“Babu Moshai, ham sab rang manch ki kathputaliyan hai jinki dor uparwale ke haatho me hai. Kab, kaun, kaha, kaise uthega yeh koi nahi janata” (Friend, we all are puppets in the hands of the Almighty. Who will go when and how – no one knows). Anand had told his Babu Moshai the final truth of life long time back. But as Yudhishtira told the Yaksha in Mahabharata, the greatest mystifying thing in this world is that all of us go on living as if we are immortal even when we see death claiming people all around us!

The truth hit me like a sledgehammer when I opened my mailbox 3-4 days back and saw an email informing me of a death of a batchmate from my B school. He was more or less of the same age as me!

I must confess that this isn’t the first time that someone I know has died but usually they were older people. I have also read about the deaths of people younger than me but they were usually strangers. This time death has struck with a force that seems terrifying because it has picked someone my age and whom I knew. I could barely believe my eyes as I read the mail twice.

And now I am determined that I will not forget that the life is short. I don’t mean it in any melancholic sense. I am looking at the silver lining to the cloud. Since I don’t know how much time I have still left and can’t realistically pretend that every day is my last, I am going to use every moment to its fullest. I am going to try hard and get rid of every negative emotion like jealousy, depression, anger, hatred and fear. I am going to fume and fret less. And I am going to work through my ToDo lists. I know I won’t be able to do it 24 * 7 but I am going to give it a try.

I don’t want another reminder from Anand. :-(