Book Review “ Death ends life, not a relationship ,” as Mitch Albom put it. That is why, we have so many rituals associated with death. Minakshi Dewan’s book, The Final Farewell [HarperCollins, 2023], is a well-researched book about those rituals. The book starts with an elaborate description of the Sikh rituals associated with death and cremation, before moving on to Islam, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and finally Hinduism. After that, it’s all about the various traditions and related details of Hindu final rites. A few chapters are dedicated to the problems of widows in India, gender discrimination in the last rites, and the problem of unclaimed dead bodies. There is a chapter titled ‘Grieving Widows in Hindi Cinema’ too. Death and its rituals form an unusual theme for a book. Frankly, I don’t find the topic stimulating in any way. Obviously, I didn’t buy this book. It came to me as quite many other books do – for reasons of their own. I read the book finally, having shelv
That is so true. Profound.
ReplyDeletehmmmm so true
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ReplyDeletePoignant... :-(
ReplyDeleteAmazing what you can put across in just three lines!
ReplyDeleteSir..you spoke heart out in just few words :) Jai Ho ! :)
ReplyDeleteTo be laconic in a way that is profound is the essence of writing and here we have a sample of it with poetical perfection. That is simply superb.
ReplyDeleteYes, broken dreams make a good basis for poem but then our life is usually full of broken dreams. Does this mean our life too is a poem?
ReplyDeleteHi! It's been a while. I never read a poem by you before. It was tasty.
ReplyDeleteHi Shovon, it was splendid to see you in today's Hindu Literary Supplement. All the best for yur novel. I'll read it.
DeleteBeautiful and deep!!
ReplyDeleteBrilliant Haiku-like crispness! hhm broken dreams!
ReplyDeleteI told my husband another poem:
Cinema is a poem of life for two hours.
Oh, no, wings. Not every movie. Yu should have watched what was screened yesterday: the sound was utter flop.
DeleteBeautiful,touching and true....Thanks!
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