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શુત ઉપાસક રમણભાઈ
He was not offended by this indeed he joked that this was a highlight of his career!
My earliest and fondest memories of my father are of sleeping in his lap while he would sit on the swing. He would caress my hair, sing me songs and put me to sleep. He taught both Shailaja and me many sports and games - swimming, cycling, carom, cards, and cricket. Can you imagine Ramanbhai as a cricket bowler? He was a pretty good bowler too. He was really good at doing card tricks. In high school, he also taught me tricks for algebra - a skill that has stood by me even today.
I came to know Pappa as a grandfather when Shailaja and I had our own kids. Nothing was more important to him than spending time with his grandkids, not even writing. The simple man he was, he taught them simple pleasures, like making mountains of butter, or eating oranges sitting on a swing and stuffing empty envelopes with the orange peels. We would often come back home and find the home in a complete mess, with 3 kids – yes he was a kid when with ours – rolling on the floor in laughter, simply having fun.
When he visited us in US, the kids had to learn their home phone number, a necessary skill taught to kindergartners. He being the teacher he was, taught them how to memorize the number by singing the phone in different styles. There was the Lata Mangeshkar style, and there was the Classical style in Raag Malkauns. But the most hilarious one was Pappa's imitation of Michael Jackson. Needless to say, the kids memorized the number in minutes. Even today, they love to sing the number in the Dadaji style.
He wrote to my children hundreds of letters, almost once a week, sometimes twice. His letters were simple, one theme, large bold letters and creative use of colored pens. He often sent them puzzles to solve Of course, he also taught them swimmimg and card tricks, although he was a bit too old to bowl a cricket ball.
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