Thank God. A Pandemic Tale

"30 Crore is the offer price dad. Can you believe it? It is time to sell off that small piece of land and settle in some sky-touching apartment. We all live here. That is the reality of life. Dad! Dad! where are you? I can't see you in my camera frame. Dad! Ohh Common Dad! " This was Kris talking to his father Sehdev. 

Sehdev was sitting in the verandah on his easy cane made rocking chair. His phone was in the room and was on the auto-answer. 

It was rain with a breeze that day. All trees and plants at Sehdev's garden were moving their heads in synchronisation and waving towards him. He was enjoying that sight and was like talking to them with his eyes and smile. A big noise was coming from the flow of water which was running down the rainwater storage tank. His two cows were mooing with pleasure and his both dogs were sitting near the clay pot for drinking water kept in the verandah.  

It has been many years since the pandemic had taken Sehdev s parents and his wife. He used to be a successful businessman. A huge business of automobile spare parts. 

A big 4 BHK flat in the poshest area of Mumbai. Multiple luxurious cars and whatnot. The best of the health facilities were at his doorstep. He used to control the distribution chain of spare parts across the state and was planning to launch them across the globe. countries most influential leaders were in his daily calling list. 

A very happy family, most beautiful and understanding wife, two young children and proud parents. He used to thank God each and every day for everything which was given to him. 

He always disregards bad news. His views were like, I can change any news to good news with my money and influence. Which he proved on many occasions. Whether it was sadness due to lack of money for the marriage of his driver's daughter or the health of his cook's wife. Sehdev used to take care of everyone. He takes pride in coming home and see everyone is happy because of him. His money and influence was the answer to every problem. 

One day, he saw his wife and kids were in an argument regarding the small temple of home. His sons were of opinion that it should be kept at the store but his wife was not in agreement. Sehdev proudly gave the decision that it is the time of next-generation to decide what to do with the temple and hence it will be shifted to store. 

Time passed and one day, news of a pandemic came. No one in the country took it seriously. All celebrations and routine things continued. Sehdev also had very good investment consultants who gave him tip to invest in the pharmacy industry as the time will come when these industries would be the gold diggers. Sehdev still could not gauge the hidden warning under this statement. His investments started to multiply and he continued to thank God for same. 

The sad visuals started to come from all across the country and from his staff too. Sehdev supported his entire staff with the best of the money and influence which he had. But slowly sadness started to prevail due to the circumstances.  

He didn't know from where but one day pandemic hit his home too. Despite spending multiple millions and using the best of influence, he could not save his parents and wife. His entire life suddenly overturned. 

One day he got up and saw from his balcony, a huge number of cars honking on the road during a traffic jam. Then he moved his eyes on his BMW. He saw the car was laughing at him. The sight became even more shocking when he saw all his cars were seeing upwards and laughing at him. He was in shock. Then, He went to the kitchen for water. Now water purifier was laughing at him. He left the glass on the table and rushed to the refrigerator for some food. The food and milk inside the fridge were also alive and showing a teasing face to him. His air conditioning system started to make robotic noises. 

Suddenly, every decorative thing kept in his huge hall were making cranky noises. Additionally, his phone started to ring. It was the most influential person of the state. With all these noises ringing continuously in his ears, he was in deep stress and was not able to understand what to do. 

 At the same moment, he saw towards the store. A small temple was kept aside. The temple was steady with no movements at all. He rushed to the temple and sat there for hours and hours with his eyes closed. 

He could realise the things for which he was thanking every day, were never given by God. 

Then he called up his lawyer and property broker. Told them to buy half an acre of property in a small town with a home to stay. 

Sehdev donated all his property to the pandemic relief fund and left for his new home.  

Years have passed, the world has moved on. Very rare people have even 200 sq foot of own land on the planet. But Sehdev has half acres of his own land. He never goes out. No vehicle. His small organic farm grows fruits and vegetables for him. Natural water to drink. 

Today.

His son Kris cuts off the phone in frustration and says to his wife. "Dad is a very hard nut to crack. He will never understand the benefits of this life, he will always live in the ancient world and never thank God for giving us such luxurious life". 

Same time TV was broadcasting the latest news of another pandemic that started to hit the world. 

And here Sehdev was sitting in front of his small temple thanking God and praying for humanity.