Good bye my friend...

Death is so final... Isn't it?
It happens in a second and then everything just turns around and life comes to a stand still and you wish desperately that you can turn time and bring the person back to life...

Why am I talking about death now?
My close friend - Praveen passed away on a road accident on Tuesday night...

He was travelling home after work around 11 PM when it happened. He died on his way to the hospital. This happened on Hosur Road...

I came to know yesterday morning when another friend called up and told me and that they were on their way from Mysore... I told him not to joke about the death.
He said no, he wasn't joking...I was shell-shocked and rushed to St.Johns...

You know, all the way, I thought it was some sort of a cruel joke and that he wasn't dead I mean, how could someone who was so full of life be dead???
I rushed to the morgue and then, when I saw his parents, and another friend sitting so lost and desolate, did it hit me that he was actually dead.
I saw his body - he was so still and lifeless - I wanted to tell him to cut the crap and wake up... His mom was inconsolable and kept crying and asking what went wrong and that he must have been so scared when he realised that he was dying...

It was a bad scare really - to see someone lying there - cold and lifeless and then trying to console his family when all you want to do is actually wake up and realise its all a dream...

But, this was no dream - it was every one's nightmare come true. The doctor said a postmortem had to be done - to determine how he died...

The back of his skull was cracked open and there was a wound on his face - that's it. Not a scratch on his body - anywhere... I saw them wheel his body into the autopsy room - lift him and place him on the table with clinical precision. The students and doctors intent on their work didn't see me standing there.One student started cleaning off the blood from his face and back of his head.I wanted to tell them to be careful - not to hurt him because he already had a severe wound on the back of his head... then, I realised that it didn't matter because he was dead...

I was then asked to leave and the doors closed and was locked... The police came to register a complaint - to check if it was a skid and fall or a hit and run case.

How did it matter? He was not going to wake up and tell us what actually happened...

They brought him out of the autopsy room and the body was handed over to his parents.He was bound together in a green body bag and he looked peaceful even...They took him to the crematorium and then his ashes were taken home so that the death ceremonies could be done properly so that his soul rests in peace...
I came home when they were taking his body to the crematorium - still not able to digest the fact that my close friend - my husband's mentor in his first company and close friend for 4yrs was no more...

He was a guy who lived - you know, really lived. He had loads of friends everywhere...He made friends easily, organised trips, fashion shows, cultural activities with the snap of his fingers... He was in love - with life and with the girl he had promised to marry.

I had seen the look on his face when he was with her, when he spoke of her...

I don't know how she is doing - she stays in Hyderabad... I don't have her number - they had promised each other a life time of happiness... I remember when they had come home for dinner - he was so particular about how my kitchen was arranged and he was telling her that they too need to buy the same brand of sandwich maker,fridge, they needed to colour-code their plastic containers too...
He was eager to live... now, all that was over in a minute...

I pray for his soul and his family and his girlfriend to have the strength to pass thru these difficult times...

May his soul rest in peace...

Goodbye my dear friend...

God Bless