As in my worst fears, the call came early in the morning, just before 3AM California time. When the phone rang the first time, I rejected the call, reckoning it was a colleague in India, who’d lost track of time. When the phone rang again within minutes, this time with caller ID showing another colleague’s name, I knew something was amiss.
“Sri, I am sorry to inform you your father has passed away!” At first, I was not sure I had heard right. My first thought strangely was for my colleague who had the unpleasant task of having to call me with bad news. I almost felt apologetic that I had put him in such a position. Maybe it was shock and I was not ready to hear that my father was no more.
Rushed calls to my travel agent, wondering what to tell the kids sleeping in the next room – the next thirty-six hours were a blur – neither Icelandic volcanoes spewing ash, nor delayed flights and uncooperative flight supervisors would get in the way of our making it back to India. The nearly two hour trip from the tarmac to my father’s home felt longer than the whole journey.
“Your father paid for me to go to college and then got me started on my Chartered Accountancy apprenticeship,” said the stranger, who’d come to the funeral. He looked to be about 40 years old. “Your dad was also the one who helped my brother go the United States,” he continued. There were nearly 150 people at home when I got in from the airport, most of them extended family and a good many folks that I didn’t know. Much of the afternoon, was spent recounting tales of how my father had helped someone buy a house, another furnish one and still another get a compound wall put in.
Second cousins who’d grown up in my house abounded and had their own tales of getting jobs with my dad’s help. I recall when I was a young teen, some relative admiring my father’s watch. I was aghast when my father removed it and insisted that the relative have the watch.
That evening I recall my sister and I arguing with my dad, that if he just gives away stuff, we’d probably not have anything – not that we knew what we had. My dad just laughed at first. Then when he saw how serious we were, he said “There’s great pleasure in giving – I’d say more so than even receiving.” My sister, ever the smart alec quickly retorted, “Then you’ll be happy to give and I will be happy to receive.”
It was only many years later that I learnt about my father’s journey to the city as an impoverished young man with three rupees in his pocket. While he became a successful man over the years, he never stopped giving regardless of his own financial status. His life itself was one critical lesson – “Be Generous”
My father Dr. K. Kuppuswamy passed away on the 24th of May 2011.
Sri
Very sorry to hear this :(. My condolences to you and your family.
Sri
Very sorry to hear this :(. My condolences to you and your family.
Sincere Condolences. God bless his soul and your family..Just chance on this blog!
Sincere Condolences. God bless his soul and your family..Just chance on this blog!
Hello uncle, I suddenly stumbled upon your website and tweets recently.. I grew and growing up listening to my dad who treasures lessons from your dad so much.. I am so glad that i got some direct access to your interpretations..:)
Maya,
Thank you for your kind note. I’d love to hear some of your father’s stories as well. I tried to compile a set of recollections of family and friends, for my father’s 80th birthday – while he was alive so that it is something we could all share and treasure. Its a project still underway 🙂 Keep in touch!
Hello uncle, I suddenly stumbled upon your website and tweets recently.. I grew and growing up listening to my dad who treasures lessons from your dad so much.. I am so glad that i got some direct access to your interpretations..:)
Maya,
Thank you for your kind note. I’d love to hear some of your father’s stories as well. I tried to compile a set of recollections of family and friends, for my father’s 80th birthday – while he was alive so that it is something we could all share and treasure. Its a project still underway 🙂 Keep in touch!