Saying Goodbye To My Uncle

I was off blogging and off from Social media for the past two days. My uncle, my mom’s brother who is one of her 7 brothers, passed away after coughing up blood and suffering a massive heart attack. At the time he was away in Gurgaon (New Delhi) visiting his daughter, my cousin. She had made a quick & unannounced visit to Kochi on Friday and took her parents to Gurgaon via flight so they could spend a few days together. That was on Saturday. On Sunday after dinner and having spent a happy time playing with the pup my cousin and her husband had adopted, he went to bed. Later he coughed up blood and apparently had the attack early Monday morning.

They called an ambulance to take him to the hospital but he passed away while on the way to the hospital. After a full day at hospital, meeting with the cops for the death report, getting certificates for taking his body back home to Kerala, getting an autopsy done at another hospital and arranging the flight back, my cousin and her husband had to go back home and break the news to my aunt who was devastated. But she kinda knew that he would not make it back.  On Tuesday we arranged the funeral. On landing in Kochin, he was taken to his parent’s home in Mattancherry and then brought to his home in Thrikkakara.

I wish I could tell you all how much my uncle meant to me. He was a really awesome uncle. When my sister and I were really young, as kids when we fell ill or got hurt, we asked for our Vijayanuncle. My sister was very clingy to him as a young child. He doted on us. He cared for us just like a good uncle would. I spent many evenings with him and my aunt because they liked having us around. I especially remember one evening in Kuwait, where we all lived, and my uncle had taken 5 or 6 year old me to a shop to buy samosas for the evening snacks with tea/coffee and on our way back we sat at this little park area for a while. Many years later as we all moved back to India and lived in Thrikkara, we would sit and watch football or WCW / WWE Wrestling together and talk about sports and stuff. I remember watching a few World Cup football matches with him. The last few years, after my family moved to the city area my visits to my uncle and aunt were very less and I think the few times I saw him were when he made a quick visit here or at a family function.

And now that he is gone, all I can say is Thank you. Thank you for being a great uncle to me and my sister and to our cousins. Thank you to being a great dad to my cousin sister Shalini. We will all miss you for the rest of our lives.