The friends and families aren't quite sure how long it will take. they just know that there's nothing more they can do for him and now it's just a matter of days, if he is plain lucky, well who knows... we wake up and pray everyday. I've been wondering about this. what's it like to clutch your hands to the brim of the top window surface of your prison cell to get a glimpse of the setting sun and wondering how many more you will get to see? what's it like waking up before the sun takes on and walking through the memory lanes, the breeze cuddles you in your perpectual essence of living all of these and thinking, I won't be there tomorrow to experience this?
A day before the execution he goes through a harrowing experience of being weighed, body measurements, the size of the neck, measured for length of drop to assure breaking of the neck,, . followed by the evening where the gallows and manilla rope are well examined to ascertain if they have received any injuries by attaching to one end a sack of sand.
As the night approaches the darkness smuggles into a heavenly and magical sleep; it's the same with his life for eternity and none appreciate someone in this state of silence. So what have I left unsaid?
Did I give my best in everything I did? Did I love someone more than self and be loved back? Did I follow my heart?
These aren't deep, profound or complicated questions, each is simple in its own way, but the answers to these are the most difficult. as every time you hear that little voice inside your head while you self question - the complex of ethical and moral principles that controls or inhibits our actions and our thoughts - usually called a conscience,
Dream quotient an inconceivable, unthinkable thought becomes reality, quintessentially at this stage each character in life takes a new form and the space to re-visualise experience, they are all around you. The protectors, the confidantes and the executor, your tinsel-town timetable which always appeared to be booked to the brim. have fallen out of the clock and will be empty for the rest.
No one is guaranteed life, its just a matter of fate, chance, luck and destiny. Life changes in seconds of realisation. Looking at walls, staring at them as if trying to figure out what went wrong. hard to believe that once a successful man who was passionate in every thing he did and lived a enviable reputation amongst his people is now living the last slated day of his life.
Extending from dawn the day breaks into light as he is marched to the scaffold guarded by the head warder and six warders, two proceeding in front, two behind and one holding either arm on reaching the scaffold the warrant is read in vernacular to the convict and lead to the scaffold with the convict and he is placed under the direct beam to which rope is attached.
The executioner straps his legs tightly together, place the cap over his head and face and adjust the rope tightly around his neck. The noose is just about placed one and half inches to the right or left of the middle line and free from the flap of the cap. The light just fades off and the elocution of thoughts run through into the blindfolded darkness.
The warders holding the condemned man’s hand to withdraw at that time and with the signal from the Superintendent the executioner draw the bolt.
Its that final moment of his life but also his last words. Some proclaim their innocence until the end; some seek forgiveness from the families of their victims; others make no statement at all. with a thump of noise its all a tremble. While the witnesses look on, in the first few minutes a considerable shock waved through his body followed by a slow and agonised death by strangulation and asphyxia
He remains dangling from the end of the rope from 8 to 14 minutes before the medical examiner, who climbs up a small ladder and listens to his heartbeat with a stethoscope declares the life extinct. A prison guard stands at the feet of the hanged person and holds the body steady, because of the agonised death by strangulation and asphyxia. The body remained suspended for half an hour and shall not be taken down till the Superintendent returns the warrant with the endorsement to the effect that the sentence has been carried out.
The only answer which can be given for justifying this infliction of mental and physical pain and suffering is that the condemned prisoner having killed a human being does not merit any sympathy and must suffer this punishment because he 'deserves' it. No mercy can be shown to one who did not show any mercy to others. But, as I shall presently point out, this justificatory reason cannot commend itself to any civilized society because it is based on the theory of retribution or retaliation and at the bottom of it lies the desire of the society to avenge itself against the wrong-doer. That is not a permissible penological goal."
A couple of hours back a man was shimmering the last ray of his life through the rails of his prison cell, imagining the sunset outside, and knowing that this was the last. knowing that in a small way, the passage he will be travelling has just begun, A journey into an unknown.
