Death is the solemn truth of our lives and yet somehow we ignore or choose to ignore it. People bat for life vs. death all the time and yet we all know at the end it is always death that turn up trumps. All of us plan our lives and yet we somehow choose to ignore the basic truth about us; we never plan our death. Partly because it is not in our control how our life ends, but so is the course of our life; we never know how our life will turn out to be and yet we plan every single detail about it. The truth is, we are afraid to accept death as the final fate, it is as a writer put it, "We see death in various ways every single day and yet those who live, plan to live on forever". Maybe it is the belief that "I will not die" that helps us achieve great things, but we need to plan our death as we plan our life, because each one of us has a right to die honorably as we live honorably.
Adolf Hitler was a great man in many ways, a mass leader and a born ruler. People who met him swore by his charisma and his ability to form mass opinions. He had the ability to plan with very fine detail about his attacks on enemy territory and how to hold and rule it. He had a military which lived and died on his command. Basically, he held absolute power in Germany and challenged the might of the Soviet Union and United States of America and was taking control over most of Europe. Even with such absolute power, he never spent enough time to think about his death. He spent way too much time planning his life and not enough planning his death. When it finally came, he was not ready for it. We don’t remember him much for the death he met on the way out of this world, but I do wish his death was more honorable and not a tame suicide in his personal chambers. Not a fitting end for a grand life he lived. Maybe he should have planned it better.
I find it ironic that M.K. (Mahatma) Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. both of whom spent their life preaching and following non-violence and achieving major victories without armed struggle met violent deaths. It makes me feel when death is cruel to such great souls, how can a man like me, do much about it. Then again, like I said, even though I might not control the events that lead to my death, I might certainly hope that I get a death of my choice. Given a choice, I must always have an honorable way to exit rather than being forced out due to unforeseen circumstances, much like a player who chooses to retire, when on a high.
Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar and Hari Shivram Rajguru made such a choice 79 years ago. They are remembered even to this day for the choice they made and their death is celebrated as "Shaheed Divas" (Martyers Day) in India. They had a goal in life; they had planned to liberate India from the British Empire. Much like all of us, they had planned their life nicely, only difference being, they even planned their death and used it as an instrument to further the goal of their life. They chose to plan their death in such a way that it stirs passion of nationalism in the minds of youth and goal of Independence becomes a national rage. They died well before their time (age wise) but they chose an honorable and grand exit that made the life they lived seem more grand. Durga bhabi (wife of Bhagwati Charan Vohra) had such an option which she was not allowed to take. She was supposed to join Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru when they were planning the murder of Scott. Her pleas were killed by her husband stating she had family responsibilities and should not take up the risk of such an act even though she was active member of Hindustan Republican Association (HRA). She gave in and the rest is history. A few years later, she contracted a life threatening flu and was bed ridden. During the last few days of her life, she called her husband to her side and told him that she would never forgive him for not allowing her an honorable death. She told him that very few people are given a choice of planning their death and she could have had a honorable way of dying for her country's independence, instead of the suffering the flue and meet a tame end. That anguish was genuine and makes you think, why do we always hold on to life so dearly that we end up having a doctor and a hospital bed for company when death arrives, when we could have chosen to die in a more honorable fashion for a cause we believed in truly. May be, as I said earlier, we don’t plan about death seriously.
I, for one, have a goal. I meet many people and with every person who comes into my life, I ask myself, "If I die tomorrow, how will I be remembered by this person?" and I sure hope that the day I am no longer around and they think back about me, there must be a smile on their lips and a tear in their eye. Does this mean, I am ready to die... maybe; or maybe, I don’t see death as an end to the life I am living. The "one goal" however, keeps me, from hurting people I come across and that sure are a good thing to do. Does it work? Well..... Not always, I am human and cannot have a perfect record. I will try using this post to issue a heartfelt apology to those whom I have advertently or inadvertently hurt in my life, and tell them that I didn’t mean to hurt them. Maybe this will take me closer to my goal and when my day comes, I will be proud of having a near perfect life.
PS: Some excerpts taken from a hindi story I read, "Marna: Ek kala, ek chance" meaning, "Death: An art, a matter of chance"
Adolf Hitler was a great man in many ways, a mass leader and a born ruler. People who met him swore by his charisma and his ability to form mass opinions. He had the ability to plan with very fine detail about his attacks on enemy territory and how to hold and rule it. He had a military which lived and died on his command. Basically, he held absolute power in Germany and challenged the might of the Soviet Union and United States of America and was taking control over most of Europe. Even with such absolute power, he never spent enough time to think about his death. He spent way too much time planning his life and not enough planning his death. When it finally came, he was not ready for it. We don’t remember him much for the death he met on the way out of this world, but I do wish his death was more honorable and not a tame suicide in his personal chambers. Not a fitting end for a grand life he lived. Maybe he should have planned it better.
I find it ironic that M.K. (Mahatma) Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. both of whom spent their life preaching and following non-violence and achieving major victories without armed struggle met violent deaths. It makes me feel when death is cruel to such great souls, how can a man like me, do much about it. Then again, like I said, even though I might not control the events that lead to my death, I might certainly hope that I get a death of my choice. Given a choice, I must always have an honorable way to exit rather than being forced out due to unforeseen circumstances, much like a player who chooses to retire, when on a high.
Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar and Hari Shivram Rajguru made such a choice 79 years ago. They are remembered even to this day for the choice they made and their death is celebrated as "Shaheed Divas" (Martyers Day) in India. They had a goal in life; they had planned to liberate India from the British Empire. Much like all of us, they had planned their life nicely, only difference being, they even planned their death and used it as an instrument to further the goal of their life. They chose to plan their death in such a way that it stirs passion of nationalism in the minds of youth and goal of Independence becomes a national rage. They died well before their time (age wise) but they chose an honorable and grand exit that made the life they lived seem more grand. Durga bhabi (wife of Bhagwati Charan Vohra) had such an option which she was not allowed to take. She was supposed to join Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru when they were planning the murder of Scott. Her pleas were killed by her husband stating she had family responsibilities and should not take up the risk of such an act even though she was active member of Hindustan Republican Association (HRA). She gave in and the rest is history. A few years later, she contracted a life threatening flu and was bed ridden. During the last few days of her life, she called her husband to her side and told him that she would never forgive him for not allowing her an honorable death. She told him that very few people are given a choice of planning their death and she could have had a honorable way of dying for her country's independence, instead of the suffering the flue and meet a tame end. That anguish was genuine and makes you think, why do we always hold on to life so dearly that we end up having a doctor and a hospital bed for company when death arrives, when we could have chosen to die in a more honorable fashion for a cause we believed in truly. May be, as I said earlier, we don’t plan about death seriously.
I, for one, have a goal. I meet many people and with every person who comes into my life, I ask myself, "If I die tomorrow, how will I be remembered by this person?" and I sure hope that the day I am no longer around and they think back about me, there must be a smile on their lips and a tear in their eye. Does this mean, I am ready to die... maybe; or maybe, I don’t see death as an end to the life I am living. The "one goal" however, keeps me, from hurting people I come across and that sure are a good thing to do. Does it work? Well..... Not always, I am human and cannot have a perfect record. I will try using this post to issue a heartfelt apology to those whom I have advertently or inadvertently hurt in my life, and tell them that I didn’t mean to hurt them. Maybe this will take me closer to my goal and when my day comes, I will be proud of having a near perfect life.
PS: Some excerpts taken from a hindi story I read, "Marna: Ek kala, ek chance" meaning, "Death: An art, a matter of chance"
3 comments:
very nicely written damodar. death is a topic tht i am very touchy abt, and generally dont like discussing or even reading abt. but i read ur post top to bottom, and i still say this - very nicely written.
Do you know who was writer of that story and do you have the original story, I would like to read it in Hindi.
Do you know who was writer of that story and do you have the original story, I would like to read it in Hindi.
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