Grandma knows best what is best for grandpa. After years, nay decades of togetherness, marked by mutual caring, the duo recollects with mixed feelings, the ups and downs faced in their long journey of life. Their dismay is at being not included in the family fold, particularly in urban spaces witnessing predominance of nuclear families, yet craving for care as its ingredients of factors that compel drastic changes in their outlook to life. They have their beliefs, clinging to customs, tied by traditions, sticking to simplicity in matters of food and attire, which is irksome to give up. They have faced family feuds, dared diseases, remained stoic in times of loss of kith and kin during epidemics, played mentor role only when sought, and finally taking in their strides the hardships that come with age, including loss of vision, teeth, digestion, sleep, physical strength and many of their lifelong friends and well-wishers.
Generation gap on many well-marked counts, a global feature of society, the less it is accepted as inevitable, the more is the agony bugging the grannies. Fortunate are the grandpa-grandma couple, who are bestowed respect and love in word and deed by all in the family, raising their happiness and mitigating their miseries. The younger lot will do well to remember that their time lies ahead.
