All events will be by invite only and admittance will be permitted upon review of the guestlist due to the recent public health restrictions. For those wanting to watch the service from the comfort of their home, please visit: https://funeraweb.tv/en/diffusions/24377
Shanta Manik (of Burnaby, BC) passed away peacefully on Monday, February 8, 2021 at Burnaby Hospital. She is survived by her husband of 59 years, Deo Ram Manik, her four children, Indira (David), Sadhana (Hament), Usha (Dhirendra) and Vijay (Natalee). She also leaves behind her six grandchildren (Ashley, Tiffany, Neil, Brianna, Shawn & Tyler) and many more members of the extended family who loved her dearly.
Shanta was born in Vuci, Nausori (Fiji) and was the only daughter of the late Mr. & Mrs. Shiu Mangal. She had six brothers (the late Jai Kumar, the late Vishwa Kumar, the late Shyam Mangal, Rajendra Kumar, Dharmendra Kumar, Yogendra Kumar and Dr. Anil Kumar Mangal).
After her marriage to Deo Manik in 1961, she resided in Deepwater, Korovou, Tailevu and immigrated to Canada in 1974. She worked as a Nurse’s Aide at Carlton Lodge in Burnaby and then at George Pearson Centre in Vancouver from where she retired in 1998.
Due to her advancing dementia, mom was placed in a care home in November of 2019. She was then transferred to Normanna Rest Home in Burnaby on March 13, 2020 (just before the pandemic).
The family would like to thank the wonderful staff at Normanna Rest Home and Burnaby Hospital for the great care and attention she received.
Shanta loved her family and friends and always put everyone’s needs before her own. She was a wonderful wife, mother, grandmother, daughter, sister, sister-in-law, aunt and friend. We will always and forever be grateful for her love, her kindness, her generosity and her selflessness. She will be missed dearly.
If you wish, in lieu of flowers, donations can be made in memory of Shanta Manik to the Alzheimer Society of B.C.
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Eulogy given by Dr. Anil K. Mangal (youngest brother of Shanta Manik) on Thursday, February 18, 2021
Late Shanta Manik – Eulogy
Ohm Shree Ganeshai Namah …..........Ohm Shree Ganeshai Namah
Ohm Shree Ganeshai Namah.
Ohm Bhur Bhuwah Swah………............Tat Savitur Varenyam
Bhargo Devasya Dhi..mahi……............ Dhiyo Yonah..Pracho-dayat.
WASU DEVAN SUTAM DEVAM, KANS CHARNUR MARDANAM
DEOKI PARMA NANDAM SHREE KRISHNAM DANDEY JAGAT GURUM,
SHREE KRISHNAM DANDEY JAGAT GURUM,
SHREE KRISHNAM DANDEY JAGAT GURUM.
Pujaneyee Pundit Jee,
Jija Deo Ram Manik Jee,
Grieving Relatives and Friends:
We have lost a very kind hearted and a loving person. My sister was almost 83 years old and had devoted all her life to her family.
Shanta Bai was the only daughter of my parents, Master Shiv Mangal and Batsia, of Vuci Nausori, in Fiji. She was second eldest of 8 children. We were 7 brothers with only one sister. My father lovingly called her “Munni” and which became her nick-name. We younger brothers called her Munni Bhaini. Many relatives even now, only know her as “Munni.” Munni Bhaini was educated to the level of secondary/ high school in Fiji. Since I was the youngest child in our family, I was kind of a little pet brother for my sister. She had taken me to my very first Hindi movie with her and many after that as well. Also to a play/ drama, which was performed by Nasinu Teachers Training College students, including our cousin brother, who was a student at NTC and also acting in the play. These had happened even before I had started schooling, but I still remember her love and kindness. A good drinking buddy of my father and elder brother Ram Hit (Prataps dad), Pundit Maharaj frequently came to our house in Vuci. He taught me a few Mantras, eg. Geeta Ganga Gyatri mantra, and he gave us money/ Rupee if we recited it. Munni Bhaini helped me with the mantra and encouraged me to learn it. She told me it'll be good for me to remember it. I still remember it today and I’d like to recite it a little later for her.
My sister was married to Jija Jee, Deo Ram Manik in September 22, 1961 and they lived in Deepwater, in Tailevu. I was in primary/ elementary school at that time and I spent most of my school holidays, in Deepwater with them.
In 1974, Jija and Bhaini immigrated to Canada with their 4 children upon sponsorship by our brother, Dharmendra. All their children were school age at the time. They stayed with Vishwa, our elder brother at Stride Ave. Both Jija and Bhaini worked very hard and soon bought their own house in Burnaby in 1975. They both continued to live in their third house in Burnaby since 1984.
In October 2000, on the very first trip to India for me and my wife, Jija and Bhaini accompanied us, so we had a nice small group of 5 people. On the way, we spent a whole day in Singapore and visited "Little India" within city of Singapore and had lunch at the famous Mittu's Seafood Restaurant. We arrived in Delhi and celebrated our Diwali in India at a friend’s house. We visited many locations in Delhi, and also visited many important and religious locations in India: including Hari-Dwar, Brinda Ban/ Shree Krishna Dham; the famous Taj Mahal; Jai-Pur, the “Pink City." We all went to Bombay/ Mumbai, and visited Juhu Beach and drove past Amitabh Bachan's house. We also spent a few days in the paradise of GOA on the Indian coast. We flew to Kasi/ Mathura and then went by car to Aydhoya as well.
We also visited some northern parts of India. On the way from Delhi to Chandigrah, we visited the Kuru Chetra, the site of Maha Bharat and stopped at the Bunyan Tree (Pakar Tree), which is supposed to be the site where Shree Krishna Jee had First done the Geeta Paath to Arjun. On way to Amritsar, we visited Jalandhar and Ludhiana. We visited the Golden Temple, in Amritsar and other historic sites like the "Jalia Wala Baag” and the India – Pakistan border, at the Bargar Border. We had spent a whole month together in India. On our return trip from India, we visited the city of Narita, in Japan. We also stopped in Singapore and had a return visit to Mittu's Seafood Restaurant.
In 2011 Bhaini and Jija celebrated their 50 th Wedding Anniversay with all close family members. Both Jija jee and Bhaini have been retired for over 20 years and spent considerable time travelling esp to California. Whenever, I visited Bhaini and Jija at their house in Burnaby, I would phone ahead to make sure they were at home. Upon my arrival Bhaini would always have some hor'derve with tea, eg. Gulgula, Sohina, bhagia, etc..that she had prepared for me.
For past 2-3 years Bhaini had gradually become forgetful. She was able to do most of the cooking with Jija’s help, since only 2 of them lived in their present Burnaby house. It was a very difficult decision, but finally in November 2019 (only 15 months ago), her family decided to put Bhaini into a nursing home, for full-time care. Fortuntely, it was located very close to their house so, all her children visited her almost daily. Jija spent most of his day with her at the nursing home. Just before the new year of 2020, my wife and I, together with our children had a very good visit with Bhaini at the Nursing Home. I had not seen her till last week in hospital after over n year. Unfortunately, all in-person visits were stopped due to covid-19, almost a year ago now.
A week before her passing, Bhaini had almost stopped eating and drinking and became very dehydrated. Since the family had wanted her to receive full medical care, she was sent from the Nursing home to Burnaby General Hospital. After some intravenous fluid infusion, she picked up and was able to recognise her family. Her daughters gave her Ganga Jal, which Bhaini had brought herself from India. Pundit jee did Geeta Paath, during which time she opened her eyes and listened intently. Unfortunately, she had a stroke and developed complications. Bhaini passed away peacefully, on early morning of Mon 08 February surrounded by her husband and her children (Indira, Sadhana and Vijay), along with her youngest daughter, Usha, from Seattle Washington who participated via video link.
Bhaini is now relieved of all her earthly sufferings and is in-peace. She has joined in Heaven, both our parents and our 3 elder brothers (Jai Kumar, Vishwa & Shyam Mangal), who all had passed away earlier. We are now only 4 brother left. Her eldest daughter, Indira Pal, will soon shed light about rest of the surviving family.
Ladies & Gentlemen, on behalf of the grieving family –I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you and everyone who have helped and supported the family in any way during this difficult times, including, but not limited to bringing food, etc.. We acknowledge that many people have expressed their grief and sympathies by phone messages, cards or flowers. The family thanks you all, whole heartedly. We know that if it was not for this time of pandemic, both the crematoruim and their house would be full.
On Behalf of the Mangal Family, I’d like to personally thank my Jija Jee for taking care of our Bhaini for almost 60 years of their marriage, and to their children for being very good and always being helpful and looking after both their parents. We’re very proud of you all.
At this stage, may I request you all, to please join me in a little prayer for my sister:
OHM….GEETA GANGA GAYATREE....…............Sita Satya Saraswati…
Bhrahm Vidya Bhraham..Bali…….. Krish.. Sandhya mukti Gaya..haney
Aradh matra Chidha nanda.......Bhao Agni .. Bhai Nashni
Bedh Prananta …...............Tat.. warth Gyan Manjari.
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Ohm Triyambakam yaja mahey….... …..Sugandhim pushti vardhanam
Urvarukum iwa bandhanaan…...........Mrithyor mukshaya maamritaat.
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Ohm Namas Shivai Ohm Namas Shivai Ohm Namas Shivai
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Hari Om Tat Sat……… Hari Om Tat Sat……… Hari Om Tat Sat.
THANK YOU.
By:
Dr. Anil K. Mangal
DSM (Fiji), ABIM (USA), MBA (SFU), FRCPC (Canada)
Clinical Hematologist & Hematopathologist
Clinical Associate Professor
UBC Dept. of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine; Faculty of Medicine.
Aug 2021: Donation to International Congress of Fiji Incorporated (ICFI)
Donation in lieu of flowers for: Late Mrs. Shanta Manik [my only sister who passed away early this year];
ICFI has a single use of all Funds without spending any monies on over-head.
All funds are used for the education of the needy children in Fiji.
By: Mangal Family, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
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Eulogy given by Indira Pal on Thursday, February 18, 2021, for her dear departed mother, Shanta Manik
Hello,
My name is Indira Pal and I am the eldest daughter of Shanta Manik. I am joined by my sister, Sadhana from Surrey, our younger sister, Usha, from Bonney Lake, Washington, our brother, Vijay from New Westminster and my husband, David.
We are here with our dad, Deo Ram Manik. Also with us today is dad’s youngest sister, Parbha Ram of Surrey and mom’s youngest brother, Dr. Anil Kumar Mangal of Vancouver (who you just heard from). Also here with us today is mom’s nephew, Pratap Chand from Coquitlam and Pundit Jee Vidiya Maharaj from Vancouver.
Thank you for joining us today, from all over the world, to celebrate the life of and to say goodbye to our mom, Shanta Manik.
She was married to our dad, Deo Manik, for 59 years – in fact, they would have celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary this coming September. She was our loving mother and a very devoted grandmother to her six grandchildren – Ashley, Tiffany, Neil, Brianna, Shawn & Tyler. But, she was so much more than that.
Growing up in Vuci, Nausori, Fiji, as a young girl, she had wanted to become a nurse. Unfortunately, back in those days, it was frowned upon for women to have careers.
After getting married, she moved to Deepwater, Korovou, Tailevu to live with my dad and his family. There, she raised us and helped raise my dad’s youngest siblings, worked on the crop farms, helped with the dairy farm, cooked, cleaned and fed a group of up to 15-20 people daily.
She was an amazing cook and, to this day, no one can compare to her homemade bhooja, her achaar, her saina, her delicious homecooked meals which included meats that she herself would never eat.
She was a very talented seamstress and sewed most of our clothes herself while we were growing up in Fiji. She also made her own clothes – and continued this practice in Canada. If she bought something from a store, she would often take it apart and customize it and make it better than it was before. The green outfit she is wearing in the portrait was designed and custom-made by her. She was an artist at heart and also did cross-stitching, crocheting, needlepoint and colouring. She was an avid gardener and especially loved her flowers. She has been known to sneak in vegetable and flower seeds from Fiji, Hawaii, California and other parts of the world.
After immigrating to Canada in July of 1974, she was finally able to pursue a career. Although she couldn’t become a nurse, she came pretty close by working as a nurse’s aide. She worked at Carlton Lodge in Burnaby for a few years before moving to George Pearson Centre in Vancouver. She made life-long friends there.
Both mom and dad worked very hard and even did shift work. Sometimes, we didn’t see them together in the house for days. Their hard work paid off and they were able to buy our first family home in 1975 – just a year after coming to Canada.
Mom also learned to drive a car so that she could independently commute to and from work. Sometimes after work, she would just pop across the border to Blaine to buy groceries and even cigarettes for dad when he used to smoke.
After taking an early retirement, she was able to travel to some wonderful places with family and friends. She was able to go back to Fiji several times and also visited other parts of the world, such as India, Australia, New Zealand, the Caribbean and Mexico. She also travelled extensively through various parts of the USA (including California and Hawaii) and various parts of Canada (including Ontario and Quebec). When our kids were young, we also took annual summer vacations in the Okanagan and on Vancouver Island with the entire family and our children still talk about and cherish those memories to this day.
Dementia stole some of those memories from mom but we will keep those memories alive for her. We love you and we miss you dearly, mom. You’re gone from this earth but you will live on in our hearts forever.
God saw you getting tired, a cure was not to be
So He put his arms around you, and whispered “Come with Me.”
With tearful eyes we watched you, and saw you fade away
Although we love you dearly mom, we could not make you stay.
A golden heart stopped beating, your tender hands at rest
God took you home to prove to us, he only takes the best.
Thank you.
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