The Surreal Feeling

‘He was tall and lanky having a chiselled jaw line shaping a good looking face. His walk was relaxed and unhurried, like someone strolling languidly. His voice was heavy, low pitched but vividly resonant. His wit was impressive and his humour entertaining. Over the years we kept meeting ( sparsely off late ), though I spent much more time with him in my childhood during my visits in summer vacations.

We played a lot of indoor games together and I taught him to play chess. His inquisitiveness was childlike at times and I passed on whatever knowledge I had  for fun. However he was sharp and became a fine chess player. He struggled academically, in spite of having an above average intelligence and somehow managed to establish a business which absorbed his creativity and handed him a living.

Often criticised for his so called lack of success, the slender gentleman soaked it all up, remaining confined to his small world. The truth is, he was hardly to blame for what he had not achieved. His life was afflicted with great stress right from his childhood, for no fault of his. The poor thing had succumbed to it though. The emotional tribulations and the ruthless challenges of life were heavy burdens to carry, which people did not account for, while judging him.

He kept himself aloof, meeting just a few and sharing his humour ( he had loads of it ) with some lucky ones like me at times, making me laugh to my heart’s content. His  creative instincts were helping him in his business and at last things were improving. Years of struggle were leading to a bit of ease. Life was settling down. There was calm in his small restricted  world. But a storm was lurking in the horizon. As if to say,  It was    so ordained.

The storm arrived in the form of a medical emergency, sweeping the calm away in its wake. Having faced several storms earlier, the problem was no deterrence to his optimism. He told me in no uncertain terms, that he will brave this too. The storm shall pass and that he would recover. His belligerence though was not enough to quell the deadly gale and eventually, the weakening body caved in ever so quickly, in just a matter of days. The baritone quietened, the resonance silenced, the humour to be missed forever’. 

This wordly sketch is of my eldest cousin, who bid goodbye to this world after a brief illness, leaving behind distraught kin and family.  It was all too unexpected, all too sudden. My sketch of him, is for myself, my way of remembering him and showcasing my  relationship with him and eventually to calm this weird surreal feeling within.  May the Almighty bless him with all the goods and comforts in his eternal journey. 

May You Stay Happy in the Heavens !!