Faith

“Do you believe in existence of God?”, asked JD.

“You need to be precise”, replied Raj.

“Do you believe that the universe was created by God?”

“The Big Bang Theory explains the origin of Universe. The Universe happened, it was not created.”, explained Raj.

“You know if gravity was slightly less powerful, the universe would not have been existed and if it was slightly more powerful, even then the universe would have collapsed and there would have been no life.”, said JD.

“Is there any conversational path from this gravity fact that will lead us to existence of God?”, asked Raj.

“The precision in the amount of gravity indicates the existence of a creator.”, smiled JD.

“I love your ‘scientific’ way of explaining mythology. I wonder why all aged people believe in God and miracles. I mean there is no exception, each one of your age wholeheartedly believes in God and propagates this belief.”, smiled Raj.

“Ok so here is why we old people whole-heartedly believe in God and are highly devoted to almighty. When you are young you have young, fundamental questions. All your knowledge can be easily justified by Science. You throw an object in air and it drops back on earth. Gravity! You bring two magnets close to each other, they either attract or repel. Magnetism! The Blue color of sky, appearance of rainbows, formation of days and night, science gives you every answer. Now as you grow old, your knowledge and scope expands. You tend to find answers to bigger questions; life, death and the universe. At this point, you eagerly want answers to quench your thirst of curiosity. The moment you realize you can’t figure these concepts out by all the available information, you start walking on the path of God. The path where you still won’t get the answers but you would establish peace with non- availability of answers to these questions.”,

“Come on! Theories are being worked upon. Quantum has already reached depths. It tends to explain uncertainty. The entire world is made of three fundamental units: electrons, protons and neutrons.”, Explained Raj.

“According to Hindu mythology, too, the entire world is made from three fundamental aspects: Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh. The paths maybe different but the destination is, indeed, same.”, explained JD.

“Well, your knowledge of facts is appreciable. You are an interesting man. I feel lucky to be your neighbor.”, said Raj.

Raj was a physicist in his late 20’s. JD was an old man in his late 70’s. He was a Physics lecturer and after his retirement he lived in the building where Raj was his new neighbor. They chatted over tea or after dinner and within a month they became good friends. JD was a religious man while Raj delighted himself with atheism. They would often share their views and also express their discontent with each other’s belief. JD tried to convince Raj to develop a sense of faith in God which was, by no means, acceptable for Raj.

One day, while Raj and JD conversed over tea, Raj asked, “Why don’t you live with your family?”

“I love this place. This place is filled with my wife, Arti’s presence. It has been ten years now since she left me. I live here with her memories. I would never want to leave this place.”, said JD.

“Tell something about your wife and your life with her.”, said Raj.

“She was an amazing woman. My Arti, Arti Sharma. She was known for writing. She was a wonderful writer.”, sighed JD.

“Wait, wait, wait! ‘The Poetess from the Hills’, as they call her….”, said Raj.

“Exactly! She was my wife.”

“I have read her novels and poems. She wrote beautiful poems. I never knew someday I’d be sitting in her home and discussing this with her husband.” , Raj was shocked.

“I have all her books and Poems collection in my bedroom. She inspired me to write but unfortunately, I couldn’t write much except my journals. I wonder who would read these but still I write to tell Arti what I feel in these days without her.”, laughed JD.

“Who else do you have in your family?”, asked Raj.

“My son, my daughter-in-law and my granddaughter, Sia. Sia is a wonderful child just like her grandmother. I see Arti in her. She talks like her; laughs like her; even her eyes are same as Arti’s. I wish someday she writes like Arti.” sighed JD.

“I have no means to see your wife now but I wish I could meet your granddaughter someday.”

“God might have plans on this!”, said JD.

“That’s not true. There is no God and there are no plans on this. It would be a simple meeting, probably, someday she’ll come to see you here with her parents and I’ll meet her. Why don’t you tell her to write when she grows up?”

“She is too young to understand this desire. She is just 10. I fear that she will never understand the back story and will end up writing only for the fact that I asked her to write. She needs to be grown up to understand that I want her to write. I want her to take Arti’s legacy till posterity.”, said JD.

“Ok, so you tell her when she grows up.”, said Raj.

“I am already 80 and I eagerly look forward to go to Arti.”, laughed JD.

“That is scary!”

One day Raj received a phone call from a hospital in his home town. He was informed that his younger brother has been hospitalized after having met with a fatal car crash. Raj lost his senses on hearing the news. He rushed towards his home town which took four hours by car. On his way, he came across a temple. Out of nowhere, he felt an urge to visit the temple before going to the hospital. He went inside the temple and begged before God to save his brother. He conversed with God saying, “God, I don’t know whether JD is right or wrong about your existence. I know nothing about your existence, I know nothing about the miracles you do but right now I really want your existence to be true concept. Please God save my brother.”, saying this Raj rushed towards the hospital.

He reached the hospital and was asked to wait as the treatment was still going on. After waiting for the longest one hour of his life, doctor came up to him and said, “Prayers have been answered. He is out of danger now.”

It was the turning point in Raj’s life. He realized that the moment he saw his brother safe and fine, he got answers to all his questions. In that very moment, he felt an urge to have a word with JD. He wanted to tell JD what all happened that day. He went back to his place. He went straight to JD’s apartment. He rang his bell and realized the door was unlocked. He ran inside screaming JD’s name only to find that he had already given up in a cardiac arrest.

He asked the people gathered there if anyone from JD’s family came. He was told that his son along with his family came and took away some of his stuff while maximum of his belongings were sold.

Life was never same for Raj again. In a mere blink of eye, his whole world was turned upside down. It was the most ironical day of his life; the day on which he got the greatest blessing of his life was the same day he lost the man who led him on this path. Raj went on to live his life with a changed belief, a belief that constructing faith in that supreme power, the almighty, makes life a lot easier. He didn’t know if it was God who saved his brother, whether he heard his pray that day or not, but one thing he knew for sure was, having firm belief in existence of God completely changed his life for better.

20 years later...

In his late 50’s, Raj turned out to be a successful scientist. Despite being a scientist, he was a firm believer of God. He wrote a book which was completely inspired by conversations he had with his mentor, JD. In his book, he explained how life gave him beautiful presents at some points, while on others, some lessons explaining how to unwrap those presents. Some fulfilled dreams and some tempting desires which were never met!

On the day of his book launch, a young woman came up to Raj, “Congratulations Sir! I have been searching you since years.”

“Thank you, It’s my pleasure to have inspired young minds like you.” replied Raj.

“Of course, sir! But my eagerness behind meeting you is something other than obvious. I am Sia, Sia Sharma, JD’s granddaughter.”

Raj could not believe what he heard. His whole life he found means to escape from the fact that he could never meet JD’s granddaughter. Today, the girl was standing right before him. He didn’t know what to speak.

“ You? You are JD’s grand-daughter? I am so glad to see you. Tell me, I knew you and wanted to meet you even then I could never reach up to you, you never heard of me, how did you find me? How did you know about me?”, asked Raj hastily.

“I read my grandpa’s journals which I brought from his home on the day of his funeral. He wrote a lot about you. It was hard searching you but the college where you taught helped a lot!”, said Sia.

“I can’t believe all this. You read all his journals? You might have known a lot about his life.”, said Raj.

“Not much, those were general writings explaining how his days were spent after grandma.”

“Hearing of your grandma, I must ask did he mention about his wish that concerned you?”, asked Raj.

“No, there was no such thing.”, said Sia.

“Ok, So I take this opportunity to inform you that your grandpa saw his wife in you. You resembled you grandma in many ways. He wished that someday you write like your grandma. Have you read you grandma’s work?”, asked Raj.

“Yes, my father once made me read some poems written by her. They were amazing! But, I know nothing about writing.”, said Sia.

“Well, your grandpa loved your grandma more than anything. He wanted her legacy of writing to prosper. His heart knew it was you who could do this. You were too young to understand this at that time. He lamented over this inevitable fact that when you grow up he would not be there to express his wish. He told me about this and today I am offering this blessing to you.”, said Raj.

“Ok, I shall give it a shot someday!”, smiled Sia.

EPILOGUE

This story has been taken from novel, ‘The Blessing’ written by Sia Sharma, granddaughter of legendary writer Arti Sharma.

Based on her understanding of her grandmother’s legacy as explained in her grandfather’s journals and also meeting a stranger who was neighbor to her grandfather who told her about the beliefs of her grandfather, Sia wrote this novel explaining how she lived a life which she believes is a blessing from her grandparents.