Splintered Lives by Carol Holden Read Free Book Online Page B

dad who have been there for me, all my life.   Their love for my sister and myself has been constant, all our lives.   My unhappiness is inconsolable; I need someone to hold me because I feel so alone.   I feel an arm around my shoulder and feel the warmth of another human being.   Sahida has slipped into bed with me and she wraps me in her arms, and we cry together for what seems like the whole night.  
     
    Dr Menon gently holds us and says we must have some medication so that we will get some rest.   He has already seen to his wife and other daughter and they have now settled down.   We take the tablets and eventually fall into a drugged sleep.
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 9
     
     
     
    I awake on my own and the sun is high in the sky. I must have slept for many hours.    I am very confused about what will happen next.   I know a little of the Hindu religion, the little Taj has told me about.   I try to remember the incarnation and the Karma, the actions and consequences of one life being carried to the next.   When I was on holiday in Thailand the guide had pointed out a poor shack by the river and a grand villa next door. He told us this story of incarnation, saying that the man that lived in the villa must have lived a good and gracious life, whilst the shack owner had led a bad one.   I thought the Thais were Buddhists.   Perhaps they share some of the same principles.   Samsara is the process of birth and rebirth continuing for life after life.   I know that the Hindus believe in cremation and for that matter, so do my parents and I; it is a cleaner way of disposing of the dead.   I am so confused and miserable I don’t want to leave my bed.   I lie there and try to remember what Taj had told me about his beliefs.   I remember that a pyre is where the body is burned but Taj is already burned.   I remember that most Hindus like their ashes to be cast into the River Ganges, but that river is so far away. What is going to happen?
     
    There is a gentle knock on the door and Mrs Menon brings me a cup of tea.
     
    “Have a bit of toast with the tea and you will feel better.” She says with a look of great sadness on her face.
     
    “I will, thank you.” I reply and then I feel so thoughtless that all the family feel exactly as I do, and I am languishing in bed whilst they are coping by doing everyday things.
     
    After drinking the tea and eating one bite of the toast, I shower and dress and join the others in the sitting room.
     
     
    The cremation has to be arranged, Taj will be placed on a pyre and his ashes scattered on the river Bagmati.   This river eventually flows into the river Ganges, the holiest river for the Hindu people   
     
    All Pokhara is devastated by the tragedy and some of the families have also lost love ones.   There are foreign tourists and back-packers lost and officials are involved in informing the next of kin.   I need to let my family know and I try to find a way to contact Mark, who may be able to get back to me soon.
     
    A guide in the village knows the route that Mark and his friends have taken.   By taking a different path he can perhaps waylay them, meeting them at a point where they will be able to retrace their steps back to Pokhara.
     
    The strangeness of the time, the sadness of the place makes me long for Mark to be with me.   I know that he is a sensitive boy, who will support me.
     
    Sahida tells me the school is closed for a day or two, until the cremations of all the victims are completed.   I try to keep myself busy helping the Menon family but I know that soon I will have to return to my cottage in the village.
     
    I don’t know how I survived the day of the cremation of Taj.   I did not understand what was happening but I followed Sahida across the river from the Pashupatinath Temple with all the other women of the funeral party. The Temple is only open for the men and I was told that the priest said that one of the central aims of