Around 6 PM on 3rd March, 2006 was the day our short term pain stopped and long term pain started.
What he said or not said while leaving, I do not recall because it was a gory event to watch. May be it was all gestures and the events unfolded the way they had. Mother and sisters were on tears, uncontrollable and my elder brother-in-law and me were the other two souls destined to remain helpless and watch as he brutally or (in an ultimate triumph over his mind?), bid goodbye to his ‘material world’ home. He boarded my brother in laws two wheeler in a trip to the nearby town.
He told us that he is leaving for a local RKM Math to get a letter before he leaves the town. We were following him in mind and spirit and even at that ‘all hopes lost’ hour, hoping for a miracle.
As I explained previously, my younger sister who works for an educational institution could not rest without meeting some of Ramakrishna Mission Swamijis in the hope that they would help her pursue him back home. (she wasn’t present when we made our previous visits to the Maths). We headed straight to the Math again on that day after he left our home hoping that we will catch him and the Swamijis together; to quench the hope and anger my sister had for those who might have influenced him.
She argued ferociously with some of the Swamijis but finally given up on failure to get them think the way she was thinking. They expressed their inability to make him change his mind again and often reasoned in his favour. My brother who watched the argument my sister was unfolding, was visibly upset. Rest of us were almost dumbfounded not knowing what to do or say.