Just stepped down in our building to stand near a dead body being removed. Had no intention of going to the cemetary…suddenly there were not enough people willing to touch a dead body.  Whatever be the reason this was the first funeral of a person whose name I do not know. This was the mother of a person staying in the next wing to our house. Honestly not sure of his name too.

Set me thinking…about the 140 funerals that I have attended in my life (of this only 2 people were younger than me). Sagar Shah whom I still miss and Raju – the younger brother of a classmate.

The Mumbai blast in the stock exchange meant about 12-14 funerals in a day..again of people more or less the same age. In fact there were so many funerals, we lost track of who died and who was seriously injured.

Just too many people are scared to attend a funeral, and I keep wondering why. How come we all know that parting will happen, but the moment a date is put to it, we scream our lungs out like this particular person was immortal. Attending so many funerals has almost made me immune to death. I have not cried at any funeral ever. I may have cried while watching Tare Zameen par or 3 idiots, but not over death. Death has fascinated me and even if I have written about death it remains hidden in my ‘notes’ on facebook,  and not on subramoney. Even this post came as I saw people elder to me being scared of the dead body of a woman who was so frail even when she was alive!

Long live the mother of my neighbor! He must be wondering how an unfriendly guy like me made it to the funeral..I think it was God’s wish that I go to the cemetary….must also thank my grandmother (who did not object to my dad and uncles attending all and sundry funerals) and my mother for taking a leaf out of my grandmother’s book. Too many of my cousins are not allowed to go the cemetary because their father’s are alive. Heaven bless their beliefs, but the 140 funerals that I have attended while my parents are alive do not seem to have upset my parents!! Thank God for that!!