1.Today Nisha Didi would have completed 74 years of a fulfilling and enriching presence on earth. Remembrance on a 74th birthday might seem somewhat innocuous, but it also marks a stage when she has spent more time spreading cheer in the hallowed pathways of heaven than on earth — and that too in the company of a large part of the family — both factors compounding my sense of desolation and loneliness with more than a tinge of envy.
2. Have a great birthday dear sister, of course with loads of love and bucketful of hugs. Am sure the rest of the family and your limitless friends (which you had an uncanny ability to incubate and nurture) would have organized a grand celebration.
3. On a personal note, I am tempted to reproduce the famous poem by Henry Scott- Holland:-
“Death is nothing at all.
It does not count.
I have only slipped away into the next room.
Nothing has happened.
Everything remains exactly as it was.
I am I, and you are you,
and the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged.
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.
Call me by the old familiar name.
Speak of me in the easy way which you always used.
Put no difference into your tone.
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.
Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was.
Let it be spoken without an effort, without the ghost of a shadow upon it.
Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same as it ever was.
There is absolute and unbroken continuity.
What is this death but a negligible accident?
Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am but waiting for you, for an interval,
somewhere very near,
just round the corner.
All is well.
Nothing is hurt;
Nothing is lost.
One brief moment and all will be as it was before.
How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again!
4. Much as I would like to believe that you are just a heavenly step away, I do miss your gracious presence, affectionate smile and radiant persona. Hardly a day passes when I do not shed a tear (maybe silently) in your memory. You were, you are, and you will always remain my role-model, mentor and inspiration. You are only out of sight. You remain perpetually embedded in our hearts.
