Sunday, September 21, 2008

The Month for the Departed

I was walking on the road when I saw this car that made me go ‘Wow! This car is amazing’. What style, what grace. I aint so good with cars and their models so I waited till it passed me so as to see its back where the name was mentioned. Gosh! It was Hyundai Verna.

That’s the car which killed my grand parents.

Isn’t it so convenient to blame what happened on an inanimate object as a car? But why to blame in the first place? Isnt it said that we all deserve what we get? The so-called Karma. Is it really true that a counter is kept to count the right things and count the wrong things and be punished for the wrong things?

At the time of funeral, so many nice things were said about my grandmother, as to how she used to donate sacks of rice to so many people without telling anyone. And few can beat her devotion to the Lord of the Seven Hills. And yet such a gruesome death she faced with that sharp-edged rod having pierced her forehead and her blood having gushed out of the mouth onto the Tirumala-Srikalahasthi highway.

Why do I keep thinking of death? Why do I keep thinking about my grandparents? Why do I keep blogging about them even after 1.5 years? So much so that my first conversation and even my first chat with my wife involved this topic. Is it because it was the first time Death was so near me, just 3 generations away? Or is it because they meant a lot to me? The more you hear of Deaths, the more it is near you. All my grandmother’s sisters had passed away, and most of her friends. When that happens, I am sure, you would be feeling ‘I am next.’ So much so that you are anxious to get over it instead of suffering common man’s life’s miseries which comes with old age. You crave for it.

Couple of my batch mates have succumbed to natural death already. Its really sad to die at an age of twenties when you are supposed to enjoy the most and live life to the fullest. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that my turn is nearing too as my aged folks are dying already but it really makes one think that one moment you are there and another you are gone. Pooof!! And that’s it. Death is nothing but absence of life. I am reminded of Lynds* every time I think about Death.

This month for Hindus is a month in which all the departed souls – not just the near and dear ones - are honoured by offering rice. Invitation to 3 such Rice-Offering ceremonies in consecutive weekends for me.

No wonder I am thinking so much…

*Lynds: Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, champagne in one hand, strawberries in the other, body all worn and used, screaming “Whoo hooo!! What a ride!"

1 comment:

Unknown said...

As strange as it may seem, if you have seen death approach, looked on as someone has tried to take their life and stand powerless as a loved one slips into oblivion you shy away from life.. As though it sickens you..