Whenever Madhu and I ask our friends why Gazal had to leave so early, they say that nice people are required in heaven also. We do not know. Actually, there is greater need of nice people on earth, to make it a better place to live on.

If ever any one nice person was required on earth, it was Gazal. She spread hope and cheer wherever she went.

She was immediately affected by the miseries and troubles of the people around her, of the people she met, in fact of the people she did not even know. This concern was even independent of the person's status in life. She would try her utmost to somehow alleviate the sufferings of such persons, doing whatever was within her capabilities. She would not rest content till she was told that the affected persons were well.

There are some persons we come across in this world, who can entertain us by their wit and conversation. There are others who give us comfort by their mere presence. Gazal was such a person. Whenever Madhu and I felt troubled, one look at Gazal's calm and serene face melted away our worries.

Whenever I returned from office in the evening, carrying the tensions of my work, I used to look for Gazal. On the days she had gone to the Club to play a game of badminton, I remained fidgety and irritable till I saw Gazal coming out of the lift. One look at her smiling face, and my tensions used to evaporate.

When Gazal was well, in the evenings she used to go out to play with her friends. After her first and second surgeries, temporary restrictions were put on her activities.

At that time, sometimes I used to take her for evening walks to Colaba Woods, a beautiful garden near our home. In retrospect, I consider those days to be the most memorable days of my life. Part of the way we talked about various things; most of the time we walked in companionable silence. By the time we returned home, I felt completely refreshed, more refreshed than when I walked alone.

We felt Gazal's power of compassion the most when we were sick. Once Madhu was laid up for several days with severe backache. She was not able to get up from bed. Even though Gazal was barely 9 or 10 years old at that time, she cared for Madhu with an intensity and passion that even an older child would not have displayed.

On another occasion, Madhu and Sonal had to go to New Delhi to attend a family function. I stayed back with Gazal since she had her final exams. That same day, I went down with 'flu. The way Gazal handled the preparation for her exams as well as caring for me, would have done a working mother proud.

Her concern for her family would also be evident from another incident. On the eve of the last surgery, one of the nursing sisters came into the hospital room and told Gazal,"Now,do not be afraid. You will be absolutely all right after the surgery." Gazal told the Sister,"Why should I be afraid? I am already all right. Tell this to the persons standing next to me." Madhu and I were standing next to her bed and she knew that we were worried.

Truely,she was a daughter as well as grandmother, mother, friend and companion to us. She would be very mature one moment and absolutely childlike the next. But throughout, she would be caring and compassionate.

In the final analysis, we realize that she was an ethereal being. She has gone to the place from where she had come. Even though she is no longer with us physically, we can feel her presence wherever we are, particularly when we are in the midst of nature.

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