Dhaasa, my specially-abled grandma

RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE

When Kamakshi, the 6-year-old child of my daughter from Pune, visited us in Bengaluru last time, she curiously asked me about my grandparents. When I told her that my grandfather had gone to God’s abode long before I was born, she sighed in disbelief, “How could you live without him? I, for one, can no way live without my grandpa!” This ushered me into the past when my late grandmother, whom we reverently called Dhaasa, was very much around.

As fate had it, she, just in her thirties, lost her husband and her youngest child in quick succession. Left with the formidable tasks of bringing up her remaining four sons and, alongside, supplementing the family income, she first took up random jobs of what she could do right away: cooking and food processing. Later, she started making dry writing ink by fine-grinding hard charcoal. With the resulting fly dust slowly damaging her eyes, another misfortune befell on her when she, at 69, totally lost her eyesight. For full 30 years of her balance life, she saw only darkness. Undaunted, she faced life with remarkable perseverance. She signed-up her ‘inner eyes’ to do most of daily errands herself. By brain-mapping, she moved around her home unaided.

Lest she be deemed a liability and face domestic neglect, she offered productive help at the kitchen, even right at the chulha! She was a friendly mentor for the novice ‘bahus’ of her grandsons. In her presence, no elder could ever think of punishing a youngster for any mischief. A home remedy was readily available with her for any ailment. Her fingers had the magical power of healing abdominal pain by a simple oil massage!

An abode of humility and compassion, she was very pious. As an obeisance to her late husband, she abstained from food of his relish. Rising very early in the morning, she would chant the name of Lord Ram for hours. Though illiterate, she could recite many celebrated episodes of the holy Ramcharitamanasa flawlessly. Only after putting aside first few rotis for the daily visitors - -a cow, a dog and a beggar, would she have her first morsel!

An old iron peti was the only material thing in her pride possession, in which she kept all her modest things. Accepting hardships and making sacrifices were not just her learnt traits, it comprised her inherent persona. Smt Suadevi Laddha Girls Senior Secondary School was later built in our village in her memory, there being no better way to immortalise her!