"Will you bring me back coins from places you travel to?"
Among Bobbychayan's many interests, was numismatics.
He's one of my favourite relatives. My maternal grandaunt's husband, he has dexterous engineers' hands, fixing almost everything at home, as well as a retentive mind that helps him recall a large number of incidents in the 90 revolutions he's had around the sun. He's also a great raconteur with a sharp wit and is generally an all-round jolly guy - the kind people tend to gravitate towards.
I try and make it a point to go visiting him once every few months and he's always interested in all the things I do - my yoga, my scuba, my theatre, my travels...
The only favor he's ever asked me is to get him coins when I travel, which I've diligently been doing for over a decade now. It's possibly the only favor he seeks from anyone.
His collection must be quite considerable now. It's also an interest he wants to bequeath to the apples of his eye, his grandchildren, Allan and Brian.
"It's important for every grandparent to seed some interest, any interest in fact, in their grand-kids", he says. Parents usually are tied up in conventional academics to pay heed to other areas of interest kids could possibly have. Grandparents need to try and spark that fire".
And so he laid out his whole collection of coins in front of his thrilled grand-kids, his excitement knowing now bounds at new ideas he was going to introduce them to.
"For starters", he announced, "did you know there is a term for someone who collects coins?"
He beamed with pride as he waited for the moment he could drop a new term into their developing vocabulary.
6 year old Allan had a glint in his eye because he had this one covered. He knew the answer! He turned to Brian, 2 years younger than him and raised his eyebrow teasingly, knowing the younger fellow hadn't a clue.
He broke the pregnant silence with his answer.
"A beggar?"
Ah! The clarity of an uncluttered mind!
Among Bobbychayan's many interests, was numismatics.
He's one of my favourite relatives. My maternal grandaunt's husband, he has dexterous engineers' hands, fixing almost everything at home, as well as a retentive mind that helps him recall a large number of incidents in the 90 revolutions he's had around the sun. He's also a great raconteur with a sharp wit and is generally an all-round jolly guy - the kind people tend to gravitate towards.
I try and make it a point to go visiting him once every few months and he's always interested in all the things I do - my yoga, my scuba, my theatre, my travels...
The only favor he's ever asked me is to get him coins when I travel, which I've diligently been doing for over a decade now. It's possibly the only favor he seeks from anyone.
His collection must be quite considerable now. It's also an interest he wants to bequeath to the apples of his eye, his grandchildren, Allan and Brian.
"It's important for every grandparent to seed some interest, any interest in fact, in their grand-kids", he says. Parents usually are tied up in conventional academics to pay heed to other areas of interest kids could possibly have. Grandparents need to try and spark that fire".
And so he laid out his whole collection of coins in front of his thrilled grand-kids, his excitement knowing now bounds at new ideas he was going to introduce them to.
"For starters", he announced, "did you know there is a term for someone who collects coins?"
He beamed with pride as he waited for the moment he could drop a new term into their developing vocabulary.
6 year old Allan had a glint in his eye because he had this one covered. He knew the answer! He turned to Brian, 2 years younger than him and raised his eyebrow teasingly, knowing the younger fellow hadn't a clue.
He broke the pregnant silence with his answer.
"A beggar?"
Ah! The clarity of an uncluttered mind!
No comments:
Post a Comment