Wednesday, January 19, 2011

A great soul departs!

Fate has made its final assault on physical life of a great soul.

Grim reality of the moment for me is, Maruammavan is no more. My mind is turning numb, recalling concluding lines from Veena Poovu, a classic (which I remember as one of his favorites) from Kumaran Asan:

Kanne Madanguka Karinjumalinjum Aasu
Mannaakumee Malaru Vismruthamaakumippol
Enneedukaarukum Ithu Thaan Gati Saadhaymentu
Kanneerinaal Avanivazhvu Kinaavu, Kashtam

It roughly translate to mean:
Turn way, oh eyes, This flower will decay and desolve into oblivion now
Alas! Know it's everyone's fate, Tears don't help, Worldly life is hard

My memories are taking me years back into a cold winter morning of 19th December 1984! My train was fast approaching Delhi, and I was on way to join for duty for the first time.

Yes, almost as I had completed my studies, I landed on a prestigious job with Government of India. I was filled with the loneliness of going away my home for the first time ever, of the excitement of starting a new independent life and of anxiety of being transplanted into the heart of India from my remote hometown deep south of India.

My parents, in their concern about my safety in the wilderness of a faceless city, made a few arrangements for my pick up, and one of them was Maruvammaavan, a distant paternal relation, whom I had never met till then.

Of all, I could find only Maruvammavan in Delhi railway station, extending a warm welcome in his characteristic style. Thus started a relation that I cherish all along.

Curious as I am, I asked him once as to why did he take the trouble of coming to the railway station in the cold winter night to pick me up, though he does not know me.

He said, "I do not know you, but I know your father, though I have not met him for years now, since school days", exposing the sweetness of affection in his heart which he skillfully hides in his routine nonchallant demeanour. I found these pointing to deeper values of Indian culture (or, should I rather say human values) that are rare to find in the dog-eating-dog modern world

Association with him, though a short one, was so profound for me personally that it transformed thoroughly into a different person. He challenged me to challenge every unchallenged beliefs, dogmas and systems. It helped me break out of my social conditioning and live life the way I like, not the way others in the society expects me to live

Knowing values that he stood for, knowing what he has been going through, I do not want to shed tears as he departs.

My best memories about him are with his family, a family which bustled with vibrant life and radiated high positive energy. I saw him withstand a tough fate, with ammayi's departure in late 1980s. I saw his smile years later. But, I suspect life, deep within, was never the same since then.

As the inevitable fate catches up his great soul, I pray to the almighty that his soul may join Ammayi and rest in peace in the heavens above.