Problem in Heaven - I

Chitragupta was worried. He was going through the business figures of the past few years and saw a depressing trend. He was at his wits end as to what to do. He called up his secretary and asked her to fix an appointment with Brahma, the Chairman and Managing Director. The CMD would be available at his house for an hour between 2-3 that afternoon. Chitragupta looked at his watch. It was 1:15. He locked his computer, picked up his jacket and started moving towards the exit. Chitragupta decided to walk the 40 minute distance and use the time to think.

Background
Chitragupta was the Chief Operating Officer (COO) at 'Heaven, India', a subsidiary of the multinational conglomerate Heaven Corp which had its headquarters in the Kingdom of Eden and operations spread across most of the countries in the world. Each subsidiary had unique culture and Standard Operating Procedures of its own. Recently, the Indian subsidiary was witnessing an increased influx of great businessmen and MBAs from some of the best business schools across the world. The expected effect was a more aggressive move towards corporatisation and professional management. Even Chitragupta, who was a loyal employee for the past 4000 years, was not spared by this wave of modernisation. He was also asked to undergo a crash course in business management at the newly established Heavenly Institute of Management, a brainwave of the eminenent educationist Sir Vikram Sarabhai. As

Chitragupta took a turn briskly he thought about the inaugrating speech by Mahatma Gandhi. "I have a dream that each and every Indian has a place in heaven and can live out his existence in peace here." Chitragupta shook his head sadly. What would the mahatma think if he knew that things were not quite progressing as per plan. He opened the gate and went up to the door. The door was opened within seconds and he was ushered to Brahmas office at the back. He always felt overwhelmed in this house. The ceiling was tall and you could see the planets rotating slowly around the house. Each wall was adorned with some of the greatest artworks of all time which were not released during the artists existence on Earth. He walked through the passage covered in petals which changed with the time of day. Morning, afternoon, evening, night. Now it was daffodils. The entire house was awash with a rare perfume that made you feel blissful and nostalgic at the same time. Chitragupta paused in front of the office for a moment before knocking. The door opened after a few seconds on its own accord and he walked into the most powerful office in India. Brahma was standing near the wall to ceiling window that had a moving view of the entire world which changed every few minutes. The lord was looking at the peaks of Himalayas at the moment. "Come in Chitragupta, make yourself comfortable." The lord never had to shout to make himself heard. Sometimes he didn't even have to speak. A look, a gesture was enough. Brahma stood near the window for a long time before the phone rang shattering his reverie. He walked slowly to the table and picked up the receiver. It was his secretary, confirming his appointments for the day.

Chitragupta used this oppurtunity to reflect on his problems. Recently, Heaven India had seen a paradoxical twist in the kind of people it attracted. To get a better idea of this, it is essential to understand the business model of Heaven. Heaven was a totally profit oriented company. Exactly five years before the death of an individual in India, a memo would be created and circulated among the different departments of heaven. This memo would originate from the seperate lead generation team headed by Yama. Greed, Morality, Ethics. These are the three departments and each had its own system of accounting. All the transactions of an individual that he/she did from birth till the last accounting period is automatically feeded into the huge database that heaven maintained. These transactions were then sorted amongst their nature and then sent to any of the applicable departments. Once the departments get the memo of an individual from Yama's team, they start preparing the final balance sheet of the individual. These are then sent back to Yama, who makes a consolidated statement of accounts and comes up with a cumulative death score (CDS). This CDS decides the amount that may be sanctioned as a maximum bid for that individual. Once Heaven wins the bid, the individual is absorbed into the organisation by a detailed indoctrination and training process. Whatever good the individual does in improving the social aspects of the kingdom is considered as profits.
The main competitor of Heaven is Hell, India. But normally both of them follow a symbiotic relationship while bidding for people. For example, if Heaven has sanctioned a lower bidding amount for an individual, Hell would have sanctioned a higher amount. So both the organisations know what kind of people they would get well in advance. Even though Heaven was a more profitable corporation, historically it has been observed that the Earthly per-capita income of the individuals in heaven is much lower than that of Hell. Brahma and Chitragupta took pride in that fact.
However, this was changing slowly during the past 10 years. Chitragupta had noticed that slowly, the per-capita income was improving and the average CDS scores were decreasing. This had led to a change in the demographics of the kingdom and maybe explained the slow rate of growth. Chitragupta was worried that if this trend continues, it may have serious repurcussions for not only the profits but also on the overall image of Heaven, India. But what had forced Chitragupta to call for this emergency meeting with Brahma was the alarming trend in bidding for individuals. It seemed as if Yama was actually sanctioning higher amounts for people with less CDS scores. Chitragupta was appalled at this proposition and wanted some answers.

Brahma replaced the receiver and took his seat behind the huge oak desk. He directed his piercing gaze towards Chitragupta and smiled.
"So my dear boy to what do I owe this surprise visit?"

(To be continued...The conversation)

Obituary

The creature died but still lives in bits and pieces. Though it craved for salvation, it will be an eternal craving only to be sought but never to be fulfilled. The creature is alive in each and everyone of us. Just the strength of life differs . The creature is the human soul, in a herd of other competitive human souls and in a world obsessed with the fear of being sidelined. Many will discount this as the ramblings of a lunatic, and laugh it off. But that would be just looking directly at the sun through the window panes of an old church. Its colourful and serene from the inside, but outside its blinding and hot.

The human soul is a beautiful artifice designed with the greatest logic and flexibility. But unfortunately, this logic outrides consideration of fellow humans and decides to chart its own path over the dead or dying. Some may justify this as a necessary evil, I differ and describe it as obsessive stupidity. But I respect the views of others and if you prefer to view the world through the windowpanes of the church then so be it. So be it.

And so it begins...

Hunger tore at its stomach. Its legs were shaky with the effort it took to stand up. All day the poor beast had roamed around the jungle looking for food, a morsel of anything. Edibility was not an issue now; survival was. As the sun set, the creature had made peace with its stomach to endure another hungry night. The acids were burning into the intestines but it knew this phase was the worst. Just before darkness overtook your senses and you sleep into peaceful oblivion. A state of serene unconsciousness where the only feeling is that of relief. But today was different. The creature tried to close its eyes and slip into the black hole but was not being successful. '3 more days max' it thought; 'can't endure much longer. This would stop soon...Yes...then the darkness would be mine forever....' Slowly its eyes started drooping and sleep spread its tendrils over the creatures senses. The world was a perfect place again, there were friends around and far off a juicy piece of meat waited with open arms. Through the foggy consciousness the creature became aware of the other members of its herd tear apart a deer and eat. When they could eat no longer, they threw the rest to the ground and went off. The creature drowsy with sleep and only half alive couldn't believe its eyes. 'I must be hallucinating...losing my head slowly...But maybe....' Slowly the creature limped and crawled towards the meat. It looked from left to right to see if there were any others who would exercise their claim over the prize. Sensing that there was no one, it increased its pace. With mouth drooling and eyes only on the piece of meat, the creatures joy was boundless. 'I'll live...YES I'LL LIVE!' The creature gave a loving wet lick to its dinner and thanked its stars for this oppurtune. It opened its mouth and was just about to gobble the meal when an unbearable pain shot through its sides. It felt as if its heart were being forced out of its body from the inside. It looked sideways and saw the other members of the herd were throwing sharp edged bolts at it to prevent it from eating. 'Please' it moaned, 'I am just a kid and have not eaten in so many days, you have had your fill please let me finish what you've thrown away!' It cried. It fought. Angry, Frustration, Sadness, Hunger, Defeat, Death...
In the final moments of its existence, its entire short life passed by in a flicker of bitter sweet memories. It now understood what its mother had explained the moment it opened its eyes and saw a beautiful rose for the first time. "Crush the rose son."
"But mom," said the new born, "Its so beautiful! The petals in their perfect symmetry, colors of bright crimson and the fragnance so divine! How can you kill such an existence which brings out beautiful thoughts in you?!" "Its a unfortunate beauty my son. The petals with their symmetry mock at the haphazard existence of others, the crimson shades make us aware that blood would be spilt and the fragnance is so that we dont think about the thorns yonder. There is nothing in this world that would make us understand beauty which is not a description of sacrifice. The brilliant colors of the rainbow you see are blurred reflections of light and never too clear. One color superimposed on the other trying to edge the other out. The songs the birds sing are never melodious but an expression of their helplessness and the rivers you see flowing are just tears of the dead. Its the rule of the jungle my darling, you live only if you kill. Paradox they may seem but killing is the only way to live. So I wish you kill many my son, I wish you live long..."
The creatures eyes closed for the final time, it was in great pain but it was happy. It had been betrayed, but it found bliss in that betrayal. A release that it sought for so long was finally here...

(To be continued...)