The Silent Vigil

It's exactly one year since she left us.

When I first met Lakshmi, I was completely bowled over. How can somebody talk non-stop? How can somebody talk non-stop when you are meeting them for the first time? She did. It was our first day at IFMR. When I met her in the reception of the hostel, She said,'Oh! You are Karpagam? I know I'll like you.' How can somebody not fall for that charm? I did.

She was the most vivacious girl I have ever met. The brightest. The first thing you'd notice about her is the non-stop chatter. Nobody was spared from an insult including herself. And when that insult is directed at you with a sweet voice and an innocent expression, it takes sometime for you to catch on. But you could never get angry with her because you know it's all said in good humour. One the few which I received was, 'I dont like it when you come into my room.' I stood for a full 30 seconds with my mouth hanging open. Her eyes twinkled and I realised I had been subjected to one of her pranks.

Then out of the blue, one day, she left us. The culprit being a govt. bus which took a sharp turn and ran over her. She died just as she had lived. In a hurry. I'm sure all of us will remember the exact moment when we got the news. I was returning from the gym after an exhausting work out, my stomach growling in hunger and my legs begging for some rest. And as i read the text informing of her accident, all I could think was it cant be her. Surely, if there existed a God (which i seriously doubted) He would never have let this happen to Lakshmi.

Personally, her demise gave me a whole new perspective of life. Nothing is permanent. And life is too short to worry over trivial things. It's too short to be cautious. And most important of all, never hate anybody. Be a friend to all. Am mentioning this particularly because, though Lakshmi was quite popular, I was never a part of her inner circle. And I would have really liked to be her friend.

Now that she is gone I realise there are a lot of things which I would have liked to tell her. Like what an amazing person she was. Or how there was always a positive vibration surrounding her. Or how the way she had an answer for every single question thrown at her had inspired me. And this has also made me realise that it is important to appreciate people for all the good things they have.

It also raised a lot of other questions.. Is there an after life? Is Lakshmi watching us lighting the candles for her. Did she notice the tears pooling in some of her friends' eyes, while we lit the candles and prayed?

R.I.P. Lakshmi. You will always be remembered..