A boy from our neighborhood met with untimely death today. He drowned in a lake while he was on a trip with his friends to one of these getaway lakes on the outskirts of Bangalore. I have been upset all afternoon wondering how swiftly a life was lost in the fateful hands of time. Life will never be the same for his parents. What words can one say to console them? This is not the first time I have heard of a life lost by drowning. In most of the cases, drowning victims know how to swim but they either swim too far, suffer a cramp or hit a unseen boulder when they dive. This boy also knew swimming. On our trip to Badrinath many years back, my maternal grandmother slipped and fell into the Ganges. Her weak legs gave away to the strong currents of Ganga and was pulled into the water. I was standing next to her and immediately caught hold of the pallu while the swift currents pushed her away from me. A few other travelers who were close by helped and we got her back to the banks. In a matter of five minutes, she had breathed in water and was breathless for a while. Rivers are generous but ruthless when they take away life. I remember a story where in a sage blesses a family thus, Let things happen in order None around him understood the meaning of the blessing and ask him for an explanation. The sage tells them that as long as parents pass away in front of their childrens eyes, life is in harmony. That is the expected norm of life. When it is broken, when children pass away while parents are alive, the equilibrium in life is lost. It is sorrowful for parents to suffer the loss of a child, born from them, their blood, turn to ashes, before they do. - Subhashini Vinay
Posted on: Sat, 29 Mar 2014 18:42:00 +0000