Death

Death is the termination of the biological functions that sustain a living organism. The word refers both to the particular processes of life's cessation as well as to the condition or state of a formerly living body. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include predation, malnutrition, accidents resulting in terminal injury, and disease.

Signs of death or strong indications that a person is no longer alive are:

• Cessation of breathing
• No pulse (cardiac arrest)
• Pallor mortis, paleness which happens in the 15–120 minutes after death
• Livor mortis, a settling of the blood in the lower (dependent) portion of the body
• Algor mortis, the reduction in body temperature following death. This is generally a steady decline until matching ambient temperature
• Rigor mortis, the limbs of the corpse become stiff (Latin rigor) and difficult to move or manipulate
• Decomposition, the reduction into simpler forms of matter, accompanied by a strong, unpleasant odor.

When we read the above paragraphs we come to know  about death in general. Today, I would like to share death in a different way. When I was five years old, I started understanding death. I missed the people who died. I never saw them; I used to think about them. I started losing my near and dear ones as days passed. Every evening my father used to take me for a stroll. We passed the River Hooghly, the tributary of the Ganges River but would always stop at the crematorium. I would hold my father’s hand tightly. I did not want him to stop everyday. He would make me go inside and tell me the secret of death. He would say that man is mortal. Death is everywhere, but why? Sometimes there is foul play, sometimes the fatality is self-induced, and often natural causes just take their toll. Humans are as frail as any other creature. My father would say that the crematorium was the most sacred place and that I should never be afraid of this place. After returning home, I would ask my elder brothers, is it painful when the bodies are burnt? I would also request them not to hit the body (me after my death) while it would burn (at that time modern cremation furnace was not common). They would laugh.

Married and mother of a child with work and work, had less time to think about death. By then lost many relatives and neighbours. Alas! everything changed once again with the death of my father. It was like the world coming to an end. I could not believe my ears that my father is no more with us. "God! I want my father back", I shouted, I cried aloud, I was not the same person what my neighbours have known. I was not normal. I did not know how to reach home. I did not believe anybody. I was helpless. How would I reach home? The last flight had already left. I still cannot express how I spent that night waiting desperately to hear the crow cawing. It was afternoon when I reached home. I saw my father lying with a smile on his face. Even after so many hours the body was not discoloured, not cold. I kept on asking this question: “Is my father alive?” I called him “Baba, I have come with your grandchild. Please wake up. Baba, I am tired”.  I kissed him on the cheek, but he did not open his eyes, he did not kiss me on my forehead, which he would always do, he did not talk to me. He died chanting God’s name, he did not suffer, he died like a King. 

Many years have passed, many people have died. I started going to the crematorium at the time of cremation. I watch the bodies lying, waiting for their chance to come. The bodies go inside the chamber where the body is placed which is called the retort and is lined with heat-resistant refractory bricks.  During the cremation process, a large part of the body (especially the organs) and other soft tissue are vaporized and oxidized by the intense heat; gases released are discharged through the exhaust system. After 45 to 55 minutes the sound stops. Contrary to popular belief, the cremated remains are not ashes in the usual sense. After the incineration is completed, the dry bone fragments are swept out of the retort and pulverized by a machine called a cremulator to process them into "ashes" or "cremated remains". In this way I have seen bodies being turned into ashes. 

“I think we should look forward to death more than we do. Of course everybody hates to go to bed or miss anything but dying is really the only chance we'll get to rest.”