Vaccinated

Grandmother clutched my hand as we walked Srirangam's ancient corridors, her weathered fingers trembling slightly. She'd survived so much—partition, loss, decades of silence about family trauma. Today felt different. "I got the vaccine," she whispered, as if confessing something sacred. "For you. For all of us." What no one tells you is how an old woman's courage burns through generations. How protection becomes love made visible. She chose not just survival, but presence—to hold grandchildren, to pass down recipes and stories, to witness our futures. Walking those temple stones together, I understood: heritage lives in the living.