My dad was a loner in the last decade of his life, after my mother passed away he withdrew from public life and active work, kept himself indoors mostly, he was a very good host, always welcoming and entertaining but rarely visited relatives or friends.
He used to while away the time reading, giving legal opinion, political advice , watching sports on TV, doing groceries, playing Sudoku… on my visits to home, I used to observe his routine and it was amazing to see him occupied positively, there wasn’t anything called as boredom , he always like any other loving parent assumed that life at husbands home is grueling , his cook knew that it was time to dish out delicacies and he always insisted that I eat 4 meals a day at his home.…his standard comment was I have become weak …... At bed time I used to check on him, he always slept with a Sudoku and a pen by his side. 
During my stint as a lecturer at a college , I was mostly in library reading biographies , during the break periods , I had a colleague who was into Sudoku, she used to sit across the table and play Sudoku and I used to read…. One day she made me solve an easy one, and since then an unsolved Sudoku always distracted me. 
When I saw a half done Sudoku at dads bed side that night , I took it along to my room and solved it. next morning my maternal uncle came to meet me , dad woke me up and removed paper pen and books from the bed , that’s when he noticed the solved Sudoku which was on his bed before he went to sleep.
The morning I was travelling back home, the cab arrived, and dad was having a chat in Urdu with amjad bhai, who has been dropping and picking us ever since the airport was moved to the city fringes . Amjad bhai was as usual assuring dad that “ aap pareshan nakko ho saab, mai amma ko pohonchaake aap ko phone kartun” , aap befikar hoke sojao saab.. It was 3 am in the morning. …
I got into the taxi, amjad bhai got into his chat mode “ amma doctor saab ko message dedo ghar se nikal gaye karke, rahul baaba kaise hai amma, bachhon ko leke aana iss baar, rasgulle bahot ache the, meri gharwali thank u boli aapku , city ka halth bahot kharab hai amma, kya bolun ye taxi driveran badmash hogaye , old city mein paani ka khillat bad gaya and he went on and on……… I was stuck with dad and his loneliness , wondering will I be able to make peace with life at that age, will I ever have that grit and strength to go on … a screeching halt at the speed breaker brought me back to the present and I realized that I should drop a message to my man about the flight timings , and scheduled time of arrival… I started searching for phone in the bag, and I felt a newspaper coiling around fingers, I requested amjad bhai for lights, I opened the bag to find 2 unsolved Sudoku paper cuttings with a pen tucked on to them, one moderate and one tough, I dint remember stuffing them in my bag, but then I realized it must be dad, he observed the solved Sudoku that morning, and stuffed them in my bag to help me kill the time in transit….. I solved them at Kolkata airport, and wondered will I ever become as caring a parent , will I ever be able to silently and deeply connect with my children…
After he passed away last year, in his book shelf I found a stack of Sudoku’s from every days news paper cutting, since the day he discovered my interest …………….. He left a wise legacy for me, a thoughtful, caring, loving dad………. I never miss u dad, u breath in every cell of my body! the impressions which u left on my mind guide me..


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