Tommy....

I never liked any pets and have never wanted to have any pets for almost 33 years. There were two street dogs, that somebody left on our road a week ago. One was a light brown dog (Tommy) and the other is a dark brown (Johnny).

By the way, nobody in our house liked any pets and my daughter was frightened by the sight of dogs. These two dogs started coming to "Aashraya" and my Dad and Ananya started feeding them with milk and rice. The two used to sign in early in the morning at sharp 6:00 AM. All this went on for a week. In between I had been to Shivamogga for my wife's PhD convocation. The first thing that I asked my dad when I called him was, "How are the puppies?"

Today, after a hectic day full of calls, I returned home by 5:30 PM. The moment I got down from the Car, Tommy and Johnny came to me and started playing with me. I played with them for about 15 minutes and came in. I saw one of my neighbors take Tommy and give him some food.

It was about 6:30 and I went to the road to check out something in my Car and I saw Tommy sleeping on the road. I had never seen him sleep on the road. When I tried to wake him up, he had slipped in to permanent sleep :'(. I still cannot believe that Tommy is no more. The pup with whom I had played with about an hour ago had been killed by a speeding car.

Tommy, we will miss you. The sight of Johnny crying over the body of Tommy is something that I can never forget in my life.

I do not wish to curse the driver of the car, but I have decided that I will be a safer driver on the road.

Life after...

I was returning a while ago in an Auto after a heavy dinner and a discourse by a friend. Of course, I am in Hyderabad.

A lot of thoughts crossed my mind when the Auto came over Nagarjuna Circle, Banjara Hills flyover. For people who don’t know the geography, this is a place where there is a cemetery on either side of the road. Probably, the road has been built through the cemetery.

The first thing that came to my mind was, Why did Human beings started to bury the dead? Leaving aside all the religious beliefs, I was drawn to my eighth or ninth standard Biology lessons, which taught of the concept of 'Evolution'. I began to think that, this probably was the way that man found to save himself from seeing the human body decay.

I was reminded of the verse from Shankaracharya's Bhaja Govindam, 'Yaavat Pavano nivasati dehe taavat prichchati Kushalam Gehe. Gatavati vaayou dehaa paaye, bhaarya bibhyati tasmin kaaye', which roughly translates into 'Till the time there is life in you, people think about you and your well being. The moment, 'Air' is out of one's body, even the wife would be frightened to see the dead'

I was also reminded of a teacher by name 'Francis D'souza,' who taught History in my high school. Once he had remarked, 'It feels so great after you are dead to be buried in the lap of mother nature, rather than being burnt into ashes.' I really dont remember the context in which he said that, but yes, even then I was wondering, how can somebody know what happens after he is gone. What difference does it make to the body without any life in it?

Thoughts about reincarnation, Life after death, all the stories that I had heard of as a kid that 'Yamaraj' would be standing in hell with a vessel of boiling oil and the moment you enter hell and if you are a sinner, you will be fried in that vessel: The 'Kinkaras' will chew your nails off if you have done that all your life (Nevertheless, i still have that habit and I am sure, there wouldn't be anything left for them :-) ) : There would be no food given for days together if you waste food that has been served for you : Your tongue will be cut off for using fowl language when you are a kid, etc. etc.

I was preoccupied in thinking about the discussion that I had with my friend on the way things are going in a recessionary economy, when all of a sudden, I was reminded of my once upon a time ambition, 'When I die, I should be happy and there should be at least a million people who cry!'

By the time, I began to think of on this, I had reached my destination and the next problem was to get the door opened...