Between Philosophy & Experience
One More Journey
Sixteen years ago, in 2010, Satish – my brother – walked me from his home in Chennai to the 6th-century Sri Parthasarathy Temple in Triplicane. After darshan came coffee, conversation, companionship. An ordinary afternoon neither of us knew would become extraordinary in memory.
Yet, early this month – thirteen years after his passing, as if my feet remembered the turns, the landmarks, the distance, and occasionally glancing over Google Maps, I walked [with my wife] from the temple to his then home.
It was as if that final walk had been quietly preserved, waiting to be retraced. That fascinates me.
The temple had stood there for centuries, witnessing countless arrivals and departures. It stood there when I walked with Satish. It stood there when I walked 13 years after his passing. Memory was not replaying an event. It was accompanying me.
And then, at his earlier dwelling home, reality returned with its quiet certainty: Satish was no longer there. Inside, only memory was alive.
But I felt his presence accompanying me –
· To his room, the hall in which he would sit, meditate and guide many;
· On the staircase walking up and down to the kitchen;
· In the kitchen where he would cook his own food, churn buttermilk for butter and then Ghee;
· At the dining table where we would share a meal, joke and talk endlessly until our hands turned dry.
That day, the absence spoke.
In my book “Corn on the Cob & Stories [Portraits of Life] at page 20 (Available on Amazon), I had wished for “one more day” with Satish.
But what I got was:
One more walk. One more conversation carried on memory. One more chance to say, without words.
My walk from the temple to his room completed the circle from the Eternal to the eternal truth of life.
The temple represented what endures beyond us.
Walking from one to the other was not merely a repetition of the route. It was a traverse of the distance between philosophy and experience, between the timeless and the mortal.
The temple teaches that life is transient. Satish taught me how to live it.
And on that walk, those two truths met: Not one more day. One more journey.
And on that journey, I discovered that some relationships do not end at a hospital, a farewell, or a passing. They continue as pathways within us, patiently waiting until we are ready to walk them again.
Some memories ask to be written.
Ashok