in memory of someone....
This one is a tribute for my friend, for someone who went away unexepected and went away too soon for us colleagues to realise. For someone who had so much of life ahead of him, but who unfortunately left without saying goodbye to all of us, without saying anything to us. I had been thinking of writing for him, about him a long time, but everytime I tried to pen down my thoughts, words somehow failed me. Trust me this wasn’t easy, It took me almost an year but finally I took it upon and felt this would be an ideal time as its been one year since he left all of us.
 It was the same month of march one year back, the colourful festival of holi ,with everyone in the festival mood. While each of us here was making plans of how to celebrate the festival with joy and sweets, he was fighting the biggest battle of his life in a small room in a hospital in Mumbai.  We were getting regular updates about him since he had left town for his treatment. I guess deep down inside, all of us were dreading about the bad news, we all feared it may or may not come, we all hoped and prayed for him. But I guess we all were scared, as the damage had already been done and only  a miracle could save him from the deadly disease he was suffering from.  I still remember one day in the month of February while I was standing near the parking, he was coming out of the car of one of our colleagues. The sight of him shocked me. He wasn’t the same person I had known for past three years. Everything had changed about him, physically as well as mentally. He was half his weight, his complexion had darkened and he looked exhausted and sad. The bright cheerful young lad who always had an innocent smile on his face had suddenly vanished. I had known he was not keeping well but I had no idea it had gotten worse and serious. That day in the night I kept thinking about him, wondering why was God testing him, why such a young man was being made to suffer so much at this age, why was life being so unfair to him. I am sure all his friends and loved ones prayed each day for his health to be fine, for him to survive and come out of this ordeal. We waited each day when he would return fit with his lovely smile again.
Perhaps it was not meant to be.
It was 26th of March, the day of holi, we all got the news in our emails at around 5.30pm in the evening. He had left all of us out of the blue. I have not told this to anyone but that day I had dialed his number in the evening as I had not checked my mail till then. I had not gotten a chance to speak to him so I thought why not try talk to him instead and give him some encouragement. To my shock, some lady picked up the phone and just said “he left us half an hour back”. Those words are stuck in my memory forever. Shocked, speechless, I just hung up the phone and sat quiet for sometime. The way the events in past months had unfolded was so overwhelming, it was the first time I had lost someone known to me.  How much it was a loss to his immediate family being the only son was obviously an irreplaceable loss. For a person who did not even get a chance to play with his newborn,  it was an emotion unexplainable.


Mr LPG, as he was fondly called by his friends and colleagues
was in every sense, a true gem of a man, with a heart of gold,
the kind of people you are lucky enough to know in your lifetime,
and I am proud of the fact that I got to know him, no matter how little a time it was
Just to say sir, we all miss you and think of you each day

you shall remain in our minds and our hearts forever come what may….

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