Postcards from Bapi

A snowball fight in Kashmir when I was 3

Taller than my imagination 

Quietness 

A smile 

Wanting to give your wife and children anything we wanted 

A million sarees 

A video game console 

A robot with flashing lights

A string of pearls 

An education

Board games in Kohima 

Playing horsie on your knees

Hearing your gentle voice tell stories 

Remembering you call your daughter doolum

Your time every single day 

Kindness every single day 

Love every single day

Intelligence 

Curiosity 

Old monk and honeybee

The black sandals you wore

20 Luchis on Sunday mornings

Books. Steinbeck. Wodehouse. Le Carre. 

Discovering you were the volleyball captain in school 

Standing by your wife over family 

The Corbett book you won for essay writing in school 

Crosby Stills Nash and Young. Pink Floyd. U2

The day we bought the music system and played Money for Nothing

The song you loved...Vincent.

Because the world was never meant for one as beautiful as you 

The long long drives. MLN 3. The Maruti. The Santro.

The winding roads through pine trees on the way to upper Shillong

Picnics 

Playing table tennis  

The sports magazines you brought home 

The conversations we had about everything in the world 

The holidays to South India and Goa. 

1 man. 1 woman. 3 children. 13 pieces of luggage.

The week travelling through Garo Hills with you on work.

Our first steps abroad... The border signpost with Bangladesh.

The visits to Delhi for school admissions 

Second class trains. A summer that scorched the earth. Endless cups of tea

Travelling by bus to schools in Delhi

Our first movie theatre in Delhi

The first ice cream sundae we had at Nirulas

You encouraging me to study literature if that is what I loved 

Discovering you had diabetes

The day you drove for an hour... Lost in Guwahati

The day you started forgetting 

The day you first didn't get a promotion 

The day you resigned 

The other job you took and your frustration 

The fight with your brother

Leaving home. Leaving Shillong. Leaving Guwahati.

Bangalore

Bombay 

The day I saw you reading a newspaper upside down

But enough 

Let us talk of other things 

Playing with your grandchildren 

Seeing the kindness and love pass on to another generation 

The quiet happiness and pride

The lack of judgement

The tolerance, patience and acceptance 

And even today...

The kindness every single day

The love every single day 

This isn't a requiem for you are not gone 

This is a chronicle of the love and happiness 

That you brought to me 

And to everyone who knows you

You truly are special 

And I hope I raise my sons the way you raised me