Miss You Nani Pyari :-)

Yesterday was the 8th death anniversary of my maternal grandmother, my “Nani Pyari”. I have never seen a more loving, caring and giving soul than her. She was a such a wonderful person whose goodness cannot be described in words. Anybody and everybody who knew her says that she was such a wonderful lady, passionate about everything in life and most of all a truly courageous woman.

Yes she was courageous. Widowed in her mid 30s with five children to take care off, she never lost hope and kept going. She not only managed to educate her children well but got them settled in life in also. She did fairly well, I would say. She was a lady that was always taken care of and pampered by my grandfather. She did not have to work or had any financial burdens while my grandfather was alive. But when he went on his final abode, Nani was left to deal with the world on her own. And she fought well.

I remember my Nani Pyari to be the most loving person on earth. Every holidays we all would be dying to go meet her and stay with her. She would treat us with stories, yummy tit bits and lots of love. Sometimes I used to sleep in her room at night. And every morning I woke up, I found a little treat beside my pillow. Sometimes it was a toffee, sometimes a chocolate, but no matter what the treat was, it always used to be scrumptious.

Nani Pyari was fond of cooking and used to cook delicious, finger licking food. I loved her cooking. Maybe she put in all the love she had into the food that made it so great.

She was an over all fun loving person and never stopped anyone from having some too. She used to watch movies and go out on outings with the family, and there never was a moment of boredom when she was around. When we used to go to Murree, she would march right along us. When we used to go to Chattar (long before the park got “developed”) she used to get in the water with alongside all of us. The first time I went to my favourite Chinese restaurant, Chung Pa (Bank Road, Rawalpindi), it was with Nani Pyari. She loved the bollywood movie “Hum Aap Kay Hain Kaun” and probably had watched it more than a hundred times.

She was a calm person and I had rarely seen her angry. She might have scolded us a couple of times but never spanked anybody. She did get a bit cranky in her last years but that was only due to the pain of illness she was enduring. She had suffered a “stroke” a few years earlier and it was taking its toll. And one fine day she left us all in this world for the journey to the hereafter, to meet “Ihsaan Jannati” (as she used to call him), her loving husband, my Nana Jan.

I could keep on talking about her and trying to praise the grace she had and to pay homage to the type of person she was, but I wouldn’t be doing her any justice. Her goodness is unexplainable beyond words. I am not sure if I learnt too many lessons from her or from her life but I will always remember a few things, that are never to lose hope and keep striving for what you want, keep enjoying life, continue doing good deeds of all kinds and spread love. I wish i had the same passion in me, towards everything and everyone, that she used to have.

May her soul rest in peace and Allah’s blessings always be showered on her. Ameen.

PS: My mother is her mother’s daughter. I just wish I can rise to that level to be truly my mother’s daughters, and my Nani’s “Nawasi”.