Lives Are From Heaven And Deaths Too

Let us go on a trip to god’s abode. A place where all human beings are one, where there is life without segregation, love without discrimination and a world without prejudice.
Mrs. Colman is ready down here on the earth to go shopping. She is on Main Street waiting for her husband to come so that both may drive off to the mall. Next to where she stands is a dustbin, made of gold, which is examined curiously by her where as the withered statue of what seems like an angel is not even noticed. There on the far eastern side, Mr. Singh stands painting his wife a lovely picture. He paints what was earlier a ‘Gulmohar’ with subtle shades, and what has now been made a cheap bride by forcing golden ribbons up it’s leaves. He paints the golden ribbons meticulously and rushes his paintbrush making ‘two’ crocked strokes for the ‘Gulmohar’.
We are in Spain now. Senior Pipito is gathering tomatoes from his yard. He has been on this job since the morning, and now he is tired and sweaty. He tosses these lifeless red vegetables onto the kitchen shelf and goes to where the awning of his shed gives ample shade. He has left the company of the tomatoes who could have helped him live a hundred years more.
The rain patters harshly. Mrs. Bond is on the hills of Simla, where her husband has been posted recently. She has just done the laundry and hung it outside, among which her prized red- flowers printed suit is too. She doesn’t notice this spectacular spectacle of the clouds crying, she is gazing beady eyed at her red suit hoping that the prints aren’t washed away.
Bryan is in his grandmother’s house watching naked men wrestle on the television. Mrs. Fitzgerald, his grandmother has just stitched him a lovely purple sweater, which she hopes would protect him from the cold. But Bryan doesn’t care two hoots. Purple is the colour of his dogs leash and so he will not accept this gift. He throws away the sweater, in a way throwing away his grandmothers love.
Heaven is waiting patiently for it’s five new baits.
Mrs. Colman falls off the staircase in the mall to her fate.
A snake bites Mr. Singh as he moves closer to the Gulmohar. The venom poisons him.
Senior Pipito is burning. He passes away forced to die of heat- stroke.
Mrs. Bond slips off the edge of her balcony and plunges down the Simla valley.
As for Bryan, he attempts to wrestle the bully in school and is beaten to death.
Off- white seats these new citizens of heaven in its chariot. In place of the face and body, off- white is a figure (painted off- white) whose gender is indecipherable.
Off- white guides these five new people through the sky. The world up here in space is far different and less superfluous than the world down below. The sky reflects colours, which barely show.
The five earthlings are surprised at first. But soon they begin perceiving what all inmates of heaven do. Off- white takes them on a tour.
The drift takes them to where birds are being manufactured. Golden- white light is being passed through tiny droplets of water through which glorious birds emerge. These birds produce no sound and are dumb. Next, Off- white stops its chariot in front of an abyss. “This” it says, “Is our mall. Imagine the shops, customers and money, and the void created by this abyss will be no less than the malls on earth. Mrs. Colman is awestruck.
The chariot then stops at the garden of five senses. There are no golden ribbons, but there surely is a vast expanse of expressions. Mr. Singh senses somebody touching him, then he smells jasmines, then sees white apparitions, then he taste’s caramelized sugar and then he hears divine sounds. He is speechless.
Off- white flies its chariot over the clouds and stops between them. Here, there is a yard. On one side rest lifeless stars and on the other side desirable darkness. Senior Pipito stretches one of his arms towards the stars and the other towards the darkness. The arm in the darkness feels heavy, while the arm in the stars seems to float without execution of pressure. Senior is dazed.
Beside the yard the chariot turns to show the how Blue- the baby cloud- is drooling. How peach, his mother reprimands him by shooting a few volts of colourless electricity at his mouth. Mrs. Bond is in tears after she witnesses this lovely spectacle of love. She washes her hands in Blue’s drool, and almost instantly she is calmed.
The last stop is where milk is manufactured for the small babies. A figure stands at the doorstep, caressing what looks like the cheek of a small child. The lady is kissing this child incessantly. This time it is Bryan who feels sentimental, as if his own grandmother was there trying to love him.
Off- white turns to look at the earthlings. All five of them, Mrs. Colman, Mr. Singh, Senior Pipito, Mrs. Bond and Bryan and shedding pearls from their eyes.
Off- white smiles, bids them farewell and helps them pass through a blinding white light to Paradise.