My Grandpa

It was a silent night, but different than usual nights we have. My mother and brother were in the room, packing the goods and clothes, and my dad was out to confirm the tickets for us. The four of us were trying to hide the anxiety in ourselves by keeping ourselves busy but deep down it was displeasing. The phone rang between all of this, and we all panicked for a bit, unprepared to know the information from the other side. My dad picked up the phone and answered. It was my uncle calling to confirm our flight timing.

My dad then asked, ” How’s dad?”.

Uncle said, ” I don’t think much time is left, you better hurry”.

He put down the phone, looked at us, and said “Make it quick, we need to board in 2 hours” without showing any emotion.

We boarded the flight on time to Kolkata. The whole flight we were quiet and lost. Just like characters from some tragedy/drama movie. After landing we took a cab straight to our house to meet my grandpa. He was ill and had been diagnosed with a serious illness. After bravely fighting the disease for 2 months he was tired. We all were scared he won’t be able to make it, and could be counting his last breath. We wanted to be there for him to support and make him feel loved as we could.

Soon we reached my grandpa’s house. It used to look like some 90’s Bengali construction. My grandpa planned the whole house design back in the day inspired by his beloved movie Nayak. My uncle and Aunty were standing, their expression was subtle, and we could guess that Grandpa was still alive.

We went in to meet him. He was laying on his bed like some small child. I never perceived him like that, for me he was a mature man and a leader. Watching him like that made me heartbroken. My dad called him twice, thrice but he couldn’t answer. After many tries when he looked at him, he wasn’t able to recognize him. He was just calling my uncle’s name who is elder than my dad. The condition was getting worse but nothing was in our hands.

It was almost 10 pm by then. They suggested freshening up and have dinner as we were traveling the whole day. That night the feeling was so uneasy, I never felt like that before, we went to sleep and couldn’t able to. Around 4 am we heard a knock on our door. We open it and Uncle was standing right there with tears in his eyes. He then looked at Dad and hugged him. We knew what happened. We went there to see Grandpa, he was laying on his bed peacefully, leaving all of us in grief.