Incomplete Tale!

I silently opened the door of my grandma's room and entered quietly in her room,

"Babu..." My grandma, whom I used to call Amma said still with her eyes closed, she had a beads mala in her hands and was constantly murmuring something.

"How do you get to know that I came Amma, your eyes were closed" I said confused, still murmuring with her eyes closed.

My Amma used to live in the an attic with all her stuff. My mom and my Amma shared a very strong bond, they used to spend most of the day together but night time was mine. My Amma used to tell me a story each night, I guess all those were just the same, I have memorized all of them still it was an excitement to listen to her.

When she was done with her mala, she embraced it to her eyes and kept it aside. She kept the blanket on her top and laid down.

I swept in with her and my nostrils were filled with the aroma of clove and Cardamom.

"So Amma...begin" I said,

"Hmm...here's the story" she begun.

"Ones upon a time, there was a king who used to live in his big, big fort, in a beautiful land" She said,

"Oh Amma, again same story. I want to listen to a new story" I pouted,

"OK if you know this story, tell me what happens in end?" Amma asked, It was a question to which I had no answer. My Amma used to tell me the same story but she would never end it.

She shushed me and continued the story,

"So the king used to go for hunting everyday on her strong horse in a big dense forest" She continued.

"It was a beautiful morning, birds were chirruping, monkey grunting..." she said while making the noise of birds and monkeys.

"You know babu, your grandfather used to love animals a lot. He used to feed the birds and stray dogs, and he would take old his long stick to beat the people who used to tease the animals" she said gesturing for long with her hand. My grandma always used to end up with tales of my grandfather instead of the main story.

"Then?"

"Then...then he would scold everyone, everyone respected your grandfather a lot" she said a sense of proud remembering my departed grandfather.

"NO Amma, what happened in the story with the king?"

"Oh haan, the king.." she said getting back to the story.

"The king was killing a baby dear when the mother of the pushed him and he fell on the ground" she added, "No mother can see her kids in trouble. You know when your father was a child I used to take him to the school and used to sit there all day long till the school was over" she said.

"And when you were a child Amma, did your mother also used to sit at your school?" I asked curiously.

"At my time, no no. Our school was an easy going school, it was so close to my house. I used to love to go school, but I stopped studying after fifth." she said memorizing her childhood days.

"Why?"

"There were not many schools in our village." she answered.

"OK now moving back to the story. So the king fell down on the ground and was hurt. The dear and his mother ran away. Later when he woke up he found himself in a small wooden house, whose roof was made up of hay. A beautiful girl sat next to him was applying a paste on the wound on his head. The king sat up in an awe saying he can't stay at such a small place" She said trying to mimic the king's angry voice.

"See babu the king was wrong. Nothing is big and small in nature. The person who saves your life is the biggest of all. You know ones your grandfather saved the life of a man who was being attacked on road. Your grandfather fought with him, the man was grateful to him for his entire life." She said.

"Who is the man? Have you ever meet him?" the curious five year old me, asked.

"I never met him, but your grandfather told me" she replied.

"Then...Then the beautiful lady told the king that he can leave if he wants to. The king tried moving but his whole body hurt. He again sat down. The lady simply smiled and continued applying the paste. Later the king apologized for his behavior"

"Its good that king, being the almighty, said sorry. These are very powerful words. If you ever feel like you committed a mistake you should say sorry, and if someone says sorry to you, You should forgive him" She said caressing my forehead.

"I know Amma, then what happened in the story"

"Then...Then the king was very pleased with the kindness, caring nature and smartness of the lady, so he decided to marry her. They married and went to the king's fort. They were living happily, one day a war broke in the land. The king along with the army went to fight. But the opposite army was very strong and there were less chances of our king's winning" She said.

I felt that sleep has started to crawl in my eyes, so I closed my eyes. I could still hear her voice,

She narrated a few events of the war till the story line when the new queen of the king reaches the war field. After that even her voice stopped coming, maybe she slept. I slept too without knowing the actual climax of the story.

Years have passed, I still don't know what happened later in the story. But this story remains my favorite. It is not because of the story line but because of my Amma. She was a grand story book in herself, with lots of complete - incomplete, true - false stories, but she gave me life lessons.

I am glad she is still with me. I don't sleep with her now, I miss the time when used to sleep together. I wish she would live long to see my kids too. I hope my kids get to hear the climax of the story.