Grandma Returned To Me

I have been wanting to write this for quite some time. I don't know if there's anything paranormal about this, so I leave it to the readers to judge for themselves. I'll be writing about two separate incidents, which are connected by one common thread - my paternal grandmother.

My grandma passed away around 8 pm on May 12, 2010. She had been ailing for quite a long time and had been in a coma for weeks in a hospital in Mumbai, India. I had been staying in Pune (about 180 kms from Mumbai) after marriage since June 2008 and would visit my family in Mumbai often. A few days before granny passed away, my dad called me up and asked me to come down saying granny doesn't have much time left and that she's probably breathing just so that she can see me for one last time. At that time, I didn't argue with him, but I was wondering how this could be possible, since she's in a coma anyway.

So, on the morning of May 12, I reached my home in Mumbai and post lunch, went to meet aaji (granny). I could see that she was wasting away and said a silent prayer that God frees her from this agony (Respecting the sensitivities of the readers, I'm not going to describe her condition in detail). I held her hand in my hands, talked to her a bit and then when I could sit there no longer (I couldn't bear to see a woman who had led her life in an upright manner in this condition; she was the matriarch of the family and managed the entire household after grandpa's death in 1989), I left. Since I had to be at work the next day, I left for Pune by the 5 pm bus. Around 8 pm, when I was near Lonavala, I got a call from dad saying that granny has left us all. He reiterated to me that she was waiting just for me and after meeting me, her soul decided to depart. I was left with a lifelong regret that I couldn't attend her last rites, but I did make it a point to return for her 13th day rites.

Coming ahead to the May 12, 2012. I was heavily pregnant and my estimated due date was June 23 (she was born on June 7). In my dream, my grandma came to me and asked that I give her a bath. A little background info here: before my grandma descended into coma, and before I got married and moved to Pune, I used to bathe her since she had lost the ability for doing her own stuff. So, seeing her in my dream came as a bit of a shocker. I talked about this dream with my friend, who told me that probably even she is excited about her first great-grandchild and just wanted to convey this to me through a dream. Little did I know that I would be bathing a baby daughter soon! And that this was, in fact, an indicator that she would be coming to me soon.

In India gender detection tests are illegal, so there was no way I could have known that I was going to have a baby girl. Indians believe in reincarnation and I believe that my grandma has come back to me in the form of my daughter. There are two points that make me believe in this. First, me getting that dream on granny's death anniversary. Second, this might seem a bit far-fetched, but this is what I think. My husband and I were shortlisting names for the baby - male and female names. We somehow could quickly finalize a girl's name, but could never zero in on a boy's name.

This is a sincere account and I just wanted to share this with you guys. I don't know if the moderators find it worthy of publishing, but if it is, I would love to have your feedback on this.