As Diwali comes closer, I am so aware of your absence. Nothing seems the same without you. Every now and then I lose sense of place and time-I call out the two names that always sounded as one-‘Cheeku-Tubby’! I never realized that there would ever be a day when you would not respond and say ‘Hi, Dad!’ I feel your presence all around me. So do all the others. Karishma is so right. Even I could never fathom you brought ligt into the lives of so many people. And now all of us huddle together to get strength. And this sharing has one thread that binds all of us-you. I know you would laugh in your own inimitable way! Loud and booming laughter with such a twinkle in your eyes. You would have never believed Tubby would be such a pillar of strength for us. Silent and hurting within, for we all know he misses you so much, he has held us up. And then all your ‘yaars’! Gaurav, Sunny, Deepesh, Uppal, Venetia, Cally, Chota Gaurav, Gunjan, Tipsy, Sumi…and Kanika, your present to us as a daughter, and Pallavi, who brings such bounce in our lives! They are always in our lives in so many ways. They remind us of you and through them we see you all around us too. This Diwali, we would light just one diya, beta. and this diya would be you and Tubby and all the young kids who have come into my lives and are enriching it-because they love you, because for them you are here and because they know that every moment I miss you so much…All my love, Dad