Dadi passed away today. I will not say she left us, because she will always be with us- forever. She will be with us in all the things she taught us, big or small. She will be in the legacy that she has left for us to uphold and carry.

Like all grandchildren, my brother Aniruddha and I were very fond of and loved our Dadi. We always will. Now that she is physically not with us, all the memories that we shared with her and that have shaped our lives come cascading down to me. Dadi was an excellent story teller. Sitting cozily around her, we could never have enough of her stories, kisse and kahanian. I can't even fathom how she had the patience to repeat them day after day, year after year! I want to now bequeath these to my son too and keep her memories alive, always. Dadi was fond of singing and kept an age old diary of hand written songs and poems and would clap and sing bhajans and songs from it everyday, almost till the very day she breathed her last. We will yearn for that resounding and discernible voice emanating from her immaculate memory. I wish I had learnt some from her.

She even taught me how to braid my hair. Barely 10 or 12, I would insist- "Dadi, aapki choti main banaongi!". She knew the hazards of letting me do it but never said no. Needless to say, she always had her plait crooked! The one thing I cannot forget about her are her hands- those small, soft hands that held ours whenever we sat next to her. Her gradually faltering vision was a casualty of old age, and as we sat next to her, she would lean forward and listen intently to us, holding our hands, patting them once in a while. She liked us to tell her the story of the movie we went for, or the TV serial we saw. She and my Nani would then discuss it as a matter of national importance for hours, discerning the right from the wrong, good from the bad! It made for some excellent overhearing! I shall miss all of that now.

This time when I go back home, nothing will be the same. The hug and the kiss on my forehead with an affectionate 'bitiya rani aa gayi' will be missing, the radio with bhakti songs wont be playing and there will be no eye drops to be administered. But, Dadi will still be there in the good memories that she has left for us, in the virtues she has imbibed in my parents and in the strength and fortitude with which she led her life.