and there was no place in her world for violence only cowards took to violence some eight years back after i had built a new home in bangalore in the fond hope that id return to india some day she determined that i needed a housekeeper to manage the place i am sending someone over she declared over the phone shes a widow with two young daughters make sure you take care of them and put them through school it was an order i complied ramakka her gift to us is still with us her daughters asha and usha both finished from school earned degrees and now work asha in syndicate bank and usha at an ngo there are hundreds of ashas and ushas because of gauri lankesh just a few weeks ago when mary the kids and i were in india gauri called to announce she was coming over she always came to see the kids bearing gifts none more precious than the love and warmth she brought with her days passed and she did not turn up busy busy busy she saidyou know how hard it is handling the paper and fighting the chaddis she called the right wing nutters chaddis one day she called to announce that shes coming with her son who have you adopted now i asked kanhaiya kumar she chuckled you mean the jnu bloke yes youll love meeting him little later she called to say his flight was late and she cant make it that was the last time i heard her voice bubbly and bursting with energy and passion for causes big and small as my plane now wings towards india to a place without gauri my mind is a cauldron of fragmented memories one phrase keeps repeating and resonating in my mind amazing grace forget all other labels leftist radical antihindutva secular etc for me there is just this she is the epitome of amazing grace the writer is tois washington dc correspondent