… he came down to say Good Bye to me. (albeit temporarily – I will be back in a few days). On this day last year, he was surrounded by all his grandkids. None of us were even sure what future had written for him. Having suffered a debilitating brain stroke, he lost his right side to paralysis and cognitive abilities to the ether.

From there, he has fought back hard. Physically, he can get up and walk with a walker. Even come down to say Good Bye. That was unthinkable a year back.

His memory and cognitive power is not fully back but enough for him to function.

I work at hospices every week. This would be considered a miracle turnaround there.

Last year, this was the same guy who used to yell thru the night and it would take four of us to keep him from hurting himself thru the night. That was just twelve months back!!! We had all sorts of doom’s day scenarios conjured up. This is not the scenario we had even thought of!!!

Suddenly, saying Good Bye is no more a painful thing. It is a sheer delight that he can even say Good Bye!!

… without the youngest member – the quietest one and the one who does all the heavy lifting for the family.
Chiradeep Roy, you were missed this trip.
Then again, when your professional life takes precedence over your family life – I guess that is called “prospering” in life.

When I am in Kalyani, I rarely get a chance to have a lot of time solely with my brother in law. First, more often than not, my brother is with us. As is my sister. This time though, my brother is away in Delhi for work and my sister is down with back spasms.

That gave me a rare opportunity to get some quality time with my brother in law. He is a rock solid support for my dad. My dad gets to see him everyday. Add to that the fact that he is a doctor. For my dad, he is the son that he has grown to rely on every single day.

Spent a lot of time talking to him this time. Over a lot of fluids. If it was daytime, it was over tea. If after sunset, it was over some sort of liquid which had OH molecules!! While not much of an alcohol drinker, Asok kept up with his usual habit of giving us company while drinking. Usually a spoonful of alcohol with three bottles of soda and some sugar to boot… but he insists on giving company.

He is fun to have around…

Also, very handy. Every time I go to a medical store, I introduce myself as Dr. Asok’s brother in law. I am immediately pulled to the front of the queue and also then given a 10% discount!!!

Every year, during my December trip, I give him a calendar. It usually has pictures of Sharmila, Natasha, Nikita and myself. Many of those pictures are taken from our different trips that year and some memorable events of the year for us.

He waits for that calendar every year and pores thru each and every picture and usually has a lot of questions. He then puts it up on the wall and every month flips the page to see the new pictures.

I also put in every family members’ birthdays in the calendar. He never bothers about that part 🙂

He has surrounded himself with all sorts of religious books. There is the Upanishad, Bhagwad Gita, Bible, books on Ramakrishna, Saroda Ma… and inexplicably – perhaps to drive the messages home? – a HAMMER!!! 🙂

Made friends with some random senior folks!!!

That was one hilarious evening. With the cold weather outside, I was huddled with my parents inside the house. I was, in fact, showing them the pictures I had been taking the whole day on my phone. My dad has shown great interest in all the pictures the phone is able to take. Suddenly, I had this brainwave of messing up their brains by showing off Siri to them.

That is when the fun and chaos ensued!

I challenged my father to name some uncommon countries. Siri named the capitals with ease. Dad was super impressed. He had two immediate questions –

“Koto daam etaar?” (How much does it cost? – yes, he is still the one wanting to make sure he is getting value for his money).
His second question was “Exam hall-e niye jetey debey?” (He was curious if kids can take the phone to the test centers).

Then I turned to my mom.
“Ask Siri a question”, I said.
Before she could come up with one, my dad interjected “Abaar manusher golaa-y uttor daiy” (He was letting my mom know that a human voice will answer her questions)

Not sure what was going on in my mom’s head, but the first thing she asked Siri was “How long will I live?”. I stopped Siri immediately and told my mom that she had to ask questions that are knowable. Nobody knows how long anybody will live.

He next attempt was “Rima ki korchhe ekhon?” (She asked Siri what my niece was doing at that moment).

I again stopped Siri. “Mom, ask some general knowledge questions”.
“Theek aachhey. Haatir kota dnaat?” Again, I have no idea what goes on in mom’s head but her idea of asking Siri a general knowledge question was – “How many teeth does an elephant have?”

“26”, said Siri – much to the surprise and distrust of my mom.
“Bhool bollo. hnaatir to duto dnaat”. My mom is under the impression that elephants have only two teeth.
“I think you are thinking of the tusks. Elephants have many more teeth in the mouth. How else can they chew those branches and leaves?”, I pointed out.

Thoroughly impressed, my mom went off with a retinue of animals..
“How about a horse?”. “40”, said Siri
“Lion?” “30”
“Tiger?” “30”
“Dog?” “42”
“Monkey”? “32”

“Dhur dhur dhur. Eto jontu thaaktey manusher sesh kaaley bnador-er saathey dnater mil holo?”. Apparently, my dad did not take it well that humans chose to have the same number of teeth as the simians.

“Siri, what is my mother’s name?”, I asked
“Manju Rani Roy”, she said. Now, my mom was really pleased. As a background, my mom was born Manju Roy. After her marriage, my dad added that middle name of “Rani”. While she went by Manju Roy, most of her official documents carry her middle name.
“Hey! She got the “Rani” part too”, she exclaimed. (Of course, Siri just picked it up from my contact book – but my mom was never the wiser for it).

My dad suddenly piped up – “Gul maarchhey kina ki kore jaanbi?”. He asked how would we know if Siri was just making all this stuff up? I was going to say – Oh! We can cross check with Alexa but I thought the better of it.

My mom was beyond belief at the power of Siri. She told dad – “Dyakh – sob kichhu jane” (Look, she knows everything).

My dad disagreed with that. “Sob kichhu jaaney na”.
He continued to argue…

“Taholey to police-er sob subidha hoye jeto. Desk opor paa tuley jiggesh korteo – “Ke chor?” Aar omni ghaar dhorey chor ke jail-e purto”.

His point was if Siri knew everything, the police would have nothing to do. They would just sit in a chair with their feet up on their desk and ask Siri “Whodunit?” And consequently nail all the culprits without much of a fuss.

I had a hearty laughter!!

My mom’s final curiosity was if Siri could translate English to Bengali. Apparently, then she could talk to Natasha and Nikita fluently. Unfortunately, Siri could not.

My dad felt I should make something like Siri in Bengali (”erokom eta tui baaniye fyal. Dekhi himmot koto tor”)
I am on to it. I even have the name ready – “Bis-Siri” 🙂 (Bissiri is a Bengali slang for “terrible”)