He died last night in a funny way not that it elevates the gravity of the tragedy, but dying while excreting is one of the most unorthodox ways of dying. By the time this post will be read, his ashes will be lying in Ganga either flowing along mixed with residual chemicals and soapsuds or hanging on to the bank meshed inside the hair from armpits of an old pilgrim. My old asthmatic uncle's death however made a deep impression on my mind and drew me on to work out this piece. Death, this simple five letter word has perhaps lead to more discussions, debates, research and preaching than any other topic. From time immemorial man has been awestruck and terrified both at once by this phenomenon whereby a fully functional living being just changes into a non-living lump of flesh.

Almost all the religions devote a major portion to matters and issues related to death with some going as far as decreeing the right way to die even. The ancient Egyptians thought of a life different to that lived by us on this planet but strikingly similar to ours. They believed that the material commodities of this life along with the organs of our body have an important role to play in the other world. The Chinese, Mesopotamians, Incas and all such primitive societies believed that those who died had a hand in the natural occurrences like rainfall and thunder. When forms of worship evolved into complex an elaborate affairs, things didn't remain simple anymore. Man was always afraid of the unknown netherlands beyond and when they told him that there was someone sitting there already to either punish him or reward him man took heed. Like any animal who understands what being a subject means, man understood and tried to work to make the afterlife better. To pay his dues for safe passage beyond. Dead bodies burned to set the energy free and ashes flown, bodies being fed to vultures to fill the guts of creatures of god and bodies being buried to make them one with the Earth beneath our feet, they are all attempts to prepare for the second phase. Man was wary of both the pleasures as well as pains beyond, so he came up with the concept of freedom from this whole cycle. Salvation was considered the best option and ways worked out by kneeling in front of the heavens or feeding those who hold the authority to speak to him who decides the fates. When will all these cycles, troubles and struggles end? Another great answer was given- Doomsday. If you aren't judged now you will be judged then, there is no escape for anyone. The easiest way to make everyone toe the line and pay their respects to those above was through the gate known as death. Even seemingly contradictory and sometimes paradoxical dictums were given and what is more, they were followed too! Take for example two concepts out of the faithbook of Hindus- reincarnation and the pronouncement that to become a human again you have to pass through all the yonis (species). If they both hold true and if I retain fragments of my past life in my brain, shouldn't I be buzzing or roaring right now? The prophets and demigods held the noose in their own hands and the answer to the puzzle of death in their palm. They were awed, feared and loved all at once.

Science is nothing but an attempt by man to quantify, classify and analyze all that is around him. Science had to come into play and even geniuses like Einstein linked their studies to the concept of a supernatural power and mass energy transformations to explain what happens to us at the end of the tunnel. If only they understood that nature doesn't work in symmetry or on the basis of strict laws and principles.That is what makes nature our masters-it innovates with each passing moment. Even two electrons are never identical let alone the fate of all!

Those who didn't quite manage to be prophets or gurus had to say something too. Pope wanted to lie undisturbed and unsung. For him death meant peace. Morrison just predicted The End, nothing else just the end. No secrets, no surprises, no questions and no answers apart from it. However, Vivekananda tried to bring in logic to dogmas by trying to explain logically and in a scientific way yet connecting it to the mysticism of Hindu philosophy. What emerged was overwhelming but still not conclusive.