My Grandmother – The Final Visit

By Aakriti Pandey

This happened before the COVID era, when I visited my maternal grandmother.

At the time, I didn’t realize it would be the last time I’d see her. 

I often wonder—

If someone can still live freely, even after understanding the world,

maybe it only happens at the final turn of life… 

When there’s no fear of losing 

no urge to gain anything 

and most pages of the book of life have already been turned 

Because at that age—when the final destination (death) is near —

what more could a person want than to fully absorb this miracle of life through their

eyes? 

To stare deeply at the moon 

To breathe in the scent of flowers  and preserve it in memory… 

Maybe that’s all one wishes for. 

In the middle of all these innocent thoughts, I sat down to talk with her. 

I found that her world still revolved around her children—

what’s good about them , what problems they’re facing , what could have

been…

Her mind was still filled with those same everyday worries 

The conversation lasted about two hours , and beyond that, not much was said.

And in that silence , I realized something:

Even in the final act of life, a person is still tangled in the same thoughts—

still caught in the same importance they’ve attached to everything all their life

By Aakriti Pandey