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
Yes.. this new year is to make mistakes and learn from it. :)
ReplyDeleteNice one :)
Only those who don't try anything new can save themselves from mistakes.
Delete"Falling into new traps and ditches.... Writing new stories, Discovering new voices"
ReplyDeleteso true Sir .. will stay away from new traps and ditches,but by the year end the traps will turn out as lost opportunities and the welcoming garden as ditches ! But then let's leave it for the next new year :)
Traps and ditches are inevitable to some extent. They can be seen as opportunities, however.
DeleteHappy new year.
How do you do that Sir? 'Language too renews itself like the proverbial phoenix' - and the ashes of meanings lost, re-interpreted, twisted create a fire in which it will burn and will be re-born.
ReplyDeleteI don't do it, Sunaina. It happens - that's the plain truth. Elsewhere you mentioned the dedication of my book to RSSB. I dedicated the book to them just because it is they who made me write those stories - most of them, at least. It is they who changed my way of looking at life. It is they who killed my old language and made me create the new language.
DeleteOur experiences can be tremendously transforming forces. RSSB transformed me so much that I had no choice but reinvent my language, the narrative of my life....
A beautiful poem :)
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteFalling in ditches, learning from our mistakes and then committing new one... That's what proves that we are still alive. When we are dead, we don't commit anymore mistakes.
ReplyDeleteSo very apt, sir! Wish you a very prosperous New Year! :)
Exactly, Rakesh. When we are really alive, when we venture out in new ways, mistakes are bound to happen. Sometimes other people too will dig ditches for us, especially if we are on the path of success...
Deletehappy new year pictures 2016
Delete