Rajendra’s Farewell
May 20th, 2010
As we know, darkness has a vacant, fearful quality. The world’s vibrancy retreats into the shadows. Around us empty buildings, silent roads, the faint, distant sound of shallow breathing. Night is an appropriate time for death. Life seems to recede from reach, an idea that has come and gone, departed from this rare world, vanished, leaving only the remains of our ambitions, hopes and losses.
Yet we are fortunate to have our memories and the gift of love never ceases, when the heart is full. So, we remember our friend and our colleague, Rajendra Karmacharya, a kind and gentle and thoughtful soul who, as Lincoln’s Transport-in-Charge, guided so many of our children from our homes to Lincoln School and back again, safely every time.
From the placid 1980s through the turbulent 1990s to the aspirations for peace and security of the last decade, Rajendra Karmacharya was always only a phone call away to reassure us that our children, the loves of our lives, the depth of our souls, were safe and on their way home.
Memories, no doubt, fill many of your minds as they do mine. Rajendra, the living, calling to say where our kids may be, what bus they were on, what time they would be coming home. Rajendra always there to reassure us that our children were not lost, that the busses had started late or that there was another 'jaloose' in the city, so they were delayed yet still en route home.
Rajendra's calm voice was always there to reassure, guide and protect our children through so many of these past Lincoln School years.
Now, today, we are here to honor Rajendra, as we were unable to protect him, as he protected our children, from the final truth of this passing world.
We are here, one last time, to offer Rajendra’s good spirit, his soul, his family and his beloved memory, our deepest thanks and affection. We thank him for all he did for a school we love and the students who have grown and prospered within. We thank him for his hard work, dedication and commitment to the true ideals of Lincoln School.
We thank he and his wife, as well, for the two beautiful and intelligent children, Chandni and Suraj, who have been such gentle and caring student leaders at Lincoln. We are proud of them, as well, for the dignity and meaning they brought to Rajendra and their family ‘izaat’ in Nepali society. Rajendra knew the beauty of his children. He spent his life ensuring they would have every opportunity they wanted in the world far beyond the Kathmandu mandala in which he grew up.
Therefore, in the spirit of appreciation that animates this week at Lincoln School, we bid a fond and loving goodbye to one of us who has gone ahead of us to the world surrounding us.
Rajendra, dai, protector, colleague and friend, have a safe journey beyond. You are remembered here among us as a kind and good man. You taught us humility and grace. We hope we learn our lessons well.
Om Shanti. Om Shalom. Om Mani Padme.
Such is our destiny on this Earth.
May 20th, 2010
As we know, darkness has a vacant, fearful quality. The world’s vibrancy retreats into the shadows. Around us empty buildings, silent roads, the faint, distant sound of shallow breathing. Night is an appropriate time for death. Life seems to recede from reach, an idea that has come and gone, departed from this rare world, vanished, leaving only the remains of our ambitions, hopes and losses.
Yet we are fortunate to have our memories and the gift of love never ceases, when the heart is full. So, we remember our friend and our colleague, Rajendra Karmacharya, a kind and gentle and thoughtful soul who, as Lincoln’s Transport-in-Charge, guided so many of our children from our homes to Lincoln School and back again, safely every time.
From the placid 1980s through the turbulent 1990s to the aspirations for peace and security of the last decade, Rajendra Karmacharya was always only a phone call away to reassure us that our children, the loves of our lives, the depth of our souls, were safe and on their way home.
Memories, no doubt, fill many of your minds as they do mine. Rajendra, the living, calling to say where our kids may be, what bus they were on, what time they would be coming home. Rajendra always there to reassure us that our children were not lost, that the busses had started late or that there was another 'jaloose' in the city, so they were delayed yet still en route home.
Rajendra's calm voice was always there to reassure, guide and protect our children through so many of these past Lincoln School years.
Now, today, we are here to honor Rajendra, as we were unable to protect him, as he protected our children, from the final truth of this passing world.
We are here, one last time, to offer Rajendra’s good spirit, his soul, his family and his beloved memory, our deepest thanks and affection. We thank him for all he did for a school we love and the students who have grown and prospered within. We thank him for his hard work, dedication and commitment to the true ideals of Lincoln School.
We thank he and his wife, as well, for the two beautiful and intelligent children, Chandni and Suraj, who have been such gentle and caring student leaders at Lincoln. We are proud of them, as well, for the dignity and meaning they brought to Rajendra and their family ‘izaat’ in Nepali society. Rajendra knew the beauty of his children. He spent his life ensuring they would have every opportunity they wanted in the world far beyond the Kathmandu mandala in which he grew up.
Therefore, in the spirit of appreciation that animates this week at Lincoln School, we bid a fond and loving goodbye to one of us who has gone ahead of us to the world surrounding us.
Rajendra, dai, protector, colleague and friend, have a safe journey beyond. You are remembered here among us as a kind and good man. You taught us humility and grace. We hope we learn our lessons well.
Om Shanti. Om Shalom. Om Mani Padme.
Such is our destiny on this Earth.
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