Inna Dr. Prem Lata Pant

My paternal grandmother, my daadi, my companion from childhood, my roommate......meri INNI, meri INNA No words will ever be enough to express what Inna has meant to me and to us as a family, she has been the head of our family, our anchor, our driving force and our pillar of strength as we moved ahead in life. She has been the biggest motivating factor in our lives, pushing us to strive for better and to be better human beings and she has done all this by being a live example, and living by the same strong virtues. An extremely strong willed lady, one of the most intelligent women I have ever come across in my life (a Ph. D during her time was and is still a big thing). What impresses me is that she single handedly raised two kids brilliantly, did her Ph.D, was the breadwinner of the house and gave the best education to her children. She made her son Pramod Pant, a strong man by giving him the values and the mental strength, which are her core values to enable him to be successful in life. And it didn't end there, she ensured to treat her daughter in law, my mother Lata Pant (they share common names, with Inna's name being prefixed only with Prem (Lata) and all the love she has brought into our lives) as her own daughter and pushed her to pursue a career and work as her belief was that once the kids grow up, she should ensure she is doing something fulfilling for herself. It takes a strong woman to empower another women and not pull her down, and she did that. I grew up having her around the whole time, who pampered me and I still remember sleeping with her listening to her stories at bedtime, and playing with her during the daytime. She was the one to make rolls for me when I wouldn't eat at a restaurant and then feed me on the ride back home (as I used to be a poor eater), where I would stuff all the food in one side and wouldn't chew, she kept reminding me to eat, nudging the side so that I chew. I got the nickname Booja singh in those days, due to that and the whole family would laugh and call me that. A pure vegetarian, who wouldn't eat or touch eggs, she used to smell the utensils for any odour and wash them before she used to drink or eat anything. In spite of that, her love for her grandkids was so huge, that she has fed us chicken soup from her own hands- things one may not even do for their own kids, but the love for grandkids is priceless. Thanks to her eloquent Hindi, I would speak really good/klisht Hindi during my schooldays that I would call rain, not baarish but varsha (and this is etched in my memory and brings a smile on my face when I think about it) and some of my friends would come over for Hindi lessons and then get good grades. She has been the constant in my life, and even with her fading memories and dementia creeping in, she used to still ask about me in my absence and remembered me almost till the end, barring the last 8-9 months. With Inna's departure, we feel it is the end of an era, an institution, a legend that it has left a indelible mark in our lives. Inna has been a constant in our lives, and we feel blessed to have had her with us for these 34 years. She will forever live in our hearts and our memories. Amen