Beginnings

This blog is dedicated to the memory of my father Dr. C. Ranga Rao-one of the most remarkable human beings to touch this planet and the most fascinating, inspiring personality that I have ever had and will ever have the privilege to know. He left this physical world on Christmas 2011 after five months of serious illness, setting on a new journey, one in which he could finally be free of the limitations of his physical body.

My father and I shared an indescribable bond- my filial love went deeper and far beyond a typical father-child relationship. The fifty year age gap between us caused less of a generation gap for me and more of an admittance into a bygone, beautiful era- a world of great music, classic films, world knowledge, and an innocence, a simplicity and a humour.

We didn't just share late night insomniacal conversations, midnight snacks and endless hours of music. His presence, ideas and ideals have shaped, whittled and expanded every aspect of my life such that I don't know where he ends and I begin. This is one of the numerous reasons his passing has left me bereft. I feel like I've lost my greatest accomplice, my twin brother and my 4 a.m. friend.

But this blog is not about regrets and sorrow (though grieving is natural). This blog is not about the invisible curtain that separates us from our loved ones whom we've lost. This blog isn't about spiritual or scientific or psychological analyses about life and death. This blog is about my father's living legacy which is meant to be shared. His passions, views and active interests in life, this world and beyond would fill his conversations and these conversations must continue.

This blog is dedicated also to all those who love life. To all those who live life despite losing a beloved one. To all of us who choose to go on, in their memory, to soak up life and living as much as possible because they would have wanted us to.