Chapter 18: Death, and some Inevitable Things !

"Death is more universal than life; everyone dies but not everyone lives."
- A. Sachs -



My Grand mother passed away!
It's been two days since she started an other journey to an unknown destination. She was ninety nine (1912-2011). Whenever I think about it, I couldn't help but awe. What a magnificent journey ??!!



She lived through three different generations. She would've witnessed the slow but steady invasion of British rule in India. She would've witnessed the long and tiresome freedom movement which involved non-violence, riots, violence and bloodshed. She would've witnessed the unforgettable night of our independence. She, then lived through the change which the world witnessed after independence. Right from the invention of the electronic televisions in 1920's to the latest 'i-pod touch'.
Not an ordinary journey at all ...
Few years back, she was telling me a story about Subramanya Bharathi (One of the ideal and inspiring freedom fighters).
I asked her "Have you seen him?"
She replied "Yeah, But I vaguely remember him. I was too young"
"What about Mahatma Gandhi?" I asked again.
"Yeah, Lot of times! He was always on some trip, protesting something!"
Having written this conversation, I've to include our recent conversation.
Last month I was chatting with someone on Facebook. She slowly came towards me.
"What's this?" she was pointing towards the Facebook screen.
I explained everything about Facebook, about how it works and it's uses. She was so interested to hear about FB. At the end she said "Atlast, the world shrunk to a minimum possible extent!"

ME, MY SISTER, MY GRANDMA ...



She loved me and my sister very much. I always thought that we are her favorite grandchildren. She was so active until the very last day. She told me that she would start her final journey only after my marriage. But I didn't expect that she would leave us the very next day. My dad was so normal when he did all the final duties. He was alright during the funeral. When that day came to an end, everyone who came to the funeral were leaving. After sending off the last family, I went in. My sister was crying out loud, my mom was sobbing and my dad remained silent. After a minute of silence, mom and sister talked about her. Slowly, my dad broke his limits off. He started crying like a small child. We consoled him and started talking about the good things about her. Later, the same silence prevailed again. I felt something unusual. Something strange ... I then, realized something, a part of my family was lost. I couldn't hear her voice yelling out my name. I couldn't hear her slow approaching footsteps, I couldn't see her smile. It's true! A part of my family was gone, forever!


I don't know about her whereabouts. She might be present in this room now, She might be guiding me through this post or she might be sitting behind me with the same gracious smile. I don't know anything about those super natural things. But I do know something. She loved us and if possible she would love us forever :)