A living obituary is an obituary written by someone when they are still alive.

In the west there are companies that offer writing a living obituary as a service: brings a whole new meaning to the word ghostwriting. Companies like storyphile.ca offer Living Obituary amongst their services, and mention the pricing as “ $495 for up to 500 words (suitable for publication in your local newspaper).  Longer, living obituary essays (up to 2,000 words) start at $1,595.”

The recent passing away of Ambareesh Murthy, Co-founder and CEO of Pepperfry, is getting much media attention. Lesser known is the living obituary he wrote in jest in January – clearly he didn’t expect to pass away at just 51. As per the obituary it was 42 years too soon.

Kashyap Vadapalli was his colleague since the 1990s, and the Chief Marketing Officer of Pepperfry for till last year. “Ambareesh is an amazing writer. You should see his FB posts – humorous, witty, eloquent. High intelligence, high intensity and high humour quotient.

The above self-obit is written by him, around Jan/Feb this year. It is authentic.” says Kashyap.

His living obituary is funny and moving. He talks about his love of the mountains and of motorcycling, both of which we completely relate to, along with the bit about the selfie stick. This piece was doing the rounds on WhatsApp, and we are taking the liberty to reprint it, only with utmost respect for the author and his writing. He’s a good writer, and clearly inspired by Douglas Adams.

How would you like to start Writing for Medium in India

Ambareesh’s Living Obituary

“Ambareesh died climbing down from Mt. Everest on 29 February 2065, aged 93, due to complications from a radio-active spider bite from several decades ago, and the shock of finding organic, free-range chicken at the summit.

Mumbaikars will know him as Spider Man and should thank him for his many years of service to the city fighting crime, protecting the rights of smokers, and avoiding dogs.

He loved his mom (also deceased), who was a Sagittarius, a wild child and had all the courage in the family. Growing up with a mom who was a polyglot (she’d be equally at ease discussing the effects of gibberellic acid on the morphology of Egyptian cotton or debating the attractiveness of Indian post-mining cities as tourist destinations), Ambareesh realized very early that he’d never be the smartest person in the room and therefore decided to devote his life to making a little money.

Ambareesh took fashion cues from no one. His signature look every day was all his; a dark blue shirt paired with indigo blue jeans with one of the three shoes he owned completing the ensemble. He sometimes wore a kurta, which immediately prompted widespread speculation about his mental health, levels of stress, and has since been accepted by academics as incontrovertible proof (along with Foucault’s Pendulum) of earth’s rotation around its axis.

He was always mindful of the feelings of people around him. Through his many years on earth, he was never heard saying anything inappropriate, disparaging, hurtful or sarcastic to any other human being. Even when they mocked his dress sense.

We have a post that might be helpful in case you are Wondering How to Write Flash Fiction? Learn From These Great Examples

He also lied, sometimes.

Ambareesh loved the universe and spent many moons looking at it in the mountains of Ladakh, at heart he was a hitchhiker and Ladakh was his guide to the galaxy. His proudest possessions were a bike, several sets of thermal inners, a sleeping bag that could handle negative 30-degree temperatures and a tripod that doubled up as a selfie stick; he is truly sorry for owning a selfie stick.

He fought a losing battle with white hair from the age of twenty-five. Finally, after being called uncle for the 15th time in a month by somebody older than himself, he colored his hair on a fateful Christmas day in 2022. However, he couldn’t reconcile himself with the man in the mirror and shaved his hair off within an hour. This incident, popularly known as Colorgate has since been acknowledged as the shortest span of hair color retention in recorded history.

Ambareesh passed on knowing that You Got Mail is the best movie ever, Led Zeppelin the best band, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy the best piece of literature ever created by somebody other than him, Ashish Shah the greatest friend on the planet, and that Coldplay sucks.

He is survived by his wife and his proudest accomplishment, his son. He is also survived by his older sister from (whythehelldoyoulivethere) Sonipat, Ambareesh’s demise will finally allow her to be the smarter one in the family.

Cremation will take place at the family’s convenience, and his ashes will be kept around as long as they match the décor.

Well-wishers are encouraged to write a note of farewell on an Old Monk bottle and drink it in his honor at the memorial service.

The dress code for the service is blue.

PS1: Today’s pic is of The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy; Douglas Adams was after all the first pan-galactic hitchhiker.

PS2: I am not dead and won’t be for many years; this was just my attempt to write a ‘living’ obituary, a privilege few of us make use of, therefore Don’t Panic (see what I did here?).”

______

Did you know 50%-90% of the non-fiction books in the bestsellers list have been ghostwritten? Here are 10 Secrets of Ghostwriting in India

That last line – the PS2 – is heartbreaking. But the Living Obituary does give us – completely strangers – a sense for what kind of a person he was.

This brings us to the question : should you write a living obituary? These days everyone worries about legacy. If you’ve lived, you’ve learned, and you don’t want your life-lessons to disappear with you. It is perfectly natural and understandable, even though a tad self-indulgent.
But then so it writing a memoir, which so many people are writing. We cannot complain – our co-founder has also written two (although he’s published only one).

When it comes to writing, we believe there are few “shoulds”. You should write what you want but for the right reasons. You should write that living obituary or that memoir because it will bring you closure, because reminiscing itself can be cathartic and even joyful. Write because the process gives you joy and pleasure, not because you have a legacy and all that. Writing a memoir is a great way to make sense of your own life, and a living obituary is often a memoir in short form. So go for it, don’t hold back. Maybe it will be doing the rounds on WhatsApp soon – but we hope not.