Death as death sees it

An ICU in AIIMS . A Low watt lighting making  partial visibility in the room . In midst is a bed fairly visible due to the white blanket covering majority of the patient's body. On left side of it are few Red and Green indicators clearly visible , of an oxygen measuring equipment . After every 20-25 seconds , there is a beep sound coming from it , clearly audible due to pin drop silence in the room. On the other side of the bed , clearly visible are ECG graph and a screen showing numerical information , confirming the presence of heartrate measurement equipments . Next to it is a table on which there  are two transparent water bottles , one full , one used to a quarter . Some tablet wrappers are also there having a little shine on their surface hence visible .
___________
                                 Again a high pain stroke in the lower right part of the chest . Painful enough to wake him up from the sleep he desperately begs now a days . The blanket seems to be folded a little along with a frisking sound .
___________
                                "Time's up". A heavy voice is heard . Seems neither a command nor a request . Beyond any rule of grammer .
                                  A body is perceived in front of bed . Abysmally dark . So much dark that nothing can be clearly seen in it , apart from its face , which is almost white . White , not of a dove, but of a blank paper . Nothing can be said about this white either thus makes it as abyssmal as the dark .
                                 "Who are you?", murmured the patient . " I'm death ",came reply.
___________
   
Patient - "I'm not ready."
Death - "Well you're never ready."
Patient - " Give me some more time please."
Death - "Is that even possible ? Anyways if there is some way , let me know how more years ?"
Patient - " I don't know . Just some more time. Come in future if you want to come."
Death - "See . You may have a notion of past and future . I'm just present all the time ."
Patient - "Please leave me alone. Please . I beg you. "
Death - "Is that even possible ? I'm always with you and around you . Deep inside everyone's mind . Buried ."
Patient - "No . You are not . A year back , you were nowhere near me . You just came now . "
Death - "See. It's not about your death . It's about death ."
Patient - " What do you mean ?"
Death - " Remember the funerals in your society you attended . Everytime you watched a burial or a cremation in front of you and while being there , you were talking about politics and sports !! . You missed a profound realization time and again .Because it was always about your death and rarely about death. In this culture , death is swept under the carpet . "
Patient - "But the very thought of death,  whether mine or someone else' , is against life . How can i live peacefully if i have a thought of death looming around a corner ?"
Death - "If you think death is a horror or a very negative aspect then it is impossible to imagine a peaceful life . "
Patient - "How illogical !! We do life insurance and all the medical care just to fight and beat death . "
Death - " But here I am. You did beat your death . Didn't you ? "
Patient - " But not fighting death is cowardice. "
Death - "And what if i tell you that courage and wisdom is in accepting the existence of death."
Patient - " But why do you even exist ?"
Death - " Existence can't be understood separately for something . When the whole is in sight , part is understood . "
Patient - " Then my complete life is the whole , isn't it ?
Death - "No. It's just a egoistic view ."
Patient - "Then which whole are you talking about ?"
Death - "The Universe beyond any limit is the whole . You are a part. See you are born an infant . You grow into an adult and then grow old . But at the same time , there are infants taking birth and old dying everyday . It's a cycle . Death is not against Life . It's the last part of it . It completes it ."
Patient - "But why is there death at the end ? It is horrifying for me that at the end all is gone ."
Death - " It's your perspective about the end that is horrifying, not the end in itself . .Death has a significance .  But you are never ready to think about death . First you say you're too young to talk of death . Then you say you are too busy to talk of death . At last you say you are too old to talk of death . "
Patient - " But we have to keep fighting it . Even in this ICU i am fighting it ."
Death - " Well . First you sweep me under the carpet . You make me a taboo . Nobody will talk about me . And then you do a mockery . Mockery of keeping someone alive . By giving a medication . Then a ventilator . Then electric shocks and whatever . For your convenience you have limited death . To a straight line of ECG . To a death certificate . To a property transfer . "
Patient - " What's your role other than this ? You are the worst part you see . I don't know why anyone says that you are the ultimate truth. "
Death - " Put up a new lens to see me . As i see , I am about knowing that a new life , full of potential and possibilities , is waiting to enter somewhere . And for its entry , the old life , which was once new and will be new again , has two contributions to make . First is to provide the new coming life a better ground by providing wisdom , experience and truth . Second is to create a room for the new life , by accepting to vacate our own . If you know how and when to pass the batton , you'll be a leader even in retiring . And to let this happen as a part of nature  , i am in existence as death ."
Patient - " Well that's worth giving a thought . But what about those (like me)who have only consumed and exploited and returned very little ? " 
Death - "Oh yes . This rejected lot may not have made first contribution . But second contribution is inevitably done through me . This rejected lot is washed away relieving the nature and humanity . And for also that this lot can re-emerge as a potential life next time . Through death , whether one serves or is washed away , it's for the higher good in both the cases ."
Patient " Now i see. "
_________
                                Death vanishes from sight . The patient feels no pain now . A feeling like when the sky gets clear .  
                                Again a frisking sound of the blanket . And then silence . A staight line of ECG on the graph .
_________
                                 4 years later . A kid asks his mother, " Death means what ? What happens in death ? Why is there death ? " . She replies , " Shut up. " . But he keeps on asking . She says ," So hear . The person becomes a star . Now eat this cake and play with your toys . Don't talk of death again to anyone . " He's silent but seems dissatisfied . 
                                " Good question kid . Good going. " smiles death .














 






Comments

  1. Death is the end of a adventure and a start of new adventure..!

    ReplyDelete
  2. That was a deadly discussion😂

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tysm 😊. And it is the deadliest comment 😁😁

      Delete
  3. Deep ... Great work bhaiya...
    Truth still taboo

    ReplyDelete

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