Though we'd kicked off from Guruvayur for Kochi by a quarter to 10, a deadly combination of rains, potholed roads and lousy traffic saw us crawling through a distance of roughly 100 kms, for over three and a half hours, to make it just in time for the last rites of Kamalamma Pillai. Everyone of her immediate family had mustered finally and her wait for four days at a morgue close by had gotten over when the body was brought into the house by about 9 AM. Her son and the youngest daughter had fetched up from London by the early morning flight.
As we entered the hall where she lay in state, most of the ceremony was over and we're being awaited to say our prayers so that they could cover the face with the shroud, blanking her mortal form that we're so familiar with, forever before consigning to the flames. It was as though my cousin's mom was waiting for us........ She seemed to be as though in deep slumber tired, after a long journey.
The son and the two younger daughters, along with their children showed a lot of emotions and helplessness at the goings on. To me, since I knew the background, it was mere playacting and I wondered at people's ability to fib and hoodwink the others. Whom were they trying to impress? I was seething with rage deep within because there were so many times when the old lady had imagined that her son would come down to see her during the seven month long period of her hospitalisation. She doted on him and blamed the daughter-in-law for his erratic behaviour! Was his materialistic world greater than his mother's love?
What irritates me further is the inordinate levels, people like him go through during the after death ceremonies and do absurd things like spending a fortune to deposit figurines, in gold, at some sacred place to please(?) the departed soul, if you please. Had he and his family taken some time off and visited the old lady at her hospital bed, she'd have been blissfully happy!
Hypocrisy at its best or worst? .....Will he be able to satisfy his conscience, ever?
Tailpiece.
We bid farewell to Prabha, the eldest of the cousins. The poor girl had tried her best to avoid amputation of her mom's problem leg because she knew that she'd never be able to accept it - she was successful in warding it off for seven months and then, the events had overtaken her.
The return drive was equally bad with rains and the same miserable roads, with a generous sprinkling of ill mannered motorists!
As we entered the hall where she lay in state, most of the ceremony was over and we're being awaited to say our prayers so that they could cover the face with the shroud, blanking her mortal form that we're so familiar with, forever before consigning to the flames. It was as though my cousin's mom was waiting for us........ She seemed to be as though in deep slumber tired, after a long journey.
The son and the two younger daughters, along with their children showed a lot of emotions and helplessness at the goings on. To me, since I knew the background, it was mere playacting and I wondered at people's ability to fib and hoodwink the others. Whom were they trying to impress? I was seething with rage deep within because there were so many times when the old lady had imagined that her son would come down to see her during the seven month long period of her hospitalisation. She doted on him and blamed the daughter-in-law for his erratic behaviour! Was his materialistic world greater than his mother's love?
What irritates me further is the inordinate levels, people like him go through during the after death ceremonies and do absurd things like spending a fortune to deposit figurines, in gold, at some sacred place to please(?) the departed soul, if you please. Had he and his family taken some time off and visited the old lady at her hospital bed, she'd have been blissfully happy!
Hypocrisy at its best or worst? .....Will he be able to satisfy his conscience, ever?
Tailpiece.
We bid farewell to Prabha, the eldest of the cousins. The poor girl had tried her best to avoid amputation of her mom's problem leg because she knew that she'd never be able to accept it - she was successful in warding it off for seven months and then, the events had overtaken her.
The return drive was equally bad with rains and the same miserable roads, with a generous sprinkling of ill mannered motorists!
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