My journey with my Uncle/ Shantumama started when I was just three & half years old. My mother was studying for her fellowship so she sent me to Him and my Aunt in Altrincham. We lived in a large apartment over a butcher's shop and I used to love watching him chop meat. I slept in between my Uncle and Aunt and he always reminded me that he was too scared to sleep as he thought he would squash me!! As this was well before Dev and Nina came along, I would always tell him that I was his first child and he always agreed. This bond never broke.

In 1975, as a teenager, He drove me, my aunt and very young ccousins in his beautiful brown Audi estate from London to Tuscany in Italy, stopping in each country on the way. We joined Khokon Mama/my other Uncle & his family in a villa in Tuscany surrounded by the Carerra mountains. And on the way back we stopped again in each country, camping next to places like Lake Genevaback to Dover, England. A family holiday of a lifetime!!

In 2011, in my darkest hour He stood by me. My mother had moved to India and in February suffered a stroke. I had just spent a month with her but rushed back to find Shantumama tearfully telling me how he had carried her, his sister to the hospital. We both sad, looked at the medical reports and decided it was time to switch off the life support. I could never have done this without him by my side and will remain eternally grateful for his presence and support at that time.

In 2012, he came to see me at the Barnet Hospital when i suffered an acute gallbladder infection. He tried to convince the doctors to operate but they refused due to the infection. He made them discharge me and drove me to Bushey Hospital and organised an immediate operation. The gallbladder was full of stones and about to burst so he saved my life!!!

If you love someone, however hard it is, you let them go. Especially if they are suffering. Shantumama fought against the odds for a very long time and without complaint. He had this great zest for life and never wanted to give up. He won so many battles but eventually succumbed to the ' War ' that was raging in his body.

His passing has left a huge void in many lives. He is irreplaceable.

Sweet dreams Shantumama, thank you for all the love and affection you gave me, Suraj & the twins. We are all devastated. Rest now in eternal peace...

"Death is not extinguishing the light; it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come."
Rabindranath Tagore