How do I remember

My grandfather used to tell me in my childhood,
Write and keep writing to remember things.
He unknowingly trained me to keep writing.

Putting thoughts on paper helps them stick in your mind,
So I wrote and wrote and wrote.

I learned math formulas,
Science rules,
Geography,
History,
Civics,
EVS—all of it.

English grammar and Hindi grammar too,
Poems, stories, essays on any subject.
I wrote and wrote, remembering it all,
Thanks to my grandfather's guidance.

I have remembered everything by writing.
In the process of memorizing, I learned to write.
The one thing he missed—
He never taught me how to forget.

Now, I write.
I have learned the art of stitching thoughts into words.
Whenever something happens, I write it down.
I have written so much—it’s like a crown.
I have written so much about You,
I remember it's now a written word.

But my grandfather never told me to remember people in writing.
Yet, I did.
And now, I remember them all—
Their faces, their voices,
The laughter, the chit-chat, the eyes,
The scenes If we were together.

Now, my mind wishes to let them go—
Many scenes,
Many faces,
Many things,
Many names.
Many showers of rain,
Autumns that have passed,
Mornings and evenings fading fast.

As I remember through writing,
One day, I started writing by remembering.
And in that way,
Every moment came alive.

You walking behind me,
Skipping, running, seasons changing.
Clear roads turning foggy,
Your t-shirt becoming your jacket—
But you remain the same.
Sometimes you came on a bicycle,
With three or four,
Sometimes just two,
And sometimes… arriving alone.
Memories became stories—still breathing, still here.

But my grandfather never taught me how to uninstall.

He never taught me how to forget.
No remedy, no solution,
Only writing—memories carved in ink.
And after so much struggle,
Now, I don't want to keep them off.