[Reader-list] Reunion with the dead!

[tasneem dhinojwala]

  Dear All,
Sorry for the delay in our posting.
But happy reading anyways.
For some it must be a sight
men in scuffle

.a man screaming at another. 
The Caretaker of the graveyard felt embarrassed. He had been there for a very long time but was certainly not there when Md Ejaz’s mother was buried at the graveyard 10 years back. So, he was not to be blamed. Md. Ejaz works in Jeddah as a caretaker of a factory. He couldn’t “see his mother’s face at the time of her death because of some visa problem.” His mother was buried at the Nizamuddin Kabristan.  Now he was there with his brother who had visited the mother two years back but had not got the grave concretized. Now there lay somebody else and the epitaph read another name. A marble structure had come up in the period of two years. Md. Ejaz couldn’t even offer “fatiha” at his mother’s grave. Cursing his brother and himself they leave. Md. Rasool, the caretaker takes a form and defends his act “had they loved their mother they would have got it made“pacca” nobody even came to look at the grave. The number of deaths has increased and there is so little space what are we suppose to do.”


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 The entire space has graves in a very haphazard fashion. There is no organization in the space of dead. When we as visitors of the space felt somewhat overpowered. Will it not be repulsive for the residents of the space?


Five brothers in white starched kurta offering prayers at the graveyard.
Death is a unifying force for this family. “Barsi” a remembrance day celebrated annually. All the sons and daughters of the dead meet.  Nasim khan and his brothers and sisters meet every year to celebrate their father’s Barsi. His father had always wanted his family to stay united. The dead’s wishes are their command and a ritual to be followed every year. Qurankhani, is followed by a gala food distribution ceremony. The evening is for the family.
No longer a family affair, barsi is a gathering where the family displays its unification. Everything is on display; the healthiest maulana of the town is called to conduct the ceremony. Members of the extended samaj meet and discuss everything from politics to economics but the principles of the dead. 
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So what kind of remembrance? An obituary written in the paper “I have all your things at the place you had left
.I will join you soon my daughter
..she left us when she was 18”


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The other side.......

Crows circle the hot afternoon sky,amidst black clouds of smoke.
Beads of perspiration flow down waiting faces of relatives.The wait is for the body to burn down completely.Etiquette requires them to stay for atleast some more time.But the blistering summer heat desires the cool confines of their air-conditioned drawing rooms.
But they have to wait.

Their impatience is evident.And Panditji is not too happy with this behaviour of the present generation towards their dead.

"This is what makes my blood boil',says he.Gone are the days when the kith and kin of the dead would wait the whole day for all the rituals to get over.But now,no more.These people want everything to be done instantly,as if its maggi noodles!

We muse.Isnt the world today of'sick hurry and divided aims'? 
This conflict between generations will never end.Even if it concerns their dead.



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