Thank you, Reddy Garu.

I strongly believe in this phrase.

As I cross 60 yrs, I realize that I am so lucky to have my wife with me. When my mother passed away very early when my father was 54 years, I realized he had a long way to go and I was all determined to be the person who has his back. For the next 26 years till his passing away, in 2017.

I never wanted my father to feel lonely. That was the theme of my life.

Because, my father was a gem of a person. An officer and a gentleman. When we was promoted, the institution announced his promotion with the sentence “An unassuming officer….“.

My wife, myself and my son, recall my father often in our day to day life. In fact, my son told me recently that he purchased:

a soap my father used for most of his life. My son was very close to him.

My father made every one feel at home, quiet, smiling and always had his profession and his family and his relatives and his friends and his colleagues as his top priority.

Not a small list.

One such good friend, who has been kind enough to keep in touch with me, sent this message this Deepawali.

He is, as my father called him, Reddy Garu. These are the messages I received.

“He never expected anything….”. That is the line to note. This enabled him to help several people, day in and day out for a good 50 years. As he was not bothered whether he got anything in return. I would also add, he would forget the help he had done, and he never did any tricks and twists while helping. All these became his motivation to go to office regularly.

In his later years, after he retired, he had trouble staying at home idle just watching TV. He needed a family to be with him.

This is how I kept him company:

Morning:

Say “Hello Nanna” and update him on any plans for the day, he would be mostly writing his Rama Koti.
Help him take out the car from the driveway to take my son to school.
Talk to him about Politics.
Tell him as soon as we got an order on Paypal. [Notification of Payment Received – Can’t forget thanks to Paypal]
On some weekends check with and after his consent let him know that we will go out for lunch, so that he can plan his morning routine and medicines. Usually Once a month.
Tell him that I had called sister and cheer him up by adding some seasoning to what my sister told me.
Tell him about Vamsi (his grandson’s) achievements in school.
My father used to keep track of whether Vamsi was back from play in the evenings, and if delayed he would call us and tell us “Emma Vamsi inka raledu”.
Show him any new stuff we purchased, clothes, electronic stuff and so on.
The below sandalwood idols were his favorites. Here is a pic for all of you. Occupies a prime spot in our living room.
“Let good thoughts come from all sides” was his favorite. This is the essence of Rig Veda.