Resting in Peace

There appeared to be much commotion and the people were to be seen all over the place, some inside the house and others on the road outside. They were all talking in hushed voices and their faces looked sullen. Some young men seemed busier than the others and a closer look revealed that they were putting together a simple wooden frame with bamboo cords tied at the corners and flat, wooden planks at the lower end. A body wrapped in white bedsheet was placed on it and people started placing flowers and wreaths on top. The white sheet of cloth was pulled down slightly to reveal the face of the old man lying there. There were cotton balls stuffed in both his nostrils, tulsi leaves on his eyelids and some sandalwood paste on his forehead. A handful of agarbattis were lit to give the air a serene smell and the pundit was chanting the Vedic scriptures appropriate to the occasion. A lady in white saree sat next to the man and was in tears. She was in the company of some other women who, too, were teary eyed and the collective crying could be heard quite a distance away. Close to the body stood a kurta-pyjama clad man in his early thirties and a young woman in saree. A small baby, no more than three years old, was also to be seen crying while holding on to the saree pallu of the lady standing. This couple appeared to be related to the departed man for they were seen to be giving some directions to the group of active youngsters on what to do next. By now the hearse had come and the man was lifted on to the shoulders of the young men and the related man was seen to be heading the procession with an earthen pot, slung with coir cords, held in his hand. Now the crying sound of the women grew louder as did the collective and rhythmic sounds of the men….ram naam satya hai…The body was placed in the carriage with care and the vehicle slowly moved and the men and women started walking slowly along. While some people followed the hearse in their vehicles, others dispersed to their respective homes.

When all had departed from the house, there were just three souls left behind in the departed man’s house…..his wife, his little grand-daughter and his big , black dog. The lady was crying for her partner of long, the baby was crying that her parents had not taken her wherever they had gone and the dog was the only one who maintained a stoic silence. The dog lay quietly under a divan in the living room without any movement. On normal days this Doberman, called Ivan, would charge at outsiders and bark ferociously at the smallest pretext. But today was very different for this ever alert dog. The death of the master of the house was something even this ferocious animal understood and reacted with calmness and quietness quite unlike his usual demeanor. The old lady meanwhile wiped off her tears as she saw the time on the wall clock. It was seven in the evening and time for Ivan’s dinner. She had already prepared Ivan’s favourite mincemeat and chappatis in the afternoon itself, which was well before the sudden demise of her husband. The dog, who was an integral part of the family, had to be fed and this was one task she would do diligently come rain or sun. She went to the kitchen, heated the food, put it in bowl and called Ivan to eat. On normal days, Ivan would rush to the bowl and finish the meal in no time but today he lay still under the bed. No matter how much the lady tried to make him come out and eat, the dog did not budge and just kept looking blank and motionless. The food and the water just lay there untouched.

The lady’s attention now went on to her sobbing grandchild who was a bit too young to understand the mysteries and emotions relating to life and death.  The kid was crying louder than ever before as she was missing her parents and, maybe, in her own way missing her grandpa who would constantly carry her in his arms and walk around the garden showing her flowers during the day and the sky with the moon and stars at night. The lady washed her hands repeatedly before proceeding to the kitchen once more to prepare hot rice to which she added with a big dollop of butter, a boiled egg and a sprinkling of salt. She now bent down to lift the little baby and hold her tight close to her chest, kissed her on both the cheeks and placed her on top of the dining table with a bib round her neck. She even tried to sing a song but the little one just would not be pacified. She kept on crying and tears were rolling down her chubby cheeks. With great difficulty, the old lady was able to get the baby to eat the meal and the crying had now taken a break. The kid now said, “Nani, play with me.” The lady was terribly sad for she had lost her partner for over forty years but here she was facing a dilemma. While she was planning to now have some time of her own to grieve, the kid was oblivious of the tragedy in the family and wanted to play. She forced a smile and nodded her head in agreement to the demands of the kid who was now getting into her elements and started giggling and mumbling.

The first game they played was hide and seek. There were a lot of places for the little one to hide, and even though the granny knew the hideouts, she made sure to act as if she did not know and kept looking here and there to the utter amusement of the girl who would giggle from her place of hiding. When the granny had her chance to hide, the child would quickly find her and feel happy at having won the game. Now the action moved to the board game of Ludo. The granny made sure that the best dice numbers were always for the girl on the opposite side and in no time ensured her four green dots moved into the central victory box while her own red dots remained either inside the starting box or somewhere en-route to home. The little one was now all bubbly and excited and forgot all about the tears which were flowing down a little while ago. After the second straight win, the kid wanted the granny to sit with her as she showed off her knowledge about the nursery rhymes in English and Bangla. She rattled off rhymes one after the other by just looking at the picture in each page as the granny flipped through the pages. Having heard these rhymes on the cassette player many times and having rattled them off in the presence of her parents on a daily basis, she seemed to have mastered them all. The only flaw that you could find was in some of her pronunciations which sounded funny especially when it came to some typical Bengali ones. By now the little girl was tired and both she and her granny slipped under the mosquito net to rest. It was now granny’s turn to tell fairy-tales.

For how long the story telling session lasted is not known but when the girl’s parents returned after cremating the old man some hours later, they found the main door of the house open and the rooms illuminated. As they walked into the bedroom they saw the dog lying quietly on the floor next to the bed. The little girl was sleeping atop the granny like a frog with her hands and legs spread in four directions and the old lady, too, was asleep. An unexpected peace had dawned on the louse. While the old master of the house was resting in eternal peace after the embers had cooled down at the cremation grounds, the people he left behind, too, seemed to be resting in peace at home. He surely must have been a good soul who would have troubled none in his lifetime or even after.

SS