Meeto

Isn’t she beautiful... she is Kamla di’s daughter, Meeto. Meeto “passed away” in Oxford on the 6th of January, two months ago. You know, I have never met her, only seen her from a distance at various gatherings. Yet I feel I know her enough to make a post in her honor. I have known her in these last two months through her mother’s eyes and through the eyes of her close friends, of not-so-close-friends, of well wishers, of people who attended to her, her teachers and every other person who came in touch with her. So I have come to know her through the many letters, poems and the heart felt pieces of writing especially composed by people speaking of their love and admiration for her. The volume and the content of the communications have been just too overwhelming. They seem to come from an unbounded reservoir of love and compassion somewhere in the Universe.

At different points of time I have paused and thought, what do we give that becomes so special, for others, to others, such that we are remembered in the most extraordinary way after we have left our space in the physical realm? What is it that we send out, such that what is received becomes a treasure for people who know us…

Meeto seems to have left some clues for us here. Everyone has spoken about her compassionate nature and about her generosity and humility. For love it is said, “If you choose more love in your life, cause another to have more love in theirs.” For many people Meeto has known closely, she made herself available in their happiness, pain, confusion – the mark of a true friend. In giving, she achieved the highest refinement of love: Compassion. Generosity is a part and parcel of compassion. Perhaps Meeto knew the Divine Law – that resources, be it material, emotional, intellectual – do not diminish when you share them – coz the Universe takes care of you and it gives you back what you give to it – to nurture it, to help it grow and make it a beautiful place. Kamla tells us about how Meeto used to brush aside compliments… all at 27 years, she had so much to give.

Needless to say, Meeto has been a brilliant student, her Oxford credentials say it all. But I somehow think that we are remembered in special ways for the quality we are able to add to life and to this existence through our behaviors and the way we relate to others more than our academic laurels or any other measure for that matter.

I find the connection between Kamla and Meeto quite wondrous. Kamla has always believed that every person who knew Meeto - all of her friends, all of Meeto’s friends, family, colleagues, friendly strangers, and the people who tended to her – had something to contribute to her growth and development and towards making Meeto what she is. She believes that Meeto absorbed the Goodness into herself from every other person who crossed her path. Her personality was allowed to flower unhindered with her mother’s support. Their connection touches, inspires, liberates – it is a connection that lives beyond space and time.

Here is a little poem sent by a friend for Meeto, written by Raymond Carver which I find is so endearing and lovely. It goes-

And did you get what
You wanted from this life, even so?
I did.
And what did you want?
To call myself beloved, to feel myself
Beloved on the earth.

“Meeto” in Hindi means “friend”. My previous post was about Kamla di and I had indicated the weblogs created in Meeto’s honor by both of their friends. It is my pleasure to copy them here once more.

http://www.meetomalik.blogspot.com/
http://necessityprevails.blogspot.com/2006/01/in-memoriam.html
http://necessityprevails.blogspot.com/2006/01/meeto.html
http://necessityprevails.blogspot.com/2006/01/some-of-my-memories-of-meeto.html