অন্তহীন অপেক্ষা
I call my grandmother as 'Amma'. Like most other women from late 60's my Amma got married at a very early age. With no clue about the meaning of love, she got into a new family all of a sudden. Just like many other women during that period, she took a lot of time to cope with the new family and eventually develop a relation of cohabitation with her husband.
Now comes a time when Amma got children and raised them to the fullest potential. Following which there comes a time when the children grow up and leave the parents to be on their own, sometimes giving the rare visit to the parents.
Once again Amma and Dadu (grandfather) lives a lonesome life towards the end of their beautiful journey called life. This is the time , when they actually need people to stay beside them. Since Dadu was elder than Amma , by nature’s law he leaves Amma and passes away. Unfortunately this is the usual scenario of most of the Bengali families who still have their grandparents alive.
My body of work ventures this part of the all the grandmother’s (grandparent’s) life which has pointlessly turned out into an endless waiting exercise.They literally count days and wait for their death hoping that dying they will end up meeting their loved ones who have passed away earlier. With little care towards them, particularly at this part of their life, we can make their life a lot better.
Amma is living on her memory now. We all live so. But don’t realize that. It seems like she did realize that human beings are just a physical manifestation of memory.
The amazing white hair is a symbol of wisdom she possesses. Experiential knowledge gathered over the year with in her, lacks human warmthness to share with.
Give a visit to your grandparents if they are alive. Spend some time with them. They have a separate knowledge and an innate wisdom about life. All they need is some time, which they can spend with their family before they pass away.
Stop their Endless Waiting
Concept and Photography: Neel Bhattacharjee