A star so bright

(In loving memory of Moina ba)

Our elders always say that when someone passes away they become a star and add to the beauty of this never ending sky. Today I am writing this post in fond memory of Moina ba. She is a star so bright that it will catch your eye.

(Ba means elder sister in Assamese)

We grew up in official quarters which are mostly like row houses. Ever since I can remember we were neighbours with the Deka family. They were three siblings. Moina ba was the middle child.

I was in kindergarten then and my elder brother was in primary school. They were elder to us by many years but even then they treated us like their own friends. Rather say their own siblings.

Every evening she would come and play with us. A child like innocence she had and she carried it with her till the end. She would make us recite stories and poems and laugh till her stomach hurt when we got the lines wrong or mixed up the words and sometimes the language.

She would carry me on her back while her younger brother carried my elder brother and race into and out of the house in a bet to get there first.

I remember applying her expensive face cream to her hair and she never complained and never stopped my mischief. Let’s put it this way that she would do anything to just be there with me and forget our age difference and be a child again.

Her laugh rendered across the neighbourhood and I seem to remember it even today. Her smile was painted by God himself. Her ever smiling beautiful face, that I have painted in my heart now.

But sadly it had to end there you see. We had to change quarters so did they. As we moved to different quarters in different localities we didn’t get to see each other again. Sometimes she would pass by our new quarter on her way to college and smile and wave to me. Lovingly call out my name.

Her smile dear friends, it was something that would melt down stones. That beautiful smile, that beautiful face.

A year later she was diagnosed with cancer. And alas she did not survive it. I never got a chance to see her, to see that pretty face, that innocence so captivating. It was all gone. Like some cruel magic.

But the beautiful moments we shared with her, they will be forever be etched in our minds and hearts. A person whom I hold close to my heart, who loved me like her own, she had set on a journey to be a star, a star so bright that it will catch your eye.

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