Om Shanti, Ramana

 

Tonight I want to remember my friend Ramana, a blogger from way back.

A super social kind of person, Ramana was active on facebook, blogs and whatsapp. He had a multitude of friends and mentees who he invested in. He would regularly send me an email, just a line or two, with a comment, an interesting link or an encouragement. I viewed him as a slightly remote but kind and wise uncle and I am sure he filled that role for many, many others.

On the one occasion that some kind of misunderstanding made him seem a bit short with me, I was able to confidently assume there was a mistake because he was so consistently generous and reasonable. I admired the way he called his daughter-in-law "daughter-in-love" and his gratitude for the people in his life. His attachment to his former stray dog, Chutki was endearing and his undying love for his long gone wife were sweet and genuine.

He wasn't a push over though, he was direct and honest. One facebook tribute said his praise was hard to earn but hugely valued.

Ramana sometimes expressed frustration at his failing body but even as he became confined to his home, he was mostly content and maintained a lively sense of humour as well as continuing to invest in people.

Reading an early post on his blog, he expressed a desire to be addressed as "Sir Ramana" but seemed to be entirely unsuccessful in achieving this aim although he had at least half a dozen other nicknames and terms of endearment.

Ramana, Uncle, Sir Ramana I thank you for all that you were, we will sure miss you.