The moment of emancipation

At Har Ki Pauri, the priest waits for us; he asks Harmel to strip down to his shorts, take a dip in the Ganges, and sit down for the last rituals. The rituals are performed solemnly and earnestly, with the priest explaining every step to us, since none of us has ever witnessed this before After ablutions and prayers, the priest asks Harmel to open the box containing the ashes. We are already carrying a screwdriver with us, aware that the box needs to be prised open. As soon as Harmel opens the side lid, the ashes just pour out…. as if they didn’t want to wait even a millisecond longer … just like that….a white mound of mortal remains from 63 years ago.

The enormity of the moment dawns on us…I cry, Len and Chris are elated, yet fighting back tears, but Harmel is completely stoic –he performs the ceremony with absolute grace and dignity. Within a few minutes, the ashes are poured into the River Ganges, and we look at them merging with the water, mingling, dissolving, disappearing….. We hug each other and Harmel says with a smile, “Pooran is happy now”. It’s almost as if Harmel feels a release, a mighty unburdening that one feels at the completion of an enormous task

Manpreet Singh

Read Manpreet Singh’s blog and check out the photos at www.sbs.com.au/ yourlanguage/punjabi