Jan 1, 2014. Hyderabad.
Namaste. A happy new year to you (it turned 2014 about five hours ago).
By the end of 2013 Evan was proudly and firmly "thwee and thwee quarters" and won't stop talking - to anyone about anything. In a complicated world he is firmly grounded. "My sister knows everything". And "I love my mommy and I love my daddy and I love Vivian very much". Good and bad, honest, raw and in your face, he is without any pretense and is one hundred percent pure Evan.
Vivian is cool and intellectual and independent. She is in her self-proclaimed tom-boy phase and prefers monkey bars and caterpillars and planning escapes on board trains bound for Mexico with boys named Diego. She is complex and keeps her deepest thoughts to herself. When I get a glimmer into her otherwise self-absorbed world I am surprised and almost alarmed by her goodness.
After spending two years with us, one in India and another in Austin, my dad died this year. I see a legacy of love and hard work and generosity. But like ripples from a rain drop, one in a million, one's life is quickly forgotten - within decades at best. Biology however is a better record keeper. Every day I see my dad more clearly in the mirror and in Vivian and Evan.
We started 2013 on a harrowing late night boat trip in Belize and ended it reluctantly letting go my dad's ashes in the Krishna river. But I will remember 2013 as a year of family and "our white wooden home" and cooking dinners and reading stories aloud and doing nothing remarkable at all. It slipped by almost unnoticed but I can hardly complain. I wish you the very best for 2014. With Jo's humanity. And Vivian's happiness. And Evan's love. And my dad's kindness. And a promise to be more informative in next year's letter.
Love
-arun
(the person to my right is Narahari who worked for my dad for more than three decades)
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