To Nimmi Akka, with love.

I am at a loss for words. Yet this is the time I choose to reach out to my blog. Its been more than a couple of years since I wanted to type down my thoughts, while alone in the quaint town of Vellore, which had become my home. How is one alone at home? Dont ask, but there were times, when I felt the urge to reflect, and hence this blog was created.

Then why today again? I have come far from that home of mine, in a fairy-tale land called Paris. So much peace here. Yet I am in unrest. My mind fails to keep calm since I heard the news. I am told Nirmala sister is dead. She met with an accident on her way from Chittoor, where her husband and both daughters, everyone met their last. As an afterthought, all the members of the family having met the same result together might be a blessing that God had in store for the fervently devout Christian that she was. Nimmi-akka, I used to call her, just like the other sisters did. I had known her not as a staff who helped me in my daily work in the department, but as one, with whom I felt very close. I had become very deeply connected with everyone in the department, as much I am sure, they were. I had seen her husband, daughters, brother, and many more of her family members, even when they had a sore throat. She loved to talk, and eat- hence we found it easier to connect, you may think. You maybe right, but its the innocence of the staff in my department, that made them so lovable. Simplicity, their eagerness to learn, their feeling for each other, and the respect that we paid each other, made it always such a close family. Now a member of that family has permanently left.

The void that is left, cannot be filled. Such is the weirdness of death. Or is it like a ripple in water, that dies of after some more secondary ripples, until all is still, and all is forgotten and life moves on?

Death is so queer, so abrupt that it is bound to hurt. Often a lot. Some say, its like a tax-raid that happens all around you, and you feel alright until you have become the victim of it. I say, its just a physical event. Death never happens. Nimmi-akka is very much alive in my memories, and good thoughts, like I am in hers. Take care, wherever you are, in peace.

x