence to perform our roles all the more better.
N- Natural- Grandparents never display artificial feelings. Whatever they do is from the bottom of their hearts. I love this quality inherent in them.
D- Discipline - I always look up to my grandparents for the discipline with which they lead their lives. Even though their lifestyles might be different, one thing that stands in common is their wonderful attitude towards life, to share whatever they have gained over the years with everyone.
Grandparents are indeed important for all of us. But, so are all other senior citizens. When you wish any senior citizen, the smile that appears on their face is so soothing, and makes us want to converse and learn from them.
A message to my grandmother specifically- We love you a lot. Keep your spirit going, and inspiring all of us to the utmost. Thank you for all your unconditional love and support.
I take this opportunity to thank my grandparents and all other senior citizens who bring light into our lives. We have a lot of respect for you, and for your wonderful wisdom and abilities. You make this world of ours even more beautiful. Here's extending our best wishes to each one of you!
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