Lekha's father passed into the mist of time this morning around 1030h. He's a retired Customs Collector and was living at Palakkad with his wife till she passed away in 2006. Though he'd shifted to his ancestral house at Kottarakkara, soon after, he retained his pension account at his favourite bank in Palakkad. Every month he used to go to Palakkad for his bank work, have the house cleaned and during those trips he used to gorge on the foods that he loved to have, but were warned against by the doctor, because he was hopelessly diabetic. It started off as a minor indigestion, resulting in renal failure, leading to a massive cardiac arrest.
In fact, as I'd said on this forum earlier, his right limb had to be amputated about eight years back on that account. Fiercely independent, he lived life on his own terms. I'd thought that he'd slow down after the amputation but it just didn't affect him as he used to move in his car and go to various places that he desired to visit - just like that!
I'd seen him for the first time on 15 May '91, a day prior to my marriage with Lekha. We exchanged a few words as far as I can remember. The engagement ceremony was conducted six months earlier in my absence because I couldn't get leave and I'd already met her during my earlier leave and given the go ahead to my parents. What impressed me was his squeaky clean professional image in the Central Excise and Customs department and though he was friendly and talkative with his friends, he was parsimonious with words while being with me! Probably, he thought that his son-in-law had to be kept at an arm's length for whatever reasons that I wasn't aware of!!
He'd divorced his first wife - Lekha's biological mother - about a couple of years before Lekha's and my wedding. There's a story behind the coming together of the two strong personalities. His father, a brilliant criminal lawyer, used to be seen in action in his future father-in-law's court where the latter was the judge and the two decided to establish a relationship between their families, through their children. They've four children among whom Lekha is the second and their only son, immediately younger to her. What went wrong between them was never discussed and the real reason has gone along with them to their graves, to use a cliched phrase! He didn't sire any children in his second marriage and it was she who had taken the place of the mother at our wedding!! A very pleasant lady indeed, unlike the usual mould of step mothers one was familiar with, in stories and novels. Lekha's biological mother had passed away in Jan '97 while her step mother passed away in '06 and I was cosy with the both of them.
He was very attached to Lekha and she was the only person who could make him reverse his decisions by her logical reasoning. When they're together, the special bond that held them was amply visible and many a time I used to feel like a complete outsider. It was she who'd told me that he was quite fond of your's truly and I shall leave it at that.
During the last few years, he's been free with words while speaking to me, shedding his initial reticence. Perhaps, times had changed him and his lonely life had forced him to come out of his shell, at least, with a few.
RIP, Achha! I've learnt a lot from you. My prayers and tears. Hope Lekha is able to come to terms with her loss as early as possible.
Tailpiece.
(a) In '93, I'd seen him break down when Lekha's doctors didn't give her a chance as she slipped into coma. I happened to overhear his conversation - being the practical man that he was - with the family about taking the body for cremation at their ancestral property at Kottarakkara. I remember giving it to him with all the ferocity that I could muster for not praying for her early recovery and for speaking trash! The family still recalls that their 'Unniyettan' was left groping for a reaction for the first and only time. Incidentally, he's going to be cremated at that spot tomorrow.
(b) He's VO Nair, for Vazhuvelil Oonnikrishnan Nair. A quaint spelling because, usually, the name is spelled as 'Unni'!
(c) He's also a dog lover like me and used to have a Pekinese by the name of Seema when we'd our Bruno. And see the irony, tomorrow's Bruno's 13th remembrance day!
In fact, as I'd said on this forum earlier, his right limb had to be amputated about eight years back on that account. Fiercely independent, he lived life on his own terms. I'd thought that he'd slow down after the amputation but it just didn't affect him as he used to move in his car and go to various places that he desired to visit - just like that!
I'd seen him for the first time on 15 May '91, a day prior to my marriage with Lekha. We exchanged a few words as far as I can remember. The engagement ceremony was conducted six months earlier in my absence because I couldn't get leave and I'd already met her during my earlier leave and given the go ahead to my parents. What impressed me was his squeaky clean professional image in the Central Excise and Customs department and though he was friendly and talkative with his friends, he was parsimonious with words while being with me! Probably, he thought that his son-in-law had to be kept at an arm's length for whatever reasons that I wasn't aware of!!
He'd divorced his first wife - Lekha's biological mother - about a couple of years before Lekha's and my wedding. There's a story behind the coming together of the two strong personalities. His father, a brilliant criminal lawyer, used to be seen in action in his future father-in-law's court where the latter was the judge and the two decided to establish a relationship between their families, through their children. They've four children among whom Lekha is the second and their only son, immediately younger to her. What went wrong between them was never discussed and the real reason has gone along with them to their graves, to use a cliched phrase! He didn't sire any children in his second marriage and it was she who had taken the place of the mother at our wedding!! A very pleasant lady indeed, unlike the usual mould of step mothers one was familiar with, in stories and novels. Lekha's biological mother had passed away in Jan '97 while her step mother passed away in '06 and I was cosy with the both of them.
He was very attached to Lekha and she was the only person who could make him reverse his decisions by her logical reasoning. When they're together, the special bond that held them was amply visible and many a time I used to feel like a complete outsider. It was she who'd told me that he was quite fond of your's truly and I shall leave it at that.
During the last few years, he's been free with words while speaking to me, shedding his initial reticence. Perhaps, times had changed him and his lonely life had forced him to come out of his shell, at least, with a few.
RIP, Achha! I've learnt a lot from you. My prayers and tears. Hope Lekha is able to come to terms with her loss as early as possible.
Tailpiece.
(a) In '93, I'd seen him break down when Lekha's doctors didn't give her a chance as she slipped into coma. I happened to overhear his conversation - being the practical man that he was - with the family about taking the body for cremation at their ancestral property at Kottarakkara. I remember giving it to him with all the ferocity that I could muster for not praying for her early recovery and for speaking trash! The family still recalls that their 'Unniyettan' was left groping for a reaction for the first and only time. Incidentally, he's going to be cremated at that spot tomorrow.
(b) He's VO Nair, for Vazhuvelil Oonnikrishnan Nair. A quaint spelling because, usually, the name is spelled as 'Unni'!
(c) He's also a dog lover like me and used to have a Pekinese by the name of Seema when we'd our Bruno. And see the irony, tomorrow's Bruno's 13th remembrance day!
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