Rest in peace

As a teenager, I admired you. Your sense of purpose, focus and clarity of thought. Your single minded determination to do well and climb up the ladder inspired me when I was younger. You were my hero ( despite the fact that you were the grammar nazi ).I don't know when I started calling you by your first name. But thanks all the same. It made you a friend more than anything else. RIP chittappa.

In my last conversation with you , you said "main wapas aake karoonga. Where am I going to run away?". Little did you know.

Today, 5 days after you have left us , I look back upon all the good times with you and the lessons I have learnt from your life.

- thanks for all the ice creams at Matunga Gymkhana that you rewarded us with if we kept out of your hair while you played bridge.
- the New Year's eve drive around Marine Drive, the aquarium
- the expensive chocolates you reserved for my sis and me. We loved them.
- introducing us to frankies and kachchi dabeli
- showing a 8-year old your Rolex
- correcting diction, grammar, pronunciation and punctuation ( are we done yet ?)
- bringing back those lovely clothes from Mothercare ( I wish I had kept some )
- Crates of alphonso mangoes at our disposal
- Last but not least, I have learnt that we must live in the now. Success and fame are not the only yardsticks of life. Health and happiness are more important.


PS - note how every second memory of you is inspired by food !!! That has to change.