fहndi - Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya

a rush for a plank she suddenly sees driftingtowards her.....The family members looked at her insome surprise. Sat quiet all along, this girlhad, and then speaks-thus?Not a single rite of the funeral hadshe as much as touched or taken part in :not participated in any event for thesalvation of her father's soul : not even acouple of tears had she shed. Suddenly nowthis inapt behaviour? In this spiritual, nonmaterialair? But to the girl the mothersanyaasini seemed only like a mother, asshe ran her hand over her head withmaternal warmth. She spoke a few wordstoo, which the girl did not hear. In hereyes she was seeing her mother's eyes, inher voice she was hearing her father'ssayings : she was hearing Krishna's wordsto Arjun in the battlefield : 'Your duty isyour sole release, only duty is your mainconsideration, all else is secondary...' Onthe return journey everyone turned busythinking of the tasks back home they hadleft pending, and drew up blueprints offuture tasks.Worthy son Number One had landeda chance after much string-pulling, to goabroad with the minister, but his father'ssudden death had ...'Anyway, all the rites and rituals wentoff well...' he sighed deep and long...''Long, long life you'll have, son, Fatherhas attained moksha'. His paternal auntblessed him.Worthy son Number Two, who wasan executive in a private firm had beeneaten up with worry about the demandsof the employees there and their threatsto go on strike. His father's death hadprovided some timely relief, but he'd befacing the music again, once he got back.His expenses had been pretty heavy here,at this immersion ceremony, but the guilthe had been under for not having lookedafter father when he lay ill had certainlyabated a bit. Folding away the holy clothwith raamnaams printed on them, hismaternal aunt brought it home to him thattheir standing in society had gone up bymany notches. Who does even half as muchthese days? At best the eldest son goes tothe Ganga and sets afloat the ashes of thedeceased. This kind of full, collectiveparticipation by the whole family... evena rich merchant or businessman wouldn'thave.Worthy Son Number Three did notsay anything. He was the youngest of thebrothers. It was in his house that Fatherhad attained release; it went without sayingthen, that the whole year round theexpenses of father's monthly and yearly riteswould be his responsibility.The daughters spoke a sentence or two,recalling the pain their father had endured :already, worries about their families backhome were beginning to claw at theirminds.The youngest girl, her head resting onthe window, silently watched the flow ofthe Ganga. The knots of her heart and118 :: April-June 2013fgndi •