Goodbyes like these

9:02 AM

Bangalore airport

Two people, post typing their out-of-office automated replies, sit looking at the crowds passing by.

Bangalore airport doesn't seem empty. Neither at this hour, nor when we had reached around 2 hours earlier. 

Brother called to enquire why may have his most trusted G-Pay given up. G-Pay seemed to have reached its limit when they tried settling some hospital bills...just like the life that had decided it had reached its limit some 3 hours earlier. Try debit card then, said the husband. 

Strange, isn't it? The person who peeped into the phone screen over a video call to ask how our recent trip had been, while sitting on a sofa now rests in a mortuary, waiting for those people to bypass the screen and reach her, one last time. Guess the very last time... There is no alternative here, like in the case of G-Pay.

Ammamma, ini ormakal maathram. 

From school, straight into the house. The walk gains momentum as soon as she enters the house. The new, gleaming white fridge shines even brighter in her eyes. Eggs smile at her when she opens the huge door.

Her tiny hands found it difficult to hold it but her dose of egg awaits. 

"But that is a raw one," calls out the lady from behind.

"What is she up to?" Another manly voice from behind.

Words didn't matter because her stomach's sounds were louder.

"Twack." Egg shells lay in a pool of translucent yellow liquid, now shattered and only reminding one of its lost glory.

Lesson learnt. Eggs are not white inside when you break them on the floor directly. There are processes involved before they  reach your plate and then your tummy.

30 years later, if I venture into the musty home that once housed the life of a family, before a death and decay, I can be rest assured that my stamp collection would still smile brightly from the scrapbook we created, albeit their yellow ears.

My milk teeth would all be there in a corner, safe inside a neon green jeerakamittai dabba.

It's a museum of sorts... A museum that has the power to transform one into another era, hidden in some corner of the heart-- left untouched in between the hustle-bustle of life. 

Into that corner of the heart, here's another chapter added.

10:53 PM

Mumbai

The flames might have consumed all that was 'her' for us. Before they lit the fire, the tied hands were freed and so were the feet -- as if to say this was the chance to have the life of your dreams. There are no illnesses, no fears stopping you.

And then the person who I knew in flesh and blood now lay on a wooden bed -- so easily perishable, just like life.

The house now has a strange feeling. The cousins are all together... Around 10 people in the house and each battling their tears, silently. Some have fallen asleep post the sunset that put to sleep a life of over 73 years with its bright amber shade.

And some, they wait in the silence... Hoping for a sign that perhaps all is not over. Not yet. But in the wink of an eye, it may.

When SRK said Kal Ho Naa ho, perhaps no one felt it deeper than me. But the imprint of today... Forever shall it last.

To all the people who extended their warmth to our family, cheers! Cheers for celebrating with us the life that we knew.

Signing off tonight with a sigh.

Divya

17 July 2023