“Life is a series of stories – and everyone has one”
Cheewa James
When I was a kid I always spent
most of my time with my maternal grandparents. They lived in a small town in
Odisha, perhaps thirty minutes journey from my parents’ house. Both my parents
were working and I did not want to spend time alone during vacations. So, I
would bug them to take me to my grandparents’ house and they seldom hesitated.
My grandpa was an amazing story
teller and my granny was an awesome cook, this made their place heaven. Now my
grandpa would tell me and my cousin stories from his own life, simple ones, not
too long and never too boring. He was from a humble background, born in a
village with two elder brothers and a peasant father. His mother was one of the
most traditional and decent woman of those days. I always felt he had inherited
a lot from her when I used to look at her photo. They had never planned to send
him to high school but his scores were simply too good to be ignored. Also he
had this dream to be one of the “Babus”. This made him strive to achieve the
very best and excel in whatever he learnt. After being a gold medallist in BSc
and MSc Physics from the Ravenshaw University, Odisha he went ahead to do his
Post Doctorate from British Columbia somewhere around the 1960s. He would then
return to his roots and become a Professor in Odisha, writing books for the
state board and starting a Science Magazine in Odia.
Life is indeed a series of
stories and some stories touch your heart. They give you hope, make you dream
and always end with a moral. My grandfather is no more but the stories he has
told me will always show me path, will always drive my spirit high and
encourage me to follow my heart. Though I am in the Software Industry now, I
somewhat feel thankful that as a kid I did not have an iPad to spend my evenings
playing games, otherwise I would have missed the stories which I feel is a
treasure for lifetime.
