Obituary (From a Thankful Child)

As a child, I had a number of different hobbies. I would play with water. I would gaze fascinated at fire and I would try (and fail) to slice tomatoes. Apart from this, I would spend time with my mother and father and it is because of that that I found new friends very early in my life- English music and movies.

I was sung to sleep with songs like The Beatles’ Hey Jude or Abba’s Take a Chance on Me. Then, I grew up slightly, and I was introduced to bands like The Eagles and Guns and Roses by a friend who was older than me called Soumya Basu. Then, a few years short of teenage, in walked Harry Potter and his world of magic. However, I must state for the record that I had read and completed Tolkien’s Rings saga before having read Potter.

My childhood consisted of these elements. It consisted of getting up in the morning and switching on some music. It consisted of a healthy hate of Professor Snape, which suddenly turned to love and it consisted of going around doing my work in the real world, while at the same time being in a different, private sanctum which existed in my head and my head alone. In this world, I would slay Balrogs with Gandalf, I would learn History of Magic with Harry and I would throw my limbs about in random gyration to music by The Eagles, Cream, Eric Clapton and The Beatles.

This morning, I learnt that Glenn Frey of The Eagles has passed away. 

In the past few days, the world has lost Alan Rickman, David Bowie and now Glenn Frey. Most of us must probably be reading Harry Potter again, or watching Rickman as Snape or as a boss who falls for his secretary (Love Actually) and listening to The Eagles or The Man Who Sold the World. It’s upsetting and very saddening that a new year has started off on a note such as this.

Then again, these people aren’t really gone are they? They continue to live in our memories, in your childhood and in mine. Their music will swim in our heads and their portrayals discussed in company over a cup of hot cocoa. They will return every time you turn up the volume on your mp3 player or television.

That’s the thing about legends. They live on.

Goodbye David, Alan and Glenn. Thank you for making my childhood amazing. I will never forget you.

The Bilge Master