I moved around a lot as a kid. I didn’t realize at the time I had been born into a nomadic family that found me shuttling between Delhi, Zambia, and Hyderabad in the first 10 years of my life. You don’t feel terribly grounded when one moves around that much. Home turned out to be wherever Nani was. First that was the beautiful grounds of Lady Sri Ram College.
Flat #6.
I remember the wooden table in the living room as I entered the door, the cold floor of the bathroom I stood on every morning as I waited for the water heater to work, and the kitchen that produced tea 20 hours of the day. It is no exaggeration to say that my introduction to life was through Nani. My love of books can be traced to that beautiful copy of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock holmes her good friends and neighbors the Sahai’s lent me. Many a subsequent weekend afternoon were spent at the Sahai’s poring over which adventure to go on next. Nani introduced me to chess, board games, and even more importantly – basan laddu’s. Only an impressive growth spurt prevented me from becoming a laddu.
We finally left Nani’s orbit to stay in Saket, but in a time before iphone’ and video games, the most fun this 8 year old boy could think of having was spending the weekend with his Nani at her new house in Sukhdev Vihar. The visits became less and less frequent over time. Moving to Pittsburgh didn’t help. Nani grew less and less comfortable talking on the phone. For at least the last twenty years, Nani told me as I would leave to come back to the United State that this was the last time we would see each other. She was old. Her body was done with this life. I was a doctor – the young, know-it-all kind – so I would tell her confidently – ” its not close to your time “.
The last few years, I could tell the light was finally dimming. I made sure to bring Maya, Ishani and a suitcase of water that was probably bottled in China to see her in December of 2016. It was a good visit. It was good to see her smile. We hugged one last time. She didnt say anything. I didn’t either.
Goodbye my dear Nani. I will miss you so much.
Love
Anish
Anish
anishkoka 