We met 70 years ago, almost to the date.. up on the hilltop.. Sanawar… we were 7 years old… and we have been friends ever since.

 Shashi is no more…hearing this stark statement on the phone was like being hit in the solar plexus…took me and all of us as a horrible surprise and an unbelievable shock…it hurt…it sent us all into this deep dark space…Shashi…this very alive person, was no more…that was very hard to accept and process…are you sure.? ...was my reaction…no no it cant be our Shash…how could she go in a flash…she was swimming and died of a heart attack….for her the perfect way to go..but what of us…her friends..her family…very tough to deal with. 

Shashi…she said it like it was..no ahemming and hawing.. Matter of fact..down to earth and vocal.. Just the way a Sanawarian should be..forthright… having said that..let me add..she was full of compassion…. 

First I thought that I would write a serious piece…then it dawned on me..she was this totally positive person would always see the fun and funny side...ever since she was a kid … Manju, a classmate reminded me, that Shash would do a shoe dance in the dorm and have us in fits…so its going to be a mix up... 

Shashi joined Sna in 1953. We were just a handful of girls so we all bonded with great ease..seven years old…so thats how long some of us have known Shash and been good close friends…Shashi’s face never really changed..she till now looked the same..a naughty twinkle in her eye…and her mind was super sharp…. 

She would call up and start..Ok now Chops, I have to ask you this question…do you remember …That bouncy positive attitude would send us off into a happy nostalgic place… Our class meets often for Lunch…her standard drink would be a vodka based one..if the waiter asked..small or large..she would look at him as though he had asked her some strange question…large of course ,she would proclaim..and look at us, with a twinkle in her eye and disbelief…. Sheer joy of living..it reflected in her body language..the claiming of space as her very own.. 

One of her classmates wrote about her competitive style of playing scrabble with him online…I played with her too. But beat a retreat... we all remember her in our own way and our own interactions with her. And here I would like to say….our lives are not a tv series…there is no season 2…live it up….enjoy yourselves..follow Shashi’s example…have fun.. 

Shashi its very sad saying goodbye…but you my dear friend…will never be..just a portrait on the wall… 

Nothing lasts 

Nothing is finished 

Nothing is perfect 

And thats the beauty 

Of a life well lived… ~ 

Vinay Chopra Tuli 

SGD '61