February 23, 2019

"Look at the recent obituaries online or in the newspaper and imagine the life of someone and write about that person."

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He died at 94 years of age, one would call it a ripe old age. Hopefully it was a good life, survived as he is by his siblings and two daughters. But it could have been lonely too, towards the end, as his wife passed away before him. Yet maybe, the presence of grand children and great grandchildren might have made it a little pleasant.

1923 - well before India got its independence, even before the second world war, how different life must have been. What must it have been to witness such world altering events or be alive at the same time that they happened? Or was he a man who rarely gave much thought to the world around him, preferring to focus on his family and friends and the world that he built for them?

What sort of a man was he, quiet with a silent sense of humour, one that beamed when his grandchildren were around him? Or was he of grim visage, one who rarely smiled? Was he loved and respected or was he feared and admired? What passion drove him, what interests captivated him?

Questions to which one will never know the answers, aroused by reading a simple notice in the newspaper, announcing to the world that one of its unknown citizens has passed on to another realm.

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Word count 220

And since that was a little sombre, here is a funny obituary (an oxymoron???)

But nothing takes the cake (pun intended) as this one: