An Unfortunate Grand Child

I am an unfortunate grand child. By the time I could understand the joy of seeing my grand parents, their hugs and kisses, blessings and care, I was sent to a boarding school.
In vacations I used to travel across the hills and plains to the backyards of my hometown, where they lived. They would do my arti first and then shower this deprived soul with their love and affection. The world would seem to me a small place with just three beings, me and my grand parents. Some times I and grandmother would form alliance to tease grand pa and upon him getting angry, my grandmother would go near his ears to whisper something which would let him lose his temper.
All grandmothers have magic in their hands and mine was no exception. I write this with a taste of her jalebis still on my palate. She could not write but was good in reading minds. She understood my romantic expeditions to the neighbor’s house where a cute little girl stayed, my likes and dislikes and everything else which even my mama could not make out.
I remember coming back to my home in the town during a summer vacation. My father did not take me to the village. That evening grand father took the arti alone; for the first time I had seen him without my grand ma. As he blessed me, I enquired about her. He said she was ill and we shall go meet her next morning. At about midnight, all in my house started crying. I went to grand pa to hear him say “she wanted to see her grand child once”.
On Monday, 19th Jan, 2009, I received a call from my mama. “Babu, dadajee ko heart attack aaya hai”. I missed a heart beat. In college, inside class I could not even show my concern. At 80, this was the third time it had hit him.
Last December while I was at home he wanted to meet me but due to bad weather he could not travel. It had been more than a year that I met him. Then he was growing old but was steady. As I hugged him I could feel his heart beating against my chest. The heart sounded strong.
Today with that sound of his heartbeat resonating in my mind I lie on my bed with a feeling of guilt of not accompanying him on his last journey which began the previous night. I requested the cell phone, which gave the news to me, to be taken near his ears and whispered “I love you”. I knew my grand ma used to say this in his ears when he went angry over anything and I expect as he used to forgive grand ma he would forgive me too.