That is the title under which my friend forwarded me a model Will. Probably a gentle reminder, “Come on old man, you better make a will before it is too late.” Perfectly within his rights, and well meaning too. For, only the other day Aunty’s friend was watching an 8.30 to 9 pm television serial with her visiting elder brother. During the ad interval, they decided to have their dinner. She hurried to the kitchen, and returned with the first steaming hot dosa, only to find him having become dearer to God.
Yes, uncertainty is the name of the game; it is thus never too early to prepare for it. A friend of mine, too meticulous to a fault, plans all his activities on that premise. He has set everything in place, and had even got on hand his last wish, a Rolex Perpetual Oyster watch. A duplicate one, he whispered, “but nobody can differentiate it from the original, Sir,”, he dared. “Maybe so, Raghu (name changed), but each time you look at, it will remind you it is not original,” I said - to myself, not to him. Why to bring him down from a top of the world feeling. Also, in hot pursuit, he bade farewell to his irresistible indulgence, stock market, from 9 to 12.30, and 1.30 to 4 pm, with a punctuality that even decades of his attendance at office can’t vouch. “At this rate, long back you must have written your Will too,” I asked, taking an affirmative response for granted. “No, I am fully busy and plan to do that as soon as I touch 80,” he asserted. I wondered what was so sacred about that figure, and what was the guarantee. Remember someone came to meet Arjuna one evening and he sent him back with the words, “You see me tomorrow morning.” Bheema laughed, and Arjuna asked him, “What is there to laugh about, brother? “No, just admired you are so certain that you would live till tomorrow morning.”
Then comes being busy. Take this hyper busy CEO who suffered from perennial headache but didn’t have the time to consult a doctor because the entire Organization depended on him for direction and he had no time for anything else. The one or two he managed to consult suggested a morning walk, or to listen to music in the evening. But who has the time, he dismissed. Ultimately he agreed to the suggestion of adoctor who was a psychologist as well to spend ten minutes under a particular banyan tree in a designated desolate place for three mornings. Right in front was an epithet that read, “Here lies the body of a person who thought without him the world cannot exist.” Wisdom dawned, and now he believes it is the busiest man who finds time for everything.
Then there was this Parsi couple who vowed never to travel by air together so that in the unlikely event of an accident, at least one member will be alive to take care of the family. May not seem convincing since both were past their prime and their children were happily married, and on their own.
Speaking for myself, writing a will has been my favourite pastime, next only to writing a blog, the only difference being that the Will never gets shared. The first one was when I prepared a will for my elder brother when he was terminally ill at a young age of 55. It could be anybody’s turn, I felt, and prepared mine too, with nothing more than a broken chair, a shaky cot, and some leaky vessels to boast of as assets. Since then my Will underwent changes each time I acquired or relinquished an asset so that I didn’t bequeath one that no longer belonged to me, and leave instead a legacy of problems for my beneficiaries.
With a long-haul travel on the cards, I said travel we shall together unlike the Parsi couple, but we shall prepare a valid Will well before. And this model Will came in handy to update the acquisition and disposal status yet again.
V V Sundaram
Maple 3195
27 January 2018
No comments:
Post a Comment