Chuni Kotru

She was married to M.L.Kotru, who served in the Indian Army. They had three children, two daughters and one son. Since her husband was in service for long periods of time, she raised her kids, many times as a single parent. She declined a teaching job and choose to be a house wife so that she could devote all her time to her kids. They made sure that all three children got a good education and went to college.

They married their two daughters in Oct.1989. Immediately after that they fled to Jammu and then to New Delhi due to terrorism in Kashmir & Jammu, leaving behind their home and property. They had to restart from scratch until they resettled themselves in Delhi. In 1995 they married their son. Both her son and daughter-in-law moved to the USA in 1997. In 1998, her husband passed away from a very short illness. Because she had been a house wife for all of her life and was completely dependent on her husband for anything related to outside world, her husband’s passing away was a big blow for her. However, she held strong, stayed alone in Noida for two years and refused to come to the USA right away. She wanted to stay so that she could perform all the rituals as per the Hindu culture, for her deceased husband for at least the first year.

She came to the USA for the first time in 2001 to witness and help her son and daughter-in-law with the birth of their first child. Since 2001, she has travelled between India and the USA frequently. She would spend most of her time in the USA and visited India for short intervals, often to attend marriages or other ceremonies of her close family members.

During her stay in the USA, she helped with raising two grand kids. She was a perfectionist, a great cook, a loving mother, mother-in-law, and grandmother. She was very social and loved to attend social functions. She always felt like a part of the local Indian community and would always insist on her children to stay involved with the community. She was always happy to see and meet people. She saw a lots of ups and down in her life but always held strong and always had a smile on her face.

She was planning to visit India during March this year and wanted to take her grand kids (Arushi & Ayush) along with her to visit her birth place, Kashmir. Little did she know that God had some different plans for her.