All lives end. We grow up knowing this. We all know that we all die one day. But still the dying itself....even a thought of it, makes chill run down your spine, or makes your heart turn cold. The dull ache you feel, the creeping uneasiness that surge in your heart with the mention of death...what is it? The fear of unknown - as many tell you it is? Or the fear of losing what you have? Until death, love makes life enjoyable. Love is the only hope that drives us. Love makes even death palatable at times.
The power that we have, that we call memory, is a strange thing. We live with it....we might die if our memory is taken away from us...on purpose or inadvertently sometimes. Suku Maya aunty passed away last week. I have ten years of memories about her. I have known her in her good days, I have known her in her bad days. I am meaning to cherish her memories. I am wanting to keep her memories and make it outlast my life.
Love, memories, happiness; and then there comes death to take everything away from us; leaving a big void in our heart, that takes another century to fill with love. Another process of living, another process of building, and then again...a cruel blow of fate one day, might shatter it into pieces, which you don't even know, at times, where is it coming from, until it hits you hard and throws you reeling on the floor...this probably is what we call life...the endless process of love, death, and amending...
Suku Maya aunty died last week, leaving behind her fond memories in our heart. The thousand things that we did together, the thousand things we said to each other, the thousand things we expected from each other, that make up memories, that she left behind for us to cherish....life is just memories, I guess. Memories bundled up together, memories put together to make up history.
Suku Maya aunty was a prominent figure in our Tamang Society in New York. A soft spoken person, always smiling, always willing to help others, always willing to bless you. My last memory with her, which I am not going to let go ever, is her blessing she bestowed upon me, just the day before she left for India, where she passed away in a hospital. Suku Maya aunty was terminally ill.
I heard, after she died and when her body was being taken to her home from the hospital, as luck would have it, she came across a procession of Holy Lamas...who blessed her soul in the process. Is it a mere coincidence or the fate's hand that was at work I don't know, but Suku Maya aunty who always wanted to bless others got her much needed Holy blessings from the hands of Holy Lama's while she was in the procession of death...on her journey to the unknown. May her soul rest in peace. May love prevail her soul.
"...a procession of Holy Lamas..."
ReplyDeleteThat was really something.