Obituaries

This post is dedicated all those with whom, I've interacted at some point or other but are now no more. I have been very close to some, I have been lucky to have seen and interacted with some, I have spent my formative years with some and I've played and/or studied with some.

The first dedication has to go to this wonderful lady. She's right in the middle of the picture, holding my little baby sister, while I'm grinning away to glory, sitting just next to her. My Great Grand Mother. Not many can boast about having seen and lived with their great grand mother. Apparently, my dad made a promise to my grand-dad (on his death bed) that he will take care of his (grand-dad's mother) - a last wish which my dad fulfilled completely. All throughout my great-grand-mom lived with us. When I was young, she used to narrate stories from "Ambuli-mama". It was the Tamil equivalent of Chandamama. My mom tells me that...This one day she (my great-grand-mom) was tired and didnt narrate me a story and I got so pissed at her that I hit her on her head with a stick. Poor great-grand-mom nursed a swelling for a couple of days. My dad used to tell me, she loved watching TV. Those days we had a B/W TV by a brand named Standard. She loved watching Shammi Kapoor movies and named him "naakku-poochi" (earthworm in Tamil) for he used to wriggle a lot when dancing. Hahaha...cute sense of humor! We took her to Juhu beach and she walked with us along the beach clinging onto my dad's hand. She died in 1986 at the grand old age of 92. May she rest in peace.

My next dedication goes to this lady with whom I was extremely-extremely close. My grand-mother. When I was young (about 2 years old), I used to accompany my granny for grocery shopping. Thats the earliest memory I have and I can still remember waiting outside our house in Matunga, playing under a Jamul tree, waiting for granny to come out. During my 1st-2nd-3rd standard, we used to get copy-writing books and were asked to write atleast 5 pages daily to improve our handwriting. I was too lazy and my granny (a convent educated lady) used to complete the homework, by holding my hand and writing. My granny used to adore me like anything. I accompanied her on many of her "tirth yatras". I went along with her to visit Pandharpur. After my 10th, I accompanied her on a month long trip to all the famous temples of TamilNadu. She is the first lady (the second being my sister) in our family to have gone out of the country. Sometime during the late 80s or early 90s, my youngest uncle (her youngest son) took her to visit Bahrain and Singapore. When I was young, I used to fight and argue with my cousins to take her from their house to bring her to our house and also vice-versa. The last time I met her, she was tremendously ill, bed-ridden and seeing my long hair, she commented - "Yenna ponnu maadri thalamudi valathundirukkai" (What, you've grown hair like a girl). Although I laughed out loud at that, I was crying from the inside seeing her in such a terrible state. She had undergone a hip replacement surgery and developed some post operational complications which resulted in short term memory loss. Slowly her health started fading and finally she left us on April 17th 2007. It is my greatest regret that I could not be with her at the time of her demise. May god give her soul peace.

I'll start of my next remembrance with the following sanskrit verse.

Nana Dharma Nigooda Tatva Nichita
Yat Sankskriti Rajate
Seyam Bharatabhoornitanta Ruchira
Mataiva Naha Sarvada
Tasya Unnati Hetavehi bhavataam
Gyanam tatha may balam
Sampanna balashalini Vijayatam
Me Matrubhuhu sarvada.

This was one of the most complicated sanskrit verses that I had ever learnt and known during my 3 years of learning Sanskrit in school. This was the 10th standard and it was the sanskrit oral exams. We had to byheart all the poems from the whole textbook and the teacher would ask us to recite any verse and explain the meaning. I distinctly remember I was asked to recite the above verses by our sanskrit teacher. She was one of the senior-most and most respected of all the teachers. She had an excellent command of sanskrit and spoke impeccable english too. Her knack of explaining the complex sanskrit grammar and simplifying the english translation was very unique. She used to encourage me a lot and I owe a lot to her. In 2003, I was in Germany and this one-day I read in the online version of the Times of India about a series of shocking deaths involving Indians in the US. I was a bit saddened. Some days later when I was talking to mom, she suddenly mentioned that teacher Pushpa Ramanathan and her family met with an accident in CA and she's no more. I was dumbfounded. I immediately looked up the article in Times Of India and re-read it. The article had mis-spellt her name. The demise of the family was a huge shock to my dad too. Thats because, Pushpa-teacher's husband and my dad used to work for the same company and they were very good friends. The only survivor in the car crash was Pushpa teacher's grand daughter. Mom told me that Pushpa teacher's daughter who is also in the States is now taking care of her. With a great deal of effort and thanks to Google, I was able to search the news snippets and I found two. One from The Union Democrat and the other, exact same article I had read some 4 years back from the online edition of The Times of India. Aum Shanti...Shanti...Shanti.

Sometimes I do think what it would feel to be dead! I mean would I still feel my body, feel pain, feel happiness, feel sorrow, feel drunk, feel vibrant, feel ecstatic?? Will it be a dark, cold, chasm where time stands still or will it feel like a free fall into a pit thats bottomless or will it be like entering into a star so bright that the light can be "seen" with eyes shut. I fear what would be the experience of death. I fear death. Yes I do. May god give peace to all dead people. AMEN!

P.S: I also wanted to post about my childhood friend Sameer Rane and my College mate Shrikant Pawar who died rather young (before they even reached 25), but I dont have much to say about them since they weren't very close to me. Nonetheless, I still pray for them and their families. God bless them. God bless all.