Vitamin-M
by Asha Nehemiah
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Ravi's mother worries about her forgetful, seventy-five-year-old Grandpa, who has come to live with them and once got lost. She jokes about inventing 'Vitamin-M' to improve old people's memory and asks Ravi to keep Grandpa from going out alone during the holidays. Grandpa, however, insists on stepping out and Ravi secretly follows him, ending up in one embarrassing situation after another, hiding behind a bush, being scolded by vendors, and even chasing a stranger wearing Grandpa's cap. When Ravi loses track of him and rushes home in a panic, he finds Grandpa safely asleep. On his birthday Grandpa gives gifts to everyone (as is his custom), reveals he had spotted Ravi trailing him all day, and slyly remarks that it is Ravi's mother who needs 'Vitamin-M' for forgetting his birthday, gifting Ravi a book of detective stories with a twinkle in his eye.
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Worries about Grandpa
Ravi's mother jokes about inventing 'Vitamin-M' to improve old people's memory. Grandpa, seventy-five, has come to live with them because he can no longer live alone: he once took a double dose of medicine and once got lost on a walk. He hates the noise of city life and misses his quiet brick house. Before leaving for work, the mother tells Ravi not to let Grandpa go out alone during the holidays.
Grandpa slips out
Ignoring the fuss, Grandpa picks up his eagle-handled walking stick and yellow cap and steps out to buy a Tamil newspaper. Ravi decides to follow him secretly, at a safe distance, to keep him safe.
An embarrassing chase
Grandpa buys peanuts at the park, drinks sugary tea, eats bananas and ice cream (all forbidden at home), and visits the barber. Trailing him, Ravi suffers one humiliation after another, crawling out of the park on all fours, being scolded by vendors under a banyan tree, being thrown out of a ladies' salon, and finally boarding a bus only to discover the yellow-capped man is a stranger to whom Grandpa had kindly given his cap.
Grandpa's clever twist
Ravi panics on losing Grandpa but returns home to find him safely asleep. Later Grandpa, as is his custom, gives birthday gifts to everyone in the house, including one for Ravi's mother, who had forgotten his birthday. He teasingly says his daughter needs 'Vitamin-M' for her memory, and gives Ravi 'The Best Detective Stories', slyly advising him on 'how to avoid getting fooled when one is trailing a suspect', revealing that he knew all along that Ravi had been following him.