MA ... 3 ... THAMMA ... SAMMILAN SAMAJ READING ... 27 JAN, 2019

MA ... 3 ... THAMMA ... SAMMILAN SAMAJ READING ... 27 JAN, 2019

If Thamma were a Game of Thrones character, she'd be addressed with the following honorifics: The Director of Plays, the Knitter of Sweaters, the Ageless Enthusiast, the First of Her Name, Geeta of House Bose.

Outside the GoT universe too, Thamma was, is and will always be, as we millennials say, a kween.

There are a flood of memories left behind in her wake. Visiting her stall of woollens at the annual Nari Seva exhibition. Chilling in her room in the evenings as a schoolkid. Rehearsing my lines with her for the Pujo'r naatok. The computer she gifted me as a kid. Even the way she burped after meals!

I will miss all of it, and more.

The good folks in Saptaparni have been reminiscing her hand-knitted sweaters too. My friend Duke messaged, “I still wear the sweater she made me.”

I wore one on the Saturday she left us.

They are the physical manifestations of her love for us. As are the happy, smiling photographs of her that we have all been sharing with each other.

Yet, beyond these physical markers, she is in our memories. Not just mine, and my family's, but in yours too, if you are seated here today. We will remember her for all the good she did in the world, for she did a lot of it. Let us cry when we miss her too much, because there is no shame in crying. But let us also remember her happily, with smiles as wide as hers at her happiest. It is the way she'd wish we remember her.

In Bengali, to bid farewell, we say “Aashchi” instead of “Jacchi”. It's because we're leaving, but only to meet again later.

Till then, stay happy wherever you are, Thamma. And take care. I miss you. I love you.

Aashchi.

Written by Meghnad Bose