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Thursday, April 22, 2010

P.K.Zachariah, cousin, rest in peace.

The war is going on still (not on the cricketing fields this time), on email, I read in the papers. In very bad language. The sort used by clerks in government offices. Shows the caliber of these pillars of the society who manage our institutions, our hallowed legislative forums where our money (yes, our money) worth billions are decided upon. Why is the ordinary citizen an alien in his own country? Why is our lack of ethics so gargantuan that one can't even imagine those amounts changing hands? How can such monies be transferred without the authorities knowing about it?

P.K.Zachariah, a cousin, who retired as Commissioner of Excise, Bombai, is no more. The end was unexpected and abrupt. I was shocked to hear the news. Head spun a bit, took some time to recover. I had spoken to him only recently after he moved into his new flat in Juhu. He was a pious man active in the church and diocese of Bombai, had given his life to active spiritual work. As a successful man he had very few airs about him and I can recall his laconic smile, his absence of pretense, his love for those who were his own. Very actively he campaigned to establish a church of the CNI denomination in New Bombai. A marble plaque in Jubilee Church Sanpada bears his name. Can't believe the world has lost one more smiling philanthropist. One more committed individual who believed the world can be a better place. Death is cruel, death is upsetting.

P.K.Zachariah, cousin, rest in peace.

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