Meticulous

Dhan Uncle and my baby! 2012

Dhan Uncle has always been around.  I do not remember a day without seeing him when I lived with my parents.  He is family, just lives a block away.

We got to know him as 'Dad's best friend'.

I have two very distinct memories of him.

One, is from when I must have been about four.  I was having a tea party with my new porcelain tea set that my parents had given me.  I saw him come through the gate.  I was in the verandah.  I asked him to join me.

He did. No questions asked, no laughing, no making fun of me, or making me feel that it was make believe. It was real.

He kneeled down next to me and 'pinched up' the tiny cup between his index finger and his thumb.  After he drank the tap water from the cup, he put it back on its saucer, patted my head and walked in the house.

I was convinced that I made good tea.

For years to follow when he came he often asked me to make tea, and suji (semolina) halwa. It remains a tradition even till this day.  Whenever I am home, we celebrate with tea and halwa.  Although he tells me that he does not take sugar anymore.

My second memory is from when I was in seventh grade.  I was working on my homework and got stuck at a word.  I walked into the living room to ask my Dad, but he was talking to my grandfather.

'What do you need beta (child)?' said Uncle.

'Oh, could you please explain this word to me? what does it mean?"

He looked, and explained and went back to reading newspaper.
The word?

Meticulous!