death of my uncle

It was expected . With hepatic failure with hepatocellular carcinoma multicentric progressing to hepatorenal syndrome (in laymans terms liver failure progressing to both liver and kidney failure ) death was inevitable . And though one of my favourite uncles from childhood i too was prepared . And being an intense believer he too was ready for death .

As i always say these days especially i think about the person how anyone was before death and naturally the feelings occur proportionate to how close you were to the deceased person and equally how he was as a person . For me i still remember him as a person who instilled the scientific temper in me . As a young nerd (me ) i was thrilled by my science classes in school and whenever he visited us we used to discuss what i had learnt . I a student in awe at the physical principles of the universe and the ticking of the biological organisms and he listened intently to me discussing these things with him . Though not a PhD at that time (he got it later ) i from day one saw him as a scientist . His field was agriculture and in later years when my questions grew in intensity he lifted up his hands and told " I am a soil scientist " .. It was not a frustrated person brushing my questions but an honest person who was brutally honest ( i like honest people not drama kings ) . This is another character i liked in him . And a good scientific person should also know his limitations .

Later on this soil scientist went to nigeria and i still remember he travelling miles to post his letters in those days to send his wife letters . But once every few months he wrote to me too and always remembered to send me stamps for my stamp collection (i still have it ... Memories and stamps do remain always ) ..As the years passed he later came back to india not as an NRI with attitude but back again as a soil scientist . Humility is another character i admire .

His daughters got married and he got two son in laws who befitted him as he was a pious and good man . He as well as i was lucky as we could see each other in the days when he was sick but still conscious .

And his funeral was one of the few funerals i attended . I was there when i stared at his face though dead . I dont believe the face of the dead body reflects a person as the religious say but i felt a calmness in that face . I attended the burial too and i personally feel as a celebrity autobiographer reader people can be buried with their most favorite possession just like jimi hedrix got buried with his guitar . In our religion it is not allowed . But as the soil got put over the corpse i couldnt help thinking about how the soil itself was the greatest tribute to the soil scientist whose work life revolved around soil . And the other tribute his good memories .. they remain with us ...

PS : Be good when you are alive because the real tears and good memories are important . And live everyday like you will die in the nth hour especially the over ritualistic religious people and the over materialistic people . For in the end just as life death is also the ultimate truth ..