In Remembrance of my Ammavan...

Five dreadful days of my life had passed...

On Thursday, 5th of February, I got a call from my dad that my Uncle (Ammavan; mom's brother) had met with an accident and he was in a serious condition. I called my native instantly and I think I have lost all my control when I heard the news. Ammavan had an accident in Kuwait, and he passed away on the spot. I couldn't believe what I was hearing in my mobile...I sat down helplessly in the office staircase, weeping heart broken...

He was just 43 years old, and is the third in the four children of my grand parents; my mom being the eldest, followed by my first uncle and my Kunjamma (mausi). He have two kids (studying in 7th and 2nd grades!) and his wife had gone just 10 days before to Kuwait from Kerala to meet him. She was there when the accident happened; The accident happened on 4th of Feb, in the evening hours. Just before the accident, she called him and he told that he was very far away from their home, as from their home in Kerala to Guruvayoor temple; and that he would manage to reach home in about 1.5 hours. He never reached home after that...The primary cause for the accident was the sand tornado in which my uncle's car got stuck into. Later the postmortem report showed that he had broken his brain nerves out of scare, which was the primary cause of the death. There's not much injury on other parts of his body except some minor scars on face.

The first person to know about the incident was my grand father. He was in our house construction site when he got a call from someone from Kuwait that ammavan had met with a serious accident. God knows how he drove his 2-wheeler from the site to his home with that news in his head...Meanwhile my Kunjamma also got the news and she also started to the maternal home. At first, everyone was thinking that it was an accident and ammavan had just broken his legs and hands...But soon they came to know the harder part of the news. My Grand mother was not aware of the deadlier news and everyone including my grandfather and Kunjamma told that he is just serious and is in hospital...People in and around the home came to know about the accident and death, and they started flocking around the house. Still no one dared say the bad news to my grand mother.

I had also started from Bangalore to Kerala by bus at about 6:00 PM on 5th Feb. One of my friend arranged tickets for me. I reached home by 10:30 AM next day. By that time my grand mother also came to know about the news. With heavy heart, I entered the home. My Grand father was lying on his bed, and seeing me he embraced me and started crying...My grand mother was inconsolable.Oh God! I don't know how I with stood those scenes.

Meanwhile, Ammayi (uncle's wife) also came from Kuwait. I had gone there with Kunjamma, my cousin sister and one more person. The scenes there were horrific...Ammayi was out of control and totally inconsolable. On seeing us, she totally went berserk...Oh God! remembering that itself is an horror for me...

My first uncle also came the same day. My parents and sister also started from Jaipur to Kerala; my mom was told and she still believed that his brother had just met with an accident and he was in a serious condition in hospital. When they reached home in Kerala and when she was told that he was not anymore, she cried so bitterly that I haven't seen her crying like that before...God! you made me witness all these...

On the 5th day of my Uncle's death, the body arrived from Kuwait (Usually it would take at least 3/4 weeks for the body to arrive from any gulf country! Some of my Uncle's friends were in Indian Embassy, which made the arrival easy). The day was like hell...A horror tale for me which I never want to witness again in my life. And please God! Never allow any one to see a day like that...Me, my cousin brother and my uncle's son had done the last rituals for him. God, give my grand parents and my family the power to heel from this deep scar...

I remember my child hood days with my uncle; days when he came to Jaipur from his Army Camp (He was in Army before going to Kuwait); days when we fought for some petty issues; emails and chats sent complaining I don't call him ... My heart wept when I opened my GMail today and looked at the Chat archives...

You have never gone Hari Ammava....You will remain in our heart for ever.... :'( :'( :'(