Thank you all for coming today. First and foremost Komi (my sister) and I would like to thank the people who have been helpful in the last few days to organise everything.

If an ipad was supposed to give and hold information then you were equal if not better than one. I’m sure even Steve Jobs would have been impressed.

You were one step ahead of the doctors at your appointments, sometimes even showing them up with your knowledge on a particular field of topic- be it new treatments or new techniques being trialled in hospital. I liked the way you got under the doctors skin for these new techniques and treatments. Be it through bribing them with pendas, wine bottles, articles printed off the internet, even through the back door policy of calling the doctor’s secretary and badgering them for personal email addresses of the doctors – you would somehow get through to them and this was amazing.

You were always pushing the boundaries and used a tactful approach to get through to a particular doctor by playing dumb on the phone as if you’ve got through to the wrong department, but really you had everything planned like a fine act. That fighting spirit was always there and you always found a way to get what you wanted.

I know you were proud of me getting into flying school. A few days before the course started, whilst I was getting my uniform, you and mummy were taken on a tour of the school. In my classroom was a black flight bag, textbooks and some other flight instruments. You said to mum “I can’t wait to go flying with Niraj”. Well I guess you have your own wings to fly around the world and visit all the countries you wanted to. I know travelling was one of your great passions and I will definitely continue on that legacy of being an explorer. In recent years, whenever I said I’ve booked a trip you always gave me your own unique knowledge on the country that even the internet couldn’t tell me. These little things were always on my mind when I was travelling.

With that followed a small shopping list like cashew nuts from Lebanon, pistachios from Iran and halwa from Zanzibar. That acquired taste for the finer things in life is something you have taught me and will leave fond memories for me to cherish for the rest of my life.

I will miss catching up with you in the evenings and reporting to you of how my day went, discussing political events and having your guidance in achieving my targets. I guess I will have to turn to books, smart people and the internet. Thanks for creating more work for me- my research will be that much longer. I know you would be proud of me to have that bit of extra knowledge more than anyone else in this world.

Thank you for being my driving force for 26 years of my life. I will now continue my life with your determination, drive and ambition and see what the next chapter of life holds for me.