I still remember the first time I held Khushwant in my hands, yes, my

very own grandson. And I have been with him in his childhood; he
always cared about me a lot. He was a cheerful, playful, and obedient
boy indeed.

I used to wake him up every morning and get him ready for his school. I
sang the Morning Prayer so that it will bring positivity, peace of mind
and would give the day a good start, though I knew he didn’t listen it
carefully but for me, he used to listen the prayer everyday and wouldn’t
compliant about it. I would then prepare him breakfast and also
chapattis for the dogs in the village, feeding them used to make me
really happy from inside. After getting his required stationary we would
go to the temple.

The priest taught Khushwant and other kids in the village while I read
scriptures of our gods at the temple. Reading them brought peace to
my mind, it had become my daily habit to come to the temple and read
the scriptures. On the way back home I used to feed the dogs the stale
chapattis I had prepared earlier in the morning, all of them would
follow us home. Khushwant and I were the best phases of our
friendship when we lived together in the town, we both would live
peacefully together in our village.

But as my son settled in the city, we moved there. Moving to the city
was a turning point in our life. I did not like city life at all. The
motorcars, the hustle-bustle, there was no calmness, everyone was in a
hurry; in contrast to our village where the surroundings were very calm.
Though we shared the same rooms our bonding had taken a hit. I would
miss going to school with him, I would miss feeding the dogs of the
village, I would miss our village a lot, but I didn’t say anything, I
accepted things as they were even though I didn’t like them. I found a
solution to one of my problems, instead of feeding chapattis to the
dogs I started feeding the sparrows' bread crumbs.

As time passed our bond weakened not that we stopped loving each
other but we used to see and talk to each other very less, Khushwant
would either be gone to school or was studying in his room most of the
time. But I would still wake him up and get him ready for school with
the same enthusiasm as we did in the village; I also asked him how his
day at school went. I did not like the school at all, the primary reason
being that there was no teaching of God and scriptures, he would tell
me about something in English that I did not understand. I could also
not help him with his homework. One day as he came home, as usual, I
asked him how was his day and to my utter surprise, he told me that he
was being given music and dance classes. I was deeply saddened and
also disappointed. “how can gentle folks like Khushwant be taught such
irrelevant and bad things at school?”, this disturbed me a lot. Music has
lewd associations and is meant for beggars and harlots and not for
school-going kids. I was deeply shaken by this incident and thereafter
talked minimal.

When Khushwant entered his university he was given a separate room,

the only link of friendship between us was broken, I was really sad by
this but remained silent, there was no point complaining about this as
Khushwant also must have needed this after all he had started to
become a grown up man and would need some alone time. “It was for
his better future only.” I consoled myself.
I just spun my wheel and for the best part of my day, I used to feed the
sparrows' bread crumbs. I would love those jolly birds, they would love
me a lot, they would fill the whole house with their melodious voice,
they would sit on my legs, shoulders, hand, and even my head, and
because I was so attached to them I never shooed them away. This was
the best part of the day!

Then another event occurred that completely broke our bond,

Khushwant decided to go abroad for his studies for five years. I was sad
that I couldn’t see the person for the next 5 years, who I couldn’t keep
my eyes off till a few years ago. This was necessary and was for the
bright future ahead. Nevertheless, I went to the railway station with
him to drop him off, I had developed the habit of speaking less, as the
train started to move I came forward and gently kissed his forehead.
This was the last contact I would make with him in 5 years and would
cherish it in the while. I could tell that Khushwant had a sign of
uncertainty over my health but “I could not depart till I had seen him
again”, this is the promise I made to myself.

Days turned to weeks, weeks to months and months to years, finally,

after 5 years the day had come, Khushwant now was on the way back
home. We reached the station, the train arrived. And there he was, I
could do nothing but to hold him in my arms. Every part of my body
smiled, words could not explain my emotions at the moment.

As Khushwant had come home after such a long time, I fed the
sparrows for a longer time to express my happiness to them. And to
settle my long kept desire I sang loud, I was happy indeed, I had found a
drum for this very day. I had planned everything for this day In
advance! I gathered the neighboring women and started singing, I sang
my heart out! This was the happiest feeling of all. I lost the track of time
I just laughed and sang and danced for quite a few hours.

All my desires had come to an end. I knew that it was time that I should
go, I stopped praying. I was ill the next morning, the doctor told me
that it was a mild fever and would go off but I knew that it is the end of
the line for me, and I said the same but they simply refused to believe
and forced me to have my medicines. But there was no point in having
medicines when I was sure of the events that are about to occur for the
last time I prayed and started telling beads when time stopped.