My Matyayye

As usual, the room was silent. I was engrossed in my studies after drinking evening tea. Then came the call from my father and he told “matyayye (grand ma) is no more”!! Once for a while, it was unexpected at that point of time, but it was the reality. We had to accept it. Can anyone win death? Not at all. One can’t stop someone’s death rather postpone it. One or the other day, we too have to leave this world. Can I call death as, ‘an active component of this world becoming stagnant’?

I am in a distant place and can’t attend her last rites. But I am not worried about it. Because I believe that whatever the respect that one can give to a person should be given when he is alive. The respect after death is only ritualistic.

I don’t know whether there is an aatma which leaves the body but stays in this world. But I believe, the presence of aatma might be felt in the memory of people about the person who is no more.

Matyayye knew so many hymns, folk songs, Ramayana and Mahabharata in the form of songs, many marriage ceremony songs, stories, rituals etc. I used to listen to her songs and had recorded some too. But I didn’t make any effort to learn them. Even though they sounded interesting and I enjoyed listening them, ‘I didn’t have time to learn them’ (an adamant attitude among many youngsters and I am not an exception). She had taught me ‘Amarakosha’ when I was little kid. Then I didn’t know why was she teaching but it was a kind of time pass for me. Recently when I had asked her for the reason for teaching me Amarakosha, she said, “it has so many tongue twisters and by learning them one’s pronunciation becomes clear”. Now when my friend says that you pronounce the language very properly and clearly, should not I give the credit to my matyayye who made my tongue to twist as per the language’s requirement?! Well, I had given that credit to her when she was alive and she was happy about it. Still those happy smiling face are strongly bound in my memory.  

She used to light ghee lamps whenever I had competitions or exams. She used to pray god for my success. She used to cheer when I got prizes and kept giving me her blessings. Last time when I met her at my home, as always, she wished, “let god give you all the success in all the endeavours”. I thanked her for that and gave her a big hug. I could feel the vibration in her body with happiness.

It is not to say that she was perfect. She too had her own limitations. But those limitations do not stop me to think about all the love and affection she used to shower on me. She was unique in her own way. I thank her for all that love and care she gave me and most importantly for giving me lovely father.