My grandmother

My grandfather passed away before I was born but my grandmother is still alive. She is seventy-two. She is tall and healthy. She hardly looks sixty. She has preserved her health in a wonderful manner. She is still energetic and works the whole day, I have never seen her idle.

She has still all her teeth and normal eye sight. She is an early riser. She gets up at 3 am and never misses her bath summer or winter.

She is very pious and religious-minded. She tells the beads daily for a pretty long time both in the morning and evening. She is very sparing in her diet. She takes only one meal a day. At night she takes only a glass of cow’s milk.

She fasts on every Tuesday. Sunday is her day of complete silence. She is a teetotaller. She is a strict vegetarian. She washes her clothes herself. She is very simple in her dress. She is a stranger to modern toilets and make-ups. She hates modern fashions. She goes to the temple every morning and evening. She gives away some money in charity every day. She is good and sweet and has a benign influence on the family.

Though a picture of simplicity herself she adorns and transforms everything she touches. Our house looks picturesque, and all on account of her. She is a born artist. She is very good at embroidery. Her embroideries are the talk of the town.

She is very good at knitting too. Show her a sweater or a blouse of the most intricate design, she will prepare an exact model of it once she has seen it. She is a genius. She spins yarns of the finest quality. She is a very good cook. There is a real art in all that she does.

My grandmother loves hard work. She milks the cow, churns the milk and prepares butter. She cooks food and serves it to all the members of the household. She is the last to take her meals. She takes the simplest food. She is very economical in everything.

She manages all the household affairs most efficiently. Her word is law for us all. We dare not go against her wishes. My father listens to her suggestions. My mother dare not offend her. She rules over our hearts by her lofty character and unique qualities of head and heart.

She is the very embodiment of all womanly virtues and graces. Her very sight pleases every member of the house. Her love is ever sought by me. Every morning as I get up, I touch her feet. She showers blessings on me. I regard her blessings as an armour for me against all evils and miseries of the world.

She is full of humour. Sometimes we tickle her vanity and she tells us funny stories of her younger days. She talks about the immodest behaviour of modern girls and the fashions they indulge in. She cannot bear the sight of a modern girl cycling or sitting in a cinema hall side by side with grown-up boys.

She hates girls going to hotels or restaurants for tea or lunch. She hates the signs of a girl with her hair cut, nails polished and face powdered. She is deadly against higher education and unchartered liberty to grown-up girls. She laughs when she sees a grown-up girl dressed like a boy and going out with grown up boys.

I love my grandmother with all her virtues and faults. She is a true picture of an Indian womanhood. She is my idol. I wish I may live up to her expectations so that she may one day feel proud of me.

Subhasish