I generally write happy stuff. Mostly because I have a very happy life, surrounded by happy, funny people. Of them all, my Dad's best friend has to be the happiest of the happy. The funniest of the funny. In the 30 some odd years of knowing the man, I have never seen him sour. When he laughs, he crinkles his nose and his entire face gets in on the act. He has the most scraggly beard I have ever seen. Something only an intellectual tinker could get away with. And Satish is certainly that. He tinkers with everything from watches to his own hair. He has much better luck with the watches than the hair.
He is the only person I have ever met who is cheaper than my father. I once saw him with the worst hair cut I have ever seen on anyone ever. He laughed good-heartedly when telling how his wife had forbid him from ever taking scissors to his own hair again. The result appeared to be the mange. Truly, it was terrible.
I use to humor my Dad and get up at the ass crack of dawn and drive from Mansfield to Dallas to the Saturday sale. It was this weird computer sale under a bridge where people sold all kinds of computer parts and hand crafted machines. Satish would stand there bargaining things down to ridiculously low prices. I think they discovered some place with a $2.00 breakfast after they had obtained all the pieces parts two middle age engineers could get for $20.
Several years ago Satish was in charge of pet sitting his neighbor's bird, Goburt. It was one of those weird stories that only happens to Satish, but somehow he ended up with this illegal exotic bird. The neighbor disappeared, the house flooded, there was a difficult process in trying to get the bird out of a flooding house with no electricity, and vanished owners. As it turns out, Goburt is the coolest bird. The kids have grown up going to visit him. They know never to trust him with a finger but they will bounce up and down at each other, making clicking noises back and forth. He does amazing imitations. Particularly of Satish's voice. He has his laugh down pat. Probably because Satish laughs all the time. It is a sound Goburt knows by heart. It is a sound we all know by heart.
It is that sound and that crinkled nose and scraggly beard I will miss most. Satish died yesterday. He died in the most brilliant way possible. His whole family with him saying their good byes, surrounded by love. Today the news has been rippling out to all of us who loved him. It is not really a surprise. He had been ill for a long time but I think selfishly we kept wanting him to hold on a little longer, a little longer. I am glad Satish ended up with Goburt. Satish has a brand new baby Granddaughter and young Grandson. With any luck they will grow up listening to Goburt, perfectly imitating their Grandfather's amazing laugh.
I am so sorry for your loss. There is nothing more wonderful than remembering someone for their laughter. What a gift. Blessed Be my friend.
ReplyDeleteAh thank you Melissa. We just saw him last week. The girls and I went to pick up something Dad made. He was really frail, but now I wish I had hugged him.
DeleteI'm so, so sorry, Jeanette. He sounds like an amazing, interesting, unique guy. So glad you got to see him one, last time, and that your girls have had the privilege of knowing him, his laugh, and Goburt. Sending you hugs and love! <3
ReplyDeleteThank you Dana. He was a most wonderful character. We love his wife just as much, she is a retired librarian. Seriously, one of the most delightful couples ever.
DeleteSatish was introduced to me in the late 80's by our mutual friend Naren. He had a Phd in Bio-medical Engineering and worked at Parkland. He had a sideline of custom building computers and made about 30 per month. He would get the parts from the Saturday Sale. He had been going there from it's inception. I did not know much about computers then, but felt that I needed to know how they worked and how to put one together, so I started going to the Saturday Sale with him. His standard attire was jeans with a dozen plastic bags in his left front pocket and his faithful 3 pound Swiss Army knife in the right pocket. As Jeanette said, he would drive the hardest bargain he could. He would not relent until the vendor (they all knew him) had tears in his eyes. My favorite memory of the Saturday Sale was when we passed a vendor and Satish cautioned me, "Do not buy anything from that guy. He sells nothing but junk!". We got separated and I saw him buying a box of old hard drives from the junk dealer. I said, "What are you doing? You said he only sells junk" and he said, "Yeah, but it is so cheap". I am glad that Jeanette was able to experience the Saturday Sale because it was a unique experience. I would describe it as resembling Mardi Gras in a junk yard.
ReplyDeleteThen after the sale, we would take our loot back to his house which resembled an indoor Saturday Sale. At that time I thought Carol had to be the most tolerant wife in the world. Chipper would give me hell if I even left a screw driver out.
Yes, is the smartest person I have ever met. He had a BSEE from IIT (only 1 in 3,000 are accepted to IIT), a MSEE from OSU and his Phd from UTA.
In November 2003, Satish had a massive heart attach. He was told that he need a heart/liver transplant and without it, he was not expected to live 6 months. He decided that it was too risky and decided to forego the operation. Being able to live over 12 more years shows he made the right choice. All of this time, I have keep in mind that he was living on borrowed time and and tried to spend as much time with him as possible. I have no regrets, but will miss him sorely. I am do glad that my daughter and grand daughters knew him, because his history is also my history.
Dad!!!!!!! I thought I was done crying after yesterday. I woke up all swollen with eye crusties like I have not had in years. This started me up again. But I don't care. It is so wonderful. Thank you for writing this. I love you.
DeleteI could have written so much more and I might still. It is the end of an era. Satish got many awards at Parkland. The one that he was most proud of was "The Salt of the Earth award. He had a lot to overcome. He was missing a knuckle in all of his digits. If anyone has put together a PC, they know how tiny and hard to get to most screws are. He was dyslexic. Just try to imagine being dyslexic and trying to read something that is in your second language. The thing that separated him from the other highly intelligent people that I have known is his great personality (as attested to by his Salt of the Earth award). I have so many stories to tell... Like I say, the end of an era.
DeleteI fell really privileged to have known Satish. I will cherish the memories.
Beautiful, loving, and joyous tribute. We should all hope for such a life and the memories it creates for others.
ReplyDeleteThank you Gaye. I happen to know you have such a life, the incredible things you do impact me and I am just on the perimeter. The people at your center are very, very lucky.
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