The flame above dirt and debris

The flame above dirt and debris

Sheetal had been with us.
We, you and I, have been growing together all these years.
We, you and I, know too well
that our education is incomplete.
We must realise that,
in form and context, in space and time,
our schooling has been outdated and obsolete.
Education, whether it is general or specialised,
is lame and invalid in real life,
unless it becomes universal.
Sheetal is not amongst us any more.
Her death, howsoever inevitable,
pricks us like a thorn in ours hearts and souls.
In her death she has taught us a priceless lesson.
She, with many – too many – others, is a victim
of this obsolete education.
Neither all of us are less victimised.
As professional and specialists and the citizens
we must learn
before long
to look beyond our eyelids
and must get rid of blinkers.
In this there is the beginning,
at any time
in universality.
Sheetal has outgrown and outlived all of us
in her death.

~~~~~~
Remigius de Souza
29-09-1997

(Homage offered to Sheetal Shroff whose budding life was snapped on 16-9-1997 in the collapse of Poonam Chambers, Worli, Mumbai. Sheetal was student of Final Year Architecture at Academy of Architecture.)~~~~

Remigius de Souza
69/243 S B MARG MUMBAI 400028 INDIA.