Sheru lives on...

Happy 82nd daddy.. 

Even after 20months, I still get a lump in my throat when I see your picture on my wall, screen, DP.. 

&dunno why I feel angry sometimes, when you did lead a full, wholesome life..

It's just that huge vacuum which is taking, I guess, more time, than time actually promises to heal.

It’s like I hold you responsible for this void in our lives as if you intentionally created it..

But then I do smile as well when I think of the memorable times we’ve had… the countless number of tales you used to narrate to us.. &every time you used to tell it again, it felt as fresh &exciting. I remember, me getting my friends around you to make you narrate that story or this all over again.. & it was as gripping.

Fathers are every girl's heroes... So was mine.. &£ike any girl, I thought there could be no person who could ever be like him, forget someone being better than him...

I may be like any girl with rose-tinted glasses who'll call her dad a hero.. but there are stories, I'd call them epics, which I hear from people whose lives have been touched, impacted by dad..

There are stories of bravery, heroics, kindness also episodes of crazy fun, zest, panache galore which I have been blessed to hear..

There are also a few inspirational journeys he's taken, which makes one wonder how could he ever do the almost impossible..

But then that's what Sheru Negi, or Bull Negi or daddy was all about...

He was called Sheru cause he was fearless& grand.. &was lionized by many who knew him well..

&Bull cause he was just that in the boxing ring...

&He was called Dev Anand by himself, :) .. though he vehemently justified that it was what people used to call him...

I used to equally aggressively dismiss this metaphor.. though I knew inside he'd beat anyone hollow in looks if one had the likes of Brando, Bogarde, Seagal etc in front of him..

Taking a minute more on how handsome my dad was :), means taking away the attention from the luminescence he had from within, the mettle, the grit, the nerve he was made of..

So here I am, making a feeble maiden attempt on his birth anniversary to recall, how I heard from the horse's mouth, one of his shedload of sagas of courage, loyalty, adventures, humor, elan &what not ..

I am hopeful of keeping on writing about the glorious tales, brief or lengthy, with the help of my mom &family..

I'm a novice in writing.. &my first one is destined to be on dad, who was so venerable, can be compared to a how a great story told by a not so adequate director, doesn't really do well.  But I'm not here to look at what works but to make myself get down to doing what I wanted to when he was in flesh& blood, here..

So however unimpactful the work this turns out to, I've got to do it& do it now .

Have penned many lines about my attempt on snippets on dad's life today, so will add just a wee little on what was he like as a person...

Dad was known to be an invincible boxer and there were stories of how he had beaten a dreaded African boxer in that year. 

Just another day in a party, there was this officer who was in an inebriated state as many others, dad included. For some reason, he wanted to have a scuffle with dad, but dad was a person who would never ever provoke nor be the first to give a blow [unless of course, someone spoke low about his country or troops]. But this inebriated gentleman was untiringly pushing for a brawl..

Then, all of a sudden, from nowhere, that officer was surrounded by few others who dragged him away from the scene..

&One officer yelling at him! "Have you gone crazy? Do you want to be killed? Do you know who he is? He's that guy who beat that African champion this year. Just get away from here." So he did..

The next day, the now sober officer came and shook dad's hands fervently in admiration & got a big hug back from dad.

This is just a small glimpse of what dad was like... I hope to write down another incident when he played squash with his friend.. but since we are speaking about boxing, let me put my pen down with what he said about his winning in the boxing ring.

He said,

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"If I have to win, I cannot look into the opponent's eye, cause if I do and see fear in them, I'll not be able to hit him"!

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That's Bull Negi..

So long, friends, till I pen down another impressionable tale of his..

Attaching today's video on a small celebration in the school which he founded decades back, along with a few pictures of this hero of mine..

PS: Thanking my sis-aunt [cause she’s more like an elder sister to me], Mona, for proof-reading this, my mom, Yashoda& elder sis, Nimisha, who have been trying to hold ground in dad’s absence bravely.. I love you all a lot.. 
Also thanking dad's right hand man, Sumant, who has helped me with this moving video & few pictures too..