It’s been a long busy day but I can’t deny that Dadi quietly returned to my thoughts in the brief pauses I took.
So today’s story is about dadi and my love for elephants. From my childhood, I’ve been a fan of elephants. I suppose I find them to be very cute, plump and sensitive animals. My house is filled with all things elephant – from fluff toys to earrings and even clothes. My liking for it is so great that they’ve become a regular feature in my doodles.
Here’s where dadi comes in. She observed that, as a little girl, I had taken to drawing and perhaps, had a flair for it. She pampered me with crayons and sketch pens, colour pencils and differently-shaped erasers, adding all the excitement possible in a 5-year-old’s life. But it didn’t stop there. She would spend time with me drawing. She’d teach me simple ways to draw many things. One such thing she taught me to draw were elephants.
In school, I had learnt how to draw a side profile of an elephant but dadi took it up a notch and increased the cuteness quotient multifold by teaching me how to draw the backside of an elephant. It was so easy and quick to make that I instantly fell in love with the cute, plump animal with a big backside and a tiny tail. It had a little trunk popping out into the air and large ears nearly attached to a round head. I drew it regularly thereafter – in practice drawings, competitions and even now, in my sketches.
What I am grateful for is that my grandmother has been such an integral part of my life that even the smallest things have a part of her hidden in it. I’m happy that a few weeks before her passing, I showed her all my elephant illustrations and told her how she was the mastermind behind all of them. I remember her eyes squinting at the zoomed in picture on my phone and then looking up at me, beaming, and saying, “Really?” And I proudly said, ‘Yes, Dadi.” It made her smile (her adorable toothless smile) and that made my day.
My sister and I are very attached to our grannies. And we figured that we are what we are because of them.
It’s important that we spend time with grandparents despite busy schedules for they did the same with us despite theirs. We were always a priority and in our case, they will always be ours. I guess, more than anything, it’s important that we show the person we love that they’re a priority and not take them for granted. Tomorrow isn’t a guarantee, so the best time is now.
Ink and Paper 