Jayalalithaa's
life and final journey - when everything comes to connote some symbolism - for
them who really mourn - for them who try to mourn - and for them who do no not
even try to mourn!
Mourning
– this is one human emotion that is free of any cultural context.
When
your inner self asks you to cry, you cry. You don’t have to put efforts there.
Yes,
it may be loud or you may simply travel so deep inside that you get
disconnected from the world.
Your
face speaks. Your eyes have tales. Your body responds.
And
that is a symbol of true love, committed feelings, genuine care - something
that is rare to come by in these times – be it J. Jayalalithaa, the massively
popular but lonley Tamil Nadu’s chief minister who died yesterday and was laid
to rest today..
Or
a commoner like you and me.
What
goes in favour of us that we have a family to speak for us when we are no more
there but people like Jayalalithaa, though they matter for millions because
they care for them and try to reach out to them materially, have no one to
really care about after they have departed..
Love/care/commitment
– such emotions suck at times like this.
It
was on display, at a massive level during Jayalalithaa’s funeral today. Without
taking the risk of sounding cynical, we can say that most who present in there
during her final rites and burial had this or that social/political equation in
mind.
Yes,
there were aggrieved masses but who cares for them after her. They were crying
and it was real because she tried to reach out to them in a country where the
poverty line still hovers around Rs. 1000 a month and where the world’s maximum
count of poor people reside.
Otherwise she lived a materialistically comfortable life with ruthless political finesse and didn’t bother to go her own way away from even her political mentor (remember the 1984 episode of her widening rift with MGR). But love is a strange thing - and sometimes, rift in relations is a part of it. She was buried besides her that mentor only as per her last wish.
It
is said in death we are all alone. It is metaphorical but with Jayalalithaa’s
last rites today, it was evident why this statement gets practical at times –
the shades of mourning during her 75 day in the hospital and the last 24 hours
are more than enough to tell us that.
©SantoshChaubey
