DEATH

It was on 24th of july 2001, around 1.15am.

I was in a sort of semi sleep, lying in the bed. I was pondering over what happened few hours ago, at 10pm to be accurate.

At 10pm I had a severe leg pain, the reason for which was the march past I did that morning. I always hated march pasts, but that day I was forced to do it by my physics and Road safety Patrol Sir. ( I was in Eleventh then) Just then My grand mother came to my rescue. She always loved me so much and I spent most of my child hood with her rather than my mother. She massagged my legs and I felt so comfortable that I slept, only to wake up at 1.15am.

I just decided to get some water and got up, only to notice that my Grandma was calling me with a sort of discomfort. She said to me slowly that her chest is paining. I was in for a bit of surprise. The reason being, she never says any of her ailments or pains to me or for that matter to my father. She always bears the pain by herself and does all the works as though every thing is fine. ( Inspite of numerous requests from my father to stop doing kitchen works, she always cooked us delecious dishes, the previous day she had prepared a delecious fish curry) So then, when she requested me to wake up my father, I was baffled.

I, nevertheless, went and woke up my father and explained to him. When my father, along with my mother rushed to the room, she was in a worse situation. She was not able to speak and with great difficulty I controlled my tears. I suspected from my limited biology knowledge that I had, that she was suffering from a massive heart attack. After taking some tablet, she some how was able to speak. The first thing she said was " Please take the children to the other room. They may be afraid." (She was referring to me and my younger sister)

My father had got a taxi to take her to hospital. She was about to get in to the taxi, just then she called my mother and said, "Please every one stop bothering about me. Its nothing. Sugumar (my nick name)has a leg pain. Take care of him. In worrying about me, dont leave his legs unattended." So here is Grandma asking my mother not to worry about her serious heart attack and comparing it to nothing, while requesting her to take care of my simple leg pain as though it was a serious problem. This clearly shows how much love and affection she had for me.

She returned from the hospital the same day, but this time lying STILL INSIDE THE ICE BOX.