To granny, with love

Most of my childhood memories are associated with one person — my late grandmother Mudavva. Even in this photograph, which was taken on my fourth birthday, I am standing right next to her. It was my first birthday celebration in our then newly-constructed house in Vijayanagar. We have been staying in the same place till date. Though I don’t remember much about that day, I can clearly recall that my parents had invited kids from the entire colony and a whopping 25 children had come for the party!

I cherish this picture as it has so many members of my family, starting from my ‘doddamma’, Parvathy, who is wearing a yellow sari followed by my father and mother, Loknath and Shyamala. Next to them is my ‘chikkamma’, Sharada, who unfortunately is no more. I am the little one standing in front, next to my beloved grandmother, and the boy next to her is my brother Sharath.

I spent 26 years of my life with my grandmother. In fact, she was the one who took care of me and brought me up since both my parents were working. But I was a very naughty kid due to which she used to be very strict those days. So I would often hate her. But by the time I was in the seventh standard, I realised that she did all this because she actually loved me.

She used to stock up jackfruits and mangoes so that we kids could relish them during the holidays. By the time I was in high school and college, we started sharing a wonderful bond.

Being the conservative Coorgi lady that she was, my granny was a little hesitant about me joining films. And after finishing my schooling in Cordial High School, Vijayanagar and graduation and MSc in biotechnology from St Joseph’s College of Arts and Science, I honestly had no plans of entering the industry. So when acting actually happened by chance, it took her by surprise.

However, when my first movie ‘Parichaya’ released, she came to the theatre with me to watch it though she was really ill. She was very appreciative of my work even though it was a small role and I badly wanted her to watch me in a full-fledged role. But sadly, before my first actual project ‘Lifee Ishtene’ released, she passed away in 2010. That period was really hard for me as I didn’t know whether to be happy at my release or sad at the devastating loss. If there was one person in the world that I wanted to show the film to, it was my granny.

Until the day she passed away, I slept next to her. In fact, she was so healthy even in her old age that she would cook everyday. It was only during the last six months of her life that she developed a tumour and her health worsened. Today,  I really miss her and wonder that had she been alive today, she would have been 91.

Sindhu Loknath Actress (As told to Deepa Natarajan Lobo)