Who do I want to meet in Heaven?

The current book that I am reading is titled, ‘the five people you meet in Heaven’ written by Mitch Albom. I have read Mitch Albom’s ‘Tuesdays with Morrie’ before this. I am not someone who’s surrounded by family members who read a lot. You will surely find newspaper readers in my house but no one who reads novels or story books. I cannot recollect how exactly I got into the habit of reading books. I think it is certainly attributed to my grandmother’s storytelling sessions every night before sleeping. Two more reasons could be few of my friends who are bookworms and the school library, one of my favourite places to be in. Another reason could also be the sensorial experience of reading a novel. The musty smell of a book and oh, it has a term for it – ‘biblichor’; the light yellow tint of the papers, the joy of using a bookmark – I loved creating personalized bookmarks, so much so that once, my friend and I went to various bookstores trying to sell our handmade bookmarks, our efforts were to no avail but it was so entertaining that I remember it to this date. I think I will elaborate more on books some other time, because today I want to talk about Heaven.

‘The five people you meet in Heaven’ is really unique in terms of its concept. I think life after death will always retain its ambiguity. Curious humans are still very interested in learning about it even though they will never really know until they die themselves. There are various theories and beliefs in both science and spirituality but I am not exploring that either. What interested me the most was the idea of being able to meet exactly five people in Heaven. Eddie, the protagonist of the book, met five people after his death, but not just any random people, he got to meet the ones who had an impact on him when he was alive. Each person has something to teach Eddie in Heaven.

This book got me thinking about the five people I would like to meet in Heaven, assuming that Heaven exists. I thought enough to realize that my list consists of only two people – Nani and Baba.

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Nani

Nani was tall, even taller than Nana. In those times, it was okay for the woman to be taller than the man unlike today where the man being taller is viewed as a requirement for marriage. It will be interesting to understand how that notion was formed over years. Nani was white skinned and was so beautiful, externally and internally. She stayed in Ujjain. My dad would book the tickets of Avantika Express, which runs from Mumbai Central to Indore Junction well in advance because it was fixed for our family of four to go to Ujjain twice every year, one during summer break and the other during Diwali break. Sometimes, the train would be half an hour late and my Nani would become hysterical then. I think it was very cute how much she worried about our safety. In fact, she would not let us go out anywhere after 8 PM. I think my Nani was a really strong woman, Nana passed away quite early and she stayed all alone after that. She did not want to shift to Mumbai even though we persisted. She was not ready for change as she was well adjusted in Ujjain’s environment. Even though she stayed alone, she always managed to keep herself busy because of her zealous and enthusiastic nature. Nani was a great cook, she made fantastic arts and crafts items and was a very social person. My mom often says that everyone knew Nani in Ujjain for she kept good relations with all. Every year she would make jars full of goodies ranging from pickles to snacks and kept it ready before our arrival. She stitched clothes, bags, pillow covers and did embroidery and fabric painting and batik printing and bandhani and knitting and collage art. Yeah, this rightly explains her enthusiastic nature. Whenever I was in Ujjain, she would pass on her learnings to me. I loved spending time with her.

Then one day, when we all were in Mumbai, mom got a call and that night itself she flew to Indore with dad. I was in sixth grade that time and so my brother and I were sent to stay with our Dadi (paternal grandmother). Nani had fallen ill and had to be hospitalised. After a few days, my dad came back. I have a very vivid memory of what happened next. I was sitting in my room, studying and dad was drying the clothes. Then he informed me that Nani had passed away. Neither did I cry that time nor did I know how to react. As usual, we planned our Ujjain trip for the next vacation. Everything was fine until we climbed up the stairs to the first floor. My mother unlocked the door with keys instead of my Nani frantically awaiting us at the door. We entered an absolutely empty, dusty house with the furniture covered with bedsheets for protection. I just sat on one of the dusty beds and started crying. That is the first time I felt that I had actually, for real, lost my Nani forever.

I don’t remember how I spent time with her when I last saw her. I didn’t even get to experience my ‘one last time moment’ with her. Therefore, I really wish to meet her again and spend more time with her and tell her that I am so much like her. I am sure she is sitting on her comfy bed in her saree, knitting sweaters or writing new recipes or searching for numbers in her phonebook to call up her friends and family who are accompanying her now in Heaven or maybe she found a new hobby to pursue. I want to learn all that I couldn’t learn from her and listen to her stories and learn more about her life and her story and everything else that I couldn’t do when she was here.

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Baba

Baba is my father’s younger brother’s wife’s father. In simpler words, my Chachi’s father, therefore my cousins’ maternal grandfather. He used to visit us every Diwali and I remember him bringing loads of crackers for our enjoyment. It is delightful to see how a man first lives for his parents, then after marriage for his spouse, then after bearing kids, for his kids and lastly for his grandchildren. Even though he was the grandfather of only two, he loved the rest of us kids equally. Baba was average heighted, kept a small stubble at most times and dressed up in white shirts and brown or black pants. We even went to his house once and the only memory I have is that of falling off the huge rocking chair that he owned. Baba was a wise and knowledgeable man, he could talk about anything and everything for hours, a quality which many people acquire with age. He was ever smiling and often advised us to study well and excel.

After his wife passed away, Chachi bought a flat in our building for him to stay. He stayed two floors above ours and I would meet him often. I would go to his flat to greet him but would end up spending a good 30-45 minutes talking to him. He was old and didn’t remember much, so everytime I went, he would ask me the same questions, which I found really cute. I was not very close to Baba yet if given a chance, I want to meet him. I think here it’s the want of just sitting with a wise person and chatting with him for hours. Baba passed away a few months back and again I did not get my one last living moment with him, even though he was just a few steps away from me. I regret that sometimes but regret only leads to guilt and sorrow so okay, no regrets. I just wish that sometime in Heaven, I will get to meet Baba and talk with him to my heart’s content.

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I truly tried thinking about who else I would like to meet, but I could not come up with any names. My Nana (maternal grandfather) and Dada (paternal grandfather) passed away when I was quite small and have no memory of spending time with them. Therefore, although they are my family, I am not very eager to meet them. But I wouldn’t mind either. I then asked my mom who she would like to meet. I thought she would have a long list because she’s seen many more deaths than me. But I was proven wrong, she in fact wanted to meet only the ones she was truly close to, which included her parents and a close friend of her mother’s, Dr. Gurbaksh aunty. We discussed why we did not have the urge to meet many more people and we concluded that we didn’t because we were not attached to them. I do not wish to meet any celebrities or public figures even though I yearn to meet a few while I am alive.

I don’t know if Heaven exists but if it does and I ever reach there, Nani and Baba, I will definitely meet you both and probably Nana and Dada too.

Who do you want to meet in Heaven?

Vaibhavi 13.07.2020