Tag Archives: Melville deMellow

Demise of Mrs. Coralie Emma deMellow – March 31, 2013

Dear All,
Mrs Coralie deMellow passed away at 8:30 am this Easter Sunday morning.

I append an account sent by Mr I L Bhatia, (see picture attached) who was for years the late Melville deMellow’s assistant and trusted aide. He, after Melville deMellow passed away, looked after Mrs deMellow in a manner that was unique as it was remarkable for the qualities of trust worthiness, loyalty and selfless devotion. Without his assistance and that of Mrs Breda Dayal, wife of OC Manjit Dayal (his pictures is also sent as an attachment to this mail. Breda is currently in Ireland), Mrs deMellow would have otherwise been an abandoned lonely soul. They battled for her and sometimes even fought with her for what they knew was for her good. Mrs deMellow, with increasing age, was stubbornly difficult and it required considerable patience and tact to handle her !! Not always easy and those with aging parents will know what a formidable task that can be.!! However, these two persisted and as care givers they were superb – and wonderful. God does not make people like these very often and Mrs deMellow benefited immensely from their kindness and commitment to her. She was lucky and she lived her 95 years with dignity and in relative comfort .

The OCA have offered to pay for the hospitalisation and cremation expenses. Even after reimbursing these costs, the fund will still be left with a tidy balance. While I will endeavour to write to all the donors individually, those who contributed may please send in their comments to indicate the manner in which the balance amount should be employed. This is important since their wishes must be respected before we decide what to do with this amount. Please send in your suggestions. My thanks.

In view of the above, no further donations need be sent for this benefit fund.

My thanks, again, to all who gave their money so willingly and so generously. Your contributions went a long way in making a life more peaceful. She may not have known you individually but she knew that the funds came from those who wished her well. She was grateful. She accepted it only because it came from an alma mater associated with her late husband. It came from people with a strong fellow feeling, people with huge warmth whose only desire was to ensure that every life, and this life in particular, was lived with dignity. Consequently, for her everything in her life was a miracle. You guys made it happen. Thank you, again. “Blessed are those that can give without remembering and receive without forgetting” !!

My best wishes
Sincerely,

Vijay Khurana
For and on behalf of :
Mr B M Singh,
President, OCA 


[Photos of Mr. I.L. Bhatia and Mr. Manjit Dayal. Click the picture for a larger view]

Dear All,

With a heavy heart, I would like to inform you about the sad demise of Mrs. Coralie Emma deMellow (also known as Jane deMellow) this morning in the Apex Multispeciality & Laparoscopy Hospital in Faridabad where she was admitted on 29th March, in a serious condition. She was fine till Thursday and had also enjoyed fun-filling Holi on Wednesday – 27th March with the inmates. However, since she was not eating anything since Friday morning on account of varying temperature in both the hands and on account of swelling, she was admitted in the ICU of the above hospital. According to the interim Death Certificate given by the Hospital, she died of a brain stroke. According to her maid – Krishna who was with her in the hospital, she had briefly opened her eyes around 8.30 am and looked around without uttering a word.  When we (Mr. Manjit Dayal and myself) reached the hospital and were joined by Mrs. and Mr. Shukla to decide on the further course of action, she had already breathed her last a little before our arrival as the oxygen mask was still on!

She was taken in the Ambulance back to Anadi Seva Prakalp, where the inmates gave her a bath with warm water and thereafter she was draped in a colourful new green saree given by her room mate – Dr. Savitri Khanduri who was inconsolable as she had lost one of the best companions.  According to Dr. Khanduri, she apparently had premonition of her death as before going to the hospital, Mrs. DeMellow had told her that ” her time has come as Melville is calling me”. She also said to “thank Mr. BHATIA for what he did for her and to remain happy and cheerful and that God will bless him”. She also told her that she should be cremated like Melville and should be given a name by the inmates before her cremation. Thus, after offering prayers, Dr. Khanduri and other inmates nick-named her as Champa and thereafter, she was taken in the Ambulance to the Lodi Electric Crematorium where Mrs. Preminda Sen had booked the time for cremation at 3 pm. After performing all the rituals as per the advice of the priest and after floral tributes being paid by all present and wreaths being placed by Mrs. Sen, her brother, Dy. DG-AIR and others, she was cremated with full honours. Eight inmates from the Anadi Seva Prakalp including Mrs. and Mr. Pranav Shukla were also present.

BCS was represented by Mr. Vijay Khurana. Mr. Manjit Dayal was all along there with me like a solid rock since morning and all other formalities were completed in consultation and with the advice of Mr. Dayal, Mrs. Sen, Shuklas and others  who were all of immense help. While I cannot obviously write many other details, I would only like to highlight that she left for her heavenly abode in peace on a very pious day – Easter Sunday and was bid final farewell by around 25 persons. Thus now she is in the care of God. In addition to giving you this unfortunate information, I would also request you all to pray God for keeping her soul in peace. I also request you to inform all others known or related to her.

Yours sincerely,
IL Bhatia

Medical attention for Mrs DeMellow

From: Vijay Khurana
Date: Sun, Feb 24, 2013 at 3:50 PM
Subject: Re: Medical attention for Mrs. deMellow
To: I L Bhatia
Cc: BM Singh; NK Mehra; Manjit Dayal; Preminda Sen; Chandrika Grover

Dear Mr Bhatia,

Thank you for your mail.

Your efforts are appreciated. We thank you for the help and assistance that Mrs Breeda Dayal, and you are making to support Mrs DeMellow. This is remarkable and we have nothing but praise for all that you do.

On behalf of the President of the OCA, Mr B M Singh, I have been authorised to inform you that we will be happy to offer any additional assistance for Mrs DeMellow’s medical care in addition to the monthly cheque that we send for her maintenance/upkeep at Anadi Prakalp.

Please feel free to let us know if you need any additional support and we are in a position to provide it. We will do the best we can. I trust you understand.

My best wishes
Sincerely,

Vijay Khurana
For and on behalf of the President of the OCA 

On Fri, Feb 22, 2013 at 9:23 PM, I L Bhatia wrote:

Dear all,

I had sent you a self explanatory mail on Mrs. DeMellow. Mr. Shukla is actually out of the country as is evident from his reply to my mail below. Hers is a pitiable condition and much as we may desire, she is destined to be now a permanent resident of Anadi Prakalp. Both Mrs. Breeda and I had discussed about shifting her to a better place, but she did not want to be shifted and wanted to continue living there. Thus it is a fait accompli situation. I just wanted to brief all of you about her health on receipt a Mail from Mr. Vijay Khurana. With regards and best   Wishes, ILBhatia

Begin forwarded message:

Date: 21 February 2013 10:15:48 PM GMT+05:30
To: “I L Bhatia”
Subject:Re: Medical attention for Mrs. deMellow

Dear sir,

Thank you so much for bringing all this to my notice…
Don’t worry…it will taken care,
Have also instructed krishna g …to do the needful.

Am off to london n will be back on 3rd…hope to see you on 5th.

Regds
Pranav

From: Bhatia Ishwar
Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2013 00:25:40 +0800 (SGT)
To: Pranav Shukla
Subject: Medical attention for Mrs. deMellow 

Dear Mr. Shukla,

I went to see Mrs. deMellow this morning and was little concerned about her deteriorating health. I thought of meeting you personally to explain her condition but was given to understand that you are out of town (although none was certain) and hence this mail. Last fortnight when I had met and seen her (when incidentally Mrs. Breeda Dayal had also come), we found her to be quite cheerful despite the fact that she was not able to stand. However, this morning, I found that her feet were swollen and need to be examined by a Doctor urgently. It appears that because of the lack of leg movement, swelling has developed in the feet. Her eyes were also bad and water kept trickling all the time. I feel that unless she is made to sit for some time during the day, she may develop bed-sores, which will make her condition much worse. I could guess that she has the will to stand but it is the lack of energy and apprehension of falling again which is dissuading her from sitting or standing. She was by and large happy but was mentioning about lack of attention and getting little neglected.  She had also apparently told you about her eyes, but perhaps because of your busy schedule and other social work/engagements, arrangements for her being examined by a Doctor could not materialize. I am therefore making this special request for getting her examined by a Doctor urgently so that she is given necessary medication. She was extremely happy with Dr. Savitri Khanduri who keeps helping her as and when necessary. Since she at times skips the meals for various reasons, I have left sufficient quantity of biscuits, chips, juices, cheese cubes etc. etc. so that she can munch them whenever she feels hungry. I will also appreciate if you would kindly advise someone over there including Krishna to move her legs and make her sit at least once or twice during the day to avoid her getting bed sores.

I will be going to Hardwar-Rishikesh next week On Tuesday in connection with some rituals of my brother who died last year in early March and therefore can only possibly meet you on Monday – 25th Feb outside your office or next Tuesday (5th March) as I will be back only on 4th March, 2013. Till then, I think you will be able to attend to the above problems as you have always been very kind in looking after these hapless and needy persons in times of distress who bank upon you for necessary help and assistance. God bless you. Please do let me know if I can be of any assistance.

With regards and best wishes, ILB

Update on Mrs Coralie (Jane) DeMellow February 13, 2013

Dear All,

My apologies for this delayed update. When the situation is stable and “all is well” then one tends to fit into a groove and let life takes its course. No deft handling warranted nor any change required. Such has, touch wood, been the case with Mrs DeMellow, these last few months.

Here is an update on Mrs DeMellow

After her hospitalisation at the Holy Family Hospital in Delhi last October / November, Mrs DeMellow was moved to Anand Seva Prakalp run by Mr & Mrs Pranav Shukla. We had the following mail from Mr I L Bhatia, who has been the principal care giver for Mrs DeMellow. His association with her dates back to the time when he worked with her husband. Mrs DeMellow, at age 96, has implicit trust in him and with good reason!!

Dear Mr. Khurana,

I had gone to meet Mrs. deMellow this morning as she had sent a couple of messages for seeing her – although I had met her only  a fortnight back when Mr. Manjit Dayal had also accompanied me. There is not much improvement in her health and since Mrs. Shukla had taken ill more than a month back, she is not going to the Home since then. However, Mrs. deMellow appeared to be  happy with the maid and didn’t have any serious complaint except that the bathroom is primitive. She is still unable to stand, much alone walk. She however still talks of returning to her flat and managing with the help of two maid servants, which to my mind is impossible! I told her to relax and first get well and be strong enough to walk and think of returning to her flat only after 6-8 months when she is able to do her daily routines herself.  She however said that she eats well. I had taken the things desired by her and also attended to her other problems and needs which I am capable of.

With regards and best wishes,

Yours sincerely,

IL Bhatia

We received additional funds for the Mrs DeMellow’s care. K S Dugal continues his monthly contribtution of Rs 1500 per month and so does an Anonymous donor, whom I know to be terribly generous in all such matters. In addition friends and relatives of Mrs DeMellow sent an amount to the account. Since these contributions came through Mr Bhatia we sent the following mail with a copy to these wonderful supporters:

From: Vijay Khurana [mailto:vk@devats.com]
Sent: Saturday, 17 November 2012 3:04 PM
To: I L Bhatia;
Cc: SIMEONS Rodney [Aveley Primary School]; Brajindar Mohan Singh; Neel Kamal Mehra; manjitdayal@gmail.com; kavita dayal
Subject: Re: GREETINGS FROM WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Dear Mr Bhatia,

I refer to your e-mail below.

I confirm that we have received on  October 25, 2012 an amount of US $ 578 which translated into a sum of Rs 31,813 into the account for the benefit of Mrs DeMellow.

On behalf of the Old Cottonians Association, we express our thanks to the donors. I am taking the liberty of endorsing this mail to Mr Rodney Simeons for his information.

We will continue to make monthly disbursements for Mrs DeMellow’s benefit. I will also place the details on the Old Cottonians web site in good time since I will be travelling next week. I trust you understand.

My kind regards

Sincerely,

Vijay Khurana

On behalf of the Old Cottonians Association

P.S. Mr Rodney Simeons is the Principal of Aveley Primary School in Melbourne, Australia 

For the record, the Old Cottonians Association has disbursed from this fund the following amounts for Mrs DeMellow’s treatment.

Hospitalisation expenses Rs 97,664

Monthly payments for her up keep were made for the months of October to December and the one for January 2013 has recently been sent. We send a contribution of Rs 10,000 per month

We currently have a balance of Rs 238,004

This is for the information of all the donors to this fund and well wishers of Mrs DeMellow. Should you have any queries or suggestions to offer, please feel free to either mail me at vk@devats.com or call me on + 91 98 10 56 23 04. 

You may always contact our President Mr B M Singh. 

My good wishes

Sincerely,

Vijay Khurana

On behalf of the Old Cottonians Association.

DOWNLOAD: Updated account sheet