Of funerals and cemeteries

Funerals are strange occasions... the dead one does not know who is come or who has not. But all the same the living feel obliged to go and attend the final journey. I always avoid funerals. They make me sad... not the loss of the dead but the sorrow of the living, especially the dear ones of the departed. It is heart-rending to see them wail and mourn. I really cannot stand that sort of pain. I've not really reflected as to why am I so affected (perhaps more as a means of escapism than real ignorance).

After the funeral there is always the talk (can also read it as gossip): How many people were there? Frankly speaking a very idiotic and nonsensical question. The reason is cited above! Also because it is used as a measuring tool to chart the popularity rating of the one no more. But maybe true. Not all may feel like me. Hence they may choose to express their affection and love for the departed by joining him/her in the last lap of the moral race.

Anyway, I thought of this for I remembered a statement about the cemetery compound wall, something I used when in Yercaud:

The wall around a cemetery is useless as those inside cannot come out and those outside do not want to get in.