Ryali Lakshmi Obituary

If you ever thought that you had all the worries in the world, then you probably hadn't met our beloved"Chintamani". Both a self-proclaimed title and something only her kids lovingly teased her with, shefinally found her eternal peace, freedom from all her worries, on April 30th, 2023. Ask her about her birth date and she would promptly reply that she was born on Amavasya in the monthof July, which could be either the 17th. . . . or the 18th. . . . or the 19th. Confusing right? Imagine, for decadesshe basked in her birthday glory for THREE wholesome days, which alone sent her family members in atizzy, never knowing exactly when to wish her. Each one of us would land up wishing her on threeseparate dates causing absolute mayhem and confusion. It was only a decade or so ago that her kidsprotested and pleaded her to end this chaos once and for all and fix her birth date as 17th July!!Daughter to late Adurty Vishweshwar Rao and late Adurty Lakshmi Narsamma, she was the oldestamongst her four siblings, brothers, who had left for their heavenly abode a couple of years ago, Krishna,Shankar and Giri and now survived by her sole sister, Bharti. Her father passed away at a very young ageand that's when probably some of her worries began. Being the oldest, she took the challenge, head on,of being the sole provider for her family. She worked tirelessly in the IBM Computers and DataDepartment of Tata Steel, Jamshedpur, for many years, that, being her first, last and only place ofemployment. Her desire was to be able to go for higher studies which circumstantially was challenging for her. Butwhat she did learn from her career was to be financially independent, something that she considered ahuge achievement in her life and held in high regard, above any college degree. Who knew that at the age of 25, she would find her soul mate in our Dad, right next door in herneighbourhood. When their kundlis were shown to the pandit before their wedding, he said that all elsebeing fine, they would quarrel a lot!! But then, who doesn't quarrel after they marry, right? Married inthe summer of 1971, quarrel they did, but their love story withstood the test of time. What eventuallyemerged out, was 52 years of true companionship. Always being there for each other and looking out foreach other in their toughest times. She had her own share of struggles in life and for this very reason she had a strong sense of empathy forthose who were going through a difficult phase in their own lives. Somehow, without any exchange ofwords, she could always feel and sense their pain. She had a very strong intuition about people andsituations. For all those who were close enough to witness her often "vibrant" personality (if you know what wemean), that often stemmed out of her authenticity. She didn't have the word 'pretence' in her dictionaryat all. She was seldom verbal about her thoughts and emotions. Whether they were her pessimistic oroptimistic views, she would bare it all with the people who connected with her genuinely. If someone had an iron will power, it would be her. Something she would set her mind into; she woulddive deep down into it. No matter what the world thought about her intentions, she would not botherand go right ahead and do what she set out to do. Not quite noticeable to the world, she was quite a fighter. There were countless instances, like the timebefore she passed away. Everyone knew about her lengthy battle with varicose veins. But despite that,with her saree tucked under her belly, a nagging pain in her legs and a walking stick, with her husbandbeside her, she made the long and arduous journey to US to be with her daughter, simply because of herwill power. She did exactly what she wanted to do before she had to go to her eternal destination. Travel was onething. Much of her veggies' chopping time was spent in front of the television, looking at all those travelchannels, showing her those exotic locations that she would only dream of. And despite all the physicaldiscomfort she faced on her last day, she did manage to slip in a few spoonful of her favourite ice creamwhen she could not eat anything else at all!! As much as she wanted to be away from hospitals anddoctors as she aged, she was massively supported by all the doctors, nurses and paramedics throughout. Besides being Sita to her parents, siblings, husband and relatives, Ma to us - Ravi, Kavita and Pragati shehad many more roles to play. She was Mummy to Mallika and Nishant, her Daughter in law and Son inlaw respectively, 'Bom' to her grandkids Ketav and Gahan and 'Amamma' to her grandkids Viraaj andRitvik, as an Aunt to her nieces and nephews, her various relations with her in-laws, a friend to many, butthe most important role she played was of a gentle and loving human being who was true to herself andcared for her loved ones.