Saturday was Ajjayya's (my grandfather's) 19th death anniversary. He was 91 when he passed away. He had a heart-attack in the wee hours of one winter morning. He got up, went to the loo, drank water, sat beside his wife and withdrew from this world, just like that.
It was as if he knew he was going. Strange, because just the previous night during dinner, he was telling my father that in the next elections, he would vote for so-and-so party. :) Very politically inclined, and very oral about it too! I remember, on every festival or gathering, we would have quite a few uncles (his sons) and him arguing about the diff political parties and people, state of the country and such stuff.
He was a health-inspector in pre-independent India and would travel around Karnataka (maybe other South Indian places too, not clear on that) for the same. He finally settled in Bangalore after retirement. We (my sis and I) grew up with him and my dynamic grandmother (a joint family, if you want to call it that). He was a man of rules and had a strict time table everyday, and he followed it religiously too. Even when he was 90 years, apart from being a little short of hearing, he didn't have or complain of any ailment. He was solving Deccan Herald's crossword puzzle and word jumble every single day even then! And that he did without the aid of spectacles! He did not need them for watching anything or for reading!
Other than the above, there are lot of observations, talks, interactions that all of us in the family remember. But I have 2 cherished memories (one of which i quite don't remember that clearly, but have grown listening to it). He used to play building blocks with me when I was maybe 2-3 years old. Whenever we played, apparently he used to only make Tulsi katte out of the blocks, and I used to protest "tulsi katte beDa!'
The other memory is very dear to me. Education was always given a very high importance in my father's family and my grandparents were very particular that all the kids, grandkids study properly! So it used to be that after every test/exam that i would attend, my grandfather used to quiz me on the paper. He used to have this reclining chair and i used to come from school after the test or exam, give him the question paper, and stand behind him. He then would start asking all the questions again, and I would rattle away the answers. Except Hindi, which he din't know, he used to cover all my subjects. :)
I still don't know if he knew all the answers (he must be knowing, as he wouldn't quiz my sister who was in a higher grade, and he couldn't comprehend the syllabus), but it generally made me alert and more studious. Even if i had not answered a question right, after the test, I would make sure I found the correct answers, so that I could tell it to Ajjayya! He then would declare that I did well (or not) in the test to my father!
Fond memories of growing up and now back to the present. Who knows, I might just create some (good) memories for people to remember me by too!
