One More Star

Yesterday, my dear friend C lost her grandmom. Grandma lived a full life – she was 92 when she left us. In the end her heart just stopped beating – and she went peacefully.

My memories of grandma are pretty limited. She mostly kept to herself. However when we did land up at C’s place she was always bustling in the kitchen with C’s mom to make sure our hungry stomachs were taken care of. Or the fact that C’s hubby S called her ‘meri girlfriend’ – of course it took him a lot of effort to get to that stage. Or the fact that she hated ‘dal’ (lentils) cooked in a pressure cooker – she wanted them her way, open cooked.


She didn’t exactly have an easy life. Married at a young age – she was widowed early too. Life without a husband or child was rather bleak. And remember this was somewhere in 1940. She then adopted her younger brother – C’s father. She lived the rest of her life with them – helping raise C and her brother. Fittingly, C’s father was with her when she breathed her last.

The last year of her life was particularly tough. Doctors had detected a clot in her brain a while ago – and early this year she suffered a stroke. Parts of her brain stopped functioning. Like, she kept thinking that C and her brother were still little children who had gone to school. She kept urging C’s father to bring them back – since it had turned dark. The fact the both were married and settled in the US – meant nothing to her. Her movements got restricted, appetite dropped and pretty soon she became a mere shadow of the person she used to be. Always a strong headed person her demands became child-like. I remember C telling me – how they had to plead, cajole even try to hoodwink her just to get her to finish half a chapatti. I’m sure it was particularly tough on C’s mom who had always seen her as a strong, determined person.

On 4th Nov she suffered another cardiac arrest. This time it was even stronger. According to the doctors attending to her – she lost 90% of her brain’s powers. She had to be put on life support. She was probably suffering, being in a coma. And there was no saying how long she would stay in this state.
She’d lived a full life, seen mostly all she wanted to see. It was time to let her go. Time to ease her suffering. She passed away in her coma itself.

I’m sure the family will miss her presence terribly. As C said, “if there is anything as an after life or next life – I hope she has peace”.
Wherever she is, I'm sure, her prayers and blessings will always follow C and her brother.