DEATH | RELATIONSHIPS | DESTINY
The Agony of Letting Go
The process of clearing the clutter
In our lifelong rush for acquisitions of all kinds, we have forgotten how to let go. We do not want to go back to a space or a time, when these ‘props’ were not a part of our lives.
Out of all the props in our lives, the most difficult to let go, are the people in our lives, and what they mean to us. We seek affirmation of our very existence in some of these people.
It hit me again, when I was back in my childhood home, in Kerala, after my father passed, last Christmas Eve.
The funeral
On the 16th day after a ‘body’ is cremated, there is a rite in which the ashes are floated into a running body of water. On the 16th day after my father passing, my brother, my sister and I stood together on the banks of the mighty Periyar river, and bent down, with prayers on our lips, and tears in our eyes, consigning my father’s soul to eternal rest.
My nephews and spouses, my sister in law and her brother, two of my cousins and their wives stood behind us, in respectful silence. We turned back to them, tried to smile, failed, and they held us while we tried to control our emotions.
