Every four years the Soccer World Cup comes around and after the winners are declared and the trophy awarded, the year becomes part of the history as the World Cup year. Then football officianados dissect the games and analyse each goal. Pundits have a feild day on TV analysing the games for amatuers like us.
but for me these World Cup years, especially htose in the recent past are remembered for a different reason. From 1994 onwards, every world cup year, someone very close and dear have passed away of some sudden unexpected cause.
1994- Njama (My grandmother) passed away. A formidable woman, I always thought, nothing would fell her, that her strong will, would blow away all obstacles in her path. That she would look death in the face, and tell it to take a walk. She had seemed invincible all through her life, yet a bout a nausea and headache ending in a diagnosis of brain tumour and within months she was no more. Just a memory.
1998- Mattemma (My great grandmother) passed away. She was 102 when she passed away but till a few months prior to her death, she was very active, reading the newspaper, watching TV and holding long and profound discussions with everyone. Then a fall and a fracture later, she just withered away in a couple of months, almost as if she had lost the will to live.
2002- Achayan (My father in law). I know him from the stories people tell about him. An immensely brilliant and well read man, he came from a family where people, especially the men, ususally lived past their hundredth birthday. So when a block was discovered in his thigh, no one took it seriously. But Compounded by a renal failure, he passed away at the age of 72, a relatively young age in a family reknowned for its longevity.
2006- Appan ( My father). Appan’s horoscope ended at the age of 50. We had a big bash for his fiftieth birthday. Even though a confirmed marxist and a person who rubbished any kind of superstition, he was a little worried about the way the horoscope ended at the age of 50. But when a decade passed by without incident, and he was in the pink of health, all of us heaved a sigh of relief. Then another five healthy years passed on. When he was 65 ( his birthday was on Jan 1), a phlemy cough, led to a diagnosis of lung cancer and a few months later he was no more.
This time around, we seem to have broken the curse of losing a loved one every four years. A lot of prayers are being said by a lot of people . Maybe God has relented and let us off the hook this time.
