It amazes me how so many memories of one man can so often, and so consistently, also revolve around one toy. Legos were, and embarrassingly still are, a mainstay in my life as a direct result of my Uncle introducing me to the toy. My first Legos were a hand me down set that had once belonged to my Uncle that was gathering dust in my Grandparent's attic. Many of my visits to London, or my Uncle's visits to America, were punctuated with my Uncle presenting me with the latest greatest Lego set, regardless of whether or not I was competent enough to build it. I've always held that pneumatics are well beyond the ability of an 8 year old, but if you were to ask my Uncle he'd tell you that this is absolutely not the case. Jahnu is living evidence that he was right. The earliest memory I have of my Uncle is playing with Legos during one of my annual summer visits to England. I will be the first to say that I'm not nearly as skilled as Jahnu when it comes to building things out of Legos. On this occasion my "contraption," which was supposed to be a plane, more resembled, and these are my Uncle's words, "a flying house." As a 5 or 6 year old I didn't take these words kindly and promptly stormed off to have a temper tantrum. However it was then that I got my first taste (that I can remember) of my Uncle's desire to help me, my sister, and especially his two sons, to learn and grow. He came to me and with a bit of cajoling convinced me to come down so he could show me how to construct a plane that actually resembled something that could conceivably take flight. It seems like such a small moment in time, however I can assure you that I am still able to build that exact same plane to this day, and have taught numerous 6 and 7 year olds to do the same. The thing that strikes me most about Legos and my Uncle is that the objects and gifts themselves were never that important. Pieces get lost, instructions get torn, and children, eventually, grow up. However these memories are so important to me because they epitomize my Uncle's role in my life. In my experience my Uncle was never an authority figure, that was my Grandmother's job. And so while my Grandma told me what I could not do, lest I hurt myself, my Uncle always reminded me of what I could do, where I could go, and of what I could become. His role was to spark my creativity and develop in me a sense of curiosity. Most importantly he instilled within me the sense that I have the ability to help myself. In looking at my Uncle's interactions with his sons its so clear why he was the way he was. Jahnu is possibly the brightest, most inquisitive boy I've ever met. He can, in an instant, switch from general childish silliness and nagging, to asking very pertinent, sometimes very difficult questions. An example of this would be when Jahnu recently asked me to add up the numbers from 1 to 100, a punishment for eating too many chocolates. This arbitrary silliness quickly veered off into serious discussion as he asked me if there was a faster way to do this. The end result was my successfully teaching a seven year old the summation formula. He is truly remarkable. In talking about my Uncle fostering creativity and intelligence in his sons, nephew and niece, it would be a crime to leave out Sanju, who may be the smartest out of all of us. Yesterday (6-26-2007) he, at 16 months old, turned on the television, turned on the DVD player, and proceeded to play his Beep the Bus DVD...all by himself. It's hard to imagine a world where he is not part of my life. I feel a great sadness that my childhood interactions with him only scratched the surface of his amazing personality, wisdom, and knowledge. There is so much I will never be able to learn from him. However in the time I did have with him he had a great effect on my life and profoundly influenced who I am today.