Life has been good for him so far. Atleast that what I feel so. I have never seen him sad or angry. He has been in good health since the time I saw him. He gets up everyday at 5:00 AM, wears his Nike shoe which I gifted him and goes for a walk. He does not have many friends. And this no. goes down further every year. He is in late 70's now, my grand father. Unlike me and my father, he doesn't consume any alcoholic drinks at all. He said he tried it while he was much younger but he did not liked the taste. He reads lot of books. Infact I got the taste of reading from him. Couple of days back, we were talking about a book by Virginia Woolf called 'The Lighthouse'.
Yesterday, I borrowed my brother's car and brought him to Shillong as none of my friends wanted to come with me. I enjoy talking to him a lot. Ever since I moved to Mumbai some 5 years back, I don't get much chance to talk to him. Though often I called him up on phone. However, he does not like talking long hours on phone. I took this as an opportunity to talk random stuffs with him. The best part about talking to him is he does not force his thought or opinion on you.
Today, we started our day early. I wanted to visit Mawsynram, the wettest place on Earth. The last time I visited this place was when I just graduated from IIT Ghy. Though I knew that any rain around this time of the year would only be a miracle, however I enjoy the ride to this place. It was a two and half journey from our hotel at police bazaar. The road to Mawsynram was almost traffic and pollution free. Driving in this scenic beauty is a joy. Small houses around the country side and the children sitting outside the house added more joy to our ride. As we were half way towards our destination, both sides of the roads were just covered with beautiful landscapes. We stopped in between to breathe in fresh air and to click few selfies with nature. We reached Mawsynram around 10:30 am in the morning. We visited a small cave called Mawjymbuin. It has a small nature made stalagmite Shivalinga. There were just few tourists. Perhaps not the right season for tourists to visit. We stayed there for around an hour. For us, the journey was more beautiful then the destination itself. There were nothing much more too see. We clicked few photos and decided to head back towards the city.
We reached back to the hotel around 12:30 PM. We freshened up and headed to the hotel restaurant for lunch. After lunch, Grandpa hit back to his room and continued reading 'The Years', another classic by Virginia Woolf. I went out for a walk just outside the hotel.
At around 2:30 PM, I entered my grandpa's room, he was still reading. I asked him to get ready and company me to Golf Course. He looked up towards me and continued reading. After few seconds, he put his pen down in between the page and closed the book and said 'I am ready'. We started driving towards Golf Course. We reached Golf Course in around 45 mins. I parked the car on the side of the road and walked towards the golf field. As I walk towards the golf field, I could feel the air getting thinner and colder. I asked him if he is feeling cold. He said 'No' nodding his head. We walked towards the center of the field. I asked him if he liked this place. He smiled and said 'Ofcouse'. I could sense happiness in his face. He said he is glad that I asked him to company me. We sat down at the middle of the course and talked about the beauty of the place, deforestation and pollution that is killing the beauty of this place. He told me about the time when he and my grandmother visited this place. How they used to love visiting this place again and again. We talked for around an hour and decided to go to St. Xavier Church.
As I started driving towards St. Xavier Church, my grandpa asked me to stop and take him to a small village called Diengiei. I asked him if there is anything special about this place and had he been there before. He said nothing much and asked asked me to drive there. I could feel the chance in tone when took the name of the place. I did not ask again. Just type the name in my Google map and followed the direction shown. The place was deep inside the city. By the time we reached the place, it was almost 4:30 pm, about to get dark. I could see him getting anxious as we were about to reach the destination. Perhaps, there was something about the past that was going inside his mind.
We stop at a place beside a large open ground. Some children were leaving for home after their football game. Some were still playing. My grandfather got down from the car and without saying anything, he walked towards the ground. I parked the car on the side of the road, grab a bottle of water and followed him. As I was running towards him, he asked me to leave him alone for some time. I decided not to ask anything and leave him alone. The ground was getting empty as we entered the ground. There were few young guys jumping around and enjoying the evening. Few young couples with their children were enjoying the evening. This was the first time I came in this part of the city and the evening looked absolutely stunning and peaceful. Being the end of the year, it was getting cold. The cool breeze was making ever colder. The worst part, my stylish leader jacket (which I bought to impress few girls) was not helping me in this weather.
My grandfather walked alone for sometime then he sat down in middle of the ground and looked at children running around. I decided not to disturb him and leave him alone. I walked around the ground taking a sip of water. After sometime, my grandfather called me up. I ran towards him, he was still sitting at the same place. He looked very happy and relieved as if all the tension and sadness got released by the beauty and peacefulness of the place. I joking asked him if this was the place he used to date his ex girlfriends. He slapped me on my face playfully with a million dollar smile and said 'lets move'. We drove back to the hotel. We reached back around 7:00 PM.
We had dinner at the hotel itself as we were tired of going outside and searching for good restaurant. After dinner, I entered my room and decided to continue reading 'The daughter of Time', which my grandfather suggested. As I turned the pages, I started wondering why did grandfather wanted to visit that village. Perhaps, the place might remind him of some past memories. Or, perhaps it's nothing. Then, why did he get uneasy when he asked me to take him to that village. Why did he asked me to leave him alone there. All these thoughts started wandering around my mind. Perhaps, perhaps some day he will tell me.
