Early this
morning, I received a text message from my sister.
“Extremely
sad news. Uncle Patrick passed away 2 am this morning.”
Uncle
Patrick was our family friend always ready to help in our times of need.
I remembered
the camping trips our families took together when we were growing up. We would
sit around late at night and sing old Hindi film songs. Some were funny and
some philosophical. We rolled on the floor laughing one moment and thought
about life seriously the next as we yodelled along.
One of these
songs was –
“Zindagi
ek safar hai suhana, yahan kal kya ho kisne jaana?”
Life is a
wonderful journey, who knows what will happen tomorrow?
I reminisced
about the happy times we had spent together with Uncle Patrick and his family
as I packed lunchboxes.
...
An hour
later at the school library, my beautiful Indian friend blushed as she said,
“I have some
good news.” Then she blushed some more.
I knew
exactly what she wanted to say.
In the place
where I come from, ‘good news’ is synonymous with ‘going to have a baby’.
“Congratulations!”
I hugged her.
“Zindagi
ek safar hai suhana, yahan kal kya ho kisne jaana?”
...
