Sunday, 14 April 2019

PARADOX OF EXPECTATIONS: A TAMIL NEW YEAR STORY



The first day of the Tamil Year is about to end in 30 minutes. The Bengali's call it Pohela Boisakh and the Singhalese call the day Nava Vasarakh , New Year in any other name brings the same meaning which is wrought with hope of the mortal world.

Tamilians all over the world would have started the day with prayer and followed by Thanksgiving meals. But one thing that would be common is the aspirations for a better year ahead, with lots of prosperity, health and wealth included. 

When many were celebrating today, my dear friend was grieving for the passing away of his Mum. Aunty was a Grand Lady, leading the fullest life seeing through her great grandchildren too. A very unassuming soft spoken lady, was definitely a great loss not only to my friend and his family but also to people who know this gentle person. Many who came for her wake reminisced their own story about her and how she had touched their lives. 

Soon this grief would wean, life would go on, and to many Aunty would be just a distant memory, and everyone would be back on their mortal pursuits with hope and many with accompanied action. 

Death does bring reflection of our own existence,  but the problem is the staying power of this reflection seem weak. Hence in many, the reflection does not translate into lifelong righteousness, instead the obsession towards sublunary pursuits by the beleaguered mind tends to be overwhelming. 

Every beginning has an end, life and death are the only certainty, everything else that happens in between is purely incidental. But the ability to convert this incidentality  into a meaningful chapter would be entirely on the hands of the beholder. To live resolutely with utmost tenacity may seem incomprehensible but with the right awareness, and it's corresponding attitude thereafter should make it possible.

A NEW YEAR is the time to reflect, contemplate, and celebrate the life and time we have led with all the people that have touched our lives, and reciprocally to look ahead to bring forth the same significance in other people’s life in front of us.

To Aunty Mary I dedicate this poem to you:

Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.

 I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glint on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you wake in the morning hush,
I am the swift, uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circling flight.
I am the soft starlight at night.

Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there, I do not sleep.
(Do not stand at my grave and cry.
I am not there, I did not die!)

by Mary Frye

To my Dear Friend, I share your loss. 

Ravi Varmman
0111am
15042019
Subang Jaya.

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