Rest in peace, Grandpa

“You all could’ve been billionaires had your grandfather agreed to my offers 20 years back.”

“I’m proud that he didn’t.” 

I remember the conversation with Advocate Satish Domi (Name changed) a few years back at someone’s wedding function. Advodate Satish was one of the well-known criminal lawyer of our town, Surat, and happened to know my father as the son of Justice I B Pandit. On that day, he came to casually greet my father while the above conversation took place. I guess he was referring to a lost court-case related with illegal land deal.

I didn’t meant to offend him, but upon getting my reply the advocate's face turned red, and he walked away. He hasn't turned up ever since.

The railway horn broke my chain of above thoughts and brought me back to reality. It was about 5 am and the train was passing the valleys of Lonavala going towards Mumbai. This was the earliest train I could get. I had to reach Vadodara as soon as possible, while my mind struggled somewhere between practicality & a flood of memories.

My grandfather passed away last night, after living a life filled with an impeachable integrity. He served the country as a district court judge until his retirement and later on served as legal advisor of the state electricity board. He was a man of principles and followed them strictly. Having made “No compromises” on his professional career, he couldn’t earn much physical wealth, but this very fact stands as testimony of his success. “Success” itself is a tricky word. While people often club it with wealth and take “shortcuts”, grandpa was very clear on this specific aspect.

“A man must never compromise his principles on any condition.”, he used to say, “The moment he does so, he becomes like a parasite and can’t ever find happiness in his own work. Instead of wasting energy in taking short-cuts, one must pursue excellence at his work.”

And he succeeded at these words. He had excelled at practicing law, in last century, like no other. He truly stood upto our surname “Pandit”. More importantly, he practiced objectivity alongwith his learning. Although, he never professed any philosophers, I guess he understood the virtue of objectivity hidden beneath sanskrit scripts of Gita & Mahabharata. Once I had a discussion with him regarding some superstitions, when he said “As a judge, I do not believe on people’s opinions, I believe on the facts”. Those are the words coming from a man born in early decades of 20^th century India, while today I still find it hard to see reasonable & objective men in the 21st century world. I guess time has nothing to do with it.

A tear rolls down my smiling face as I recall him today. I come across many many people who have to depend on their own lies & manipulations in order to be “practical” in today’s word. There is also a saying in India, which means that 90 out of 100 do this to achieve a shallow success. The rest, who do not give up, end up achieving success with a substance along with a beautiful inner peace and happiness.

He always smiled like a child and used to live every day to the fullest. At the age of 70, everyday he used to walk around 5-10 kms with a remarkable pace! At the same time people used to spot me & my cousin, in our youth, jogging behind him while trying to keep hold of our breath. I remember him making fun of us by saying “Who is younger?”. He loved walking and exploring new things everyday. I guess that kept him young at heart. Even in his late 90s, he never accepted walking with a walking support stick! 

Apart from being a rational person, he was also an incredible family man. He took care of family against all odds. An inspiring relationship was the lifelong love & care he shared with his elder brother, who unfortunately had many setbacks in his professional as well as personal life. Of course there is love between brothers in every family, but not everyone’s ties stand rock steady against the sands of time. When I read about legal battles between brothers claiming the lands & properties within their own family, I look at these people's frustration & poor fate! And then I look upto the brotherhood & bond Grandpa had nurtured! To him, family was above everything else. We all are proud of him for standing by family values in testing times.

There are so many memories of him, which keeps coming as I leave the cremation ground. I do understand that we’ve lost him given the fact that there’s nothing doctors could do to fight against an increasing age. But just when I closed my eyes, I realized that I haven’t actually lost him. 

In addition to his genes, he has also passed on his leanings, his principles and a number of beautiful memories. For these reasons he’ll stay in my heart forever.

Rest in peace, Dada.