Love n Hate

He was sitting in his armchair, his sunken eyes pondering what word would fill that column of the crossword.. Sudoku, Kakuro were new additions in the newspapers but his all-time favourite was the good old crossword. After all, in the past 25 years, he had never once left any unsolved. Ramakrishnan was 85, and had retired from office 27 years ago. Still, he never felt boredom. His head scarcely had any hair left, but his brain seldom didn't know something. He lived with his younger son who had a boy. Suresh was into his teens and was a good, obedient boy. As with all grandpas, Ramakrishnan loved his grandson very much. The feeling was mutual from the young man and he loved to converse with his "grandpapedia" as he lovingly addressed the octogenarian.

One fine evening, grandpa had something in mind. He went to his desk, and pulled out a sheet of paper, and started writing.

"Dear grandson,

There is love and there is hate. At the age of two, hate is towards the hand the pulls the thumb out of our mouth. At the age of five, hate is toward the voice of mom, who says "Don't play in the mud!!". At the age of ten, hate is towards the teacher, who scolds "Why haven't you done your homework?" At fifteen, its dad's voice, who shouts "Switch off the bloody video game!". At 20, its the college professor, who is unreasonable. At 25, its the cranky boss. At 35, its towards the son's bad friends. At 45, its at the son's stress-vents at home. There is hate at all points of life, but what is important is love and not hate. In the end, it doesn't matter how much we've hated people; what matters is how much you've loved people! Care for your family and for your friends. And, choose those friends very carefully! Care for those who care for you! These days, if you hold out a helping hand to the wrong person, he'll spit on it! Such is world. Be careful. Have pride in who you are. Live with honour. Fill your life with love and care.

Love you a lot dear little grandson!"

Back from school, Suresh found the letter on the desk. As he completed reading it, he went to his grandpa's room. The hand hung from the support. The head was looking up. Ramakrishnan's face looked so peaceful. After all, he'd lived a life without any regrets till date.

Tears welled in Suresh's eyes as he went near his grandpa, hugged him and whispered "I promise!". Ramakrishnan's head slowly turned n said "What? Its coffee time already?"

As Suresh stared at his grandpa n his practical joke, grandpa chuckled n said "Gotcha! Thought I was gone for good, didn't you? :P"

\* unleash your thoughts */