Magic

                                   

“Nandu, where are you Nandu?” my father was looking for his grandson all over the house. I told him that he had gone to his uncle’s place along with his mother in the morning and would come back only after two days. “Ah! I see “he said and from his expression I could make out that he was not happy about it.

Our’ s was a small family consisting of my parents, me, my brother, his wife and 5-year-old son. My father was a very practical and worldly-wise person. He built two duplex houses with a common wall in between and the elevation was such that it would look like one house. In one house my brother’s family lives and the other one is occupied by my parents and me. The house was very elegant and comfortable that my sister -in-law loves it and cannot find any reason to go elsewhere. My parents plan to give the second house to me eventually. This was a brilliant plan to ensure that we all lived at one place and at the same time had our spaces and privacy. This way there was no scope for any friction.

Now, coming to the main point, nandu is the apple of my father’s eyes and the whole universe revolves around the boy. Sometimes I even wonder if the meticulous planning was to have his grandson close to him in his old age. Whole day he was very silent and brooding. At the dinnertime we noticed that he was silently eating and was not relishing his food. My brother asked, ’What is the matter with you dad. Are you not well?” My father replied,” My health is OK. When is your wife coming back?” My brother smiled and said that she will back after two days. “She also needs a break Dad and needs to spend time with her family. “Dad did not say anything.

    Next day morning passed giving way to afternoon and then night.

My brother was silently watching with a smile on his face, my father who was not able to hide his feeling of annoyance and unhappiness.

By the second day morning my father lost his cool and under some pretext, refused to have breakfast and picked up a fight with my mother. While he was arguing with my mother, from faraway we heard the soft voice calling “Grand Paa” all of a sudden, the arguments paused, as he looked around searching for the tiny tot. There he came running to my dad, followed by his parents who were all smiles at the sight. Surprisingly, even the child it seems, had insisted that he be taken back home as he was missing his grand Paa! Both of them were hugging and kissing each other and there was mesmerizing Magic in that moment all encompassing, enfolding all of us in its charm and we were all speechless. Such a pure magic of human love was rare to behold and experience.