To Son, with Love

1-2-3 he said and raced through life and jumped into space changing our lives forever.

Accidents, terror attacks, bomb blasts, murder or a disease like cancer- such deaths have just become a piece of news but the turmoil behind it is lived by those who lose their people.

8220;1-2-3 he said and raced through life and jumped into space changing our lives forever. As if the almighty had said ready, steady and go,8221; reminisces 77-year old Sudhakar Joshi, who plunged into deep emotional turmoil after he lost his son Abhijeet, a decade back. Ironically this was the time when this retired public relations officer needed people around him to give him the strength, but most his relatives and friends distanced themselves from him, says Joshi, who has penned a book in memory of Abhijeet and his fight with cancer. The book also deals poignantly with the plight of the family that actually lives the death.

8220;I had just lost my dear one, after the condolence days passed, I felt my near ones were also going away and that too because they did not want to hurt me by talking and asking about Abhi, which is natural at such times,8221; recalls Joshi. 8220;Those were the times when I needed my relatives and friends the most. I needed their emotional support to heal my pain but there was a hesitation from both the sides. I did not know how to approach them and neither did they,8221; he says adding, 8220;Initially I did not really give it a thought but as days passed and I met new acquaintances, I thought this hesitation is faced by everyone. While I wrote of Abhi8217;s memories I also tried to write my experience after we lost him. That8217;s when some of my close friends read it they said I must compile it into a book and I decided to listen to them.8221;

A narration of the anguish of a father surviving his son, the book relates to the swift and irrevocable change of human relationships, a phenomenon that corrodes eternal values in present-day fragmented families and demolished social structure. 8220;Accidents, terror attacks, bomb blasts murder or a disease like cancer- such deaths have just become a piece of news but the turmoil behind it is lived by those who lose their people. I have attempted to relate my experience to also portray the resilience of human spirit against all odds,8221; says Joshi, who has titled the Marathi version of the book Tuch Avade and the English version as Abhi 123. 8220;Abhi 123 is written in third person, unlike Tuch Avade. It was for all our known ones settled abroad,8221; says Joshi. 8220;Just a day before his death Abhi told his sister Manasi 8212; 8216;One, two, three and I8217;ll be gone forever into space. That8217;s how we titled it. Also 12/3 is his date of birth.8221; He adds.

Sketching a portrait of an able son, a brave brother and a perfect husband, this is a story of a family united to fight, survive and cope with the devastating shadow of an illness that plunged their lives into a deep darkness from which they are still trying to emerge.