fहndi - Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya

He won his mukti in that instant ofwakeless sleep.The sons left nothing undone, ofcourse. The casket of father's ashes heldin their hands raised above their heads,wading through neck deep waters, they sentafloat his ashes in the quick-streams of theriver, into the lap of mother Ganga. Eachson clasping the other by the right shoulder,standing in a row they bid their finalfarewell to father. The daughters anddaughters-in-law wiped their eyes with thecorners of their saris, the paternal andmaternal aunts prayed to Maa Ganga, thegiver of release. And the younger girl, hersobs held in her throat, stood watchingthe ashes skimming over the ripples of theriver, skimming away far, far away.This very same father, rowing acrossthe lake on stormy winds, had come tothe small island where he had been stayingfor many days with his children and theirailing mother. The doctors had advisedclean air and weather for the patient. Inpouring rain and heavy storm, the childrenhad stood on the shore, nervously scanningthe boats coming from far away. Fatherturned up, finally. And suddenly, fromamidst the storm winds, the sun hadsmiled. The children had been chantingpapa-papa even as his boat was far off.Father did not get as fatigued from hisday-long toils as from the scattering of hisfamily that his wife's illness had caused.The song he had sung that day, sittingin the shikara, suddenly came back to theyounger girl. 'On this sea are storms andhigh winds, boats innumerable areswimming on it, some drown, and some,tumbling along on the waves, stay a-swim...'.Wander, flow, and tumbling along arethe givers of life, storms and high windsits given conditions. For the sufis andmahatmas, to drown is to reach the goal,to merge with the beloved, decipheringwhose mystery a lifetime goes by...But father was no saint. Was anordinary man - with his own virtues andshort-comings. About the tribulations oflife, however, he neither complained norsank down on his knees : never soughtthe shoulders of tantrics or mystics as leantosfor attaining mukti. In the performingof duty he had unshakable faith. That waswhy, even after his wife's death, along withkeeping his scattered household together,he knocked around for helping relativesand kin too. Not for winning praise andadmiration : but solely because of hisnaturally sympathetic temper that couldn'thelp reaching out to those in need of beingreached. But looking at the hosts ofdissatisfied men and women around, herealised that inner peace was not anythingyou could gift to people, every individualhad to earn it himself or herself. And nowthese ashes of his! Will they stay a-swirlwith the swirls of the river? Or will theyflow far, far, peacefully riding in the lapof the Ganga like a new born child clingingto its mother's breast?116 :: April-June 2013fgndi •