Late one afternoon, as a result of brain hemorrhaging, my grandmother passed away, and in an instant, several lives were changed forever, my mother’s included. As she wept for days, feeling as if the world had come to its end, greater things were at work. Little did she know, that her mother’s passing would motivate her to overachieve, feel a tremendous sense of responsibility for her siblings, have resilience, and live a deeply felt life filled with meaningful interactions, having experienced the fragility of life.
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Punam Walia was born on the 19th of November, 1970 but due to the use of physical birth records at the time and insufficient paper, her birth date was officially recorded to be the 26th of November.…