Gloomy Morning

Tara Chand Seth

News of the death of Tamil Nadu chief minister J.Jayalalithaa late last night cast a shadow on today’s proceedings. On top, Tara Chand Seth returned to the Garden after performing the last rites of his sister in Delhi (ref post of November 24).

Karuna Waghmare

In keeping with the solemnity of the occasion, we refrained from raising the last round of laughter this morning.
Tara Chand’s sister was a few years older to him (he believes “she was in her nineties”) and had been in and out of hospital for the past couple of years. She was suffering from “usual age-related problems” of the heart and kidneys, but had consistently resisted any surgical intervention.
Given her advanced age, neither did the doctors nor had her family members compelled her. And so, on a bright winter morning, while soaking in the sun on the verandah of her Delhi home, the lady collapsed from her chair. She never woke up again.
“It was all too sudden,” Tara Chand ruminated. “But that is the nature of death.

Pondering over weighty issues of life?

You can never say when it will strike. She had collapsed from a heart stroke at 11:30 a.m. Her folks rushed her to hospital, but she was already long gone. We can only seek comfort from the fact that she had a painless death.”
Karuna Waghmare provided a measure of diversion from the all-pervasive air of gloom by showing up after almost two weeks. Clearly, she was not aware of Tara Chand’s bereavement and much to everybody’s surprise and infinite embarrassment, greeted us individually with a cheeky one-liner: “How was it in the petticoat?”
Now, what can anybody say to that?
What Karuna meant was whether we enjoyed the hilarious 'Petticoat Game' she had introduced us to on our last picnic at Saina Resort (ref post of November 26). But the way she put forth her question, in conspiratorial tones, left many red-faced. Even Shekhawat did not dare to reply!
Lt Col Angad Singh (from Mohali):
Births and deaths follow the laws of nature and these would continue despite our best efforts. These have to be taken in our stride as one cannot remain gloomy for long. Be part of the crowd, shun gloominess and enjoy the morning breeze.