The Case Of Granny's Disappear

Granny was sitting on the cot and preparing a pan for herself. After having lunch a pan was a must to help her metabolic activities.

Ours was a big joint family with granny as the matriarch. My father, Arup, was her eldest son followed by my two uncles who were younger. I was the only son of my parents and I was called Sidhu short for Siddhartha. I had two cousins sisters Anu or Anuradha, daughter of my second uncle Partha and Debi or Debosree, daughter of my youngest uncle, Pritam.

Our house resembled a marketplace with all types of noise going on till the household retired for the night. My two aunties, the wives of my uncles, Shipra and Kabita were always chattering till they went to bed. My mother Indrani was a quiet lady and went about her work with minimum sound.

My two aunties' chatter was sometimes more than permissible decibels and created disturbance during the house deities were offered puja and mantra recitation. Then my granny needed to chide them to keep the sound within decent levels. My mother generally kept mum because it was difficult to get along with the two aunts. Only my granny dictated her authority.

My mother was a consensus candidate and tried to avoid direct conflict with anyone. My aunties were just the reverse. They were much younger and wanted a pie of their position in the family even if that had to be seized by force. My granny therefore liked my mother more than my aunties. This made my aunties jealous of my mother.

My father's income was also more than my two uncles combined. The household expenses were mostly funded by my father. This income disparity also was a sore point in cordial relations between ourselves and our uncles.

But my relations with my cousin sisters were devoid of all such conditions. They loved me as their elder brother and I reciprocated it with the best of my abilities.

My granny would always worry about what would happen to this joint family after she passed away. My mother tried her best to console her and keep her in good humour.

But my granny distrusted my uncles and their wives. This distrust started during the time my grandfather was present. So before his death, he had instructed Granny to never partition the family property and give any portion to the uncles and their families.

I had known all this family feud through my grandmother my dear granny.

My granny always shared with me all that was going on in her mind. All the skewed family entanglements told me that I should be aware of what all was happening around much to the annoyance of my aunties. They had many a time objected to my presence saying that I being a minor should be treated as a minor. But my granny cared a hoot. My mother also disliked my involvement but Granny suppressed her.

'Sidhu being the family next generation inheritor, he should know his family history and legacy,' granny used to say.

My uncles were getting desperate slowly and steadily. They wanted to live independently and for that they wanted the family property to be partitioned. The family house, a big one in our neighbourhood was situated on a big parcel of land measuring almost five acres. Our property was the biggest in that part of the town. Due to rising real estate prices, our house and land commanded a handsome price. Many a time many developers had come from the time of my grandfather to bid for the property. But my grandfather was not interested to dismantle the house and give it to land sharks. After my grandfather's passing my granny also adopted the same policy.

But my aunties thought otherwise. They wanted to get rich with a quick buck and live lives of opulence and abundance. Due to the constant bickering with the uncles, the uncles were singing the same tune.

This was the reason my granny disliked my uncles who had no emotion for their family legacy and union.

As time passed, family bickering continued and finally when all limits were crossed, my granny had to call our family lawyer Mr Dutta of the legal firm M/s Dutta & Ghosh.

Granny had told me that before Grandfather's death, he had bequeathed a will. In this will he had given my granny the mandate to do with the property as she wished.

My uncles were happy when the lawyer came. They apprehended that Granny had thought of partitioning the property. A serious discussion followed. I was also a witness to the proceedings much to the unhappiness of the aunties. Even my dad and mom were absent. My mom appeared in between bringing in tea and refreshments.

The meeting ended in stalemate and the lawyer departed. The mood in the household was very grim. No one was talking properly and there was no discussion. Only my uncles and aunties were huddled in their rooms and had closed-door meetings.

The next morning I woke up to go to granny. But I found her room empty. I generally slept with her but last night she sent me to sleep with my mom. Perhaps Granny had some plans. I immediately told my mom about Granny's disappearance. Then everyone searched everywhere in and out of the house but nowhere could she be found.

My uncles suggested that we go to the Police and seek their help. My father suggested that we first exhaust all the avenues available to search for her. My mom advised that we enquire at the ashram frequented by granny. The answer came negative from the ashram. Everyone was now worried about the safety of my granny.

Then there was unison in the opinion that Police help be sought.

We all visited the local Police Station and filed a general diary. Two days passed with no trace of granny.

I was very dejected by granny's absence. I could not concentrate on my studies. My uncles and aunties who were generally hostile in their approach towards my dad and mom, were now slowly warm in their behaviour.

Pleasantly surprised, I thought, was granny's absence had made a change in their thinking. The absence of granny continued. Slowly, I found that Granny's absence was working magic with the minds of my aunties. My uncles were behaving normally like they behaved many years ago when their selfish desires had not taken birth. The family was slowly operating like one unit. Only my granny was missing.

I, however, didn't believe that Granny had gone anywhere. The Police, I thought were not serious in their search, because they showed up periodically with negative results.

Almost six months had elapsed since I had last seen granny. I found everyone was behaving normally and going about their routine. It was only me who was sad. My mom tried her best to cheer me up but it was difficult for me to accept it.

Then one day while passing our lawyer's house, I heard my name being called, 'Sidhu, Sidhu'.

I turned to find my granny. She was standing at the door of the lawyer's house and smiling at me. I quickly ran and embraced her and started crying like a baby.

Granny consoled me. She said that she had purposefully taken this decision to make herself vanish and see from the background how each family member behaved in her absence. The lawyer had informed the Police about her whereabouts and her decision to keep herself incognito for an indefinite period to experiment. She was also keeping a tab on the activities of each member of the house. The housemaid who also worked at the lawyer's house was the source of information.

The result. Granny was happy with the developments. Now she did not have to worry what would happen after she had gone.

Granny returned with much celebration. Every member of the family was honest in the reunion.

Granny wrote a new Will with the lawyer as executor of her mandate. Everyone was consulted individually in the presence of all and the Will of happiness was written. Instead of partitioning of the property, Granny gave a parcel of land within the family land so that each member could build a cottage for the individual family. She also gave each cash to build the cottages. Everyone was very elated and eulogised Granny.

Granny had created the suspense of her disappearance to teach everyone a lesson about the benefits of living together. This disappearance also gave her time to introspect and come up with this innovative idea.