In Vacant or in Pensive Mood

I didn't fear my parents growing up, but I did have reverent fear for Valiadaddy, my maternal grandfather. He was the official "hand-holder" at all my birthday celebrations that involved a cake. He is the one who taught me, by example, to love dogs. When my myna bird - Mittoo - died, I cried a lot. Valiadaddy brought me a parrot - Kuttoo - to make me happy again. I've been a picky eater all my life. I've had a phase where I would only eat a specific type of fish, a phase where I would only eat dry fish, a phase where I ate a minimum of 6 Marie gold biscuits (and no other biscuit) with my evening tea. Valiadaddy has always made sure that he made these available to me. What's more, whenever he and Valiamummy would return from a visit to Kerala, they would bring the brown halwa for the rest of the family and red-coloured halwa, exclusively for me. He loved birds and fish and he devoted several hours a day to take care of them, settin...

It was a hot summer afternoon in the early 1990’s. A little girl, about five years old, was playing in her grandparents’ drawing room with her imaginary friends. As she sat playing, she heard the sound of a car stop at the front gate. A few seconds later, she was interrupted by a large beast that came charging into the room! It was black, with shades of grey around its face, and had a long pink tongue that was hanging out of its mouth. It pounced at her, and she fell to the ground in a mixture of shock and surprise. Then, quickly recovering, she got up and climbed up the on the couch, screaming and jumping in utter fear. Her screams brought both her grandparents running into the room with panicked faces. On seeing her jumping and running on the couch, trying to escape being bitten or scratched by the dreadful beast at her feet, her grandmother’s face softened. Her grandfather’s face, on the other hand, became stern. He let out a grunt, and then firmly ordered her to get off the couch...