Her Story

As both children approached the age of four and began attending school, Prem felt drawn to resume her own education and build a career. She enrolled in a two-year diploma program in Home Science at SJM Polytechnic in Ghaziabad and graduated with first-class honors in 1987.

The decision required the support of the entire family. After school, the children would go to the home of a family acquaintance, where they had a late lunch, completed their homework, and stayed until their parents returned—an arrangement much like an informal after-school care program.

It was during this period that Prem developed a deeper interest in creative work, especially painting. Her educational journey, however, did not end with the Home Science diploma. She gradually realized that her true passion was teaching young children and decided to pursue a career as an elementary school teacher.

With that goal in mind, she enrolled in a one-year Nursery Teacher Training (NTT) program at South Delhi Polytechnic for Women in Lajpat Nagar, Delhi, completing it with first-division honors in 1988. She later went on to earn a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) degree from Rohtak University in 1991.

With her education complete, Prem began applying for teaching positions. Her dream was to work in a government school, but by then she was around forty and repeatedly encountered age-related barriers in the hiring process. Still, she refused to give up and continued pursuing every opportunity that came her way.

Her persistence eventually paid off when she was offered a position as an elementary school teacher at Ram Kishan Institute in Sanjay Nagar, Ghaziabad, where she joined the afternoon shift. Prem taught there from 1993 to 2009, spending sixteen years educating hundreds of young children. Her classroom responsibilities ranged from introducing students to the Hindi and English alphabets to teaching art, science, and other foundational subjects.

Although the school’s official retirement age was fifty-eight, Prem was not yet ready to step away from teaching. She later joined Bhagirath Public School in Sanjay Nagar as an elementary school teacher and subsequently volunteered at its Uddan Day Care program for children with special needs.

Prem finally retired from teaching in 2019, bringing to a close a career of more than twenty-five years devoted to educating, nurturing, and caring for children.

Even as Prem built her teaching career, family life continued to evolve around her. In 1995, her son left home to study engineering at IIT Bombay, beginning a new chapter of his own in Mumbai. In 2006, Sukhdev retired, and the family moved from the ALTTC campus into their own home in nearby Sanjay Nagar. A few years later, their daughter completed her dental studies, married, and moved to Meerut in 2010.

After thirty-four years of marriage, Prem and Sukhdev found themselves as empty nesters. With fewer day-to-day responsibilities, they had more time to attend Nirankari congregations, cook together, take on projects around the house, and travel. Their travels included visits to Michigan in the United States to spend time with their son. In 2012, they also became grandparents when their daughter welcomed a child, bringing a new source of joy into their lives.

That happiness, however, was interrupted far too soon. On October 25, 2012, Sukhdev passed away following a heart attack related to complications from diabetes. His death changed Prem’s life profoundly. After decades of sharing the responsibilities of life with her husband, she suddenly found herself managing a large household, finances, and the many practical demands of daily life on her own.

Beginning in January 2013, Prem started dividing her time between Ghaziabad and Ann Arbor, Michigan. During his winter visits to India, her son Sudhir would often bring her back with him to the United States, where she stayed for several months at a time. Over the years, she made as many as eight extended visits. While Sudhir was away at work or pursuing his MBA, Prem kept herself occupied with cooking, television, and the routines of daily life. Evenings and weekends became their time together. Mother and son enjoyed walks in parks, meals at restaurants, Hindi movies at theaters, concerts, and weekly Nirankari satsangs.

These extended stays gave Prem an opportunity to experience American life closely and broadened her outlook in many ways. When Sudhir married an American woman in 2019, Prem welcomed her warmly into the family as her daughter-in-law, embracing her as family across differences of nationality, race, and religion.

Prem’s visit to the United States in the fall of 2019 unexpectedly stretched to more than fifteen months because of the COVID-19 pandemic and international travel restrictions. It became an unusual period of both anxiety and togetherness for the three of them. With Sudhir and his wife working from home, Prem had their company throughout the day. They cooked together, played board games, and spent many evenings watching movies and television shows.

At the same time, Prem was acutely aware of the devastation unfolding around the world. COVID-19 was taking thousands of lives each day, and older adults with chronic health conditions—particularly respiratory illnesses—faced significantly greater risk. Concerned about protecting his mother, Sudhir registered her as a volunteer for the Phase 3 trial of the Pfizer mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, giving Prem the opportunity to receive vaccination at a time when vaccines were not yet broadly available to the public.

After the trial was unblinded and it was confirmed that she had received an active vaccine rather than a placebo, Prem returned to India in February 2021, bringing to a close one of the longest and most memorable stays of her life in the United States.

In June 2023, Sudhir and his wife welcomed a son. With the baby still only a few months old, international travel to India was not practical, so Prem decided to make what would become her final trip to the United States. She spent three months with her newborn grandson, enjoying the opportunity to hold him, care for him, and become part of his earliest memories.

After returning to India in February 2024, Prem’s health gradually became more fragile. She had already been living with chronic asthma and spinal stenosis and was by then also managing Stage 3 chronic kidney disease, along with occasional swelling in her feet. Despite these challenges, she remained fiercely independent and was determined to continue living in her own home in Ghaziabad. She filled her days with painting, music, television, and evening walks with the help of her rollator walker.

In March 2025, Sudhir returned to Ghaziabad with his wife and young son before beginning a new job. It was her grandson’s first visit to India and a moment of tremendous joy and pride for Prem. The family spent a week together in Sanjay Nagar, visiting relatives, going to shopping malls, and, most importantly, simply enjoying time together around the little boy. None of them knew then that it would be their final time together in person.

In September 2025, Prem was hospitalized with a viral respiratory infection that affected her lungs. She recovered from the initial infection within a week. However, her hospitalization unnecessarily continued, and she subsequently developed sepsis. Her already fragile body was unable to withstand the resulting septic shock, and she passed away on September 15, 2025.

Prem left behind far more than memories. Her legacy lives on through the hundreds of children she taught, the paintings she created, the family she nurtured, and the lives she touched along the way. Above all, she left her children and grandchildren a lasting example of compassion, perseverance, independence, creativity, and love—values that will continue to be carried forward by the generations that follow her.