February 6, 2015
Being days away from death
It was quite a show: he came out on a wheelchair, and had a mask on his face--it
was a scene straight out of a movie. It
was heartbreaking for me; a man giving in to death, slowly; a man who I had
once seen being very strong. I went to
get the car. Sabir too had parked the car in that lane, but after getting his
parked car Sabir went the wrong way. I wanted to go the way the arrows pointed
out for me to go, further down and then make a U turn. When Sabir’s and my car crossed Sabir did not
look happy that I was going the other way, but I kept driving; made a U turn
into the other lane that had the one way traffic going up. By the time I reached the passengers Sabir had
not showed up; I wondered if someone had caught him going the wrong way and
reprimanded him. Will he realize after this
that he faces all these problems because of his minimal education? Chacha got in the car; we had pillows for
him, he had asked for them. He lay down
with pillows under his head. I asked him
if I should put seat belt on him in case I brake hard and he rolls out. He asked me not to brake hard. Going home when Abba talked about buying
dollars, Chacha suddenly got very excited.
All his life he had done that, he liked being around money and having
something to do with it; that was a real pleasure for him: making money,
accumulating wealth, and spending as little as possible. I wondered if he
should keep doing this till the very end.
Why not die doing what you really want to do? We reached Chacha’s house and sat there for
some time before heading back home.
