Grandma versus Grandma

Nomenclature of indigenous grannies is a bit confusing for kids born abroad.

- Rajiv Bakshi

I am talking of those times when the number of siblings was three or four. The grandparents pampered all their grandchildren alike, whether they were kids of their son or their daughter. I remember having spent my childhood in Model Town, Jallandhar when more than 10 grandkids used to play together, without any bickering.

Almost all of them were school-going, but one of them was from Mayo College, Ajmer, and one from Sainik School Kapurthala, while the rest of them were from government schools. But there was harmony among the cousins.

My grandmother had passed away when my dad was hardly fourteen and my grandfather took the responsibility of raising the kids and showering the grandkids with great love and pampering. There was hardly any rivalry between Daadi (father’s mother) and Naani (mother’s mother) in those days.