Nalinima

Nalini Krishna Rau 13th December 1908 - 30th July 2005

Nalini Rau, variously known as Mrs. Rau, Nalinima, plain Nalini, Aunty, Aaji, and by a few select people close to her, as Chockie Monster (on account of her inordinate fondness for ice creams and sweets in general and in particular the cocoa based variety!) didn`t eventually achieve her goal of hitting a century but she almost managed it. Just about three and a half years off the mark.

Nalinima was my grandmother, whom I used to call just plain Nalini till I was about four years old and until a friend of the family, shocked at my audacity, insisted I show some "respect" for those older than me. To appease her on that occasion I finally threw in the "ma" at the end and this is what she was mostly known as. Good old Nalinima.

Loving, generous, funny, intelligent, yet often very silly, open minded and still prejudiced in some ways. Infuriating at times, talkative, demanding. And through all that, somehow always cuddly and loveable. (At her tallest she was barely four feet eight inches off the ground).

At this point there seems to be not much else to say, except she died in peace. Am only sorry I wasn`t around. But she seems to have chosen a good way to go and I am grateful to the people who were with her at the end and to all those who helped with the arrangements when it was over.