:) Thatha, I don't want to remember you on a hospital bed with nurses beside you. When someone says thatha I want to remember the you who wakes up at 5 AM, buys newspaper, takes cycle to our old home, turns on motor and brings milk packets from the cotton bag that hangs on our grill gate. I can't look at you behaving like a kid, not remembering our names and being in a sorry state. I want to tell my friends how you choose the best piece of meat and the freshest of fishes on Sunday mornings. I want you to tell us how salt is always a bit less in foods we have. I want you to lament on how skinny I am. I want you keep cleaning the specks on the floor. I always narrate my friends that Dora Box incident. Well, incidents. If only we had all the money, you brought Dora Boxes with! And that mango chocolate! I am drooling! Do you remember how you used to sit on the balcony eyeing the whole world? How my drawing teacher waves at you and checks on you while you're sitting there, lecturing her on how better the road would look with a bit of cleaning and weeding? Second floor is just a number when it's you. It didn't stop you from going down. It didn't stop you from buying us Vada and Bajji. Who'll ask us how amma and akka are doing? Get better and spam us with your questions. We will not chide at you for your ignorance or innocence anymore. We'll take you to all the places you want to see without grumbling. We will not scream our lungs out when you take a nap. And as always, we will take your side when you and grandma argue. Tell me, are you really scared of Chithappa or is it respect? Nevermind!
