in loving memory of unni chetta

today i lost my favourite uncle - unni chettan. he was the only uncle i could ever open up to...the only one i trusted well enough to open up to, and share my joy, love, happiness, worry, fear, sadness...everything...he knew me well enough to know how i was just by merely looking. when there was good news, he was the first to know. when there was bad news, he was the first to know. he lifted my spirits and gave me 101% encouragement to achieve my dreams. had it not been for his belief in me, i doubt id be where i am today. he was the one motivator, encourager, inspirer who dared me not to dream, but to achieve my dreams. he knew my passion for kids and teaching. he was the only one who told me i was not ridiculous for wanting to work in an orphanage someday. when i go backpacking, instead lecturing us about the dangers, he'd ask us what naughty things we did, and what we learnt.

unlike many "uncles", unni chetta was a buddy...a buddy to both my sis and i. he bought me my first sofball bat, and taught me to play the game when i was a kid...i went on to learn the game and play it in school, and then in uni..actually winning the gold medal in the last game i played. he made me realise the beauty of words, through reading story books. having no younger siblings of my own, he made me a big sister with his 2 adorable babies..sharenya and manish. though he was tucked away in kerteh, far from us all, he was always there for us...always just a phone call away. it seems like only yesterday, one month ago, when i drove back after christmas, with him and his family. he gave me the pep talk about relationships and marriage, and i told him all about the blurr cows in my life...we had a heart-to-heart talk about them, and we concluded that life was too short to waste over men who play games. i told him about double P and he said if things were to be, my life would be filled with music. i told him about the cute artist at work, and he told me i've always known how to appreciate beauty at its best. i told him about my best friend of 10 yrs, who i never met till last month, and he said if things were meant to be, they will be. i told him about the similarity between my farmer boy and my best friend and how they both confused me, and he said, men will be men - they never realise what they have, till they lose them. we laughed about the blurr cows in my life and agreed that since divorce rates were on the rise, we would leave marriage in the hands of god, and not worry too much about it.

there were times i wanted to just pack up and leave...but he would tell me, that god tests those HE loved...he would remind me of my duties and obligations to those i loved...he told me that running away never solves the problem. he taught me to face problems head-on, and strive to overcome them. today, when i got the call, telling me he passed away, i asked god, why HE had the heart to take such a gem away from me. i asked god, why HE takes good people in the cruelest of ways. i asked god, what would become of my uncle's 5-year old boy and 3-year old daughter. i asked god, why HE took a good person, when there were so many bad people he could choose from. i asked god why. whatever it is, my favourite uncle is gone. i know unni chetta is looking down on us from heaven...i just know it. and he will always be in loving memory. 18.02.08.

February 18, 2008