In the darkness of winter morning I stepped into my kitchen
My eyes and ears still unreceptive to the cell phone and its ringing!
Though I did catch the glimpse of our friend’s name flashing before the ring stopped!
As it is happening with our age group….
The news of an old friend’s passing knocked the indolence out of my morning!
Beyond the shadows of familiar surroundings of our homeland,
These are the friends that we made while starting our lives.
Time and distance has taken tole on communication,
Yet memories don’t seem to mind this gap.
Out of nowhere they come like torrential rains drenching us all.
Instead of destroying the past associations, Death renews it all.
I called back, we talked for a long time,
Bridging the gap of time and distance like nothing ever stood in between.
Our friend on phone was in regular touch with our common friend (may God bless his soul) and his family.
He filled us up again with many details from his life and our friend’s life.
The healing process of shared experiences somehow eased our pain.
Later in the day with all the emotions bubbling up I could not resist but to
Search for our deceased friend’s ( sounds so strange using this word!) or
His wife’s profile on FB.
Her picture looked just the way I had seen her, when we met first time.
A petite figure with long black hair and big beautiful doe eyes!
For a long time I just sat looking at her picture with her locked profile.
My heart and mind lost eons back in time.
Each moment dissolved in past takes rebirth in our memories!
How far back one can go riding the wings of memory….
Returning back to present I looked at the picture and profile again,
And noticed one of our recent relation’s name under the list of common friends!
IT’S A SMALL WORLD!
It will be a while before I get to know or probably will never know the details of their relationship!
But amazed I am at finding the common links across the continents!
In the constant flow of life the relationships too are fluid!
One has to be thankful for the technology,
For lessening the distances!
For the lofty ideal of Oneness to become a realizable goal!
Here in the expressions of some raw and genuine emotions,
We are connected with our near and dear ones.
The dynamics of Life’s energy carries us through varied channels
In our thoughts and actions,
Upholds us in our emotions of joys and griefs,
Sustains us in our failures and achievements,
And locks us together in a ‘taste of ambrosia and stings of poison’.
Savita Tyagi
Note: Written after getting the news of one of our dear old friend’s death.
November 16th 2022
