Farewell to the Grand Old Man

July 31st was a dark day for the Mani family. My sis called at 1 am sounding panicked and grief-stricken. Our grand-dad has passed away. I had never experienced death at close quarters before. I didnt know what to think or feel. The entire family was shell-shocked. My grandparents had moved from Mumbai back to our home town Chennai no more than a year ago. We booked tickets online to Chennai on the first flight out in the morning.

All night I kept thinking of Thatha (grand-father in Tamil). I felt such a deep sorrow inside. All my memories of him were filled with happy moments and joy.

He loved his grand-kids no end. We were 11 of us in all. We would visit Thatha and Pima (what we affectionally call my grandmother) every summer or during Deepavali time. If we visited in summer, Thatha would have spent a month, planning what to buy his grand kids as gifts this year. We have got some amazing presents from him over the years (water games, quiz flash cards, watches, clothes, jewellery) but most importantly each one of them were filled with affection to the brim. He loved fried and sweet eats. Every year, as soon as all us cousinst landed in Chennai, he would call his driver and tell him "My grand-kids are here, go to Grand Sweets and buy sweets and savouries for them'. The truth was that he used us as an excuse to enjoy the snacks. We used to laugh about it with Pima.

If we visited during Deepavali, he would order a massive amounts of fire-crackers. He would dilligently bounty in equal parts amongst us and watch over us while we enjoyed the crackers. He was an early riser. His pet peev was people who slept till some late hour like 8 or 9 am (ahem...). A cousin of mine, Anand and I were always sleeping late. Thatha would get frustrated after 2-3 wake up calls and start rolling the mattresses we were sleeping on while we were on it:-)!

He taught us interesting card games like Literature and Bridge. Over the last few years, he was having trouble talking fluently because of after-effects of a stroke. Hari and I would visit him and spend time with him. We would talk to him some, have lunch with him and hang out. Some-times we would just sit with him, in complete silence but letting him know how much we loved him and enjoyed his company.

Now, all of a sudden, every minute we spent with him is so precious. His legacy of love and affection and great memries is cherished by all in the family.
-Maya