In Loving Memory of

Our Beloved Sapna

One exciting afternoon a sweet little Dream

Flashed into our lives like a striking sunbeam

Instantly she captured each heart

But she flashed out as quickly and now we're apart

Memories of her can never fade

Because of the difference to us that she had made.

Her vibrant voice still fills the air

And her laughter seems to be everywhere

But we know that this brief parting can never us sever:

In her vision with Jesus, we're together forever!

A Sister Remembers...

A nursery all done up in pink
a ten year old playing mother
to her live doll;
kissing and cuddling and tuneless lullabies
the elusive fragrance of baby powder and soap
and baby milk food
undaunted by the baby mess on her lap
impervious to the numerous maps on her bed!

A country wedding
where the twelve year old grew up too soon
and didn't join the other children's games
because her elfin faced, impish eyed baby
refused to be held
in any other arms.

First magical taste of motherhood-
exploring afresh every new path she toddled  across
while the quaint non-stop voice kept  chattering away
her first sight of a dwarf: " five year-old-man"!
the sun sinking into the sea-"its going to Africa"
clear blue skies and cotton-wool clouds,
great big rainbows stretched from end to end-
sunrises gently loading against hilly backdrops,
still, star-studded nights-
trekking up the rocky hill-side
picnic bag in tow-

Walking together into Distant Wonderlands:
Enid Blyton, then Nancy Drew and Louisa Alcott
reading to her till just the right spot
compelling her to go on ALONE
birthday parties, festoons and balloons galore
first culinary experiments
that turn out to be hits - (flukes!)
playing the clown while the kids lapped it up
while I in turn wallowed in their adulation.

A sister remembers!
All this and much more...

Sappu had a kidney transplant -  our mother donated her kidney to her - on February the 24th, 1984.  I thank God for those 14 precious years He gave her after that.  When the doctors said she needed another transplant in March 1998, my other sister Surekha was ready to give her her kidney, but Sappu refused. She was on dialysis and passed away quietly on April the 25th, with Mummy, Daddy & Surekha around her. I was in New Zealand, so far away and so helpless.  But thankful for those 6 weeks I spent with her unexpectedly in India, two months before she died.  Sappu believed in Jesus, she had two visions of Him, the first just before her transplant and the second seven months before her death.

Recognize the song? It is "Lag Ja gale"  That's what I wanted to run back & do (give her another hug) when I left home for the second time, because I just felt- don't ask me why- that I would never see her again."Shayad ab is janam me mulaakat ho na ho"

A Tale Of Three Sisters

The kind of photos I have with Sappu - I don't think I have even with my own kids... Most of them were in her own album, tho'.

Sappu and me with my dog Beauty when she was a pup...

Mummy, Chinna, me, Sappu & Surekha....

Sappu's ninth birthday - with  Radhika and Malu Vachani and me in the centre - playing  "I sent a letter..."

Many families go through indelible trauma when loved ones suffer.  If you would like to know how they cope and find the answers to your own doubts and fears, click here.  And learn through the experiences of the Tissot Family.

Click here if you want to find out more about end stage kidney failure

Click here to go to Satya Kidney Centre.