Gone
Too Soon: Fawzia Braine (1948 – 2012)
We
traveled together from Hong Kong on January 6. Sitting in the veranda of our
village home, we watched birds in the garden. To our delight, the Asian
Paradise Flycatcher, a dazzling migratory bird with two long white tail
streamers, made an appearance. There would be a flash of white across the
greenery, and, like a little girl, Fawzia would be off running beneath the
mango and cashew trees, trying to catch a closer view of the bird.
Then,
we spent a week at our Hantana home, where monkeys came to steal the mangoes
and avocados and porcupines and wild boar visited at night to feast on the
fallen fruit. A soft mist covered the green hills and the city of Kandy
glittered below at night. We went for long evening walks, chatted with the monk
at the nearby temple, and dined out with old friends. Life couldn’t have been
better.
I had no inkling of the tragedy that was to
follow. Fawzia died on January 28, 2012, of injuries caused by a car
accident.
She was the devoted wife who sacrificed her
career to accompany me to the Middle East, to the USA, and finally to Hong
Kong. To our son, Fawzia was the adoring mother, the epitome of unconditional
love. To her elderly relatives, siblings, and cousins, she was the loving niece
and sister, loyal and generous to a fault. To her nieces and nephews, she was
the adventurous aunt who traveled the world. To an American colleague, Fawzia was “intelligent,
cosmopolitan, knowledgeable, and politically liberal. She had a work ethic at a
university where few seemed to have one. She was fun: always open to going out
and doing something interesting.” Her doctor in Hong Kong, also an artist, painted
a remarkable portrait interpreting Fawzia’s love of Sri Lanka and her religious
beliefs. Tributes poured in to a blog site that was set up in her memory.
In 2000, when she was diagnosed with breast
cancer, we saw another side of Fawzia. She fought the cancer with fortitude and
resolve, facing surgery, the harrowing side effects of chemotherapy, and
numerous other medical procedures without self-pity or complaint. She had
completed ten years of follow-up treatment and had been declared cancer-free
when the fatal accident occurred. That only heightened the tragedy of her
passing.
Fawzia did not make headlines. She didn’t
move mountains. She wasn’t perfect. But she left a lasting impression on
everyone who met her. Her exuberance, energy, and
zest for life were unmatched in her extended family or mine.
