Life and Death the miracles of God's creation.

Life and death are known facts which every generation bears. My Thakuma (in Bengali Father's mother) has died few days back and it brings back all the memories of her.

As I stayed in Andaman, only once a year summer vacation brought me to Calcutta for few days. During our stay in Calcutta she used to eat with us in our house and stay in the Ancestral house.(It is a culture in Bengali custom that once a bride comes to her husband house she should leave it only on her funeral) Thakuma has three sons my father being the middle one. Our home is been build adjacent to the Ancestral house. She sometimes feel herself alone even with all the others surrounding her. My father used to tell her to stay in our house when we were back in Andaman but that simple custom of staying in Ancestral house prevented her from that. It is the irony of life that customs makes you impaired sometimes.

She being 90 years is quite known that she will demise any day but when the final day arrived you feel a void as one of your family member is not there. The ritual that follows after someone demise is huge. That includes 12 days of mourning during which there are strict restrictions like prohibition of eating non veg, not cutting the nails and hair, not shaving and  wearing shoes and cooking in malsas( vessels made with clay) and which must not be covered. The food consisting of rice and vegetables called the hobisanya should be eaten only once and the rest of the time only fruits. I must say it is a lot going on during these period. At the end there is a maha bhoj(feast) for the relatives which includes all the non-veg and veg foods. They say when people feel satisfied after the eating, the soul of the dead person will rest in peace.

The customs I feel make people realize that life is indeed precious. Loosing someone realizes you that all around you is a world created by the Almighty and we are just the puppets of his,playing our part. Death being the final act of every soul.