A letter to Narendran Nair who died last night...

 

I never knew Narendran Nair maintained a blog till I ran into ‘Thoughts’ hours after his death. He never liked the idea of even chatting online. A totally different character very few people could understand. He was often misunderstood by colleagues, but he didn’t bother much. Our friendship started with migraine way back in 2005 when he joined Express after quitting his job in Bombay. We both were suffering from that serious painful disease for long time. I don’t know whether he liked me, but he used to talk to me a lot. I still remember the day he left The New Indian Express and joined The Hindu. Many in Express thought Narendran would never find a job in Hindu, but he got a good, a senior post with the paper’s Madurai edition. After joining there, he used to call me from Madurai to share his displeasure with the former organsiation. The conversation went on and on. When I went to Madurai to cover an official event three years ago (I was Deputy News Editor with the New Sunday Express then), he invited me to his house. A simple house, with wife and two children, he served me a special kind of grape juice he got from Kumili. When I joined The Times of India last year, I informed him and he was happy. The last time he called me was three months ago when I was down with chicken pox in my home town Thiruvananthapuram. We spoke for about ten minutes. And that’s all. I never knew he was suffering from a serious kidney ailment and was undergoing dialysis. Dear friends, here’s what Narendran wrote in his blog a couple of months ago.

“What is life without life?

Often, we tend to look at life with a lot of negativity. This is especially so if we are in a difficult material situation. Happy days are never permanent, nor are sad days. Both change, interchange, alternate, take a break and then stay away for some time. Life has its ups and downs. The common difficulty is in appreciating the great thing called life. As humans, we tend to rush to conclusions about life which more often that not are errant. I know a lot of people who are worried about death. Some of them are really sick and know that they do not have miles to go. Is there any point in brooding over death if there is no medical option to save them? There isn't. Man should not give up the struggle to stay alive. One does not know if there is a rebirth. People can become practical and live every day with all possible happiness. Giving gets one a lot of happiness. It also provides some satisfaction. That one is doing his bit for the world around. So when the time comes, ie, when the death knell rings, there is no regret in going. nnaircn@gmail.com.”