The loving grandparents and their childlike behaviour

There is a common saying that as you age you start behaving like a child. People who are lucky to be staying with their loving grandparents and children under one roof would be experiencing this on a day-to-day basis. As the loving grandparents age, there is a certain amount of mischief that creeps into their behaviour. It is difficult to say why it happens but it is a behaviour that at times irritates you but on the other hand it also makes them adorable.

If the grandpa is diabetic then it’s difficult to keep that last piece of cake in the fridge out of his sight. On the other hand, grandma is not willing to compromise on the decibel levels while watching her favourite soap. She  will lower the volume on your request but the moment you step out the volume will rebound.

Some situations keep happening daily that make the parents go nuts. On one hand, the kids are growing up and need a lot of attention and on the other hand, the grandparents with their shenanigans try to attract parent’s attention. Parents try their best to keep a perfect balance between the loving grandparents and the adorable children but do get pretty exhausted at the end of the day.

The loving grandparents and their TV viewing habit

There are times when you enter your house and try explaining to your wife why you are late from the office. Your explanation somewhere gets lost in the cacophony of a daily soap running at peak volume on grandma’s television. You step into her bedroom requesting her to lower the volume. She willingly obliges but within few minutes the volume is back to its original. Your wife is pretty upset about this day-to-day episode. The son is preparing for his class 12^th board and with so much noise he is not able to concentrate?

On the other hand, grandpa never gets tired of listening to the news. The kids fail to understand why can’t grandpa just surf the net and read the latest news on Google updates. Why listen to these news anchors who keep howling throughout the show? But just like one can never change the value of pi similarly it is difficult to change the television viewing habits of the loving grandparents.

The loving grandparents and their habit of forgetfulness

This is one habit that often brings the entire house to its knees. It’s 7 am in morning. Dad is still in the bed trying his best to get out. Suddenly he hears a commotion in the grandparent’s bedroom. He rushes hoping everything is alright. Mom tells him that all hell has broken as grandpa is not able to find his Aadhar card. Dad also joins the search along with mom and kids. The entire house looks as if it has been invaded by treasure hunters. Every one is looking for that precious 12-digit numbered Identity card.

It is the grandma who finally comes to the rescue. She asks grandpa to look into the briefcase that he has recently discarded and voila it is right there. Everybody heaves a sigh of relief! Dad often gets irritated by grandpa’s habit of forgetfulness. However it is mom who keeps him under check saying he should ignore it as it is an age-related problem.

This treasure hunt activity gets repeated quite frequently. There are times when grandma forgets where she has kept her reading glasses. Grandpa on the other hand, specialises in misplacing his mobile every second day. Most of the time it’s the grandkids who come to their rescue after all how can they ignore the SOS calls of their loving grandparents.

Smart technology is not meant for them

One thing the kids fail to understand is that why can’t both grandpa and grandma spend daytime together in the bedroom. Why is that the two companions sharing the same bed in the night act as strangers from two different planets during daytime? Mom and dad have studied their behavior for a long time and finally come out with a solution. They have installed two televisions – one in their bedroom and the other in the common area of the living room.

But every solution comes with a new problem. Every time grandma switches on the new smart television she complains that this TV is no good and the last one was much better. The grandson comes to her rescue in such dire situations. He comes and explains to her that she has to first move the cursor on the OTT channel she wants to watch, select it and then press the OK button. And this tutorial is repeated every 3^rd day.

The remote is not working

One day while studying in his room he overheard grandma complaining that the TV remote is not working and maybe the batteries need replacement. Exasperated, he came out of the room telling grandma he changed the batteries just last week only. He took grandma through the entire process of how to select YouTube on the smart TV once again.

Dad has gifted an expensive smartphone to grandpa that he is finding very difficult to use. For an initial couple of days, dad took out time to explain the various features of the phone. Thereafter he left it to grandpa to explore the high-tech instrument by himself.  Grandpa keeps calling his man-Friday, his grandson, to help him learn how to operate. The grandson with his knack for technology products has been successful to some extent to teach him. Every time the phone rings grandpa swipes the screen to the right with full throttle to answer the call. Seeing this the grandson explained to him that he has to touch the phone gently otherwise the screen guard may come out.

The sneak attack in the kitchen by the loving grandparents

Both the loving grandparents are suffering from sugar. Being diabetic mom tries to keep their food habits under check. Grandpa is fond of Indian sweets from rasgulla to gulab Jamun, from gajar ke halwa to rabri. But diabetes keeps him away from his favorite sweets. The day a box of ladoos arrives in the house grandpa is the first one to lay a claim on it though under the watchful eyes of family members he only takes a small portion. The next morning when mom opens the refrigerator she finds a couple of ladoos missing. She checks with dad and the kids but they refuse. The blame finger comes on grandpa but knowing his weakness for sweets she stops the investigation.

Grandma keeps her diet under control but the day mom and dad are out she steps into the kitchen to make grandpa’s favourite aloo paranthas. She lays down the table and both of them feast on it with spicy aam ka achar (mango pickle). Seeing their loving grandparents feasting together on the breakfast table the grandson realises what companionship is all about.

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