Life comes in packages.

One of my colleagues used the phrase “Life comes in packages” quiet extensively when he had to leave our school last year. He seemed to be happy leaving the school and happier to start his life with a new beginning. He was a calm and sensible gentleman with whom anyone would love to talk and enjoy a moment with him. 

The phrase he used didn’t click my mind then to put an effort to understand the core meaning wrapped in those four words. Actually the moment of his departure required me to be more compassionate and not get lost in the wisdom of the phrase.

But the events that unfolded in my own life recently have helped me comprehend the wisdom behind the phrase more easily yet strongly.

Just after the winter vacation commenced, the date of my marriage got fixed. 18^th January was the date. So, before leaving for my village from Thimphu I asked her out for a final date. Away from all the noise and the crowd of our small city we decided to meet near Pangrizampa and walk along the road to spend few hours together.

Reaching home a lot of preparatory works for the marriage awaited me to begin. Excitement filled the warm southern air. But just a week before the marriage date her uncle expired and to fix another auspicious date for marriage would be done only after her bereaved family is done with all the rituals related to the funeral that often takes a week or two to complete.

The bride and the bridegroom

Finally after much waiting, February 5^th was fixed as the new date. We got married! And after staying for four more days in the village we were back in the capital.

 My father and mother accompanied us a week later. They had come to Thimphu with a great hope. Hope to get a new life for my dad after he undergoes a major operation which was scheduled for 28^th of February at JDWNRH. He was diagnosed with kidney failure. 

In the Surgical ward

An unending wave of worry kept rushing in our hearts as we stood silently outside the operation theater anxiously waiting to only hear good news. After four long hours he was moved out of the Operation Theater to the surgical ward. ‘Operation Successful’, remarked a surgeon from inside. 

Grate grand mother lays in peace

A new day had just started for my father after the operation when the news of my grate grandmother’s sudden death shook the ground beneath us. She was 97 years old-The beacon of our family. And she was the oldest and the most respected woman in the village. She left us after witnessing one of her last wishes come true- my marriage. For entire Bhandari family the lost is immense. The knot which connected the whole family for generations has now suddenly got loose!

Down in Phuntsholing my sister got admitted in the hospital. She was expecting. Only 11 days had passed since our grate grand mother’s death when my sister gave birth to her second baby daughter. Happiness and joy got its expression back with the entry of a new member in our family.

The latest addition in our family

Life is Life! In one moment you are happy and in another moment you are sad. Sorrow and happiness is what life is made of; it’s the ultimate truth. But the phrase my friend use to breath in and out then has now made me realize that life indeed comes in packages; some packages(our wishes and dreams) never get delivered to us, some packages that reach us are light(filled with happiness) and others are heavy(filled with sorrow).