Celebrating a lifetime - The Art of Grieving

Thirteen days ago a dear friend of mine lost her father. She had sent out text messages informing her family and friends of his demise.

I chose to call a few days later to speak with her and convey my condolement and my advice, something I learnt years ago from another friend - Do not dwell in his death, instead celebrate his life time. She said that she and her family were just doing that.

She had sent out text inviting people to attend a morning meeting today. It was the thirteenth day after his demise. It was not the usual prayer meeting. Nor was the text a usual terse message. They were calling to invite people to share and celebrate his life.

The family had spent the last thirteen days collecting memorabilia from her father's lifetime - pictures, sketches, telegrams, letters , his art kit and many more. They reached out to his friends and colleagues, many long lost, in India and abroad and stitched together video and audio bytes of their connect with her father.

The memorabilia were laid out and displayed as if an artist was displaying his life time , but this time not in person. The projector beamed loving memories of the people he had connected in his lifetime.

This truly is The Art of Grieving.

Comments

Trendy Windshields

Wonder when these will make their appearance on the Indian market? Nine out of ten scooters and motorcycles in Europe have windshields. It seems like a style statement and also practical.

Rookie Sailors at Lake Travis, Austin,TX

Within hours of touchdown at Austin,TX and a couple of Mexican Martini's down we headed straight to meet our sailing boat enthusiast and skipper - Kevin at the Lake Travis boating pier. Thank God there are no drinking and sailing laws - or at least we do not know about them or rather paid little heed. The weather was just right for sailing- gentle to strong breeze blowing and a benevolent sun casting it's radiant energy on this lovely Saturday afternoon. Kevin was the skipper for the evening with Poonam as his experienced and able sailing mate. Kim filled in with her half baked sailing expertise and Sarika and me being the rookie sailors for the evening.

Airport Chaos

The airline industry in India is booming. Cannot even remember the names of the airlines and one is spoilt for choices when you are travelling say between Bombay and Delhi or Bombay to Goa.But the accompanying infrastructure required is pathetic.The airports do not have enough toilets, we will talk about cleanliness later, nor do they have adequate seating nor signage.For many sectors the flying time is probably shorter than the time required to check-in and clear security. With the advent of the low cost carriers , Europe reinvented and remodelled all it's IInd world war airstips and converted them in to efficient alternatives compared to the mammoth monstrosities of the modern day airports we use. India too has numerous air strips dotting the countryside, often used by politicians,bureaucrats and upcoming industrialists which with some appliction and initiative could be readily converted to alternate and ease the traffic and chaos on our over stressed airports.

Orderly Disorder

Search This Blog