Valiachan's Last Days

In end December my parents had called me to tell that valiachan did not sleep well during night  and he had woken Achan up in the night  to ask for coffee.He also had  breathing problems ,but was not agreeing to visit the doctor.I called up home,and valiachan himself picked up the phone,he was waiting to speak to the doctor on phone.I asked him 'why don’t you go to the hospital' as I could hear his breathing.He said I am 85 years old and I don’t need a doctor now.Then he added,but you don't worry.

We started the next day to to reach by evening. On first January,he was in a bad state,he wanted hot liquids to drink and steam for his chest.My husband Bhagat and father bathed him in the evening and got him ready and convinced him to go to hospital. Once he was ready he called me and asked me to get a comb for his hair. Bhagat was there in the hospital till Wednesday for supporting Amma and Achan.In the hospital on the day before his death on Thursday, me and Sutej ,we visited him in the morning,he had kanji. When we were leaving ,he said 'why don’t I also come home with you',I said ' Since he needed  an Xray ,so we will come back in the afternoon. Then Ranjini chechi visited for delivering Lunch and Clothes.Achan was there till afternoon. In the after noon,we reached the room earlier than him and Sutej had slept.He came from the Xray and was really happy to see Sutej sleeping and kept lying down watching him and smiling.He kept having hiccups and  we asked for water,but he would say no.In the evening we left with kumarchi and nimmi ammayi at the hospital.Amma,Acha ,leghu chechi ,anju visited him in the evening. Amma and Achan returned late in night.Hema was scheduled to arrive on next day morning.At night my mother's brother Nandamama stayed in the hospital,he  said that he kept hearing the heavy breathing which subsided later.He called up at 3:00 am in the morning to announce the news of his death.

Valiachan's Post Accident days

In 1996,he met with a  really bad accident from which recovery was slow but remarkable for a man of his age.I was studying for a math exam next day,when he mentioned that he  with the regular plastic shopping bag would go out and buy some fruits.Just immediately after he left the power went off and I heard a big bang outside, which I later realised was the bike hitting him.For almost a month in the ICU in a nearly coma state and a full year of loss of memory,he slowly recovered to be independent to run his daily life by himself.During his post accident days,he  was more stubborn at times,but at times much flexible.He still loved shopping very much and with his long umbrella he would go out although my father would keep worrying.He found that his concentration in reading was low so he moved on to other things like carpentry,painting,plumbing activities.The number of people visiting him reduced post accident,but he made it a point to visit many people himself.There is the Jaya restaurant where he regularly had tea.Towards end he loved butter very much had always kept a slab in the fridge  and of course he regularly bought fresh bread from  KR biscuits.He still used to wake up early in the morning to make coffee which he used to make it a point to share if anybody was around especially Achan,valiamma or any of us.

With my son he was very patient ,he would go to high road and keep toys ready each time he came,although I would find the toys to be for older age groups,he always kept telling me that I was underestimating my son’s progress.In our visit in October he had gone out a bought a Tinkle digest for my 4 year old as the last gift.To my surprise,Sutej on the day of his death found it and bought it to me to read it to him at bedtime and he told me’Valiachan bought this for kuttu’. 

Fond Memories of Valli (Valiachan)

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My memories start right from my childhood when I would be walking with him hanging on his arm.In my school days he would have a busy morning getting me ready to school, right from checking if my clothes were ironed, searching for my pair of socks ,getting my shoes polished and ofcourse making a point to wear it with a shoe horn and finally rushing me to the bus stop. In the evening he would be waiting at the bus stop and then we may get some snacks on the way or he would have already got it in the numerous shopping trips that he did in a day.On the way I normally tell him everything that has happened in school on that day,the homeworks or projects which I have to do on that day.After reaching home he will sometimes make scrambled eggs or Maggie noodles in the evening  on the biogas stove.Those  being still my first lessons in cooking.He sometimes watered the plants in the evening with the black hose.Then he would set out for his evening rounds.By the time he comes back I would be ready with my home work or if I had a project ,he  would have collected materials for my project work.Thus I was completely spoilt by him.

When Television arrived in the house,he was clear that we were to watch only  quiz programs or the science programs.He rubbished chitrahaar or rangoli or movies and was completely against us watching .He used to watch godfather with the family which was too late in the night for me.He regularly listened to radio in the morning mainly BBC,Voice of America and Deusche welle.I remembering listening to Yankee Doodle on radio.He used to teach us Badminton and Cycling.

On days when the state science exhibition came nearer there would be sets of people visiting him for guidance on their projects. On other days there would be former students,people with interest in setting up a biogas plant or people interested in astronomy. He  had subscription or had been gifted subscriptions’  for  Scientific American,Science reporter,Nature,National Geographic,Sky and Telescope and later on Karshakashree,down to earth,passline.Even in hospital , two days before his death he mentioned to my husband  that he had two magazines to read,but was too tired.He had a love  for torches , emergency lights, old oil lamps which he regularly cleaned and candles.All these he cleaned and positioned in preparation for the regular power cuts.