Flash Before the Fade

Clouds above Ahmedabad were streaked with the gentle blush of morning sun when Flight AI-171 started its descent. One of the passengers was Raghav Menon, a 42-year-old engineer from Kerala, heading back to England from a visit to his young children and wife in India and a business meet in Gujarat. It had been a short but emotional trip, one filled with bedtime stories, school visits, and a promise made silently while touching their foreheads: “Papa will make a better life for you.”

As the aircraft glided closer to its final approach, a sudden mechanical failure sent it plummeting in a violent descent. Panic erupted inside. Screams, prayers, confusion.

But not in Raghav.

In the last instant, while madness surrounded the cabin, something peculiar occurred. His vision went awry, not in fear, but remembrance.

He envisioned his boyhood days—shooting coconut trees in Village in Palakkad, his mother's giggles as she fed him mango slices. He envisioned his college life in Chennai, long nights spent reading books and long-dreamed days. He envisioned his marriage day, his bride's anxious smile. He envisioned his children, their baby steps, their crayon sketches on his office notes. He envisioned the land of his birthplace, the river where he used to swim across it, laughter, regrets, forgiveness.

There was no yelling within him, only a serene reel of all that had rendered his existence what it was.

And then, nothing.

The plane impacted a building  just adjacent to the Airport. Emergency responders discovered no survivors.

Later, among Raghav's personal effects, rescue personnel found a Bracelet, engraved with the word "LIFE".

Nobody knew whether he lived that LIFE with it in full or lived a part of it to the fullest. But maybe, at the end, he lived the full measure of his life again.

Moral:

At times, the fullest expression of life is witnessed not in its duration, but in how intensely we recall it towards its end.

Inspiration:

They say your life flashes in front of you before you die. That's true, it's called Life. - Terry Pratchett