Naren was the older brother the 4 of us sisters never had. We could talk about anything with him. My one and only attempt at smoking was with Naren. I told him ‘I want to try smoking’ and he said ‘Ok...here you go’. He didn’t try to lecture me, didn’t try to dissuade me. He knew that each of us has to decide for ourselves what we wanted to do.

What I loved most was his philosophy in life. He believed in living life to the fullest every single day. That didn’t necessarily mean going bungee jumping. It meant having time and energy for the important things in life - family, friends and helping others. This is clearly what he achieved - as can be seen from his closeness to his family and the letters and remembrances that folks have been sending. He used to say ‘All I want is to be with folks I love, be able to wake up and read the Sunday paper without worry’. He believed in doing everything with the utmost devotion. When I wanted to do my B.Sc in Mathematics all he said was ‘Make sure you are doing it because you love Maths’.

I was only 4 years younger than Naren, but he seemed so much older and wiser. He never looked down on any of us. I remember going through a phase when I wanted to appear older and all grown up. Although my name is Radha, I am known to close friends and family as Radhu. But because I wanted to appear grown up, I introduced myself to someone as ‘Radha’. He never let me live that down - not in a mean way. But with that twinkle in his eye. I can still hear him on the phone ‘Radha’....with the laugh that followed.

I am so happy that Naren and Shanti (Sunitha) came and visited me in Boston two years ago. It was just so wonderful and I’m really glad for those memories. The memory of making sure I had ‘tair shadam’ prepared so that he could have it at the end of the meal. The memory of going into Boston and taking the tour bus and walking. The clearest memory of that trip speaks to who he was. We ate at a seafood restaurant called ‘No Name’. We all agreed it was the best seafood we’d all had. For Naren, it wasn’t about eating at a fancy restaurant. It embodied his spirit - good food, completely authentic, and no fuss and pretensions (even in its name!)

I know how sad he was that he couldn’t get to rent a Ford Mustang for that trip. He wanted to rent that car and drive all up and down the east coast with the top down!

So, Naren - cheers to you as you are up there somewhere driving free in your old Mustang and calling out to us ‘Ammagaru’, ‘Shashikala’, ‘Radha’, ‘Beep-beep’....We sure miss you and you will always remain in our hearts.