Memories of Summers With Our Grandparents
How it helped us to bond
Every summer my paternal grandfather and grandmother would invite all the grandkids to their home in New Delhi.
My father was the eldest of 5 children. He had three sisters. One was settled in London with her husband and kids. One was in Mumbai and one in Calcutta.
They were two brothers. We lived in Ranchi as my father was with the Agriculture Ministry and my uncle was in the Bhilai steel plant.
None of us lived in this city but my grandparents insisted that all the grandkids had to come to Delhi and spend time with them during the holidays.
Some of my cousins were too young to be sent alone and some had school commitments. Anyhow my father would send me every year on their request.
At any given time we were always cousins together at their home. Some would join later and others would leave. Sometimes we were even 8 or nine together.
I always saw my grandparents as old people. They never went anywhere with us. They would stay at home and in a gentle way rule over us.
In those days, they had an adjoining bathroom which was one for a bath and the other was the pot.
