വീണപൂവ്‌ - Fallen Flower

It was a tragic day... My departure to Hyderabad and my teenage cousin sister's departure to paradise. 

March 28th, 2011. 

I'd finished my hectic Infosys training at Mysore and was posted to Hyderabad. I was to fly to Hyderabad that day at 2:10 pm from Nedumbassery Airport Cochin. That very day morning, as we were to leave for airport, my aunt called home and urgently asked my brother to go to her home. My cousin, Pinkey, was seriously ill. He rushed to her place and took her to the hospital along with aunt and grandma. Being a heart patient since birth, and having done few operations, the doctors had little faith in her survival above 6 years. But contrary to their predictions, she lived to her early youth, till 20.

Pinkey passed away on the day of my leaving Kerala. My flight got delayed by 3 hours. I heard the tragic news from my mom during my wait at the airport. Mom and brother had come to drop me at the airport. They left soon to the hospital. Pinkey was admitted to the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) in the morning. Mom and brother arrived few seconds before she passed away.

Now I'm home exacly 1 month after she left the family.

April 29th, 2011.

I went along with my mom to my aunt's house. Usha aunt was weeping, she had been, for the past one month. My grandma's pain was unbearable. The otherwise composed and strong grandma broke down terribly, she seldom spoke, and weeped continuously, her eyes always wet. Grandma brought Pinkey up in her childhood, since her mother was employed. 

As years passed by, everyone grew, their thoughts grew, so did hers. She was a teenager. She had dreams, expectations, just like her many teenage female cousins. One, the eldest, is getting married next week. She got engaged on 30th April. Pinkey always wanted to take part in her marriage. She was the second eldest female among us cousins. But she left us little too early.

As mom was consoling aunt, I went through Pinkey's funeral album. She was an angel. Her eyes were beautiful and her face serene. All of us used to resemble her face to the jasmine bud. But her lips had turned blue. I flipped through all the pages in the mourning funeral album. The last page had a scanned image of one of her diary entries. My eyes filled reading it..

Dated Feb 9th, 2008

ഒരു നിശാപുഷ്പത്തില്‍ നിന്നും അടര്‍ന്നു വീണൊരു ഇതള്‍ പോലെ 

രാത്രിയെ നോക്കി മൂകമായ് കേഴും നിമിഷങ്ങള്‍ പോലെ 

കൊടും കാട്ടില്‍ അകപ്പെട്ട ഒരു കുട്ടിയെ പോലെ 

എങ്ങോട്ടെന്നില്ലാതെ പാറി വീശുന്ന കാറ്റിനെ പോലെ 

ഒരു രാത്രി തന്‍ പുതപ്പു മാറ്റി 

മൂകമായ് മെല്ലെ മെല്ലെ ഉണര്‍ന്നു വരും നേരം 

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