Maulana Wahiduddin Khan | The Sunday Guardian | July 26, 2015
Nandini, daughter of Govind Narain, former governor of Karnataka, was just 38 years old when she passed away in New Delhi on 16 September 1981. Thus a young, vibrant life came to a sudden halt; a cheerful face was removed from the scene of life.
Nandini was an intelligent and healthy person. After receiving higher education in India, she acquired a degree in journalism from America. She then became a senior reporter with the Hindustan Times. Her versatile and dashing talent made her a popular figure with her colleagues. As one of them put it: "She loved life to the full and wanted to live it to the full."
Several of her colleagues contributed to a commemorative article published in the Hindustan Times on 17 September 1981. They concluded their article with these words:
"It is a cruel reminder of the fact that there is a deadline for everyone."
How strange it is that the flame of life should suddenly be exting¬uished, a laughing face suddenly grow still to be buried beneath the earth; how strange that a spirit full of hope and aspirations should be removed from the scene of life, leaving all its hopes and aspirations behind in the world.
How meaningful life appears to be and how meaningless it is rendered by its conclusion. How free man appears to be, but how helpless he is before death. How dear he holds his desires and ambitions, only for fate to ruthlessly stamp them out.
Remembrance of death would alone be enough to cure man's rebellious nature. Peace and harmony on earth can only come from man learning his limitations, and resigning himself to them. There is no better way of learning this lesson than by remembering death.