'When dad played with us, he always let us win'

LUCKNOW: The 12-year-old who lost her father two days ago appeared lonely even though her house was teeming with relatives, friends and well-wishers on Monday. The memories of her father, Apple executive Vivek Tewari, keep flashing in her mind every moment while she is awake and even when sleep takes over - it is still hard to drift away these days - and she ends waking up with a start.
Choked with emotions while dutifully attending to the bevy of guests in each room of the family's two-bedroom apartment, she opened up to TOI and shared her vivid memories of her father, the loving bond she shared with him and the difficulties she is facing in coming to terms with her loss.

When TOI interacted with Shivi, the girl occasionally flaunted a shy, often fake smile, as words came out with resistance.

Shivi told TOI that she used to play cricket and badminton with her father who would often lose the game deliberately to let her win.

"Playing games with papa was always fun. He used to play like me and Shanu and that was the loving part," she said. "Everytime, papa, knowingly, made me win in the games which were always one-sided. Be it badminton or cricket, he was a terrific player, but deliberately never tried to beat us," she added.

Besides badminton and cricket, Shivi, Shanu and Vivek also shared their addiction to mobile games.

"I do not remember the name of most games that papa made us play but it was fun. ' Jaise hi papa ghar aate the, papa ka mobile unka nahi reh jaata tha," said Shivi.

"I, Shanu and papa used to compete with each other on mobile games by making different high scores," she added.

The eyes of the 12-year old were sparkling as she recounted the memories, something that had been missing part in the last two days. The spark was, however, for some time as between the chit-chat, she realises that papa is no more. The excitement suddenly turned into grief as she stutters, " Papa ki yaad bahut..."

"I am going to miss papa a lot. He was a part of everything in my life. I miss dad," she ended up saying.

She then turned away her face to wipe her moist eyes and hide her emotions and went to another room with her cousin.