Long as it may have been, 2009 was a year dedicated to learnings. A year that opened life to many facets that I knew always existed,but never really found out about.
It began with the loss of a legend in my life. Yeah, he was a legend alright. Quiet and aggressive,soft and stern, he was the best audience I always had. I knew he was always there with an open heart(and two open ears) whenever I needed to find a way through darkness. So much so that I had started taking him for granted. I remember the last conversation we had... It wasn't about the blood transfusions or the numerous medical tests and medicines that his age threw at him. Neither did it relate to any of the problems that he was facing at that point in time. He talked about how an open top sedan would be ideal for him to travel through Jaipur a few evenings later at a very important moment in our family's history. I say he's a legend because he could talk about that evening with such conviction and zeal, in spite of knowing he had a slim chance of making it through. There is no way he didn't know it himself. He was prudent and pragmatic enough to see through all that was told or explained to him. I know it because in all our conversations in the past few months, the topic of his fraying health always came up and he never ignored it. On this particular occasion though, he never mentioned it;and neither did I intend to remind him about where he was and what was going on around him.I only wish I could have been there to hold his hand.... How i wish i could hold that hand again...for once and I would never ask for it again. The set of events leading up to the moment were as confusing to me then as they are now. People say whatever happens, happens for the betterment of things...I can't find a single thing that has been made better by that one moment in all our lives.
