Ahmedabad sisters pay smiling homage to granny

AHMEDABAD: The dining table in Pathak household in Paldi area is a creative mess – Dhyani, 12, and Vaishvi, 8, are busy cutting the chart papers neatly, writing inspirational quotes and decorating them with splashes of colours.
‘Get well soon,’ ‘You are braver than you think,’ ‘We’re going home soon,’ read a few of the cards. All these cards are soon going to Covid patients across the city as a homage by the girls to their beloved nani (maternal grandmother) whom they lost to the pandemic.
“My mother Jyoti Pandya passed away at the age of 69 years on April 12. The girls were very attached to her and they would frequently make video calls to her when she got hospitalized. On April 12 we got a call from the hospital that she was no more after the brief hospitalization,” recounts Forum Pathak. “It was devastating for us, but the girls refused to believe that she was no more. They insisted that she could not have left without fulfilling her promises to play with them and go shopping.”
The family members tried to talk to girls and get them out of the denial to embrace the grief. Eventually Forum, an art teacher by profession, devised a way out. “I motivated them to write the ‘get well soon’ cards as if it’s for the nani. They jumped at the idea and immediately set out to do the task. It not only engrossed them but also helped them express their thoughts and concerns. It proved to be very therapeutic,” said Pathak.
In nearly one month, the duo is ready with over 200 beautiful cards which would be distributed to various hospitals. The duo told TOI that their biggest achievement would be putting a smile on the patients and motivating them to get back on their feet. “It would be the best homage we could pay to our nani,” said Dhyani.
Dr Jinesh Shah, a city-based child and adolescent psychiatrist, said the creative outlet is a positive way to give children a channel to process their emotions. “Adults often suppress feelings and even details of the demise from the kids, which makes them left out. It thus often takes a lot of time for them to express their feelings,” he said. “Thus, if this emotion can be channelled into something creative like painting, craft or music, it can be very therapeutic.”