03.03.2012

Dear Children and Parents,

Grandchildren

Om is fourteen
And Ananya is two.

They are our grandchildren
Who keep telling us that
They are there to love
Love everyone and everything around.

Me and Anil seem to be
More blessed ones than others
We have many more lovely
Grandchildren in the Shibir,
As also in the family.

All of them reveal before us
The grandeur around
And we realise that
This grand time is entirely
Because of grandchildren.

We, me and Anil, both are in our seventies - a ripe age. Most of our friends have had equally good life. But we often see them complaining about life, people, the worst of all about their children and grand children.

After meeting them, sharing their sorrows and agonies, both of us come home and automatically discuss where the things could have gone wrong.

Everytime the discussion is different but conclusion we are drawn into has remained the same. They seem to have failed to perceive the grandeur of life all along. As one grows he learns to love in a disciplined fashion and grows through the give and take of love in his/her youth. Most of us genuinely feel proud of our achievements. We often start believing that it is our own singlehanded achievement and inadvertently start feeling that we are extremely capable and this success and capacity both are permanent. The vigour of youth makes one overlook this greenhorn. Due to this, we fail to perceive the love our near and dear ones are giving us. We fail to accept the effort our children make to keep us happy often at their own cost. This deprives us from seeing the grandeur of life all along.

As a result, the grandest thing that happens to old people i.e grandchildren also become a burden instead of a prized possession.

We both are thankful to you, all parents for giving us so many grandchildren.

With love,
Lataaji