MY FAVOURITE UNCLE....

my encounter with death...a few months back i lost a close friend... my uncle. i'll never forget the most active man i knew lying in bed surrounded by machines... a desperate attempt to keep him alive. i didn't even have the courage to stand there and see him forget about talking to him... i ran from there as if when i reach out of the ICU... he'll be there with his arms open for me... to hold me and tell me it's all a part of life.as a child i was very fond of this person who always made me laugh, gave me all the goodies i asked for... i loved him for loving me. when i grew up our conversations were limited to the phone talks and i was amazed at the ease with which he understood me though it had been years since he last saw me. then came a blessing he shifted back to our city and i got a chance to truly interact with him... i admired his knowledge, his faith in God and his ability to spread happiness and good will. he has been the only person other than my father who had answers to all my questions... i guess cos he loved me like his own daughter. he had a unique way of making me realise my mistakes... he was my magic man... he convinced my mother to lemme go out with my friends... he helped me study... he even argued with me as if we were the same age... little did i realise that he was teaching me to put forward my point in a dignified manner without offending the person in front. My faith in God is one of his numerous blessings.wherever he went he spread love and countless smiles... he could make friends with anyone no matter where he went... and he did. on the day of his funeral there were so many people around who we even though being his family had never seen... and each person had a story to tell about how he had helped them. i dont remember a single time that i had gone out with him and he wouldn't bump into someone he knew or some old friend. me and my friend nidhi used to be with him almost the whole day... talking uselessly, discussing big stuff, important issues, playing games... even analysing grown ups........ and now when i look back i see the valuable lessons he taught us.one unfortunate day... he tells me he has a cancerous patch in his lung... at the age of 21 both his kidneys had failed... he had to undergo a kidney transplant, and hence had to take immunosupressive drugs which helped his body accept the donated kidney.... probably one of the drugs had caused the malignancy..... chemotherapy was not advisable as with the immunosupressive drugs further depression of the bone marrow would have been fatal in itself..... and saw the sports champ take to bed within a week... so fast was the detoriation!! he was hospitalised on sunday... tuesday my aunt called me to the hospital to see him, she knew i hadnt come cos i was scared... i went to see him in the evening and at night a few minutes before 11... our family lost the smile bringer...