Who led the ghost of writing out!

It was a usual a nice and sunny day in the chilled Delhi winters and I came back from my school to find out my maternal Grandmother jeweled on the single bed in our drawing room. Wearing a sphisticated light brown silk saree that graced her grey hair and aging skin with a zillion moles, she lied on the bed with one hand over the forehead.

As soon I knocked the door, and saw her, I went upto her to take her blessings and she hugged me with a tight and robust hug. She was looking more overweight than last time. May be her fondness for Jalebis and Gulab Jamuns was clearly visible this time. Naani had a new long gold chain and golden bulb like earings, to display this winter as always.

Naani used to just wait for our winter exams to get over to come to our home for vacations. Although she was a retired doctor, she has so much to do at home. House work was not her thing. She was kept busy by the daily relationship building between herself and her daughter in law. I don’t know what kind of mother-in-law she was…but the love between two of them was obvious as with the string of gossips between her and my mum.

Naani(Grandmother) and my mum used to sit in the Sun and just start their non-stop postmorterm about Geeta(Garnny’s daughter-inlaw). After the session, Naani used to start her customarry sobbing and how hurt she was with the untamed daughter-in-law.

And that’s exactly where the budding poet in me used to rise from the grave and start penning poems for my Granny to cheer her up. The quote I remember that I wrote for her “You are a Rose without Thorns”, took her by surprise to an extent that her little 4 teeth denture was about to fall on the table.

Trying to act as if she is surprised, she put a hand in front of her mouth and said, “Neelima, look what your daughter has written!”? My mother came running from the kitchen “What?” She must have fixed the denture by now , removing her hand from the mouth and pointing towards the paper “look at this…so poetic for a 7 year old! She will be a writer one day!”