A Tribute to Tejaswee Rao

It was a sad week for us. Our friend IHM wrote asking for our prayers for her daughter who was seriously ill.  We prayed, we were anxious … but this blog entry of hers broke my heart ……

SHE WILL LIVE FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS
Born: 19th Jan 1991.

Died: 11th Aug 2010.

Death be Not Proud

A poem by John Dunne

Death be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not soe,

For, those, whom thou think’st, thou dost overthrow,

Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill mee.

I could only weep.  I have spent a sleepless night, because this death brought back memories I’d rather not revisit.   I was 23 years old when my friend, my partner in crime, my younger brother left his work place to come home.  He never made it, his body was brought home by my father.  He was 22 years old.

It is easy to say “Be brave.”  It is easy to say that we are born alone and have to live our lives alone and then we die alone.  It is easy to say a whole lot of things, but our mind, our emotions, our heart keeps on screaming “Why God Why?!!!”  My mother kept weeping “How do I erase 22 years of love and memories?”  I was deeply affected too … I mourn him even now, at times, How do I stop thinking about that thankless job that I took upon myself …… packing his clothes, his shoes, his books, his personal effects and then driving down to give them to charity? I have done the same chore after the death of my father and then my mother …..  I hate it.  I kept his diary with me … I still have it.  He had dreams, he had the youthful optimism of a young boy wanting to conquer the world.

I have watched my parents die every year, slowly after his death.  It is such a huge loss.  IHM is a very strong person and she is dealing with grief in such a dignified way.

At times I want to go up there and fight with God.  It is unnatural for children to go before their parents.  It is not fair.  No parent any where in the world should be forced to deal with this sort of thing.

Sometimes I think this world sucks big time.

I read Tejaswee’s blog last night – could not sleep.  She was a wonderful girl, confident, articulate and intelligent.  This is not surprising – her mother is a wonderfully confident and expressive woman with oodles of common sense.  I wish I had known her, and I wish she had been allowed to live on this planet.

Goodbye Little Girl …… really wish you had not left so soon

An English Translation of a French Poem

On the Death of Young Girl

Though childhood’s days were past and gone
More innocent no child could be;
Though grace in every feature shone,
Her maiden heart was fancy free.

A few more months, or haply days,
And Love would blossom, – so we thought,
As lifts in April’s genial rays
The rose its clusters richly wrought.

But God had destined otherwise,
And so she gently fell asleep,
A creature of the starry skies,
Too lovely for the earth to keep.

She died in the earliest womanhood;
Thus dies, and leaves behind no trace,
A bird’s song in a leafy mood, –
Thus melts a sweet smile from a face.