Personal Eulogy: My Contribution To The Ethnic Punjabi Family

I belong to the ethnic Punjabi community. We are a friendly people, known for our resilience, love of adventure and good food, vibrant music and the pulsating Bhangra dance, apart from our ability to work hard and adapt to new situations and immerse in new environments, making them ours. My grandparents, paternal and maternal, moved to Delhi during the mass migration of 1947, when India and Pakistan became two sovereign nations. My grandfathers, both qualified engineers, etched new lives in what for them was then a foreign land, and pursued successful careers, while my grandmothers rebuilt their homes from scratch.

My family belongs to India’s burgeoning middle class and we take pride in our diligence and resilience, and our education is
Being the eldest sibling he inspired his younger siblings, who too pursued higher studies. Education was the most important value for Dada, and he held it above all others. Consequently, my father qualified as a/n X engineer from India’s premier Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi and is a successful professional
We celebrated his eightieth birthday last February where we, his grandchildren presented him a smartphone. I was not surprised when his eyes lit up like those of today’s five-year-old when he os she gets his or her first iPad. Being the family’s computer guy the onus of acquainting him with his gift fell on me. Settling down beside him, on his favorite armchair’s hand rest, I explained the basic new function the phone performed, i.e. WhatsApp, while the grown-ups and others cheered, loudly. But he wanted to learn more, find our what else he could do with the device. Being aware of net-banking, he insisted that I make him net savvy, so that he could pay the bills online – not because he wanted to save a trip to the electricity office, but because that would allow give him time to pursue his other interests! I was and proud of