A ‘Good’ Bye

brrrrrt
brrrrt
brrrrrt

I groaned in my sleep, reaching out with my left hand to cover Naina, my wife’s mouth. Not to kill her of course, but to stop the snores.

She grunted, pushed my hand away and rolled over to the other side. Taking most of the duvet with her and leaving half of my body exposed in the process. I snatched the duvet towards my end, rolling over, refusing to open my eyes and snap out of my dreamland, despite the now doubled-attack of the snores and the sudden cold.

brrrrrt
brrrrt
brrrrrt

This time, reluctantly, I opened my eyes and muttered, “Ugh! I’m gonna go sleep in the other room.” In the silence that followed my response, I realized, the sound that had disturbed my peaceful sleep wasn’t the usual culprit, viz Naina’s loud snoring.

brrrrrt
brrrrt
brrrrrt

There it was again! Still a bit drowsy, I turned here and there in the dark, resulting in another grunt from Naina.

brrrrrt
brrrrt
brrrrrt

After fumbling around some more, I soon located the source. Buried within the books on my bedside table, it was no wonder my cellphone’s vibration sounded like my wife’s snoring. Rubbing my eyes, I picked it up without checking who the caller was. Before I could even say something, I heard wailing. Immediately, all hint of drowsiness disappeared. I pulled the phone away from my ear to check the caller’s name.

“Dad, what happened?” I asked, now in a state of panic.

The response was a sniff, and a sigh, followed by a few seconds of silence.

Knowing my dad, I didn’t push further and waited; my nervousness mounting, as dread kicked in, in the form of sweat beads on my forehead.

“It’s your grandfather…” He began haltingly.

Naina too, was up by now, looking at me with a mixture of panic and curiosity. I gulped, not sure I wanted to know dad’s answer, or even what to ask.

Holding my hand, Naina gave it a gentle squeeze and took the phone from me.

“Dad, we’re on our way.”

We exchanged a forlorn, yet knowing look, as she cut off the call.

Everything that happened after that was a daze. Naina jumped out of bed, threw a shirt out for me from the wardrobe, and we both got dressed.

“I’ll drive.” Naina said as she grabbed the house and car keys. It was only when she reached the door, she realized I hadn’t moved an inch from the bed.

She walked over to me, and without saying anything, enveloped me in a hug.

“Think of dad, Arjun. We need to be there for him.”

I nodded numbly, terrified at what awaited us, as Naina pulled me up and almost dragged me out of the house.

The usual 5-minute drive to my parents’ residence felt like five hours today. Each second made me remember the moments I’d spent with Dadu over the years.

“Aru, your dad doesn’t understand these things. You take this and go buy what you want.”

That was how I’d purchased my first book. The book which worked as a starting point to get me where I am today professionally, which is an editor of a reputed newspaper.

“Vijay, don’t you see he does not enjoy playing cricket? If he says he wants to read instead of going out to play, why does it bother you so much?”

“You’re the reason he’s growing an aversion to sports. What will he do reading these many books? He’s already got course books to get him through his education.”

“Vijay, you’re not to force the boy into sports. And that’s an order.”

Being a sports coach, my father was of the belief that one must be physically active and things like books will only deter me from my true calling, which is sports. I’m sure I’d have been a cricketer or an athlete, albeit an unhappy or underperforming one, if my grandfather hadn’t intervened.

I sighed, holding in my emotions, praying fervently for things to be okay. More than anything, I just hoped and wished that he hadn’t left us already.

No! Don’t go down that line of thought!

“You’ll get to say farewell, Aru. I just know it.” Naina gave my hand a squeeze as we reached our destination and she parked the car.

Not for the first time, I wondered how she knew exactly what I needed to hear.

“Dadu, how did you know dadi was right for you?”

Another conversation came to the fore as Naina got down from the car.

“Aru, we didn’t have the privilege you youngsters have these days. Our parents decided on our behalf who we’d marry and we merely accepted it. But I knew your dadi was right for me when she walked in with that tray of tea and snacks and spilled it right on my shirt.”

Laughing, I asked, “How did that make you sure?”

“Oh, because instead of saying sorry her first words were ‘Oh no, I’ll have to learn how to make it all over again’ That honesty was enough for me to know I had found the right partner.”

I choked, biting my knuckles as I pressed them into my mouth. A lone tear made its way down my cheeks as Naina turned around to check if I had followed her. I nodded and wiping the tear, got out of the car.

Naina held my hand as we walked into my parents’ home. The open door at this hour was enough of a foreboding. My aunts and uncles were seated at the sofa in the living room, all with grim faces.

“Aru….Aru… Aru..”
I heard a faint, but determined voice calling out my name. Unanimously, everyone’s eyes turned towards the room it was coming from.

“He’s been calling for you.”
“Please go”

Rakesh chachu and Bina bua said in a choked voice.

I rushed inside the bedroom, the same one I had shared with dadu till I turned 18 and moved out of the city to pursue journalism.

As if he had sensed my presence, I heard dadu’s weak voice asking, “Aru, you’re here?”

I ran to the bed and clutching his hand, said “Yes, Dadu. I’m here.”

He smiled. Oh! How it broke my heart to see him like this. A mere shadow of his past self, he was now nothing but a stack of bones; someone I was afraid to crush if I hugged too tight.

His eyes roamed around the room, searching for something. His smile grew wider as they landed on Naina, standing by the door.

“You found the right one too, didn’t you?”

I nodded, unable to speak, as tears rolled down my cheeks in earnest now.

“Your dadi awaits, I must go now…” He began.
I squeezed his hand tighter, not wanting to let go. Naina came behind me and gave my shoulder a squeeze. Once again, that was exactly what I needed to gather the strength to say what I wanted to.

“Dadu, thank you for everything. Give my regards to Dadi and tell her thank you for spilling the tea on you that day.”

Despite his weakened state, Dadu gave a slight chuckle. I bent down and kissed his forehead.

I stayed that way, holding on to his hand and Naina continued to lend comfort through her hand on my shoulder.

After a few minutes, a peaceful smile came over dadu’s face. He pointed towards Naina, asking her to come forward. Naina sat down next to him on to the other side of the bed, opposite me. We sat there with him between us, holding on to each of his hand. He twitched, pulling Naina towards him and she complied.

“You know what to do.” He whispered, moving his hand over her face lovingly, then on her belly.

Then, very conspiratorially, he winked at her. Naina looked at me, confused. But before we could decipher or react, dadu’s breaths came up short. He struggled as he gulped and tried to breathe normally; gasping, once, twice, thrice, and then stopped moving.

Naina kissed his forehead again and gently closed his eyes, before breaking down. We looked at each other, holding on to the man who’d brought us together, as his familiar warmth turned to a numb coldness.

—

Fifteen months later

brrrrrt
brrrrt
brrrrrt

I groaned in my sleep and mumbled, “Naina stop it please. I…” Before I could finish the sentence I felt a punch in my gut. I was wide awake even before I sat up in bed, looking around.

Naina was holding her belly, in obvious pain.

“What? It’s time! Move.” She punched me again to get me to take some action.

Coming out of my reverie, I worked at double pace once I understood the gravity of the situation. I helped Naina up from the bed, and grabbing the bag we prepared over a fortnight ago, guided her to our car.

A few hours later, as I held Naina’s hand while she screamed one last time in pain, we welcomed our bundle of joy into the world amidst tears and giggles.

“I know what to do…” Naina said with a faraway look. Her tone and conviction, suddenly reminded me of dadu’s last words to her, from over a year ago.

She looked at me, then down at our baby in my arms, “She will be named Mannat.”

I loved the name of course, but it didn’t quite make sense. So I looked at Naina inquiringly.

“I saw him fading away in front of me but his dying wish was conveyed.”

“I don’t quite…” I began to query but Naina shook her head and continued, smiling.

“Manat is a combination of Aman and Nitya.”

Realization finally dawned on me. Those were my grandparents’ names.

“Dadu’s wish was to keep himself and dadi alive in the next generation.”

My eyes lit up. I smiled through the tears, kissing Naina, and then my dadu’s wish in my hands, Mannat.

If you liked that, you might enjoy reading Heartstrings and Harmonies, a collection of 29 such heartfelt and slice-of-life stories.

***

This post is a part of Blogchatter Blog Hop. It is in response to the weekly prompts for 21st-27th May and I chose the prompt ‘I saw him fading away in front of me’

This blog post is part of the blog challenge ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’ hosted by Cindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla in collaboration with Zariya Healings.

Thank you for reading.

To know more about me, you can:

• Connect with me on LinkedIn
• Subscribe to my YouTube channel
• Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter
• Check out my books on Amazon