As I walked into my grandmother’s room, I felt a kind of warmth overwhelm me. Here I was safe, immune to the dangers and sorrows that the world presented.

‘’Akash? Is that you?’’ I heard her voice.

‘’Yes, Grandma, it’s me,’’ I smiled. As the room was dimly lit, I could not see her. She then surfaced from a corner, with a warm smile on her face _ a smile that extended to her eyes, her kind, beautiful eyes. ‘’I knew you would come,’’ she said.

I sat down on her bed. She looked at me, her eyes reflecting deep love.  ‘’You are sad, Akash,’’ she said.

‘’How do you know that, Grandma?’’ I asked.

‘’I can feel it,’’ she replied. ‘’Tell me, what is it?’’

 I took off the cheerful mask that I had been wearing. Instead of the smile I had faked, I now had real, glittering tears in my eyes. ‘’Grandma, I am feeling miserable. My friends are not talking to me. I don’t know why. I got a bad grade in maths. My teacher scolded me. I don’t know what to do.  I can see no light at the end of the dark tunnel!’’

 I could see tears in her eyes. She patted me on my head and said: ‘’Don’t cry, my dear, please don’t cry. Come with me.’’

She took my hand and led me to the corridor next to her room. On the wall, there was a framed family photograph. She pointed at the picture. I looked at it and saw all my family members _ Grandma, my parents, my sister, all my uncles, aunts and cousins _ smiling at me.

‘’You know what I do when I am sad, Akash? I look at this picture and when I see these happy faces of all my children and grandchildren, I am overwhelmed with happiness all over again. We all love you, Akash. No matter what happens, we’ll always be there for you. A bad grade shouldn’t bother you. Instead of being sad, you should let this incident motivate and inspire you. Teachers want the best for you. They scolded you because they love you, my dear.  You should be happy because you are loved. We all love you. Come on, give me a smile now.’’

The smile that I had on my face was real now. Grandma had endured a lot in her life. Widowed in her early thirties, she had raised her six children all on her own. And over the course of her long life, she had faced much poverty and hardships. But she had survived all that and now she was there in front of me, an epitome of courage, a formidable person who could bring a smile to anybody’s face.

 I let her lead me to a chair and as I sat down, I said: ‘’Tell me a story, Grandma.’’

 ‘’Which story do you want to hear?’’ she said, sitting down.

‘’Shukhu-Dukhu,’’ I replied. She nodded and started to tell me the story that I had loved since my childhood. I felt loved and safe and then, slowly, I closed my eyes. Perfect happiness had engulfed me. I slowly fell asleep.

I woke up with a start. I looked around and then, very slowly, I realised that it had only been a dream.

How would Grandma even console me anyway? She passed away four years ago. She had spent all her life loving others and making sure that her family and relatives never found themselves in a pool of hopelessness and despair. And at the end of her life she had been surrounded by all those people _ people who did not know how to live without her. She had taught others to live and be happy, and then she left the world.

Nobody could tell me stories the way she did. Nobody could console me and take me to a land of happiness the way she did. I will never see her warm smile again.

Grandma had left me and I did not know how to be happy again.

Photo: Internet