Taori sir and bhabhi. Forty years back, an arranged marriage brought you together. Sir, you joined the department of Biochemistry in a medical school that was beginning to take roots in Sevagram. Bhabhi chose to be a homemaker. Your children went to the same medical school where you served as a faculty for three decades and half. Gopal grew to become a physician, married an ophthalmologist, specialised in critical medicine and flew to Australia where he recently became a consultant in intensive care. Anuradha, Gopal’s sister, became an Obstetrician and married a neurosurgeon. Now that you had married off your children, and their careers were shaping well, you decided to divide your time for them between India and Australia. You doted on your grandchildren, baby sitting for Anuradha’s daughter all through her three years of post graduation, ensuring that the stress and responsibilities of motherhood does not affect her ward work and academics.
Only a day before you parted us, you had invited relatives and few loved- ones for a house- warming ceremony. For decades, you lived in a small house on campus that you had painstakingly built in late eighties. Now our dad needs a bigger home. And a bigger car. And traditional sherwani to grace the occasion. Gopal and Anuradha surprised you and bhabhi by presenting gift after gift that day, and you began to treasure every happening of that day deep within your heart.
That indeed was a great day for you, a day that filled your heart with bliss that begged description. A sense of contentment that you could barely conceal. A feeling of fulfilment that was so palpable. The pride of sharing children’s accomplishments was visible on your faces. Merriment reverberated through your new home. Your social and family responsibilities over, you were looking forward to opening a new chapter in life.
The new chapter carried only one page, titled tragedy.
An important task in your life accomplished, you decided to drive back home. Little did you know that not you but the death was driving your car. And as your fragile car collided with a truck, within a fraction of a second, the destiny took you both to another world. Only a few seconds before, you must have relived a happy happening with bhabhi. A few seconds later, we saw you on the front seats of your care- side by side- still and serene.
The death you embraced was cruel: treacherous and terrible. Dozens of friends quickly rushed to rescue you as soon as they heard the news- most of them could not stand the ghastly site. Hundreds of well wishers and family friends gathered at the mortuary where your bodies were dissected.
As per Hindu traditions, your body was bathed and wrapped in white clothes; bhabhi was dressed in red bridal clothes. Scriptures were read from the Vedas and Bhagavad Gita. The funeral procession started from your ancestral home and passed through the main street of the town. It was the biggest funeral procession Pulgaon had ever seen. Hundreds of people came from Wardha to mourn your death. And as pyres were lit, throats chocked, voices broke and eyes welled up.
Good bye, Sir. Good bye, bhabhi. Whenever we shared our joy with you, your eyes would light up. Whenever we dropped in at your home, you greeted us with warmth and love. When you were away in Australia, you must have exchanged countless emails with me- sharing almost everything that you experienced down under. It was only a fortnight ago, that you and bhabhi spent an evening with us- talking about your new home, the arrival of a newborn in the family and Gopal’s success stories. You invited us for the house- warming ceremony at Nagpur, reminded us again a day before that you wanted us to attend the ceremony. How sorry do we feel that we couldn’t make it. To Amrita you were a gifted teacher, who passionately taught carbohydrate metabolism to graduate medical students. You instilled in her a deep interest in Biochemistry so much so that we always joked that she might end up doing MD in Biochemistry.
When a spouse dies, the surviving partner finds it difficult to cope with the loss. A legacy of loneliness haunts the survivor; an eerie emptiness envelops the life of the bereaved spouse. Perhaps you both didn’t want to colour your life with these negative hues. We will live through each other- we will never be separated, you must have made a pact. When we have to go, you must have secretly thought, we should go together. Very few couples are lucky enough to start and end their journey together- from the time they take seven steps- saptapadi– round the sacred fire till their mortal remains are consigned to fire. Sir, as was almost your second nature, you couldn’t wait for anything- not even for death. And as always, you wanted bhabhi to accompany you, even when you chose to part this world. We salute your commitment to live together- and to leave together.
Indeed painful to see Prof Dr Taori and Mrs Taori depart in such a tragic way. May their souls rest in peace.
Prof. Dr. Taori's student,
Dr Ravin Das (MS Ophthalmology)
Oh! what a loss!!!
The couple will be greatly missed. My heartfelt sympathies to the family members at this difficult time…
Dr Sandeep Dogra,
MD Microbiology (2005)
ASCOMS & Hospital, Jammu
The loss of a good human being who taught so many is indeed a great loss to our institute. He had the potential to serve the hospital for even longer and bring up many more doctors. I never liked biochemistry but the man we are talking about was so difficult to dislike. Such a knowlegeable man but with a very unassuming character. This is a loss to not only the present generation of medical students in Sewagram but also the the ones who have been his students in the past.
This is shocking news and a real tragedy. MGIMS, the Biochemistry department and Sewagram is poorer for this loss. My deepest condolences to Gopal Sir and Anuradha Madam.
my deepest condolences to taori family through my uncle dr s.p.kalantri.
This is so very touching.. Could not hold my tears 🙁
Words hold the power to arouse such intense emotions…but sometimes the loss is so enormous that words are not enough to do justice…
Dear Sir any tribute or homage paid to them seems less…but your efforts are appreciable. I always read the letter you had given me on my marriage and the power of those words is always re instills in me the faith and trust of that bond…regards shivani
I just cannot believe this shocking news. I feel totally numbed.
We pray to the almighty to give all the courage and strength to Gopal and Ani and all other family members to bear this sudden untimely loss. Life seems so uncertain.
God has his ways. We become helpless. We pray to God may their soul rest in peace.
This is really a shocking news to all of us and more so shocking and traumatic for Gopal and AnI. It is really difficult to overcome such a big loss of both your parents so suddenly. I can imagine what Gopal and Ani must be going through now. It is the most difficult phase of your life.
Taori Sir has been such a good gentlemen and teacher. I still remember Taori madam's love and caring affection and whenever we use to visit Gopal's home, she used to always shower us with her motherly love. We all will definitely miss them and more so Gopal and Ani will be missing all the guiding source and support of their parents. May God give them all the strength and courage to overcome this big loss.
This is absolutely terrible and unbelievable. He was my co-guide and such a wonderful person… My heartfelt condolences to Gopal.
This is indeed shocking news not only because of the tragic circumstances but because it was a great pleasure to catch up with Prof Taori when I was there quite recently for our reunion. I had brought along a group photo taken at the end of our 1st MBBS with our teachers and he was delighted to see all of us in our youth (inlcuding him) 25 years ago.
Dear Dr Kalantri
Amulya Nadkarni forwarded on the news about the accident in which Dr and Mrs Taori were killed. We are deeply shocked and saddened by this. Please convey our deepest sympathies to their children- they were only little when we left Sevagram but we'd had a long chat with Dr Taori at the reunion when he was proudly telling us about their achievements.
We also extend our sympathies to the wider Sevagram community and all his colleagues for whom this must be a huge shock and loss.
Kind regards
Fali and Anu Langdana
Dear Sir,
What a sad news.
My condolences to his family and the faculty of MGIMS at their loss.A a student I have fond memories of his department-what a gem they were in the murky political climate of Sewagram.A very tough and dry subject to teach to vulnerable freshers but they were so true and empathetic to us-I respect them immensely for that.No fear and no politics in Biochemistry we felt.
Having lost one parent I can see how traumatic it must be for their children at this time-not even having had a chance to say good bye-and both your parents gone-life is cruel.
May God give them strength.
Monica
No words to express the feelings of Dr. Taori's sad demise. I felt the grief of loosing a great teacher. He would always remain in our hearts through the knowledge imparted.
I know how it feels to lose a parent and seeing other parent just living with old memories but no special interest in life. I know its difficult to accept but saying so its a bliss to be together even at death and after death.
All I can say is may God give the family strength to pass through this critical phase.
I had been to Sewagram last weekend, and it was painful going past Dr.Taori's house in Sewagram. I spoke to his son, Gopal Taori. He was in Pulgaon with their relatives for the final rites. Words are so inadequate when you want to reach out to someone who has faced such a terrible tragedy. It was such a sudden loss for him – and then, I realised, in retrospect, that the loss of a parent is always sudden – that we are never prepared for it, no matter what.
This is a very shocking news and a great loss to the Biochemistry department.Words seems inadequalte to express the feeling. Rest in Peace.
Came to know when i spoke to Gopal a few days ago.I am a complete loss of words at this terrible loss.Although i never met them but had heard a lot about them.The fact that Gopal who is fondly called Gopi is such a great guy I am sure his parents must have been adorable.Will always miss u from the bottom of our Hearts.
Dr Vineet Bhatia
Noida