On the other side

The people he expected to cry were not making him sad but it were the unexpected wet eyes which were making him feel so good. ‘At least give that ego a rest now’, the inner voice was still very much alive.

He was grateful to all of them for not making hoopla.

“We can't do anything for you. Divine Will can't be changed. Eyes shed tears, and heart is sad and grieved for death. However, will not say anything which may invite the wrath of Allah. If there had not been the true and certain promise of Allah that we too shall come after you.”

Exactly what he had wished for; and he also wanted all those people to get on with their lives as soon as possible. He always admired the English for how gracefully they put up with deaths. It must be a cultural effect because it is hard to believe that they feel any less pain.

We always fuss about the unpredictability of life whenever encountered by the news of a sudden death but hardly anyone prepares for it. At 22, who could have thought it was his time to leave. Nature, as they say, is too cruel to give heralds. There were no regrets but there was certainly anger. Sheer frustration on being unable to find what the heck the whole exercise was about. All the things loved and held closed had lost their worth. Every single bit around which the life revolved had been rendered useless. Jumping from one temptation to another, he knew now that all that fretting was over nothing. He fought battles which could not be won, cherished the perishable and had nothing which could have been brought here.

We are a stubborn lot. We learn only from our mistakes and death is one mistake which we don’t have the luxury to make twice. Chance to make corrections is never there. He remembered that peer who spent forty nights in an open grave; the reason behind that ritual is something which dawned upon him as they lowered him down. The stone slabs were placed over, eclipsing any form of light. Even hope, the obstinate one was shunned from there.

‘Life could be so different from this perspective’, he thought. Compared to this pitch darkness; highest of obstacles and bumpiest of roads are nothing. Eternal meaning is found in places where we never bother to look or lies on paths we seldom tread.

Happy New Year