Halfway to Heaven

Prologue

'Maya, he is not breathing.'
Maya shivered on hearing the reality from her Baba's mouth. She turned a pale white as the dusty wind brushed over her peach like face. The wind did not spare the lifeless body of the dusky skinned woman's dead body either, although the body was ice cold, the collar of her shirt fluttered as the cruel loo blew through it.

Baba stepped to the right where another body was lying, face down. He flipped over the body to reveal a yellow face and swollen lips. The man's eyes were half-open, and the lashes wavered dully. Maya's father instantly kneeled down, lifted his back, and placed it over his right knee.

'Baba?' Maya asked gulping her thoughts with her saliva.

'Yes, he is breathing.' He clarified what Maya had hoped for and commanded her softly, 'You should not stay here now, it is getting worse. Go inside!'
'But, Baba how...'

'Just go. I will take care of him.' Baba raised his voice by a few decibels, enough to topple any decision that Maya wished to make. She had always been like that, the timid village girl, who would never step out of the confines of her father's will. She never complained, and that was because she was never aware of anything beyond those confines.

She rose from the rocky ground where she was kneeling down and started towards her house.

Baba held the half-dead man from the hip, pulled him up, and carried him to his little shelter in the outskirts of the village of Kishenpur. His wrinkled calf muscles were weary of age, but did not give up. As he walked, he passed what was the remains of a merciless car accident, twisted and dented metallic body of luxurious ride that was larger than his humble bedroom.

'Hang in there, you should have thought before being so reckless.' He lectured the almost unconscious man who was somehow managing to paddle his feet on the ground.
'Anindita... Je... Anindita.' The man pronounced like a lamp about to blow off.

'Your friend has reached a safe place, she is at peace there. Keep breathing child, Bhagwan is merciful.' Baba said calmly.

Indeed, his friend Anindita had reached a safe place, some place they called Swarg or heaven. God was kind enough to spare her the pain of surviving such a crash that had crushed his entire lower body. As for the man who survived, he was at the mercy of God and only time would reveal the test he has to go through... to suvive.

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