Sheer Coincidence or Divine intervention?

Say you decide to take the Shatabdi Express from New Delhi station to Chandigarh, something that you've done at least a hundred times earlier.But this time, there's a real difference. For just after you've boarded the train and reach out for your wallet to pay the coolie, you realise that you've been pick pocketed.

Far more important than the money you've lost are your ID cards, particularly those related to Health and Insurance, which might take upto six months be re-made.

But then you console yourself and finally shrugging your shoulders, you tell yourself that it could have been far worse.And then you carry on with your way of life and living.Exactly two days later, your front door bell rings and standing there, are three young schoolboys. After having introduced themselves, they hand over your wallet...which is now much lighter, but still has all your  6 ID cards!

Looking at your open mouthed surprise, they decide to enlighten you. 

They were on a school trip to the New Delhi Zoo  and saw this wallet thrown in a bin just ahead of the monkey's cages.

So they did simply what they thought they absolutely must.

And brought it back to you.

Image courtesy- Flipkart

Now this would be a story that I would find hard to believe, but I did. For it was told to us by my own father in law, Major General Sampuran  Singh  Ahluwalia some years  back, who is amazed and delighted with this sheer coincidence.

Or I'm left wondering.

Should I re-phrase it as 'Divine intervention'?

Mummy, my brave and beautiful guardian angel

It was May 77 and a hot summer afternoon in New Delhi. After finishing her Yoga session at the Vishwayatan Yogashram directly opposite Bangla Saheb Gurudwara, a poised young lady was walking briskly, keen to reach home at the earliest.

Just as she crossed the road, she heard a girl’s shrill voice, “Chhodo, Chhodo, Mujhe”( let me go)

There was a note of terror in the girl’s voice and as she came closer, the lady could see that a car had stopped on the road . While the driver remained seated, the other man was trying to drag the girl into the car and she was struggling to get out of his clutches. Without further ado, the lady ran towards them shouting, “ Leave her immediately or I will call the police .”

As she recalled it later, everything seemed to move in slow motion. She could clearly see the terror in the girl’s eyes, the anger and determination in the man who was trying to pull her in, the momentary confusion on the driver’s face as he tried to think of the next step. Over and above that, she remembered thinking that these two men were capable of anything in that moment and looking towards Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, she prayed “Madat Kar Mere Rabba”( Help me, God)

And then everything came back in sharp focus as the man threw the girl on the footpath, jumped into the car, the driver took off, and in the next moment, it was all over.

She helped the bruised and terrified girl up and asked her if she was OK. The girl replied that she could manage and all she wanted was to go home. After ensuring that the girl was OK, the lady stopped an auto rickshaw, settled her in and continued her walk back home. Once home, she heaved a sigh of relief, it was over but she was well aware that anything could have happened...

Mummy, newly married at 19

That brave lady was my mother, Biba Satinder Kaur and as I think about her on her third ‘Barsi’ I remember this and a thousand other wonderful things about her.

Mummy at 29, New Years Eve, Calcutta

Mummy’s love for nature, for all things beautiful, her immense love for her family, her deep and abiding belief in God and Sikhism, her steadfast loyalty to her friends, her care and consideration for the staff, of whom Jairam was the longest serving member. He worked for my parents for 39 years , coming in as a young boy and stayed with them till he passed away in 2016.

In the three years since Mummy’s passing, I have been through a roller coaster of emotions. The first year was traumatic and very , very hard. My father took her passing to heart and exactly 9 months later, left us to join her.

Three years after Mummy, I have finally understood that this is the new normal and life has to go on. Her warmth, her infectious laughter and her utter delight in every little achievement of ours is something which I treasure .

Mummy, May 2015

I’m convinced that Mummy is our guardian angel now - just as her mother was for her.

What are best memories really made of?

Today, I spent some time looking at some old photographs. 

Correction,  they were not really 'old 'photographs, but they date back to just about four or five years ago.

And what I saw saddened me a great deal. Because many of the people, including both my parents, in those photographs were no more. In particular, those who were in their seventies then (I counted at least six of them) weren't alive any more.

My late parents, Sardar Harnam Singh and Sardarni Satinder Kaur Serna

I spent some time thinking about it, then realised that there was really nothing that anyone could have done about it. All of them had died of old age or incurable illnesses and despite the best possible medication and hospitalisation, they eventually passed away.

The ultimate reality- no one lives for ever. Its their memories that will linger, like the fragrance of a beautiful and proud flower that once bloomed but eventually fades away..

Best memories are made of this

As the old adage goes, 'time and tide really wait for no one' . All we can do is to keep the happiest memories of  those who are now gone, close to our hearts and every now and then take a break, pause  and reflect on the best they had to offer us.

So one of the best things one can do is to look at a flower, a garden, a sunset and think of them. The associated pain may be more bitter, than sweet, but there is really no answer. One just has to live with and deal with it. 

Will time ever really heal that pain? 

That too is something that no one can really tell...maybe yes, maybe never..

But best memories are truly made of images and thoughts like these and by associating the things we love with all the things they loved, we are definitely doing the right thing.

That of keeping them alive ...forever...