In Memoriam...

So here I am, at another Blogathon. This one is turning out to be more of a discipline than I’d bargained for - learning to be still in the midst of chaos and putting pen to paper. As difficult as it seems today, I believe it needs to be done.

Thanks FD for understanding, and those kind thoughts of comfort.

My grandfather, went home to Jesus last week. He was 99 years old. There are so many thoughts flying through my mind right now as I try to straighten out and put down my feelings. Even though I knew this day would come, it still doesn’t lessen the pain and shock or prepare you in any way. I still feel sad. I still wish he were here. I still miss him.

There are so many things I remember about him. Thatha, as we lovingly called him, was a force to be reckoned with. A brilliant sportsman, he had a whole trunk full of trophies and medals, garnered over years of competing and winning. But I admire him more for never boasting of his laurels. He had more to boast about than anyone I know, but, to the man, they were just metal vases! The fact that they were packed away in a trunk, gathering dust and cobwebs in a corner of the storeroom, bears testament to his values.

He was always generous to a fault; lending and never expecting anything in return. He never held on to anything he owned. He personified a “cheerful giver”, gifting large chunks of his ancestral property to random relatives! And he was always happier and more content than anybody else I met. He believed that he had been blest with more than enough, so was always looking for an opportunity to help others. Material things just didn’t seem to have any hold on him. He was deeply content with his simple life.

Thatha had an unshakeable belief in right and wrong. And he was never one to mince words. He had a temper too, but I always knew that he was all bark and no bite. As old-fashioned as this may sound, he was a man of integrity; an honourable man, a man others respected and loyally served, for decades!

Sometimes, old-fashioned terms are all that can attempt to successfully describe genuine honesty, humility and courage. Courage, you ask? We heard an old story after his funeral. A family friend recalled how he’d helped her nearly forty years ago. There were flash floods in Madras and the young pregnant woman was unable to carry her other child and escape in time. Thatha, arriving in the nick of time, grabbed a hand rickshaw, put her and her child into it and pulled them through knee deep swirling flood waters to high ground. Thatha never told us this story when he was alive. I think he probably never thought he did anything out of the ordinary; just another day doing something that needed to be done!

To me, he was a fascinating man. He lived such an amazing life, being posted across India with the MES, yet he took such pleasure in small things – like ensuring his grandchildren had coconut water to drink every holiday! He loved to celebrate; any day was a good day to have biryani!

He never seemed afraid of anything. Living in the wilds of the Tamil Nadu countryside, he was content to be armed with a hockey stick and a bright torch! He’d joyfully venture through thick undergrowth; snakes just made way for him!

He had a wonderful sense of humour and had the gift of being able to laugh at himself! I remember so many wonderful instances when he’d make a joke and his laugh was the loudest!

To him, I was his TV repair mechanic! As incongruous as that image is, he steadfastly believed that I knew all the ins and outs of getting his TV to work. Amazingly, I always did manage to get it to work too! Ha!

And I think he was my biggest fan ‘cause he loved everything I wrote, indiscriminately and whole-heartedly, bless him!

But the greatest lesson I will take through life, is his unswerving, childlike faith in God. Come rain or shine, he always attended church, dressed to the nines every Sunday morning. His faith wasn’t complicated – he believed in God, his faith remained steadfast in his Maker and he lived an unselfish life, enjoying each day and everything he had, by sharing it with those around him. He walked the talk, every day for 99 years!

Thatha will always be the coolest man I know, and I’m the better for having him for a grandfather!