REMEMBERING OUR ANCESTORS : WHY AND HOW ? BIJON SARMA INTRODUCTION : Have anybody ever seen an animal to do something to indicate �the animals endeavour to remember its ancestor ?� In the animal world parents or better �pairs� are seen as instrument for breeding. Even though initiated exactly with �animal-like culture�, men later deviated and developed a very different type of culture. The human culture differs from that of the animals in numerous aspects. Some of these are : (a) Marriage, (b) Taking care of the elders, (c) Cumulative storing of knowledge and experience, (d) Aspiration to be better, (e) Endeavouring to remember the ancestors etc. From time immemorial men have endeavoured to remember their ancestors. In the ancient world large Pyramids, mummies, shrines etc. were developed to achieve this goal. In the contemporary society grave, tomb, mausoleum etc. serve the same purpose. However, as days are going on people are increasingly facing problems to remember their ancestors. This article would discuss among others, the �why and how� to remember the ancestors. CULTURE OF MAN AND ANIMAL : We shall present a brief discussion of a few special characteristics of the human culture, like (a) Marriage, (b) Taking care of the elders, (c) Aspiration to be better etc. MARRIAGE is characterized by the following factors : (i) Consent to marriage by the concerned man and woman. (ii) Oath by the two in front of distinguished people including parents. (iii) Some sort of written documents to this effect. The �ideal marriage� means, marriage between two unmarried man and woman without no prior sex-experience. The relation is to stay for a period till death. Such marriage may be seceded by mutual consent and a re-marriage may be arranged. The various countries and communities, however, have changed the �ideal marriage� as per their convenience and wish. Thus some communities advocates numerous wives for one man, some maximum four wives per man, some prescribe quickest cessation by uttering few words and so on. There have been changes in the premarital requirements also. In order to stop probable agitation of the young people some countries have endorsed or rather encouraged pre-marital sex or open sex. Experiences (and statistics) reveal, countries with open sex have less violence among the young generations in comparison to those where such act is prohibited. In some countries the political parties have meant �Democracy� synonymous to �Freedom of men�. As an interpretation of the same they have allowed, introduced and encouraged acts like adultery, living together, same sex marriage etc. in the society. (b) TAKING CARE OF THE ELDERS : In the animal world, the mother and at time the pair take care of the offspring. In human culture, as additional duty the children take care of the parents and relatives in their old age. Some countries however, have relieved the children from this moral duty. Such a system has been a matter of pleasure for the young generation. It has also created fortune for the manufacturers by creating fresh demands for house, furniture, consumer items etc. (c) ASPIRATION TO BE BETTER : Because of their difference from the animals in points of thinking ability, men in general aspire to be better. They also expect the same for their offspring. For this purpose they store their knowledge in written form in libraries. In the societies where the parents live with the children, the parents endeavour to transmit their life-long experience to the children. In societies where this tradition is absent, the experience of the matured parents cannot reach the children and the political parties or medias fill the vacuum. They teach the young generation whatever they think proper or whatever serves their purposes. �A man who strives to live in this earth for his own sake only� is an extremely dangerous person. Such a man can do anything good, bad, extreme or heinous, because he does not care for what others might think of him, and because he has no responsibility to anyone other than him. WHY TO REMEMBER ? Men in different communities have different notions about the deceased relatives. The Buddhists think, the deceased men take re-birth to take punishment or reward. The Muslims and the Christians think, men would take re-birth on the final day of judgement. The Hindus think, after death what would enjoy the punishment or reward is man�s spirit (or �Atma�, a fictitious thing). They arrange cremation and rituals through graves, coffining, burning etc. In this age of science we know, there is no god or after world and there cannot be any case of rebirth. Each and everything relating to a man comes to an end with his death. Remembering the dead relatives, showing honour or weeping for them matters nothing to them. The same however, matters much for those who witness such acts. They instantly feel what it is meant by �a good man�. When a man finds the children of a deceased man to remember their ancestors with honour, their neighbours to weep to remember his good deeds, there is a possibility that this man also would be inspired to do good deeds, such that his descendants might remember him in the similar way. This is the reason why we should remember our ancestors. Such acts do not go in the interest of the dead men, but for the living ones. HOW TO REMEMBER ? In the Eastern and Middle Eastern countries there are endeavours to remember the dead persons by constructing structures (tomb or mausoleum) over the grave or burning site. This scope is limited only to the affluent class. Whatever strong the structure might be, it has limited life. And what is more true is, in view of the ever-increasing cost of land it is doubtful how long such tombs or mausoleums can be maintained. On the other hand, all men, irrespective of affluence or other statuses want to me remembered by the descendants. In such a context, I shall present here a proposal for consideration of all, specially the people�s representatives and mayors of the cities. In addition to keeping the dead persons in the memories of their relatives and neighbours this proposal also incorporates tools that may be of help in creating better quality men. PROPOSAL : (i) The walls of the premises of the people�s representatives (in case of Bangladesh Mayor, Ward commissioner, Chairman etc.), public parks etc. would be used to display the names and brief information of the diseased person living in that area. The walls will be prepared for placing small stone tablets (say, size 1 Ft X 1.5 Ft.). Each tablet would contain the name of the deceased person, his/her educational qualification, parents� names, names of children (maximum three elders), date of birth and date of expiry and a code number. (ii) A room in the adjacent office (in case of park a building may have to be constructed) will contain small lockers (say, size 1 Ft X 1 Ft X 1.5 Ft) with code number. Each of the locker will be designated to the stone tablet with the corresponding number. The locker would contain detail curriculum vitae, writings, wills, ashes (where applicable) information, photographs, used artefacts etc. of the dead person, as supplied by his relatives. (iii) A room of space in the adjacent area shall be arranged, such that the relatives or neighbours of the dead person can arrange memorial service as per prior arrangement and on payment of cost. (iv) The basic structure for this project would be constructed by the city or urban authorities as a sign of their kind gesture to the citizens. Affluent persons would be charged two to five times of the actual cost. The excess amount would be deposited in a bank account and shall be utilised for the poor persons. The areas with stone tablets would remain open for most of the hours of the day for all to visit. The relatives and friends would be permitted to see the documents on payment of nominal fee. (v) The tablets and documents will be preserved for a certain period time (say, fifty years), after which those shall be preserved in the achieve, unless the relatives wish else way and bear further the cost. (vi) The local authorities would prepare their own rules and regulations regarding the criteria of persons be entertained. Thus, persons with any criminal record should not be entertained. Persons having bachelor degree and above should be given a special place, where as those below this level should be treated as commoners. The names of only three children of the deceased person may be recorded. CONCLUSION : In a democratic country the citizens own the country they serve. Naturally, such a relation places upon the country certain responsibility towards the citizens and keeping the member in memory of the city in one of them. The recent changes like non-availability of land, high cost of construction, children�s inability to bear the cost etc. have made it increasingly difficult to keep the deceased persons in memory for a longer time. In such a context the democratic governments should come forward to materialize this noble mission. If this project is realized, there are possibilities that it might inspire the citizens to become interested in education, non-interested in crime, attracted to family planning and to work in a manner such that the future generations might show honour to them after they are gone. ---------------------------------- Bijon Sarma, co-author : JOURNEY TO THE EAST (ISBN 1-55212-755-9) website : www.trafford.com/robots/01-0155.html, www.amazon.com