The gift of family

"Just give it a try. It will be fun,” my friend insisted. He kept on pestering me until I said yes. I accepted just to shut his mouth. He had eagerly waited for me to spill yes. As soon as I spit it out, he ran to his room and brought a big fat journal.

“Is this your album of stamp collection? Why does it look similar to a PhD research book?” I questioned.

"I know that you are annoyed. But stamp collecting is fun. It’s been my favourite hobby for days." Ayaan declared.

Ayaan is obsessed with stamp collection. He wanted me to join him. I really don’t have much interest in it. But he wouldn’t leave me until I’m in.

Ayaan placed the album in front of me with a thud. Flipping through the pages, he showed me his collections. I was kind of enlightened on his ancient stamp collections. Pointing out every stamp, he explained the origin of it.

While he was turning on the pages, I suddenly spotted something familiar.

“Wait. What is this?” I asked him, pointing at a stamp.

“This is from the 19’s and why do you ask particularly about this? What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Where did you get this?” I demanded.

“I got this from the grandpa who owns a bookstore around the corner. He gave me some of his collections he gathered as a boy. Now will you tell me what’s going on?” he mentioned.

“The one in the stamp, it’s my Great grandpa. I really need to know about this” I said and took the album in my hand and headed to the bookstore. Ayaan followed me.

I and Ayaan ran around the corner of the street to an old, dusty bookstore named “The Bookies”. There sat a bald old man penning something in his notebooks.

“Grandpa, do you know about him?” I asked showing me the stamp.

Adjusting his bifocal glasses the old man stared at the picture.

“Yeah, it’s the stamp from the 1940’s. He’s the man who brought education to the village that was once 100% illiterate and suffered from slavery. The government put his image on stamps to honour his act.” The old man said, his voice trembling and shaky hands.

I was shocked and surprised at the same time. My Great grandpa is such a great man and never heard anything of it. Soon after I gathered all the information I needed, I rushed home.

We are a family of just 2 - me and my mom. Dad passed away in a terrible accident when I was 5. And we had no trace of our relatives. I was raised by my mom and grandpa, who died due to age factor. It was he who showed me an old black and white picture of his parents. And thanks to my extraordinary memory, my mind clicked the picture perfectly.

“Mom, you have no idea what I had found today?” I hyped mom. She gazed at me in confusion.

“Please don’t tell me that you found another puppy on the streets.”

“No, mom. Look at this.” I showed her the stamp.

“It’s my grandpa. What is he doing here?” she asked.

I told her everything I found and to my surprise, she didn’t know any of it before. She was proud and happy about him.

I immediately googled to get more detailed information. Lucky me, I found the whereabouts of the village. I can’t help myself but to visit the village.

The next day,

I dragged Ayaan and took a cab to visit the village. My inner mind instructed me to see all the great things that my great grandpa did. I wanted to know if the village is still remembering him. It took 2 hours to reach the village. Ayaan and I stepped out of the cab and to our left was a newspaper store. I enquired about my grandpa to him.

“Excuse me, sir. Do you know who Mr.Velayudh is?” I asked showing him the picture.

The gentle man’s face lit as soon as he heard the name.

“No one in this village would ever forget him. He was the reason this village experienced a changeover.” He never stopped appraising him. After giving me a lengthy speech of his wonders to the village, he asked me why I was enquiring about him.

“I’m Milan and this is my friend Ayaan. The person in the picture is my great grandpa” I said and he stepped out of his store in delightment. He grabbed my hand and dragged me to introduce it to all the members of the village.

“Look, the God’s heir has come to visit! The God’s heir is here!” he jumped in excitement. Ayaan was looking at me in astonishment. All the people gathered around me and welcomed us in open arms. We were taken to the nearby eatery and were offered with so much yummy foodstuffs and love. The villagers spoke great about him. It was a treat to my ears.

They showed me the library they built for the people. The entrance had a picture of my Great grandpa with his name carved in it. ‘In the memory of Mr.Velayudh’.

“Where have you been all these days? And why didn’t any of your family members come to meet this village?” The oldest man, the only alive man who was a friend of my great grandpa asked me.

“I didn’t know about this village earlier. And no one was there to tell me. My family is nothing but my Mom.” I was saddened.

“No, Kid. You aren’t alone anymore. You have an entire village as a family. And we all are beside you.” A woman said. I was overwhelmed by their kind words. I never had a family who loved me and cared for me except mom and Ayaan. Now, because of my Great grandpa’s good deeds, whom I had never met in my life, I got an entire village as a family. This has nothing to do with me. All the love and care that I received is all because of him- Grandpa Velayudh. He is no more to experience all the love that is being showered on him. But even in his absence, after so many decades, he had attained a position where none could forget him forever. And that is when I realised what success smells like.