Wait unto Death ( Part-9)

October 10, 2020

Continued from (Part-8)

After the vacation were over, grandson left for the city under great compulsions leaving behind the grandfather in an ocean of agony. It was a pleasant day after many days of continuous snowfall. The whole village was shining in bright sunlight the way Big Father shone for few days during the company of his grandson. But again beautiful time could not lasted long. To the village evening came with dark clouds and for the Big Father, grandson left him once again. Both the village and Big Father were in a gloomy mood. Big Father stood up from his wooden arm chair, it appeared that his old eyes wanted the eternal rest now. At this juncture of life, after passing through the numerous phases of life, he had only one wish in his heart, he wanted to see whole of his scattered family with him once again in his empty big house. He also knew that all his sons had settled down at different places, so assembling them at one place was quite impossible.

Slowly walking towards his bed in the freezing evening and laying down, the Big Father was lost in the world of silence gazing at the four walls of the room. Whole night he explored possibilities of reunion of his family, but he found nothing. Only one way which seemed possible to him was his death. He was sure the on the occasion of his death all his sons and their families would surely come to him, but unfortunately at that moment he couldn’t be able to see them. In the mean time the chirp of birds nesting upon his window broke his silence. It reminded him of many generations of these birds which nested and flew away leaving the nest empty like his home. With this thought he had his bath as usual and went to the temple for morning prayers.

During the day he did not sat in his arm chair for basking in the sun but walked around the village looking and touching every plant and tree. After a long time he also met few of his old friends in the village. He also went to see the nearby frozen ponds where he swam with his grandson in past. He was perhaps doing all the unusual things which he never did before. Reaching home he directly went to his bed, he found his heart very heavy, oceans uncontrollably rolling down the eyes, pulse raised, body sweating, vision blur, deafness in ears. It was a clear signal for the learned Big Father that the time has come to say goodbye to this world and meet his waiting beloved wife in heaven. He suddenly felt guilty for leaving her all alone from last so many years. Now he couldn’t waste the time anymore, he had to go fast. Yes his wife was calling him, he could hear her loud calls clearly, she was waiting for him since years, faltering and stumbling he laid straight on his bed and closed his eyes. After that he could never opened his eyes again. His last wish remained unfulfilled forever. His whole family couldn’t assembled fully even on his death and their after. His favourite grandson could not even attended his last rites which he still regrets after decades.

Death is the ultimate truth, it is the true love who will embrace us one day and give us eternal peace for which we looked around whole life. All the struggles, pains , sorrows, joy, relations are temporary. We are on this planet for a fixed time. Whatever we earn and acquire remains here is temporary. Big Father acquired a lot in his life, his much cherished big house, big farms, big family everything lost its charm. At last he had to leave everything here and leave for his onward journey.

What remains in this world are our doings. Marks of Big Father can still be seen in his village. The mountains of Himalaya still Echos with the tales of his honesty, dedication and love for fellow villagers.

Was that end of an era or start of a journey?

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