Do dreams really connect us with the heavenlies? We don't believe in such things but once we experience it then we tend to become a li'l superstitious.I can't say what I experienced was some kind of wish that my Great Grandmother(my granny's mother in law) was trying to fulfill or it was my unconscious mind surfacing in my dream.
My Great Granny and I were bumchums. She had a wrinkled face and her skin and muscles seemed as if suspended by her thin bones. But it was the snow white shining hair on her strong head that attracted my 4 years eyes the most and my tiny palms always found ways to clutch them esp. when she was asleep. When she separated kankars from the heaps of rice then my li'l mind found delight in scattering her hard work onthe floor. But the delight and fun that followed that act were mutual between us.She used to build castles from my toys and say "My li'l princess will reside in it."
One day while playing with her in our courtyard I pushed her, she fell down and the old bones of her right leg got fractured which was though cured, but left a permanent limp. But I was still her little princess who deserved a beautiful castle......
After 3,4 years her health started deteriorating owing to old age. Still whenever I asked her to tell a story, she never said "no". Her health subsided further and my decrepit granny was now bedridden. Her painful sighs and pantings used to scare me so much so that I stopped going in her room.How I hate myself for that now.
One day I was passing by her room. She saw me and called me forcing her tongue to utter my name. I stopped but was afraid. She managed to ask for water in a stammering voice and started panting heavily.I got so nervous that I ran away forgetting that my senile great granny had asked something from me for the first time....
After a month i.e,. on 20th april 1999 my great granny breathed her last. Now her li'l princess had to build her castles all by herself..... Exactly on 20th May 99, I had a dream in which I was playing with her and she was continuously asking for water from me. Then I had frequent dreams of her where she asked for water. I reported this to my grandmother and she suggested me a way.
On 20th April 2000, I went up to my terrace early in the morning with a glass of water, faced the sky and said " my dearest great grannu, pls forgive me for my childish behaviour that day and drink the water", and I emptied the tumbler.
It has been 9 years since then and after that I have had only one dream of her in which she was playing with me....not asking for water.....but just playing......
Her memories are etched in my heart forever..... I never cry for her coz I know she peeps from the window of her heavenly abode just to see me happy....
