My wife was talking to me about a conversation she had with my elder daughter. It veered around who are the people in their family, who were no more, whom they would like to meet. My wife picked her grandfather, my daughter, my father and I was thinking about my brother-in-law who left us on this day three years back. As a family, we remember him in those moments when my wife, a couple of days ago, spoke about his favorite dish. The other day I mentioned about Interstellar music and was mentioning that we can see this movie together. She mentioned my brother in law’s DVD which is there with us. It is hard to get over those moments as we are pulled down suddenly by this reality of life that he is not there with us. We remember his linguistic proficiency and how well-read he was in matters of current affairs. I used to wonder at the intellectual conversations my wife used to have with him. I cannot forget how he helped me take care of my elder daughter when both men used to be at home the whole day and the rest of us in the family had to be at the workplace. I remember his smile, his walk, and his looks. We remember those moments and cherish them.
Sept 5th will remain in our family’s lifetime as a breaking chain moment. On the one hand, I met my wife for the first time and on the other hand, it’s the day my brother-in-law left us. The mystic, Jalaluddin Rumi saw a multipolar world – full of opposites that sometimes compliment each other and at other times, clashed. “The life of this world is nothing but the harmony of opposites.,” he said.
The other day I was reading a book and in that there was this topic of Value Hierarchy. For the author, his values were love, growth, contribution, and adventure, in that order. Each value builds on and contributes to the next. The author then mentions that one’s values tend to not change from year to year unless you experience life conditions like having a kid or losing a loved one. On my part, post-Sept 5th 2017 I changed my value hierarchy for good. My wife too shared this in one of our conversations.
Sept 5th is observed as Teachers day. We will continue to learn as life never stops teaching us. On this day he was Called Away. As Kelly Roper wrote, “Our dear one was called away and has gone with the Lord to stay. Although this passing makes us weep, We rejoice our loved ones rests safely in God’s keep”.
Rightly scripted: anecdote