Bring out the flowers, Save the memories…..

The evening was cool, serene and the starlit clear skies meant I could gaze and click to my heart’s content. Choco tried as usual to find the direction of the wind and dig up the hidden treasure in the mattress before settling down to sleep. I wonder if the pooch was a part of a team that was perpetually on treasure hunts trying to discover hidden treasures buried by fleeing pirates and buccaneers on desert island beaches (doesn’t that word sound a lot more respectable?), Or maybe a diviner or maybe a salvage team member that goes looking for sunken Galleons full of skeletons (still in their uniform that’s miraculously intact after so many centuries of being underwater in the pond) with black eye patches and hats and chest of now rotting wood and are now spouting doubloons of gold, or maybe just a member of the Income Tax department looking for concealed income in his past avatars.. His proboscis is always hyperactive and scanning the surroundings for anything suspicious (which may well be only a slab of ice cream). I woke up at 530, and took Choco for an early morning run. That done we came back for the first cup of tea when my mobile rang. I saw a classmate’s name. A wonderful ObGyn who practices in Mumbai. I started with cheerful pleasantries but her voice was full of gravitas and she sounded sombre. When she told me “***** is no more“, it was bone chilling and in an instant I was turned to stone. Just Couldn’t believe what I’d heard. I had spoken to the person Surekha was referring to a couple of weeks ago and was happy that she was making some progress. In fact there was to be a reunion between Surekha and her two best buddies tonight over dinner.

Fate is extremely cruel and Thanatos very efficient and silent. For those who may not know, Thanatos, in ancient Greek religion and mythology is the personification of death. Thanatos is the son of Nyx, the goddess of night, and the brother of Hypnos, the god of sleep. He appeared to humans to carry them off to the underworld when the time allotted to them by the Fates had expired.

I had last met this wonderful soul during our last class reunion in Lonavala a few years ago. We had stayed in touch with one other through the years and I was aware of what was happening to this wonderful lady. Despite a tragic accident that took away her spouse, she brought up her two kids well and both are doing very well for themselves. I remember attending her daughter’s wedding, one evening in Tip Top Plaza, Thane and then driving back to Pune. That touched a chord and she would call me occasionally for long chats. A recent setback seemed to dent her fighting spirit a great deal. Both Surekha and Geeta rallied around, supporting her as both were geographically closer. I could only counsel her telephonically. Just as she finally looked like turning the corner, the bolt from the blue arrived.

I was reminded of our last reunion and everyone turning the clock back by decades. I was reminded of this song from the superhit Anari (why was it not spelt Anadi as it ought to have been?). With Raj Kapoor and Nutan and yet another counterfeit medicines plot, and a ooh-to-die-for musical score by Shankar Jaikishan, the song is led by a piano intro with Nutan doing the honours clearly trained to handle it and with a certain degree of aplomb. https://youtu.be/URfoTtyxOdU

Shocking, just not done, dear lady, let’s have a reunion a few years later after I’ve practiced having lesser left feet so I can give a better account of my dancing (s)kills than the last time. Just a request to you for that reunion. https://youtu.be/5ll8cKiudDA

Fare well, dear lady, you’re finally free of the pain, misery and fear of dependence.

Take care and start organizing the reunion to be held in a few decades’ time..

नैनं छिन्दन्ति शस्त्राणि नैनं दहति पावकः।

न चैनं क्लेदयन्त्यापो न शोषयति मारुतः।। ।।श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता २.२३।।

Au revoir.

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