My Uncle

I always recollect my uncle with a heavy heart. Though he died about two decades ago, his imposing frame with fair complexion and muscular arms is still fresh in my memory. He was my mother’s younger brother and when I was, five he was twenty-five, studying law. We had a two-storied house and my uncle stationed himself in a thatched structure on the terrace of the kitchen. In a corner of the terrace, there was a chimney like device to let out the smoke from the kitchen. My uncle used it a communication device whenever he wanted to talk to my mother. He put his mouth at the aperture of this device and yelled out, ‘Sister, is breakfast ready?’ My mother came to the corner of the kitchen where above the chimney was, and yelled back, ‘Just a few minutes, brother, the rice is ready, but the soup is still boiling.’

 I worshipped my uncle as a hero, for he was my savior many a time. When some of my playmates threatened to beat me, I began to cry. Then my uncle arrived on the scene and thundered at them. My enemies became meek instantly and slunk away. But it never occurred to me that that brow-beating little children was not a big thing for a youth. As my opponents ran away, I told my mother and father how uncle had bravely driven away the bad boys who tried to hit me.

On the terrace, there were two partitioning walls each three feet high, beside the thatched structure of my uncle. On one, I sat astride with a bronze plate in my left hand as a defensive shield and a long stick in my right hand assuming it was a spear. My uncle mounted on the other parapet wall with a shied and stick like a Greek soldier. We both fought challenging each other till sun-set. It was time for mother to appear at the battle scene and scold me to have a wash and get back to my studies.. Though my uncle was a Greek hero who could conquer any warrior in the world, he was as meek as a lamb in my mother’s presence. Whenever my mother stopped the great battles and boxed my ear to go and read, it was a subtle reminder for uncle that his annual law exams were fast approaching.

 What uncle said was rule of law for me. Once he gave me two annas ( five American cents forty years ago) to buy biscuits. Uncle told me that two annas would fetch ten biscuits. When the grocer gave me fifteen biscuits, I angrily returned five biscuits, saying that uncle knew better.

 The drinking water tap was at the ground floor and uncle was lazy to go there by stair-case to fetch water. So he offered to pay me half an anna per day if I feched him water. It was a secret deal between us because, my father was a strict disciplinarian and would have given me a good beating had he known this clandestine commercial proposal. I was mad after kites and saved this money to buy them during spring season.

 By the time he established himself as a lawyer, he was forty and I was twenty. He was also good at teaching and helped me a lot with my lessons in my graduation. In my twenties uncle was my friend, philosopher and guide and I poured out all my romantic escapades to him. He gave me a patient listening but never hesitated to take me to task whenever he thought that I was a little too dashing to any girl. Even after I had settled down in a lucrative career,  he assumed the same role of friend, philosopher and guide and we exchanged letters of mutual interest for many years.

All of a sudden,  he stopped writing to me. I thought he might have been busy with many  cases on hand

On a cloudy afternoon, the post-man dropped me a letter. It was not from uncle and but from my father, informing me that uncle had been admitted into a hospital with cerebral cancer. The letter numbed my senses for a while. I recovered myself and went to his native town. I found him in deep coma in the hospital bed. My aunt and cousins were at his bedside, too week to cry. I sat beside him and took his arm into mine. His arm was not that muscular. It is weak and wrinkled as a old man’s. Tears welled up in my eyes. I shook his arm and called him softly ‘uncle’. He opened his eyes for a while and closed again. Apparently, he did not recognize me. I sent my aunt and cousins home;  I stayed with him that night  With trembling voice I whispered into his ear how he was my hero and friend and how much I loved him. But there was no response. Tears streamed down my cheeks and drenched uncle’s forearm, supported under the neck. He lay on the bed, breathing heavily at times. Suddenly he uttered a loud cry and kicked his hands and legs. He shook all over the body. His convulsions lasted a minute; then he lay inert.. Before I ran for medical help, the duty doctor came there. He felt uncle’s pulse. He dropped the hand motionless. The nurse beside him covered uncle’s face with the white bedspread.

And that was the mortal end of my uncle. But he still lives in my mind.