CONVERSATIONS AFTER DEATH

I reached the door of fate. "Please let it be the heavens, I haven't been bad enough to be on the other side anyway", I silently prayed.

I opened the wooden door that had beautiful humans carved into them. Some movie this is! I was blinded by some strong light which almost had the force of an intense painful wind. I couldn't for once open my eyes.

When I did open them I saw women, all women walking around, some casually sipping on some drink and I unconsciously gulped down my own saliva. "Water, I need water", were the first words I uttered in this oddly mesmerizing place. How do I describe something that I have never witnessed before. A lady seemingly in her 40s reached out to me. This sudden insecurity rushed through me because good lord was she pretty. Her curls were parted in a manner that were too pleasing to the eyes. 'The earth sure did miss out on one beauty', I thought.

With a glass of some beverage in her hand she smiled almost as lovingly as my mom used to, which made me slightly uncomfortable. I quenched my thirst with this simple sweet drink not even bothering to ask her who she was or what this drink was.

What was the point anyway. We all are here after our death, is there possibly another way of meeting that same fate again. The more I thought about it, with the pale drink now dripping through my lips the more at ease I felt. Constantly running and competing through the course of life; it has all ended now although it didn't end in a way I would have wanted it too. The lady then told me to join her taking me to a park nearby. This place though defined by its unparalleled existence had elements all too similar to our lives on earth. I mindlessly made a note of the same. We chatted for a while there. "You are so young how did you get here?" she asked me. "I had an accident, i think my driver was a bit drunk, yeah" "Did he die too? I hope he did". I laughed at that and she did too. "Well his head was crushed into the pole, pretty sure he died way before I did". "Well I am here because of an accident too". She started before I could ask her. "Fell off a train. These Mumbai locals I tell you. A woman pushed past me to get to the front. Mercilessly crushing me down the tracks. But the women you see here have some unforgettable pasts. We are lucky to just have a mere accident". She calmly said.

I didn't want to talk about all that. "So you are from Mumbai too", I pointed out. "Oh yes, I grew up in Punjab, got married to my husband who was working in Mumbai. I never liked the city though. The people there were always in a hurry. No specific rules for the day or night I mean who lives like that, A city that carried more people on the roads than in its tiny houses. The rich are richer, the poor have no food to feed, the ones in the middle are just paying taxes and working day and night only to look forward to simple celebrations that praise the lord". (PC- pinterest) As a 21 year old girl, born and brought up in Mumbai, I was a bit offended by her statements. Though all facts, the lens I viewed my life with was completely different. I said what I thought about Mumbai and its people. "Well the city doesn't sleep which makes you believe that it is safer here than elsewhere, especially as a woman. If you ask for directions or for the best street food, no matter how much of a rush someone is in, he'll get you there, even make sure you are safe. When you travel by taxis you can hear stories of people who have gone from loathing the Mumbai rains to loving the occasional chai at some corner while the leaves of a coconut tree dance madly in sync with the wind. From children to cute animals to lovers to loners, from parents to grandparents all have a place in this cramped city just as much as their dreams".

She smiled and then looked me right in my eyes and asked me,"What about the women?" "What about them", I asked.

"Perhaps it's safer and sparkling with opportunities than most places but as a woman to another woman how is your city of dreams better that the rest", she questioned.

While I was still taking in her very specific doubt she took it as a sign to continue speaking. "When I had just settled in here i was invited over by the women of our society for a kitty party. Delighted as I was to be a part of something that meant my acceptance into this big city, the talks of women on how someone's child had relations with someone else. The discussions on their attire, them secretly wishing for their neighbors kid to not score too well in exams all consumed me into a vacuum of hatred against the people of my own gender".

She continued,"When my daughter came home one night crying because her friends who admired her look in front of her were gossiping about her unshaven legs when she wasn't around, when my mother-in-law made a silly comment on why I maybe just maybe should not eat my food until my husband arrives. And for the finale of it all when a women pushed me out of a running train and no hands even attempted to grab my miserable hands. When the women in this dear city which I hoped was more progressive than elsewhere took turns to wipe out that delusion in my mind. That is when i lost the city.

"It had no place in my heart because all I ever wanted was a place where women are nicer to each other truly, because they genuinely want to be, not just for the sake of doing it . Whether it is in Punjab or in Mumbai or in this very place that's neither heaven nor hell, just a place for us, the souls of women to grow, change and evolve for the better".