Sometime back an elderly lady nextdoor (may God bless her soul) passed away after a sudden bout of illness. Perhaps this particular incident is not very significant as such but something caught my eye when the hearse came by. The person who was driving the vehicle gave a hand at moving the body inside the home and all this time he had a lighted cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth. I was wondering if he had at all realised how much out of sync it seemed in that particular ambience. But somehow it did not seem that he had meant any disrespect whatsoever. For him this was a job probably without any emotional lingerings. The lady had meant nothing to him and hence the sense of bereavement had not registered. Cant blame him at all. He is used to seeing such scenes all throughout the day and if he starts attaching the pain to himself it would make his job difficult. Leaving aside this justification, it still remains that when one is a part of a sombre atmosphere its sanctity and dignity ought to be respected.

Advertisements