"Forget the spa – I want the zipline-ride!" That was Jayantylal Jack Naran's reaction when his son Jitendra tried to persuade him to spend a quiet afternoon taking care of his increasingly fragile health and enjoying relaxing treatments at a Magaliesberg resort just before his 72nd birthday last month.
"Forget the spa – I want the zipline-ride!" That was Jayantylal Jack Naran's reaction when his son Jitendra tried to persuade him to spend a quiet afternoon taking care of his increasingly fragile health and enjoying relaxing treatments at a Magaliesberg resort just before his 72nd birthday last month.
He opted instead for the canopy tour – a two-and-a-half-hour series of thrilling zipline rides across a forested kloof. It is such memories of this adventurous, fun-loving man that family and friends have been treasuring this week, at nightly prayers, after his death on Monday morning.
Jayantylal Gopal Naran was born on 26 May 1940 to Gopalbhai and Kasibhen Naran. At the age of seven he went to India with his brother Thakor – there were six siblings – where they were at school until 1953.
Jayantylal then attended the Good Shepherd school, in Huntley Street. He also spent time studying in Fordsburg, Johannesburg, during the 1960s, close family friend Harry Rama related in his tribute after the prayers on Tuesday night, and that is where he learnt smoking.
Rama joked that it was at this point of his life that Jack narrowly missed being Grahamstown's first Hindu Hell's Angel, saying his fondest memory was of Jack wearing his favourite leather jacket and, hair fashionably greased-back, puffing at his cigarettes.
He loved vintage cars and recently restored the family Chev truck to its former glory. We are not sure where and on which journey he planned to go, Rama said. Jayantybhai was an adventurous character. Indeed, when their youngest was just two, he and his wife Sushila – they married in 1969 – took their family on a world tour that spanned North America, as well as Europe and India, which they crossed by rail.
They had three boys – Anil, born in 1970, Jitendra (1975) and Nitin (1976) – but was also a second father to his brother Thakor's children Daksha and Dumyanti. A dedicated family man, Jayantylal's proudest moments were on his sons' achievements – B.Comm graduate Jitendra is an IT specialist, Nitin is a CA and Anil works in the travel business.
Indeed, providing them with quality education and seeing them through to the end of their tertiary studies was at the heart of his strong work ethic. After a spell helping run Albany Laundry Dry Cleaners in the mid-60s, he then partnered his father and his brother Thakor in G. Naran Sons – a corner café that for 49 years was at the heart of Grahamstown.
It was here, says his niece Daksha Naran, that her uncle's views were shaped by his interactions with a broad spectrum of clients – from workers stopping on their way to work to buy bread and milk, to the religious community centred around the Cathedral, to university staff and students.
His cosmopolitan outlook, his values that allowed no racial or religious boundaries, had a great influence on my life and his family's, Daksha said this week. Her description of him as humble and generous is echoed by an outpouring from the Grahamstown community, expressed through comments on Grocott's Online, emailed and handwritten letters delivered to the newspaper and the family, and a steady stream of people from all walks of life visiting the family.
In his retirement, Jayantylal spent time cultivating the family's vegetable garden, enjoying a simple outdoor lifestyle and continuing to connect warmly with everyone whose lives he touched.
