Candle in the Wind

He was a quiet kid with an amazing smile and a weird sense of humor. He was musically talented and wowed everyone with his guitar pieces. He always made me comfortable when me, the youngest, had to hang around the older kids.
He was my older cousin brother. He died this week. He was just 31.

When my mother told me last evening, shaken was the only word I could use. As I tried to assimilate his death, the other blow was that it was through Cardiac arrest. He was young I argued, Prashu , was just back in Bangalore to start a whole new life.. there was so many things he had not done ,it simply did not make sense.But he had worked since he was 20 , both in India and in the Gulf. Though he wanted to follow his music, it simply was not the logical thing to do.So he did what any other good son would do, followed his parents advice and started working after college

Through the last day memories have been hitting me big time. Lil things we cousins did on the summer breaks.Prashu climbed up a tree or anything that could be climbed. I still remember, when the older boys were trying to prove their superiority, my older cousin quickly jumped between his house and neighbors terrace. He had done this a 1000 times , as he had grown up in that house. Prashu quickly followed, with one lil hiccup, he crossed the space one time, but to get back , he just couldn’t seem to make the length. It was with extremely shame faced that he knocked on the terrace doors till the neighbors allowed him to walk down. There were a lot of times, that pictures of him included his arm in a cast or with a guitar. That was Prashu to me, an older brother with a heart which was courageous and a brain that rivaled any musical genius. But as we all grew up, our interests and careers took us in different routes. There was the usual query to my aunt as to his whereabouts, but it seems quite a while since we all connected. It was always assumed we would meet at someone’s wedding or maybe on a trip to Bangalore

If there are friends or family out there who you haven’t called in a while, I would say send them a note or a call. Life is always moving too fast,work is always waiting in a small box which we all call laptops and everyday emergencies are a part of it. But its far worse to sit in a room at early morning hours typing a blog, hoping that you got one last word with a loved one .

Bye Prashu, we will miss you.

From “American Pie” by Don Mclean

A long, long time ago...I can still remember

How that music used to make me smile.

And I knew if I had my chance

That I could make those people dance

And, maybe, they'd be happy for a while.

But february made me shiver

With every paper I’d deliver.

Bad news on the doorstep;I couldn’t take one more step.

I can’t remember if I cried When I read about his widowed bride,

But something touched me deep inside

The day the music died”

Anu