|
Thursday, I received news that my landlord, Mr.S.Ramdas, had passed away at his home in Canada.
This was a terrible shock for me, and I would like to write a little bit about him here in my diary:
I first met Mr.Ramdas a long time after we moved into the house we had leased from him. He lived in Canada with his wife and son, and his affairs here were managed by his cousin, through whom we had also arranged the lease.
When we first moved into the house, it had been empty for a while, and naturally the garden was unkempt and in a mess. We set about fixing that, and so, when Mr.Ramdas first met us, the first thing he saw of this house was the bright and colourful garden, which he was very very happy about - it turned out that he was very much a garden lover at heart.
Mr.Ramdas was one of the simplest and most earnest people I have ever met. Without any airs, despite his living abroad, and his only concern at any time was our comfort living in this house. To this effect, he not only arranged for a borewell, but also arranged for a second, much bigger and deeper one, when the first one didn't work properly.
When he saw that the kitchen cupboards had some damaged door hinges, he could have asked us to call in a carpenter to get it fixed. Instead, he brought in his own extensive collection of tools, and patiently sat and repaired everything himself. We protested, saying that we could call in a carpenter to do that, but then saw just how much he enjoyed doing this.
Over the years, whenever he visited us, he always looked into matters related to the house, to the extent of planting trees and flowers, and bringing packets of flower seeds for us to plant. Many of you who have "raided" our guava trees when you have been here at our house. He was visibly moved when Shubha gave him the first big mango that grew on one of his trees, and from then on we made sure that we always gave him some fruits from his garden when he visited.
He also grew very close to my parents-in-law, and never failed to enquire about them when he visited or called.
What was amazing about him was how determined he was about ensuring that things happened when they should. He patiently battled out legal battles here in India, fought our red-tape riddled land registration system and personally supervised the drilling and commissioning of our borewells.
The greatest "character references", however, were our dogs. They loved him, always greeted him joyfully when he arrived, and were always at his side as he moved around the garden or the house. Those of you who know my dogs will know how significant that is.
We last spoke to him when he called us on New Year's day this year, to wish us and to ask us if we needed anything. We have had plenty of landlords over the years, but I can honestly say that we have never had one who became such a close friend.
Goodbye, Mr.Ramdas. It was a privilege knowing you, and no matter where we go from here - we won't forget you.
| 
Mobile
RSS Feed
