Death is the inevitable goal of our lives: my father and I

We are all afraid of death. Death implies the loss of our memories of all life, sweet and bitter. Death scares us as we will enter unfamiliar territory, after losing our sensual assets and relationships. We all have to die, but invariably everyone thinks they will live to an old age. God may have different plans and some of us left the world earlier. If we are willing to accept our death, as an integral part of our existence, we will have greater harmony and peace in life, since it exercises control over all evils and sensual desires.

1989

1. My father, then 67, said: “I’m getting old! Let me trust you. 30 years of my life have been around, two dams; where I was employed – Bhakra Dam and Pong Dam. It may be our last meeting. One is never sure of life. My wish is that my ashes are scattered on these dikes. “

* I assured him: “Relax, daddy. It will be done.”

2016

2. He is 94 years old, he still demands breakfast from our mother, who is now 88 years old; serving him with devotion and love, after 74 years of marriage. Now, I am 70 years old, it is my turn to talk to my children.

* I am ready for His call; I have only one request for Him: “Let me die after my parents, since at this juncture in their lives, it will be too painful to bear the loss of their child.”

* The late Khuswant Singh, a prominent author, who lived to 99, said: “I think that if a person dies after 70 years, we should happily say goodbye, singing and dancing, without the usual condolences.”

* I admire the late Jyoti Basu, who served as Chief Minister of the state of Bengal in India for 21 years, for donating his body to a medical school for budding doctors to study and any usable organs for people in need. Today’s rituals are cumbersome and enforced through religious compulsions. I would like to follow in the footsteps of Jyoti Basu, subject to the approval of my spouse and children.

Back to my father

An ordinary man, who loved his family, we all love him, and lived for his family. A devoted employee: a civil engineering degree from Rasul’s oldest polytechnic school, Panjab, now in Pakistan, and a full degree through distance education.

* It was and still is: an extreme case of honesty, dedicated to his profession, who spent his time teaching his children, and lived a frugal life with two half shirts and pants, washed and ironed every alternate day. She took care of her sisters ‘not very well to do’, within her resources. He is an imperfect man, like all of us: unable to control anger, attached to his late mother, siblings and family, he lived a selfless life and sacrificed his sensual desires, as well as good home-cooked food and fruits, due to financial constraints. .

We don’t know how much time we have!

His journey through life has taken him from Chaklala, now in Pakistan, India, Iraq and now in Corona, California; where he is happily confined to a room due to: knee arthritis, fitted with a urinary obstruction catheter and mildly afflicted with dementia, in which he sometimes says, “Who is the lady sleeping here? the night ! “

Thank you God for our parents.