Singing Bollywood In The Sunroom: A Daughter Remembers Her Dad As He Was Before COVID

Salman Wasti and his daughter Noreen Wasti, pictured at Noreen’s wedding in Bristol, Rhode Island, in Sept. 2013. (Courtesy)

Editors’ note: Salman Wasti was an immigrant. A professor. A cook. A collector of things. A lover of plants. A homebody.

Born in Lahore, Pakistan in 1944, Wasti grew up in Karachi. In his early 20s, he earned a full scholarship to the University of Hawaii. Eventually, he settled in New England, after accepting a job as a professor of biology at Rhode Island College. He worked there for 37 years.

Wasti’s signature look was his bald head (he thought it made him look like Ben Kingsley). His home was full of books and the tropical plants he collected and worked to propagate in his sunroom. He could do the New York Times crossword puzzle faster than most.

Nina was his wife of nearly 40 years. Nadia and Noreen were his two daughters. He instilled in them an appreciation of Pakistan, which he called his “ancestral home,” and its rich, complex food — biryani, haleem, nihari.

Salman died on December 27, 2020, after a month-long battle with COVID-19 in the hospital. He was 76-years-old, healthy and eagerly awaiting his coronavirus vaccine. (He was just weeks away from eligibility when he passed.)

Nearly 500,000 Americans have died during the coronavirus pandemic. The number is so large, it’s hard to fathom — instead we’re focusing on just one life.

Read the rest of the story at WBUR’s website.