2022 Eulogy

I wanted to thank everyone for being here today live and all over the world.  I also wanted to thank everyone for their love and support this past week in so many ways - we have felt your prayers and thoughts and it has helped.  This is a beautiful place to have this ceremony and I want to thank the people at the Chapel as well.  Suresh uncle, Auntie, Josna auntie have been especially helpful for organizing this day.  

I have been thinking about what I would say for the past 8 months.  I still don’t know.  

What do you say when you lose your dad?  What do you say when you lose the person you spent almost every night eating dinner with and watching the nightly news or the Yankees?  What do you say when you lose the person you watched 60 Minutes with every Sunday night for most of your life.  What do you say when you lose the person who you first turn to when you have a question?  What do you say when you lose the person who was your CFO / bookkeeper / person who kept you out of a second IRS audit.  And for his favorite description of himself, what do you say when you lose your babysitter for your kids?  

I don’t know.  I don’t know.  All I know is how I feel.  I feel sad, I miss him.  Many of you have told me how kind Yufen and I were to allow my parents to move in with us.  The truth is that we owe them all the thanks for moving in with us and taking care of us and Kailee and Kaiden.  There is simply no way for me to thank or repay my dad for everything he has done and sacrificed for us.  

Fortunately, in our family we have a certain view of life.  My dad’s father, my grandfather, was a banker.  He would tell me that my father was principal - that he had to work hard for my father.  And that I was the interest on that principal.  I was the reward for all of my Dadas hard work.  That made me feel good as a kid.  

My father felt the same way as Dada.  However much I did to my dad, and I was a real jerk at times, my father would say he got all that repaid and more because of Kailee and Kaiden.  

One quick story - Dad and mom lived on the ground floor of our house.  And I was worried that my two monkeys were making so much noise jumping all the time.  My dad told me that hearing that noise was music to him - that he knew they were up and that meant he would see them.  For him that was Vasti - the sound of life - 

My dad worked until 75 his employer simply didn’t apply any retirement rules on Dad.  He would have kept going - except for Kailee and Kaiden.  More than once he told me that he moved here for them not for me.  And I understood - its what Dada, his father told me.  

Dad, I’m proud of you, I love you and I will try my best through Kailee and Kaiden to honor you forever as you did for me and Sameer.