What do we do when she dies...
Mood:  blue
Topic: Grounded before takeoff
A young girl dies by hanging. A starlet who came to Bombay to make a career in showbiz.
A promising career is sniffed out before it takes off. Some people cry, most are numbed, many others are shocked.
'Never thought she would do it'. 'She was the strong type'. 'She was quiet but determined'. 'Just talked to her a few days back and she appeared ok'. 'I was looking forward to her career upswing'.
And then this happens.
People are at a loss for words. Parents are aghast. Peers are benumbed. Rivals are smirking. Wrinkles appear on the forehead like question marks. The end of the mouth twists into a question mark too. The customary apt sentences of condolence are uttered. Sobbing, wiping a tear welling up, a tug at the heart.
The cremation ceremony is attended with appropriate gloom writ large on the face.
Then slow, measured steps walk out of the cremation ground. The lines of a melancholic number spring to the mind. But the sound of traffic while crossing the road is stronger. The mind jerkes to attention. All senses are alert. A death is forgotten in a hurry to start living once again.
One more suicide becomes a statistic.

Ajai
16 Feb 2006