window holding his favorite transistor and waiting for a cup of tea my grandfather was bedridden for threeandahalf years the trauma of losing his home his clinic his kashmir devastated him he lost his memory in 1995 five years after the exodus during those five years he waited for normalcy to return to kashmir so he could go home and to his clinic he had a pathology laboratory the imperial clinical laboratory at maharaj ganj in srinagar my grandfather couldnt come to terms with the word migrant his condition deteriorated rapidly once dementia set in my sister and i were mute spectators to this daily horror as a family we were falling apart exile did terrible things to us as it did to many others love deserted us every morning only to return in snatches and disappear again yet we waited we waited for the upheaval in kashmir to end we waited for homecoming vinod and i finally decided to choose theatre artistes who were migrants themselves in the movie the old man and the old woman are nameless exiles who rediscover love when the old man is fading away their son and daughterinlaw leave the tent to let the old couple live together on a day that didnt seem to end was it the first day of their love in exile or the last day gigoo is a filmmaker and author