13 happened. I discovered love. A beautiful feeling. It filled every part of me. For the first time in my life, I hugged someone. I don’t remember being hugged before. Not once. Not even as a child. I chased and married her! She is my wife. For forty years now. I visited my parents, when I could. But I still didn’t feel any emotion towards that couple. They were just duty visits. My one big regret I began to accept my story. I read self-help books. I moved far away from my parents. First to Mumbai. Then Dubai. Canada. Even now, I have one big regret. I wish I had asked ammamma and ammachan about their lives. Their real stories. I never asked. And now they’re gone. And everyone else from their generation has passed on. In December 2022, my mother died. From the stories I Ammamma and ammachan are no more. All the people who knew them well have also passed on. My one regret is, I did not get to know them. I think of my grandparents every day. Even now.
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