‘Jayanthi, I have a surprise for you!’ 😍

Enga Appa! | Our Daddy!

Well, yesterday, quite early into the morn, I had received a picture of my lovable and adorable Grandpa on my WhatsApp – from Amma!

She had posted it to me on WhatsApp, with the caption, ‘Enga Appa’ – Our Daddy!

Of all the snaps of our grandpa’s that we’ve so loved and admired, and that have endeared him in our memories, this one was quite new at that! We’ve had snaps of other shapes, climes and sizes of grandpa’s! But this one was unique!

He looked so divine! So radiant! So unassuming! So noble! So gentle! So filled with the milk of human kindness!

The divine love oozing from his looks, the boldness in his chiselled visage, the royal demeanour, the kind look, compelled me to probe further into this cute, long lost snap!

So out of curiosity I asked Amma, ‘Ma, for the first time in more than four decades, we are seeing this snap of our grandpa’s! Where was this cute little snap hiding all this while?’

Amma’s reply literally brought tears to my eyes!

And hence me wanted to put down the story for posterity, write here – right here – on my personal creative space!

Amma lost her father to a massive heart attack when she was in school. Having been a doting daughter of her dad, she was the cynosure of his eyes! The pride of his being!

The daddy who takes pride in her laurels, her achievements, her abilities! her skills! her talents – especially her love for music, her singing! And what not!

So when he passed away this sudden, it was something she couldn’t bear! Something she couldn’t cope with!

As a kinda substitute gratification, as daddy’s little girl, she somehow got hold of a snap of her daddy’s, and whenever she felt lonely and blue, whenever she missed her daddy, whenever she felt she needed that extra motivation, whenever she felt she needed that extra strength to move on, she used to take this cute snap of her daddy’s, and admire it! The more she gazed at it, the more the tears trickled down her cheeks!

The more she admired it, the more her heart wilted! The more her heart melted! And the more she cried!

Now, Amma had a friend – a close friend – a childhood friend - her junior by two years – Ms. Rani!

After decades of lost contact, one fine day, Ms. Rani rings up Amma, and renews their lovely bonds of friendship.

And they talk and talk and talk happily on ‘nostalgia mode’ on their good ol’ days over the phone!

This goes on, when suddenly Ms. Rani says, 

‘Jayanthi, I have a surprise for you!’ 😍

‘What’? asks Amma, excited and surprised! 😍

Yes, a surprise gift for you!

All curious, and all intrigued, Amma asks her, ‘Quick, let the cat out of the bag, Rani. Can’t bear to wait any longer to know more about the surprise!’

Says Ms. Rani, ‘Well, I’ve been having this snap of your dear daddy’s, for decades now, safely and carefully preserved in a book. But at last I thought, I should give it to you! Since it rightfully belongs to you. So the next time when we meet up, I shall give you the snap’, says she!

Amma replies, ‘Wait! What! You mean that delightful snap of daddy’s over which I used to gaze and weep all through my class hours?’

‘Yes!’

“Well, in that case, please, Rani, just take a picture of that snap for now and send it to me over whatsapp, pleaseeeee! Will you?” Amma pleads!

Rightaway, says her friend Rani! Her bosom friend Rani, and she soon sends it across as well!

Now, Amma is so excited!

After seeing the snap of her dear daddy’s, in more than five decades now, the same snap that she so loved and cherished, the same snap that brought bursts of tears to her eyes, Amma couldn’t control her joy, her excitement, that she immediately dispatched it on WhatsApp mode to us her children – on whatsapp mode!

The snap was captioned, ‘Enga Appa’!

[Our Daddy]!

This time around, we were in tears – tears of joy for Amma!

Amma had by now, in all these past decades, moved on from the world of emotion to the world of reason, as Charlotte Bronte says of Eyre, Jane Eyre!

And yes! Like Jane had her friend Miss. Helen Burns, who was instrumental in shaping her and tuning her temperament for the better, here was Miss. Rani, almost on a similar vein!

Helen is, “honest, pious, loyal and compassionate, and tries to see the world through others' eyes. She loves and cares for Jane,” says a commentary!

How beautiful a proposition! Ain’t it?

The Spirit of Empathy – as we call it in literature!

So yes! coming back…

Miss. Rani had this to say,

“Well, I saw you incessantly weeping over your beloved Daddy’s photo, day in and day out, for days and days, whenever you saw the snap! So I thought you needed to come to terms with your loss! You needed to move on! You needed to achieve! You needed to grow up!

That’s hence I had to gently take it away from your text book and keep it safe with me! It took me a lot of care to preserve this snap for all these decades, you see!

Now I guess, you’ve grown up! It’s time I gave you back what’s due to you! Your Daddy’s dearest’s snap for you!”,

says she! 😍

Miss. Rani ‘tries to see the world through others' eyes. She loves and cares for her Jane -  her Jayanthi!’ 💛