Papa 1929 – 2021 – An accountant and a Mum

But tonight

Tomorrow, everyone will come to pay their respect laden with flowers and food. Prathnas and bhajans will be sung as we mourn the passing of a selfless soul.
But tonight, as the sun begrudgingly sinks, we will stay with him. We will hold his hands as he takes a long deep breath and goes to sleep for the last time.

Out of respect for my grandfather, I thought I would post my eulogy here. My grandfather passed away on Monday 5th July 2021. He was 91 and had had a good life but for some reason his death has been more difficult to process than I had expected.

My Eulogy

Papa, our grandfather, was a man we all respected and revered.

Papa was a big believer in education and would come to all my parents’ evenings at school. He always took an interest in what I was studying, what I was doing at work and then later even how Jaia and Uma were doing at school.

Papa was proud of his Indian roots and did as much as he could to keep our culture alive. It was because of this that I too took an interest in Garba and later in bharatnatyam.

He always believed in modernisation and would always have the latest gadget whether that was the latest camera, car or more recently, while recovering from his many operations the latest ipad.

My summer holidays for many years were spent going on day trips to the seaside around the country. We would get up really early in the morning and be one of the first ones there on the beach. Papa would help build sand castles and encourage us all to go into the sea by being the first one in.

Watching papa do yoga and meditation every morning for as long as I can remember is how I became a lifelong fan. He would practice the postures and ideas that he had learned from the many books he had and if I was up early enough, I would sometimes join in.

He loved football and cricket and was a lifelong Wolves fan. He would have loved seeing England play the finals.

He was a big gardener and fuschias were his things. We had so many fuchsias in the front and back garden as well as lots of home grown vegetables including tomatoes and chillies.

There are so many memories and so many amazing things he has done that I’m constantly in awe that it was achieved by one person in one lifetime. I am so lucky to have had papa in my life and I am so proud to be Papa’s granddaughter.