Symphony of Life

 

Symphony of Life

Arun closed the doors and windows of his room. His room was a mess with his bed undone, things thrown everywhere, a broken lampshade hanging on his desk, books scattered on the floor and empty bottles of alcohol stacked in the corner. Just like his room, he was a mess too. His hair was messy, his shirt soiled, his beard unshaven and his wizened dull face was itself a grievous sight.

He staggered across the room only to step on a piece of glass that pierced into his right foot. He cursed himself and threw the glass piece from his foot aside with other pieces. Beside the glass pieces, was a broken photo frame with a photograph torn into pieces. He ransacked his cupboard and took a packet of white crystals labelled methamphetamine.

He bit open the packet and poured half of it on the table. After a couple of snorts, his vision was blurry and after another one, he passed out.

He opened his eyes to see a cloudy sky. He got up hastily. He was standing on a giant cloud and the only thing as far as his eyes could see was voidness.

“Ahh, you’re finally awake!”

He turned around to see who it was. A dark-skinned wizened old man in a white suit stood in front of him and seems to have materialised from nowhere.

“Who are you? Where am I?”

The old man just smiled.

“Are you God? Where are the angels? Am I dead? Is this heaven?”

The old man smiled again.

“I’m sure you have a lot of questions but before that what was your problem again?” The old man asked him.

“What?”

“What troubles you, son?” The old man put his hand on his shoulder comforting him. Arun fell into silence for a moment. He felt calm and serenity.

“My girlfriend dumped me because I had lost my job”. He said in a low tone with his voice barely audible.

“Wooo! That’s a serious problem!” The old man said in a rather sarcastic tone.

“Oh, Did that sound like a joke huh?” He sounded angry.

“Take my hand” The man ordered holding out his hand. He took his hand hesitantly. A part of the cloud in front of them opened up. Through it, they were able to see Earth as seen from space. He looked at it with awe.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” The old man asked.

“It’s… so lovely”. He said.

“Let’s look closer”. The Earth zoomed in. They saw the waves crashing onto rocks producing a relaxing atmosphere as the ocean basked in the warmth of the setting sun. Further, the sound of flapping wings of the flock of migrating birds brought an ulterior sense of calmness and peace inside Arun. The scene changed.

The moon on its full gracefulness shone through the lattice of leaves into the forest. A silhouette of an antelope appeared at a distance. A group of cicadas, katydids and crickets were orchestrating a well-rehearsed relaxing symphony without the help of a conductor to set the tones and tempos. The scene disappeared.

“I always gape in awe of Nature’s creations” The old man paused.

“Let’s look somewhere else”. A scene evaporated again. A fat man dressed in a coat suit stood in front of a massive bungalow and was speaking to someone on the phone.

“This man is a top businessman who just lost several lakhs of money because of a fire accident in his industry”

“Well, I’m sure his insurance covers it,” he said. The old man smiled and waved his hand. The scene changed again. A woman in her early thirties was doing dishes and wiping off the sweat on her face every now and then.

“She lost the sole breadwinner of her family to cancer. She has to work at various households to make ends meet and send her children to school. She is illiterate but doesn’t want her kids to so too”. He waved again. A little kid around the age of 8 was holding the hand of someone appeared.

“This kid lost both of his parents to COVID, his uncle is going to deliver him to an orphanage. The kid doesn’t know that his uncle won’t ever be coming back as much as his parents.“ The old man waved again.“ A young woman is sitting in a corner sobbing.

“Her husband comes home every day drunken, creates a ruckus and beats her. She is also a victim of marital rape. Her parents have deserted her. She hides her physical wounds under her saree nursing them but there is no one to tender her mental wounds.” He waved and the scene changed. A new-born baby was in the outskirts of the town in a deserted building and was crying as it was getting cold.

“This baby doesn’t know that her parents do not want her. She hasn’t eaten for days and probably would die if nobody finds her”

“Stop. Enough” Arun yelled as he stepped back.

“But a few minutes back, you said that Earth’s lovely.” The old man questioned.

“That was different. Please help them, the baby will die” Arun pleaded.

“You are a good man Arun. But I can’t help them, at least not directly”

“You can. I mean you’re the God”

“Am I?” The old man said with an enigmatic smile.

“Yes, I have seen you do these things, things that we mortals can’t perform.” There was a short pause.

“Come on, there are few more people you need to see” The old man waved his hand. A middle-aged man was holding the hand of an old man who was on a bed in the hospital. The man wiped the drop of a tear running down his left cheek and gripped the old man’s hand tighter.

“I know him, it’s Suresh, my colleague at the company I worked”

“That old man is his father. He has to undergo bypass surgery and he did not have money for it. None of their relatives came forward. His wife and his mother pledged their jewels to pay for the surgery costs.”

“I… had no idea.” Arun stammered.

“I had treated him badly when he tried to console me when we were laid off from the company” A strong sense of remorse filled him.

“We often live in a delusion that our problems are worse than others. We are tempted by negative emotions like fear, anger, sadness, guilt, jealousy, envy and let them consume us. We are indeed more attracted to these negative emotions and it takes a great deal of power to cherish the positiveness around us. You have no idea what’s going inside someone and the least you can do is to not hurt them if you can’t help.” There was absolute silence. Another scene evaporated in front of them as the old man waved. A man dressed in a rather old-fashioned way and supposedly in his late forties was on a wheelchair laughing with the kids around him.

“This man lost his family in an accident in which he alone survived but his lower body was paralysed in the incident. His parents were very wealthy and he inherited their wealth. He could have spent his life with the wealth he inherited or curse someone for his misfortune which he did not. He learnt, worked and started a software company, and now helps the poor and needy. Life can be beautiful or sulking, depending on what you chose it to be. A wise man once said that Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light. Sometimes you have to be the light yourself", The old man paused waiting for Arun to speak.

“I… want to live. I want to save the child.” Arun said in a firm voice.

“Then wake up, go” The old man instructed.

“Wait! If you are not God, then who are you?” Arun questioned the old man.

 “I’m whatever you think to be” The old man replied.

“So, there’s no God?”

The old man smiled.

“The existence of God merely depends upon your beliefs.”

“I don’t understand,” Arun said puzzled.

“It’s time for you to go” The old man snapped his fingers.

Arun woke up. He was in a hospital bed and the sound of the ECG and a running generator pierced into his ears. He realised that he was not alone. He got out of bed.

“Ananya? How…” She hugged him before he could finish his sentence.

“I’m sorry” Ananya apologized. Arun stood speechless for a moment and then embraced her. A flash of his memories returned to him. He pushed her back.

“I have to go.” She held his hand as he moved away from her.

“I’ll come with you,” She said. He nodded slowly and took the food and water she had brought for him. He drove to the deserted building as fast as he could. He found the baby and lifted her. She was pale and looked bad.

“Please don’t be dead, Please don’t be dead” He muttered to himself. He took the water bottle and slowly gave her water. She did not appear to drink at first but then she began to gulp the water. Her tender little hand gripped Arun’s right thumb. He bent and kissed the baby’s forehead. The little princess laughed. The baby was taken to the hospital and was well taken care of.

Later that night, Arun was up at the terrace with Ananya holding hands and were enjoying the starry sky together.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Ananya asked.

“The night sky never interested me. But today’s night sky has shrouded me in its beauty and living these amazing moments with you have made it only more beautiful” He glanced at Ananya and smiled. She rested her head on his shoulder. Arun looked up at the dark star-studded night sky. At a distance, he could see the old man smiling at him. He smiled back.