To our dear Rammavayya

I never even in my wildest dreams or rather nightmares imagined I would be writing this some day. Here is an eulogy I wrote for my uncle, Dr. Prasad R Kilaru, who for the world retired as the Chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology, Baystate Health Center, Springfield, MA
Here it is:

Dr. Prasad Kilaru, to the  world he was a physician, friend, mentor and many other things, but for us he is our dear Rammavayya - we know him as our mother’s best friend, closest brother and our dearest uncle whose annual visits to India we used to look forward to.

Although he was always on the other side of the globe for us, he made sure he never made us feel the distance and always assured us and was by our side lending his strong shoulders to lean on whenever needed. He was always just a phone call away and just listening to his voice on the phone gave our mother and our grandmother a lot of energy and optimism. Rammavayya, was our mother’s younger brother. But, we saw a different side of him when he was with our mother. He was everything to her - a friend who always listened to her, a brother who consoled and comforted her and even a father at times to pamper her. He showed us what it is to be a loyal brother, loving son and an excellent husband and father.

Any crisis in the family, we always turned to Rammavayya since he always knew the right way to handle any situation. He never ever shyed away from taking on any responsibility and he never said ‘No’ to anything we asked or didn’t ask and quietly assumed the different roles that people around him needed him to.

He was the hardest working individual we knew and taught us how to build the mental strength to accept any situation and deal with it head-on. He protected us with his energy and positivity even while fighting his own battle with this dreaded disease.
We feel truly blessed and proud  to have shared whatever little time with him. The world has been impacted in many many positive ways by him and he is leaving behind a legacy that is hard to emulate.

While I was writing the above, it made me wonder why we don't often appreciate or make an effort to think of all the positives in a person while they are here and why we do all that when they are not here anymore. A popular telugu saying: 'Poyinollu andharu mahaanubhaavulu'... Does it have to be this way?


Leaving you with this thought: What if we could: 
Dream like you'll live forever, live like today is your last day....you'll then find the courage to chase your dreams and the heart to forgive and appreciate others