Homage to My Grandfather

My grand father continues to live in my heart, even though he has left this physical world, I can not imagine him as gone and so I write of him in the present.  Let us celebrate his presence in our lives.

He is a legend, he is our hero, he is a silent worker.  He goes by his heart.  He listens completely, and he is fully present all the time.  He sings, he writes, and his beautiful hand writing speaks for his heart.  His letters always started with Ubhaya kushalopari (memu ikkada kshemamu, meeru akkada kshemama!) and the conclusion was always a kosamerupu.  His abundant simplicity and selfless service definitely made this world a better place.  He lived a complete life, always with contentment.  Let us celebrate his presence in our lives.  I have always believed my grandparents created a beautiful path for us to march toward humanity.  They were born beyond our time and generation.  I have not seen many Indian people, especially male, who worship their work.  Household work, or outside work, he always loved doing it.  He may be walking miles to fetch drinking water from the creek or carrying a big haystack...knowing that the buffaloes would be happy to receive their food.  I was so fortunate to be part of these chores in my childhood.  He used to let me be with him and he used to let me feel that I was contributing.  My grandparents introduced me to book reading and thanks to Veerulapadu for being a beacon.

When my mother was pursuing her studies, they had to walk miles to catch the train.  Every year I had the opportunity to spend my vacation with my grandparents.  Their unconditional love and progressive thinking shaped me to handle this world.  I have always seen them as manifestation of love.  They helped me build my confidence.

They have given their helping hand to many in many ways.  His religion was humanity and he never believed in the caste system.  He never fought about the existence of God, but he always believed helping people was paramount.

Silence is his language, but he was also very expressive at the same time.  He always lived in the present.  He lived by his needs, not by his wants.  I do not remember if he ever had any desires.  He lived in tune with nature.  For being who he was, he did not get any awards; he did not get into publicity.  He left no marks, not any carbon footprints.  I feel closer to him than ever before, by carrying his essence and simplicity in my heart.  He left the bondage of his physical body, physical world and he is marching towards brighter world.  Let us all pray for his soul to continue his journey to the next worlds , let us all march in the path that he set for us all.  Let us all carry his goodness.