Absence

Absence means to have a mark on the attendance register, that manages to keep all the DU students on their toes! Absence means a note in the almanac and a flu faking kid! Or does absence mean something more?
Only a couple of days back i was standing at the silt kissed banks of the Ganges participating in a job highly despised. Honestly, it was a beautiful morning with the locals splashing around, the massive straw roofed boats and the silhouette of the Howrah bridge. Memories of The Namesake and the Hungry Tide were flooding my mind. But amidst such pleasing sights, there i was with my brother throwing my grandmothers shakha, paula and shidur into the water. Shaka is a shell bangle and paula is a red coloured glossy bangle that are symbolic of a married woman and they are usually worn by Bengali women. Shidur is of of course the vermilion worn by almost all Hindu married women in India.
My grandmother had packed her things well. There were those old rusty tin boxes where she stored her things and i was thinking that there must be so many memories attached with them. She was married off when she was all of fourteen and its since then that she and my grandfather were companions. My grandfather was handsome; he and his other three brothers, all exceptionally good looking men. Men of honour, men of great knowledge, compassion. But when people leave, some material belongings have to go as well. So we threw those ancient tin boxes, one of which once had a coat of yellow paint on it and the head of the queen of England embossed over it. We threw those belongings of my grandmother that were her friends from over fifty years, just like my grandfather.
Its a job i suggest one should avoid doing till the very possible point. Trust me, that was a moment that i probably can't forget for the rest of my life.
The things floated and after a while they were no longer visible.
It was like the closing of a transaction, the end of a chapter and the beginning of absence.
Not being there physically is equal to absence; but doesn't absence also have a certain presence embedded in it?