Way to go

Ejji K Umamahesh passed away a day before his 72nd birthday in Chennai on 16 October. When he went for a high risk heart surgery, he wrote his own obituaries, asking his family to put them up in case the surgery is not successful. The obituaries reflect the way, the actor chose to script his life… and death!

For Facebook, the former car rally driver wrote: ‘I regret to inform you that my vintage vehicle that was being restored, in spite of the best mechanics in India with mastery over their craft, modern tools and expertise at their command, did all they could to revive it, but unfortunately did not succeed…’

For the newspapers Ejji declared that ‘he lived on his own terms as a Religionless Citizen of the World on Village Earth…’ To his ‘friends, enemies and those in-between’ he wrote, ‘Thanks for sharing my exciting life. My party is over, and I hope there is no hangover for those I leave behind. Time is running out for everyone. Live well, enjoy your life…’

Ejji started off as a toilet supervisor at a Theatre, went on to be a successful businessman and eventually quit the rat race to do exactly what he really wanted to do. He lived his life to the fullest and by his motto, ‘Live! Don’t exist.’ But while he indulged in his many passions, his life was not of self-centred spoils but of progressive thinking and responsible living.

An ardent advocate of unostentatious weddings, his non-religious marriage cost just sixty rupees in 1975. He kept evolving his thinking and other skills. He involved in many social organisations pursuing humanitarian work. Ejji willed his usable organs for transplantation and his body for medical research. In life and death he chose the way to go!

Ejji showed all of us the way to go…

In life as well beyond death’s door!

- Pravin K. Sabnis