One of the most unforgettable incidents of my childhood- achan's youngest sister's wedding. I must've been 5 or 6 years old. Sreeju was barely 6 months and Jai was 10 years old. We had gone to kerala, wedding was in guruvayoor. Since there was a tea party in the evening at achan's place, only a few of us went to guruvayoor in a tempo traveller. Jai stayed back with my cousins whilst the four of us went. On our way back home we met with an accident. believe it or not I had a bad feeling for a few seconds before it actually happened. So it did not come as a surprise. I was stuck under the seat and amma was trying to pull me out. i was scared to go out so I foolishly said i will wait here for some more time. I could hear people screaming and I knew somebody had a serious injury. Achan and somebody else was in the boot of the van due to lack of space and when the tempo slammed onto the truck at the sharp bend on the highway something sharp on the roof of the tempo pierced into achan's head. He was bleeding profusely, soaked in blood, he held his head tightly with one hand and hailed an autorikshaw and sped with the others to the hospital. Amma, sreeju, my aunt and me went in the other direction. We had no clue what was happening. I had minor bruises, Amma had fractured her leg. I was still in shock. We went to veliachan's house. Got to see achan only the next day in the hospital. It was not easy...
after that accident achan had all his teeth coming off one by one. A couple of years later, he got them all removed and got his dentures.
Almost every year after that achan had some or the other health problems. A fracture or asthma or gout , the pain he has gone through was endless.
But what we admired about him is he never ever gave up. he wasn't willing to let pain keep him away from his work or the household responsibilities.
He was on the move all the time. And all that he did was for us, his family.
The greatest regret in my life would be that I couldn't give back any of it.
