Grandma's Eyes

Last Friday was Grandparents’ day at Abhay’s school and Abhay was the only one to have all his four grandparents call on him while many others sadly missed theirs. One thing is certain, Abhay has been the happiest about our move back to India – with his paternal grandparents at home and maternal grandparents living nearby, he couldn’t have asked for more! As much as I'm glad that Abhay is surrounded by his doting grandparents,  I also envy him as I never had an opportunity to get to know my paternal grandparents and my maternal grandma was living in a different city. In fact, it’s not only his grandparents, Abhay also enjoys the support of his 94 year old great grandma, who rushes to her great-grand son's rescue the minute we pull him up for something. No wonder he cannot wait to come back from school to a full house with four generations living under its roof. Though not as active as she used to be, Abhay ’s great grandma makes the most patient audience for all his silly antics. Now confined to a wheelchair, she regrets not being able walk around the house with her great grandson like she used to.  But wheelchair or no wheelchair, nothing stops Abhay from plonking himself on his dodda-ajji’s lap! 

So today I read “Grandma’s eyes” by Sandhya Rao, pictures by Ashok Rajagopalan. A moving pictures book written both in Kannada and English, this is a book more for two-three year olds than five year olds. But the illustration of grandma in this book reminded me so much of Abhay’s great grandma that I had to read this to him. Also, I trust both my mom and mother in law to strongly assert that they look nothing like the “grandma’ in the picture…so I felt safe to turn to Abhay’s great-grandma to do the honors!:-) Anyway, a little boy feels that his grandma’s eyes watch him well, grandma’s arms hold him tight, grandma’s laugh make him laugh, grandma’s songs help me sleep. Though grandma’s stories are for everyone, but grandma’s lap is only for him! A book that celebrates grandparent-hood through the eyes of a grandchild – a must read for any grandma-grandchild duo!