A Sketch of My Granny

In the country side of UP, in a small village of Raebareli, there once lived an elegant elderly lady, my maternal Granny. A square tract of land bounded from all the sides by the sticks of bamboo (Tatia) was comprised of her mud house situated in a corner and her favorite time-pass garden and orchard in the remaining space in which she would grow fruits like, guava, Banana, Custard-apple and Dates. The bigun-belia, planted alongside the boundary line had grown well and at many places covered the wall of bamboo sticks, and when it would bear flowers, the scene was awesome and  treat for the eyes. The fragrance of the plant of Bella in the early hours of morning would fill the courtyard. There was a date tree just next to the small gate, which used to be laden with sweet dates in its season. In one corner there was a tree of black-berry which would give juicy black fruits in the hot summer and it was a great delight to enjoy them with a pinch of salt under the cool shade of that tree itself. And in the same way the trees of Guava and custard-apple which were about half a dozen in number would bear sweet fruits.

Of all these fruits the custard-apple had the best test for me, and it still reminds me of my grand mother when ever I see this. I remember well that when we would pay a visit to her place in the summer, we found that she had already plucked some raw custard-apple and put them in an earthen pot (Matki) to make them ripen sooner for us.

All these trees and plants owed to her efforts. As far as I could collect my reminiscent of her, she was in her sixties but still energetic, I had seen her taking care of the flower plants of, marigold and Bella in her compound, After finishing all the chores, she would take a round in her compound and water the plants, make a fencing of sticks or burnt bricks around the trees if required to save them from wandering goats and cows of the neighbors which would barge in the court-yard sometimes.

She was a pious and god-fearing, and a very generous and charitable kind of lady and was always ready to help others. She would feel pleased and happy after giving alms and I never saw her rebuking a beggar. Through my constant visits to her I came to recognize many faces of the beggars who would come to her door from time to time and not only took alms but also demand used-clothes to wear and she would bring some old and intact dresses of my uncles to give them eagerly.

My mother was the only daughter she had and she would give special care whenever we reached there. I still remember the delicious indigenous cuisines she used to cook for us and her happiness after seeing us. 

One morning, when I was in my school, one of my uncles came to take leave for me and I was shocked to hear that the soul of my Granny has left her mortal figure to the final abode, and streams of tears rolled down from my eyes onto my cheeks. At that very young age, I had never felt so sad and grief-stricken as that day and felt like I had lost some very precious thing of my life. May her soul rest in peace.