TWIST OF FATE

It is one week since Adolf’s demise and the reality has not yet sunk in. There is not a single day that goes by without me thinking of him – not once but numerous times across the day.

It is really very difficult to accept that I will never hear his voice or his witty remarks or witness those naughty eyes of his twinkling every time he saw a ‘booti-licious’ figure sashay past him accompanied by some smut under his breath that all of us would guffaw to unabashedly.

On Friday November 17th after the gang had spent 2 hrs ‘ooohhhing’ & ‘aaahhhing’ watching Daniel Craig the new James Bond in Casino Royale lay out his wares on the silver screen, we rushed to Adolf’s side upon his call to Ashu requesting for help. In panic mode we reached the spot that he had directed us towards to find him sitting all alone on a street corner watching the world drive by and experiencing a dizzy spell. That sight was heart wrenching and somehow it has left an indelible impression in my mind. Even in that moment, all he was concerned about was that we should not panic and he kept directing our robotic movements. Upon Ashu’s insistence Adolf was gently lifted off his chair to the car and rushed to the hospital emergency much to his dismay.

He was bad that night and when the doctors told us that he had experienced a major heart attack and they could not really do much for him, our hearts sank. Calling the family was the most difficult task of all. Getting the visas for most of the family proved to be an even bigger Herculean task, even with the hospital providing the necessary documents to aid the process. Nonetheless all of his family excepting his son reached him and stayed with him till the end.

The end was something that none of us, not even the doctors and neither Adolf himself expected. He had made a remarkable recovery for the last 72hrs prior to his demise. In those 72hrs he insisted that Ashu, myself & Roy be allowed to see him. Meeting him on the 27th was such a relief. He joked and spoke with us (albeit weakly) and even went to the extent of telling Ashu that he owed his life to us and that he would take all of our nonsense for the rest of his life. Whoever would have thought that the rest of his life would only last for the next couple of hours. When we were told that he has suddenly taken very bad we just could not believe our ears. He battled for his life, the doctors battled for his life and finally he gave up after 2 ½ hours breathing his last at 1:40am 28th November. What a twist of fate. Was God trying to tell us something or did Adolf have a premonition that he was sinking and therefore insisted that we all be by his side. Whatever the case, saying Goodbye was not easy.

Here was a man who had fought 2 wars for India and lived to tell us so many interesting anecdotes from those days. His favorite dialogue whenever we pulled his leg about any of his bravery stories would be ‘When I was in Uniform, You guys were in liquid form’. He was a Retired Wing Commander of the Indian Air Force. He was a man who cared 2 hoots for peoples feelings – he said what was on his mind. He loved to have fun. He loved to sing and he loved to hear us sing. He had great plans for this X’mas creating his own choir using us mortal souls to go about Carol singing. He loved Ashu & me a lot. We know it, we felt it and we will miss it terribly.

There is so much to say that I could just go on and on and as he would said ‘why are you not coming to the point – you have gone all the way through Bhatinda to get here’. Basically all I want to say is that WE WILL MISS HIM TERRIBLY & we pray that his soul rests in peace.

Au Revoir Adolf. I will not say Goodbye. I am a strong believer that we will all be together in some other life time.

Until then………..