Death beckons

My day started on a bad note today as I learned that my favorite Hollywood actor, Robin Williams is no more and he died of depression and committed suicide. A person who tickles the people’s heart with his indomitable spirit and energy and laughter cracking persona, dies of depression? Really!? Is this possible? What made him so sad and made him leave his countless fans behind in a world, which can never see him play a character again?
What about his wife? Will she not feel cheated? Couldn’t he share his problem, worries with her or any other person who was close to him? The greatest singer of all times, Michael Jackson died of a drug overdose, imaginable? Not at all! These personalities were financially well off, had a huge fan following, had done a lot for themselves and the audience and still they felt lonely? These and hundreds of other questions crowded my mind and I had no answer to these questions just like I do not have answers to the unnatural deaths of many Bollywood and Marathi actors.

Recently, Smita Talwalkar died of ovarian cancer, Ranjana, the Marathi actress lost both her legs and was stranded on a wheel chair and was left with no friends and no family and died of heart attack at the age of 45. Lalita Pawar, who played the wicked mother in law or the stern mother of yester year actors and the one who played the maid to Kaikayi in Ramayana, met with a tragic end at her home, with no one around her. Only a few days later her corpse was discovered by the neighbors and police. Shocking, isn’t it? Dying in isolation with no friends, family around is the most brutal end of a person is what I believe.

The BJP politician, Mr. Pramod Mahajan died at the hands of his own brother and Mr. Gopinath Munde, the brother-in-law of Pravin Mahajan, died in an accident in Delhi. Madhavrao Scindia died in a plane crash and so did the then Chief Minister of Andhra, Y.S. Rajasekara Reddy, Sanjay Gandhi and Rajesh Pilot.

Death is inevitable and it is the ultimate truth. Everybody who takes birth knows about the impending death, sooner or later. But this sudden death in form of an accident or suicide startles us. Dying unnaturally cuts short the prosperous life one is leading. It stops all the contact to the outside world. Sudden death disarms us, we become vulnerable and once again the thought is festered in our minds, ‘This could happen to us, we all have to go’. We are not prepared mentally for such a loss and we mourn the death of people around us, though we are not related to them.

My grandfather died in 1996, when I was still in college. I wanted him to stay longer with me, just as I wish my grandmothers and parents be immortal and they always stay by my side, protecting me, loving me and caring for me. We all want our near and dear ones to be with us permanently. We want our friends for the longest time. Heart and its ways. Silly, aren’t they?

Dying at old age is understandable. Accidents, Crashes, murders are really not in our hands. But committing suicide is the biggest and boldest step one can ever take to end his/her life, without thinking twice about the people, who are left behind. My neighbor, who was a good friend of mine, took this step and went away in a second, but kept his parents burning, their whole lives. They blame themselves for that step, he took and they will never be able to come out of their grief as long as they are alive. After having encountered this incident in my life, I really feel that reaching out to the people who are alone and sad and depressed will help them restore faith in the society and in themselves. They should approach somebody to speak their hearts out. They have no right to take the life, which is bestowed upon them by God.

Life is beautiful and so are you, because you are created by the Almighty for a purpose!