The guide is important to leave behind. My father had time to think about all possible details. He left a lot of information and even woke up one night to let us know which picture to use for his obituary. The one thing which neither he nor I thought about was his last rites. In Hindu tradition, the body is cremated. But whether on not to perform the last rites following customs and traditions was not discussed. My father was not religious and neither was my brother who would be the one performing the ceremony as the eldest son. We had to default to my mother's wishes and she wanted to go through the 13-day ritual. Given a choice, my brother wouldn't have opted for it.