1.3.08- Saturday
Tiruvilwamala.


The Divine banks of Bharathapuzha!

She lies on the bare floor. Her sparse hair flutters in the gentle breeze. Her eyes are closed and her lips are drawn tight. Her facial expression is one of profound absorption. “Please do not disturb me,” she seems to suggest. A full-length plantain leaf falls over her, and she patiently lies underneath accepting the final rites. “First a lock of hair please,” handing over a pen-knife knife to her son, the priest instructs….With a shivering hand the son obliges…..

Soon she finds herself shifted on to the funeral pyre. Within no time, it starts crackling, and the hungry flames leap up. Soon they subside and die away. Burning embers and hot ashes are what she is now!

“Where are you Chittassi now?” I ask nobody.

Her mocking laughter now rings in my ears. I know the reason.

When we were at Ammath, that day she had asked me,

“Chandran, I understand that you read a lot. Tell me, have you ever set your eyes on the epic Bhagavtha? All your queries stand answered in that book. You should make it a practice to read it daily.”

I regret, I haven’t read it! Precisely hence, my question remains unanswered.

I retreat with a guilty conscience.

As I dip myself in the noble waters of Bharathapuzha, it strikes me that when the rain sets, all the ashes would find their way into swirling river. Soon they will travel down into the infinite depths of the Arabian ocean and then into the vast expanse of the seven seas.

A lump rises up my throat! Let me stop.



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