Contented to be inconspicuous all her life, Ma, would nevertheless have enjoyed the spotlight she held in the news. After all, she has a daughter who is a news carrier – as she would quip about my journalism career.
Of course, quick-witted and sharped tongue, she would not have missed the irony – that she never accepted my profession of more than three decades, as a journalist, and additionally my endeavours in advocacy as a ‘real job’. She wanted me to teach – (and, pssst, I continue to make journalism accommodate that role!)
The child, the mother of the Ma
Nevertheless, Ma at times adopted my ‘news carrier’ role. With the mushrooming of radio call-in programmes in the ’90s, she would call in to give her spunky two-cents on issues of the day as some radio hosts of the time recalls, on hearing of her death. (I could say so much more of the child, the mother of the Ma, and the often unrecognised intergenerational transference – and I would! – in developing segments of The Nonagenarian components of mDNA – Mothers, Motherlands, MotherCultures, MotherContinent- The MultiMedia MicroEpic.
Survives life partner of nearly half a century
It would more than please her that all this fuss over her death, is much more than her husband of almost five decades and father of the 13 children she nurtured, and whom she outlived by more than three decades received a brief few paragraphs on his passing from the Guardian newspaper where I worked at the time.
It has faded with time, but it reads, The father of journalist Krishendaye Rampersad who died on Monday will be cremated today at 1pm. Rampersad Seekumar Seebance of Sancho Road New Grant passed away after a brief illness.’
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In the News, A Postmortem
A seamstress, too – among her many talents – with her own sense of flair and fashion that didn’t always approve of my hemlines or necklines, Ma might not have fully grasped what a trendsetter she is to become.
She was trending for the week of her death on Newsday‘s online site, which, living up to its original tagline when we first founded it, was in this instance, ‘First With The News.’ The announcement was immediately picked up and held the spotlight on the news aggregator, WhoIsTrendingToday.
Spotlights impact in inspiration for global change agent initiative
The Guardian spotlights how her inspiration sparked global change action.
Continuation of migrant ancestral traditions
Newsday headlines her local legacy in her role in the village in survival and continuation of the diaspora migrant ancestral cultural traditions – folk singing and drumming.
The Express got straight to the point.
With her effervescent wit, quick to discern the irony, incongruity, cheekiness of any situation, its headline’s flat declaration of her death might even have amused her.
Contemplations on the Afterlife
Ma embraced her longevity. In her role in safeguarding, transmission and ensuring survival of the folk culture of our ancestors, Ma attains immortality.
Dr Kris Rampersad in The Nonagenarian: mDNA Mothers Motherlands MotherCultures MotherContinent – The MultiMedia MicroEpic
All her contemplations on the afterlife in itself or with the passing of friends, relatives or villagers, ended in her declaration: ‘Who want to go could go. I ent going nowhere.’
She continuously denied and defied death, bearing excruciating pain stoically Only in the last few months as the bodily aches and pains increased, already into her 90s, would she hesitantly speculate, ‘Maybe, I getting old, now.’
Never envisioning an end – do we ever? – Ma embraced her longevity.
In her role in safeguarding the folk culture of our ancestors, in her transmission of her spirit to her offsprings and theirs and their achievements, Ma achieves immortality.
Authors Note: Thanks for the news media for sharing the word of Ma’s passing and the snippet of her long life, especially as COVID restrictions prohibited attendance and curbed wider social interactive engagement as funerals tend to be.
Next – It takes a village – Caring for the Elderly In a Time of COVID
Ma the educator: knowledge transmission and cultural continuity the power of lifelong learning vs formal education
How I found missing pieces of the family tree in Ma’s Melodies – mDNA
In The News: Dholak player, folk singer Phulmatia Seekumar dies at 91 (Newsday)
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