Today it is me...and tomorrow you...

Death affects you, how much ever you try to remain stoic. It forces you to look more deeply to this life that we live, knowing well that this life and so also these feelings about death are only fleeting.

There has been three very important men in my life; my Father, my FIL (Achayan) and my Hubby and one of them has left this earthly abode. It is from them that I have learned to understand, love and respect the men folk.

Our Achayan passed away in his sleep early morning of 17th of February. Hubby was with him in the palliative care centre until 10:30 PM, the previous night. It was my MIL along with the home nurse who was staying the night. Soon after coming home, Hubby called me and shared the day’s events. But he also started crying while seated on his Father’s favourite easy chair. He said he imagined Achayan walking through the gate. Coincidently, it was at the same time that Achayan breathed his last in the hospital. Being the youngest, he was much attached to his Father and his death has affected him a lot. I consoled him and asked him to get some sleep. We were still up here in Kuwait and the next call at 11:30 PM or so sounded ominous and I knew in my heart that the news was going to be bad. It was my Hubby calling to inform that Achayan had passed away at 1:05 AM and that he was proceeding to the hospital. A few days back, one of his relations asked Hubby if there were any birthdays or such other occasion in the family. Upon enquiring why, he said that recently he has been seeing deaths happen on these occasions and he asked Hubby to be prepared. And true to his prediction, Achayan died on our wedding anniversary. Call it a quirk of fate or a loving Father’s good bye to those who loved him a lot. The funeral was held on 20th and me and kids were able to attend it. It was a blessed occasion and all whom Achayan cared for, were there to bid him good bye.

It would be our desire to have our loved ones beside us as many years as possible but I guess God has His own plans and we can do nothing but accept it. But we are thankful that Achayan was spared from pain and discomfort, and the days that he lived on this earth, he lived it in his own terms.

God of the faithful and the faithless

First of all let me wish every Indian a very Happy Republic Day. Let me also echo/copy the sentiments of a friend.

Wishing all my friends greetings on the occasion of the Republic Day of a prosperous, compassionate, developing India with an active judiciary, neat governance and a vibrant democracy to lead the world into the new times of change and growth accessing technology and advances in Science for the benefit of mankind, flora and fauna all over.

I shall soon be boarding the plane to let our children have some time with their grandfather (Hubby’s father) who may soon bid adieu to this world. Later, they would need to get back to their studies and their world full of promises and so also heartaches. They loved their grandfather like every other grandchild and I am not sure how they shall deal with such inevitabilites of this life. As for me, let me gather my strength and hold onto to my own faith in the Almighty. One needs it all the more at times like this.

The following is an email forward from my blogger friend and many may have read it. It is just another bid to try and convince a few who hold on to their faithlessness.

GOD
A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed. As the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation. They talked about so many things and various subjects.
When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said: "I don't believe that God exists."
"Why do you say that?" asked the customer.
"Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn't exist. Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children? If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. I can't imagine a loving a God who would allow all of these things."
The customer thought for a moment, but didn't respond because he didn't want to start an argument. The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop. Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard. He looked dirty and un-kept.
The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again and he said to the barber: "You know what? Barbers do not exist."
"How can you say that?" asked the surprised barber. "I am here, and I am a barber. And I just worked o n you!"

"No!" the customer exclaimed. "Barbers don't exist because if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside."
"Ah, but barbers DO exist! What happens is, people do not come to me."
Exactly, affirmed the customer. "That's the point! God, too, DOES exist! What happens, is, people don't go to Him and do not look for Him. That's why there's so much pain and suffering in the world."