Our Self-Written Obituaries – Divya Patpatia, Anand Vihar
The 182nd death.
[Text and photos sent by Divya Patpatia]
Divya Patpatia, a writer, mother, teacher, compulsive storyteller, and lawyer died at the age of 70, after dinner on her wedding anniversary.
She died choking of excessive laughter, her lungs; victims of years of asthma couldn’t take being mocked by her happiness anymore. She died in the arms of her husband, forcefully reading to him lines from The Little Prince, her beloved companion of a lonely childhood in scary cantonments, also a gift to her husband as a teenager.
She had got rid of the self-created limitations on her happiness convincing herself she wasn’t good enough. Memories of childhood abuse and fear had faded. She had worn all the sarees her mother-in-law had left behind and had lived in a house full of pictures and books. Her long silences with her parents had been mended before she lost them.
Love prevailed.
Her books were read by many and she was remembered to do good work till her last day. During her lifetime many old people found a home with her family. Post her death, the husband discovered a hoard of memories that had been collected since 2010.
Her three glorious children kept all her books. Her old smelling, inherited PG Wodehouse collection and dear Ruskin Bond found a special spot. The couple had shared mountain climbs, intimacy, good education, and work that gave meaning to others lives. Becoming a mother had got her heaven while she was alive.
After the many phases of being puzzled in life she had moved on from being a designer Buddhist to a mindful believer. Her husband had a last message engraved on tile in memory of her life lessons, for he was her real witness to life and death, “Be careful not to heed to even your most instinctive hatred of others my friend. You were almost certainly one of them in a previous lifetime”.
Our Self-Written Obituaries invites people to write their obituary in 200 words. The idea is to share with the world how you will like to be remembered after you are gone. (May you live a long life, of course!) Please mail me your self-obit at mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com.
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