I was here to bid her goodbye. Me and my grandmother, we were very close. Whenever she would talk about death, I would always say, “I will never let you go.” She would say, “I will flow, and you will not be able to stop me.” This would irritate me, never knowing that this was the ultimate truth.

We had a strong bond, and that is why, when she was in the hospital on her deathbed, I prayed for her survival. We Hindus believe in a thing called, “Moh maya ” which means, which is always in a circle of attachments, which never lets us part with the soul. I used to pray devotedly, when I used to see her suffering, but I never prayed for her sufferings, I prayed for mine, and prayed that she be with me, every day. At last, when she was on the ventilator, and was suffering immensely, I had to let her go, and I prayed she would be taken away. She was taken away, but still she never was. Her death took a toll on me, I had dreams where she told me “You wanted me there to be with you, I am, but I need to go.” I was stressed out, and it was painful for me to see her this way, and after one month of her death, I told my grandfather about my dreams, and he just said one thing, its runanubandha, and you need to let her go. “Runanubandha ” is a form of attachment we have with our close ones, and to let them go and move on with your life, we need to make sure that they’re departed completely. Her ashes were in the house. We decided to take a trip to Haridwar, the “Door of Hari.” We had her ashes in the metal clay, and after a pooja, we went to scatter her ashes in Ganga, and it was then, that I heard, “I will flow, and you will not be able to stop me.” The river had taken her away, my physical bond with her was now broken and she was now there for me, only in the sweetest of my memories. The water of Ganga had taken her physical remains away, and she had attained salvation. I had let her go, peacefully, to be in my memories, happy and alive. Runanubandha had broken, the water had broken it, since it travels, and she took her away in a new journey.