Week 14- Afterlife
It was his last day in the hospital. It had been a cold dark night. He could barely see through the fogged window. The sunlight beamed in through it. A grin came upon his lips. A happy satisfied one. He had lived on for 92 years. "Hmm... Not bad for an average man," he thought. He was old. He was battling for his life. His body had become very weak. His legs couldn't lift him. It was a struggle to do the most basic chores, and even speaking to his lovely granddaughter was troublesome. “But not anymore," he thought. He looked to his left and there laid a few books he considered holy. It was all he had to occupy his old wise mind with. All were related to different mythologies, Hindu, Buddhist, Egyptian, Greek, Christian, Chinese, etc. He had been reading them since he retired. "My true wealth.” His grin grew wider as he picked up the topmost book from the stack. It was a medium sized book, but very heavy for him. He propped it against his chest. On the top, it bore the letters ‘Bhagavad Gita’. The cover portrayed a scene of a battle ground. A valiant, handsome man was on his knees on a chariot. His hands were clasped in reverence and his face looked troubled. Near the horses holding its reins stood a blue complexioned man. His right hand was blessing the warrior and his left hand was pointing at the skies.
The old man looked at it for a long time,”He says, I’ll come to him after death." He shifted his glance over to the other books. “The Egyptians say that I will have to pass through the Duat, the Norse-ans say that I will reach Asgard and the Buddhists tell me that I take birth till I repay my debt of Karma.” “Jesus promises me that He will take me along to eternal bliss whereas Zeus will take me to heaven!" His mind was tired of thinking about all the myths from the ancient ages that man has been prophesying. "God!" he said softly, "I believe in you but men have been confusing me with myths. Everyone is worried about death and what happens after it. It’s like an experiment whose results are unknown and whose observations can't be recorded. A mystery greater than that of life, no one knows the truth but I will for I have lived a satisfyingly and I have performed my duties to the best of my ability. I am ready to free myself from the bonds of this realm of illusion, I am ready to know the ultimate truth of the universe and I am ready to come to you!"
Saying thus he breathed deeply, his last breath, he thought. His grin spread to a smile, a divine, satisfied, godly smile, his smile of triumph, a smile of victory, a smile of god. He closed his eyes gently, and let the soul out of him. He felt elevated. He tried to open his eyes. And he could see! But he couldn't believe what he saw, it was his, his own body! His own face! His last smile! All his books! "What the hell! Maybe this is death! The death, everyone fears!" Suddenly it darkened. Darkness enveloped the entire space and he began to feel terrified, "Oh God! What is this? What is happening? Am I being sent to hell? What have I sinned? Help me!" Slowly the darkness withered away and he could see a blinding bright light. He tried to close his eyes but couldn't! He had no body now, so no eyelids! The light condensed and it formed a sphere.
"I knew you would come.”
"But who are you?"
"God"
"God?"
"Yes. It’s me"
"But..."
"I know your doubt; you want to know what I really am, isn't it?"
"Well... Yes"
"Then, now you have the answer. Right in front of you."
"But the mythologies?"
"Do they portray me differently?"
"Yes! Are they false? Pure imagination?"
"No."
"No? But how?”
"You might have heard the story of the six blind men and the elephant."
"Yes! I remember.”
"Those men all felt a part of the elephant and thought the whole to be similar."
"But that's false!"
"On the whole? Yes, but not for them."
"So you mean to say that people are only a part of you?"
"Yes. For knowing me fully is beyond the capacity of even a full harnessed brain. They saw in me only what they wanted."
"The Hindus wanted prosperity, so they saw a creator, saviour and a destructor in me. The Buddhists wanted peace, so they saw a peaceful Buddha in me. The Greeks wanted victory, so they saw a warrior in me. The Egyptians wanted harmony, so they saw Ra in me. The Christians wanted blessings and the removal of sins, so they saw the kind Jesus in me."
"So what are you actually? A mixture of all?"
"No."
"No? That’s confusing."
"I am pure energy."
"Energy?"
"Yes. Energy that can control energy."
"I don't get it."
"I am the energy that flows through the universe, I am the power which controls matter. I am omnipresent. I am everything and I command everything."
"Then what am I?"
"You are my creation. A part of my whole. An essence of life."
"Does everyone who die come here?"
"It depends."
"On what?"
"On his choice."
"So you mean to say I came here because I wished to?"
"Your last wish."
"That I wanted to know the real truth?"
"Yes, now it’s time."
"For what?
"To go."
"Where?"
"Back to your realm as the son of a Buddhist monk."
"Can I ask you one last question?"
"You may."
"Why are you in the form of a sphere and fully white?"
"A sphere is the shape that the universe prefers. All the objects left on its own assume the form of a sphere. And white is the colour of purity. I cannot be contaminated."
"So this is your true form."
"For you? Yes"
"I don't get it again."
"You won't. You are going to be born. As a human."
"Will I meet you again?"
"Always, for I am with and within you."
"And what has happened to all the other souls that are free from the world of living?"
"You cannot have the answer."
"But God?"
"It’s time.”
"But who are you?"
"God"
"God?"
"Yes. It’s me"
"But..."
"I know your doubt; you want to know what I really am, isn't it?"
"Well... Yes"
"Then, now you have the answer. Right in front of you."
"But the mythologies?"
"Do they portray me differently?"
"Yes! Are they false? Pure imagination?"
"No."
"No? But how?”
"You might have heard the story of the six blind men and the elephant."
"Yes! I remember.”
"Those men all felt a part of the elephant and thought the whole to be similar."
"But that's false!"
"On the whole? Yes, but not for them."
"So you mean to say that people are only a part of you?"
"Yes. For knowing me fully is beyond the capacity of even a full harnessed brain. They saw in me only what they wanted."
"The Hindus wanted prosperity, so they saw a creator, saviour and a destructor in me. The Buddhists wanted peace, so they saw a peaceful Buddha in me. The Greeks wanted victory, so they saw a warrior in me. The Egyptians wanted harmony, so they saw Ra in me. The Christians wanted blessings and the removal of sins, so they saw the kind Jesus in me."
"So what are you actually? A mixture of all?"
"No."
"No? That’s confusing."
"I am pure energy."
"Energy?"
"Yes. Energy that can control energy."
"I don't get it."
"I am the energy that flows through the universe, I am the power which controls matter. I am omnipresent. I am everything and I command everything."
"Then what am I?"
"You are my creation. A part of my whole. An essence of life."
"Does everyone who die come here?"
"It depends."
"On what?"
"On his choice."
"So you mean to say I came here because I wished to?"
"Your last wish."
"That I wanted to know the real truth?"
"Yes, now it’s time."
"For what?
"To go."
"Where?"
"Back to your realm as the son of a Buddhist monk."
"Can I ask you one last question?"
"You may."
"Why are you in the form of a sphere and fully white?"
"A sphere is the shape that the universe prefers. All the objects left on its own assume the form of a sphere. And white is the colour of purity. I cannot be contaminated."
"So this is your true form."
"For you? Yes"
"I don't get it again."
"You won't. You are going to be born. As a human."
"Will I meet you again?"
"Always, for I am with and within you."
"And what has happened to all the other souls that are free from the world of living?"
"You cannot have the answer."
"But God?"
"It’s time.”
Everything darkened again.
He felt the pain, as if he was being squeezed through a passage. He felt more pain until he heard loud cries. It was coming from him. He was born again! He heard the last words from the God,
"You are still burdened, unload it in this birth, and you shall be freed forever!"
"You are still burdened, unload it in this birth, and you shall be freed forever!"
-Sriram Srinivasan (Writer of the Week)
SE, SIES Graduate School of Technology, Navi Mumbai
#2
086/37/34/A39
[CLASSIFIED]
24th December XXXX
On the above said date on an undisclosed year, the Agency, as a part of its fifty fifth operation,
based on countless studies and rumors,decided to start a top secret program to determine what exactly happens after a human body leaves the mortal plane. Scientists had developed a 'death pill' and by consuming it, one could actually 'die' for a specific period of time, depending on the amount of drug consumed.
A retired Israeli command, [name withheld], had agreed to participate in this experiment due to the presence of a significant amount of willpower, cognitive skills, and grit.
He is to be confined inside a room, with nothing but a plastic chair and a table. Food and water to be provided in adequate quantities.
Day 1-
Subject is made to feel 'dead' for a total of 90 seconds. Nothing out of the ordinary is felt. Subject just feels like 'floating on dry water'.
All is well.
Day 2-
Subject is made to feel 'dead' for a total of two minutes. Subject asked the regular set of questions, and he still insists that he feels normal. But after that, he starts whispering something illegible.
Something like, “He has called me"
Day 6-
30 minutes. Subject went black and emotionless for a full 2 minutes after he came back. Seemed like he was 'turned off’. But then he returned back to normal.
Day 10-
two hours. Day after day the suspect keeps deteriorating. Now the turning 'off' and then coming back to life has become longer, sometimes going over out to two hours. Now the whispers have grown hoarser, and when asked about them, he gets agitated and terribly enraged and tells us to swear upon our word not to speak about it.
Day 20-
He begins screaming. Incessantly. The doctors, soldiers and associates tried their best to control him. He screamed words, which appeared to be some kind of language but no languages on earth have any syllables matching the ones he kept screaming.
Day 21-
He stopped. Turned off, just blank and expressionless and staring at the wall. He has not come back to normal till now. Time is 20:00 hours. Subject turned off at 09:00 hours.
Day 22-
12:00 hours. Subject stares at the camera, and asks what's wrong. Has no memory of the screaming or the blankness. Just that he insists for the pill. Not food or water. Only the pill.
Day 23-
Subject is slowly become uneasy. He keeps repeating he has to see "beyond" and insisting that the pill is mandatory for that purpose. Violence followed by Withdrawal, and then continuously demanding the pill.
Day 25-
An order comes from the higher-ups to continue the pill. We are reluctant, but we still continue.
Day 60-
Incessant banging is heard from the door where the subject is kept. Once the doors are opened, the soldiers standing guard are ripped apart. By the subject. One had his stomach clawed out and then the other one his heart, still beating.
He stuffed them in his mouth and then started muttering some nonsense and in the end he saw at the dead bloodied carcasses of the two soldiers and said, “I’m sorry, but your time had come”. Another one of the soldiers took out a shotgun and shot him on the head.
Half of his head blew off, but he was still standing. He calmly just turned to the soldier and then coldly said to him "You are not fit to live anymore”. The soldier just took his shotgun, put it on his head and shot him.
Now it is only me and him. We are standing face to face. He looks at me with pale eyes and starts talking. He says "Are you scared, Doctor? You were the one who conducted this experiment. An experiment with an aim to find out that man had to never see. Your kind
conquering the moon, the depths of the seas and also have developed theories to bend space and time, but going to the land of the dead, that is something far beyond that, doctor.The "afterlife”, as you call it, when ascended to naturally can be a comforting
place but for people who abruptly enter, that is like trying to break the queue at the movies, you only get unpleasantness. Except that here there is only pain. Excruciating pain. And then periods where your soul gets so tired, you stop living and become lost forever.
That is bad isn't it? But how is it to come back to life and go back to the pain every day? But then, eventually, it became a part of me. So I cannot live without it anymore. I’m gonna go to the other side permanently, for good.
But there is one more thing I'm gonna do. You’re gonna come with me too."
I have taken the pill. 20 of them, the whole lot. So has he. To whomsoever reading this. DO NOT REPEAT THIS>DO NOT LET OUR SACRIFICES BE IN VAw ogfhghfhgjsfgjjfshgsfgfghkfshghfghfghfhghfghsfhgyrrwbfbgksfg
Death is Eternal.
-Anurag Iyer
TE, SIES Graduate School of Technology, Navi Mumbai
Man is born, he lives, and works, loves, dies and whence he goes one cannot know. Are there realms unknown in which he goes and does the same things again? Like a never ending cycle is he doomed to repeat all that he did in one? Who knows the answer...? Religion? Science? Philosophy?
If religion were to be believed, then is there a Heaven and Hell? Then what is the purpose of life? Why must one live it? Maybe the One Above All thinks it's a big joke to test us. If one goes to Hell then why must he also suffer in life, for is there a man whose life is pure bliss, and if he were to go to Heaven, why must he suffer at all...
If science were to be believed then one ceases to exist after death... Then what of his memories, his emotions, his experiences? They all cease too? How can conscious beings that have lived and loved just vanish into oblivion?
Such questions have been food for thought since man decided to think for himself. Is there an easy answer? Maybe...maybe not. Nothing of such significance just manifests itself. Such mysteries may keep us occupied for a few more centuries. Some choose the ignorance and some want the answers, but truly wouldn't it be nice that the afterlife is simply the next great adventure one must embark on. In my humble opinion I'd rather wait for that adventure, maybe it would be better than the one now, but for now life is adventure enough. As is said let's tackle one adventure at a time...
-Sathyaghan Iyer
TE, SIES Graduate School of Technology, Navi Mumbai
#2
086/37/34/A39
[CLASSIFIED]
24th December XXXX
On the above said date on an undisclosed year, the Agency, as a part of its fifty fifth operation,
based on countless studies and rumors,decided to start a top secret program to determine what exactly happens after a human body leaves the mortal plane. Scientists had developed a 'death pill' and by consuming it, one could actually 'die' for a specific period of time, depending on the amount of drug consumed.
A retired Israeli command, [name withheld], had agreed to participate in this experiment due to the presence of a significant amount of willpower, cognitive skills, and grit.
He is to be confined inside a room, with nothing but a plastic chair and a table. Food and water to be provided in adequate quantities.
Day 1-
Subject is made to feel 'dead' for a total of 90 seconds. Nothing out of the ordinary is felt. Subject just feels like 'floating on dry water'.
All is well.
Day 2-
Subject is made to feel 'dead' for a total of two minutes. Subject asked the regular set of questions, and he still insists that he feels normal. But after that, he starts whispering something illegible.
Something like, “He has called me"
Day 6-
30 minutes. Subject went black and emotionless for a full 2 minutes after he came back. Seemed like he was 'turned off’. But then he returned back to normal.
Day 10-
two hours. Day after day the suspect keeps deteriorating. Now the turning 'off' and then coming back to life has become longer, sometimes going over out to two hours. Now the whispers have grown hoarser, and when asked about them, he gets agitated and terribly enraged and tells us to swear upon our word not to speak about it.
Day 20-
He begins screaming. Incessantly. The doctors, soldiers and associates tried their best to control him. He screamed words, which appeared to be some kind of language but no languages on earth have any syllables matching the ones he kept screaming.
Day 21-
He stopped. Turned off, just blank and expressionless and staring at the wall. He has not come back to normal till now. Time is 20:00 hours. Subject turned off at 09:00 hours.
Day 22-
12:00 hours. Subject stares at the camera, and asks what's wrong. Has no memory of the screaming or the blankness. Just that he insists for the pill. Not food or water. Only the pill.
Day 23-
Subject is slowly become uneasy. He keeps repeating he has to see "beyond" and insisting that the pill is mandatory for that purpose. Violence followed by Withdrawal, and then continuously demanding the pill.
Day 25-
An order comes from the higher-ups to continue the pill. We are reluctant, but we still continue.
Day 60-
Incessant banging is heard from the door where the subject is kept. Once the doors are opened, the soldiers standing guard are ripped apart. By the subject. One had his stomach clawed out and then the other one his heart, still beating.
He stuffed them in his mouth and then started muttering some nonsense and in the end he saw at the dead bloodied carcasses of the two soldiers and said, “I’m sorry, but your time had come”. Another one of the soldiers took out a shotgun and shot him on the head.
Half of his head blew off, but he was still standing. He calmly just turned to the soldier and then coldly said to him "You are not fit to live anymore”. The soldier just took his shotgun, put it on his head and shot him.
Now it is only me and him. We are standing face to face. He looks at me with pale eyes and starts talking. He says "Are you scared, Doctor? You were the one who conducted this experiment. An experiment with an aim to find out that man had to never see. Your kind
conquering the moon, the depths of the seas and also have developed theories to bend space and time, but going to the land of the dead, that is something far beyond that, doctor.The "afterlife”, as you call it, when ascended to naturally can be a comforting
place but for people who abruptly enter, that is like trying to break the queue at the movies, you only get unpleasantness. Except that here there is only pain. Excruciating pain. And then periods where your soul gets so tired, you stop living and become lost forever.
That is bad isn't it? But how is it to come back to life and go back to the pain every day? But then, eventually, it became a part of me. So I cannot live without it anymore. I’m gonna go to the other side permanently, for good.
But there is one more thing I'm gonna do. You’re gonna come with me too."
I have taken the pill. 20 of them, the whole lot. So has he. To whomsoever reading this. DO NOT REPEAT THIS>DO NOT LET OUR SACRIFICES BE IN VAw ogfhghfhgjsfgjjfshgsfgfghkfshghfghfghfhghfghsfhgyrrwbfbgksfg
Death is Eternal.
-Anurag Iyer
TE, SIES Graduate School of Technology, Navi Mumbai
#3 Existence
"And cut it", said the man sitting on a chair behind the fake window. Paul, the male lead of this suspense-thriller series, grinned on completing the scene in one take.
‘The view is awesome, what say?’
I turned around to the origin of the sound. It was Zach, former actor and my closest friend. We were on a hill near a road sign I couldn’t recognize.
Suddenly a car hit Zach and he rolled down the road. He screamed my name, I wanted to help. I could see blood, so much blood. His eyes were still open, that gaze was hurting. I wanted to move but my legs were rigid. I struggled and struggled…
“Oh!”
He woke up with a start.
Paul entered the place of shoot disinterested. It seemed he was searching for something, he couldn’t recall what. ‘The script!’ it struck him. He hadn’t read it properly. He turned suddenly only to be hit by something on his head. Brushing the pain softly, he cursed under his breath. Retaining his sight after a few seconds, he was dumbstruck by what he saw.
It was Zach. Or a spirit of Zach to be precise. “Hey buddy”, Zach said. Paul, still silent, was noticing the spirit. It was exactly the last time he saw him except that his wounds were clean. “Quit staring dude, its freaking me out”, Zach said.
“Is it really?” Paul choked.
“Me? Yuss! Finally got the permission to come down here.”
“What are you talking about?!”
“Look, we have to clear tests before getting to come back to Earth, as in rebirth.”
“So, this is you reborn??”
“Haa, No man! Rebirth is nearly impossible in the present scenario with so many people living on Earth already. An idea was passed by the committee for increased the rate of generating new souls. Now we have to wait for almost thousand years to be reborn. I just hope Earth is not destroyed till then. I had cleared those tests so I just came to meet my beloved, till my time comes. Hehe!”
“Huh?”, still not believing his friend’s words, Paul asked, ”What’s in your hand?”
“It’s a DII.”
“Whaa...t?”
“Dimension Interfered Image”, explained Zach showing him a moving picture, on a tablet-like thing, which seemed as hell. “It’s sent by a friend. What do you think? That only you’ll have technology? We are way ahead than you. We too have umm... in your language, networks”, Zach said interpreting Paul’s confused look. “But you folks down here are disturbing it. Your planes are flying too high. They are shifting things higher up to deal with that problem.”
“Then why not share it here? I mean you can come here and all.”
“There are various issues. Peace could not be achieved between the living and the dead.”
“But why?”
“Our lot are ready to kill in order to come back to life again. You see, the souls nowadays aren’t the ‘pure energy’ as it used to be earlier. They are meddled with, mutated.”
“I miss you, and I am sorry”, sobbed Paul.
“That’s why I came here. To tell you it wasn’t your fault.”
Paul went to hug his friend but wham, the spirit vanished.
“He missed a line in between”, Paul heard someone saying. Lights returned and he came back to his senses. He realized it was a projection of his friend.
“For a while, I thought it was real. Ahh, thank God, it isn’t! Or is it? Could anyone ever find out..?
Catch the latest episode of Existence.”
It was a hit!
"And cut it", said the man sitting on a chair behind the fake window. Paul, the male lead of this suspense-thriller series, grinned on completing the scene in one take.
‘The view is awesome, what say?’
I turned around to the origin of the sound. It was Zach, former actor and my closest friend. We were on a hill near a road sign I couldn’t recognize.
Suddenly a car hit Zach and he rolled down the road. He screamed my name, I wanted to help. I could see blood, so much blood. His eyes were still open, that gaze was hurting. I wanted to move but my legs were rigid. I struggled and struggled…
“Oh!”
He woke up with a start.
Paul entered the place of shoot disinterested. It seemed he was searching for something, he couldn’t recall what. ‘The script!’ it struck him. He hadn’t read it properly. He turned suddenly only to be hit by something on his head. Brushing the pain softly, he cursed under his breath. Retaining his sight after a few seconds, he was dumbstruck by what he saw.
It was Zach. Or a spirit of Zach to be precise. “Hey buddy”, Zach said. Paul, still silent, was noticing the spirit. It was exactly the last time he saw him except that his wounds were clean. “Quit staring dude, its freaking me out”, Zach said.
“Is it really?” Paul choked.
“Me? Yuss! Finally got the permission to come down here.”
“What are you talking about?!”
“Look, we have to clear tests before getting to come back to Earth, as in rebirth.”
“So, this is you reborn??”
“Haa, No man! Rebirth is nearly impossible in the present scenario with so many people living on Earth already. An idea was passed by the committee for increased the rate of generating new souls. Now we have to wait for almost thousand years to be reborn. I just hope Earth is not destroyed till then. I had cleared those tests so I just came to meet my beloved, till my time comes. Hehe!”
“Huh?”, still not believing his friend’s words, Paul asked, ”What’s in your hand?”
“It’s a DII.”
“Whaa...t?”
“Dimension Interfered Image”, explained Zach showing him a moving picture, on a tablet-like thing, which seemed as hell. “It’s sent by a friend. What do you think? That only you’ll have technology? We are way ahead than you. We too have umm... in your language, networks”, Zach said interpreting Paul’s confused look. “But you folks down here are disturbing it. Your planes are flying too high. They are shifting things higher up to deal with that problem.”
“Then why not share it here? I mean you can come here and all.”
“There are various issues. Peace could not be achieved between the living and the dead.”
“But why?”
“Our lot are ready to kill in order to come back to life again. You see, the souls nowadays aren’t the ‘pure energy’ as it used to be earlier. They are meddled with, mutated.”
“I miss you, and I am sorry”, sobbed Paul.
“That’s why I came here. To tell you it wasn’t your fault.”
Paul went to hug his friend but wham, the spirit vanished.
“He missed a line in between”, Paul heard someone saying. Lights returned and he came back to his senses. He realized it was a projection of his friend.
“For a while, I thought it was real. Ahh, thank God, it isn’t! Or is it? Could anyone ever find out..?
Catch the latest episode of Existence.”
It was a hit!
-Dharini Dutia
SE, SIES Graduate School of Technology, Navi Mumbai
#4 Immortal Energy, Mortal Physicality
From the very onset of life, a fundamental question baffles the wisest of minds on this planet. We are unable to define or understand what essentially is that which constitutes Life. Does a boundary exist at the point of birth, and at the point of death? If it exists, what constitute the moments beyond these two points? Are we conscious when we reach and pass through the process of death? And can we still feel and see the material and physical existence, after we have crossed through the process that we define as Death? Do we actually possess within each of us a Soul of our own? And if it exists, when does it enter into the tiny body of each of us when we were in the peace and serenity of our mother’s womb?
Medical world around us has advanced much in the last century than all the time of the existence taken together. But even today, a medical doctor gives us a very simple definition of death: cessation of heart beat, or completes stoppage of electrical activity in the brain. But human curiosity is such that, it fails to accept boundaries. Naturally, we want to know what happens beyond the thin point of that definition, we want to know what is AFTERLIFE.
There is something beyond our body and mind, which we refer to as our Soul. At the point of our death, our body and physical mind still exists, then why do we actually die? That proves there is a thin source of energy that drives this amazing system, wherein at the point that it leaves the system, our system comes to an immediate standstill! Amid all the technological advancements in electronics, computer and the engineering world, the fact still remains that this internal body system is still the most sophisticated system on the planet. We know electronics, we know computers, we know tablets and laptops, we know how to send a spacecraft to another planet, but we still haven’t decoded how this most sophisticated system works, to the point that we even don’t know how it begins or ends!
This body is an accumulation of all that we consume. It is actually like a debt that we take from the bank. But here, the bank is the Nature. Naturally a debt has to be repaid sometime. At our death, we repay that loan to the nature as our body. Our body is taken back into the soil of our planet and our debt is repaid. In complete awareness there is no mortality. It is just a change of clothes. Our soul has a certain energy associated with it. When the energy reaches a point which our physical body cannot comprehend, that source of life departs our body. It can be due to old age, due to an accident, a suicide, a murder wherein the physical body is damaged and cannot withstand the energy of our soul. It has to naturally depart. Each soul of ours enters this planet with a particular task at hand. The liberated soul soon enters into another womb, in an ambience where that unfinished task from its previous birth can be completed in this reincarnation. This cycle goes on till that eventual task gets completed and that particular soul reaches salvation. There is no universal salvation without individual salvation. The soul is devoid of physical mind and body, as it leaves behind both of these when it leaves the previous body. So naturally at birth and beyond, we do not know who we were in our previous birth. That explains why we do not remember anything about our past incarnations. The basic human nature is such that, we assume there do not exist such a thing, that we cannot experience. But then we do not even experience the several litres of blood that is pumped through the very veins of our body. Does that mean that we believe there exists no blood within each of us?
Death then is essentially like changing our clothes, from one dimension to another. Our mind and body changes, and this mind and body are not actually us. It is actually driven by that source of existence within each of us. And we are here on this planet to fulfil an immense possibility. And immense possibilities do not happen in a lifetime, it requires many of them together. That explains why each one of us cannot go to the moon, why each one of us cannot play the violin like some extremely talented 5 year olds, why each one of us cannot make a substantial impact to the world that we live in. But it somehow eventually will, for each of us are here for a destined purpose, and we will reach that destined purpose, for even Neil Armstrong would have incarnated several times to achieve the feat of walking on the soil of moon 3.8 Lac Kilometres away from home. And even he does not know that it wasn’t a struggle of one lifetime, but of several lifetimes together!
-Vishnu Chandrasenan
SE, SIES Graduate School of Technology, Navi Mumbai
#5 Happily Ever After
I wish for time to catch my fall
and save me from my decay
Happily ever after never do exist, or does it?
“Come here boy, here Scooby Scooby! Go fetch the ball Scoob! atta boy! Stop licking me! ”
Scooby and I go a long way together. I still remember I was so happy when I was gifted Scooby, how I proudly walked around showing off my golden retriever to all those kids next door. Scooby was the friendliest dog there ever can be.
We went through a lot, as a kid Scooby fought all the bullies I encountered, he helped me get my first girlfriend, and oh how she absolutely adored him. He helped me patch things up with my best friend. Oh he was not just a dog, no he can’t be, he understood me more than I could.
“Fetch boy, there off you go, fetch!” Scooby playfully jumped around me trying to catch hold of me, despite my ceaseless attempts to throw away a stick for him to catch and play with. So I ran away from him. Little did I know that would be my last memory of him?
Sands around the depths of sea, sands sinking my feet in
I awaited the final blow.
I was already an hour late, she waited eagerly to catch the evening show, and she had it all planned, evening movie and late night dinner. It was perfect. She was perfect. And it was time.
She always gets upset when I become late. But today she smiled when I came down on my right knee and opened that small box, and she teared down telling “you’re supposed to be on your left knee silly!”
“yes, I do”.
The weekend evenings we would spend watching classic old black and white romantic comedies. And then she’d drag me to a gala or a ball and would make me dance but all I ever could manage was tapping my feet and banging my head. And how she’d laugh every time I accidentally make the waiter fall because of my lousy dancing.
And then there she was, a little angle, she lay on my hands and took her last breath. I was in tears didn't know of joy or sadness.
Unbinding my soul from his will
The angle of death at his kill
I was lying on the hospital bed, tired and sick, waited for it to pass away soon. My daughter now married herself, caught my hand, never letting go.
Those memories I had coming back to me. And I so wished I never lost them ever...
I left the world with ease. Cause all these memories were where I was headed to. Where I was supposed to end up in, because I made the deal with death to help me meet them in Afterlife...
I closed my eyes and there I was on a beautiful summer meadow grass and flowers everywhere, with my head on her lap, and Scooby playing catch, licking me and her, and there we all were happily ever after. My Afterlife.
-Haripriya Iyer
Editor-in-chief, Scintilla Weekly
SE, SIES Graduate School of Technology, Navi Mumbai
#6
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” -Mark Twain
He shook with fear as cold beads of sweat rolled down his forehead. Preparing for the unknown wasn't his kind of thing. He laid down palpating trying to call for help. The calling bell wasn't working. He thought to him is this fate?
Until a few hours ago he was just another corporate guy who stepped out in this mad world, working for the paper in his pocket. That day had begun as normally as others. He woke up, had a cup of black tea and went for a jog with his dog. Making an omelette was a thing he had been doing ever since he was in 6th Grade. He hit for the showers and left for work. As the day progressed he could feel an uneasiness gripping over him. He sat there after hours trying to work.
He could feel a lump in his throat. He tried to speak but all that came out was a whisper hardly audible. He laid there waiting for help in the ward.
And suddenly all was gone. An agonising pain gripped his chest. A pain far more than cuts and bruises. He toppled over and hell down. And it was over. He was but a mere memory in the minds of the ones he loved and the ones who loved him. It was hours before anyone would know of his death. He saw his body lying on the floor. It was over. His dreams lay shattered. His ambitions gone with the wind. A thought raced through his mind. What do I do now? Might there be an alternate life after death? He recalled a line “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt”
He turned and looked around and saw an Elevator. He walked in as quietly as a cat. Twilight had fallen. He could see the skyline in a horizon, cars moving at high speeds and then as he sped away he could see many others just like him. When the elevator doors open, instead of our entourage, a stern-looking woman with steel rimmed glasses and a bun of grey hair will meet him. She is our life archivist. She's not happy about it but she's required to grant us access to those classified documents that were known in life as our permanent records. It was like an interview all over again. He rummaged through the files till he found his own. He sat down and started to read it. Flashbacks of his life on earth swept through his mind’s eye. She told him to submit the file at desk yonder. He thought” Movies showed paradise as a bliss” So where am I? Reading his mind the woman told, “You’re at a station waiting for the train somewhat like NYC. The ticket is given with respect to your archives. Your ticket will be your final ride." He stood in line waiting for his fate to be sealed. It was the final countdown. As he stood in the line he wondered why he wasn’t worried. Why wasn’t he feeling anything at all? So many thoughts gripped his mind. The thoughts floated like a pensive. The old man called him forward. And his fate was sealed. Said the old mam,”Son you’ve just earned your ticket to heaven”.
He was waiting at the platform. He was waiting for the train. The train which would change his life or should I say afterlife? A voice boomed," All aboard The heaven express"
#4 Immortal Energy, Mortal Physicality
From the very onset of life, a fundamental question baffles the wisest of minds on this planet. We are unable to define or understand what essentially is that which constitutes Life. Does a boundary exist at the point of birth, and at the point of death? If it exists, what constitute the moments beyond these two points? Are we conscious when we reach and pass through the process of death? And can we still feel and see the material and physical existence, after we have crossed through the process that we define as Death? Do we actually possess within each of us a Soul of our own? And if it exists, when does it enter into the tiny body of each of us when we were in the peace and serenity of our mother’s womb?
Medical world around us has advanced much in the last century than all the time of the existence taken together. But even today, a medical doctor gives us a very simple definition of death: cessation of heart beat, or completes stoppage of electrical activity in the brain. But human curiosity is such that, it fails to accept boundaries. Naturally, we want to know what happens beyond the thin point of that definition, we want to know what is AFTERLIFE.
There is something beyond our body and mind, which we refer to as our Soul. At the point of our death, our body and physical mind still exists, then why do we actually die? That proves there is a thin source of energy that drives this amazing system, wherein at the point that it leaves the system, our system comes to an immediate standstill! Amid all the technological advancements in electronics, computer and the engineering world, the fact still remains that this internal body system is still the most sophisticated system on the planet. We know electronics, we know computers, we know tablets and laptops, we know how to send a spacecraft to another planet, but we still haven’t decoded how this most sophisticated system works, to the point that we even don’t know how it begins or ends!
This body is an accumulation of all that we consume. It is actually like a debt that we take from the bank. But here, the bank is the Nature. Naturally a debt has to be repaid sometime. At our death, we repay that loan to the nature as our body. Our body is taken back into the soil of our planet and our debt is repaid. In complete awareness there is no mortality. It is just a change of clothes. Our soul has a certain energy associated with it. When the energy reaches a point which our physical body cannot comprehend, that source of life departs our body. It can be due to old age, due to an accident, a suicide, a murder wherein the physical body is damaged and cannot withstand the energy of our soul. It has to naturally depart. Each soul of ours enters this planet with a particular task at hand. The liberated soul soon enters into another womb, in an ambience where that unfinished task from its previous birth can be completed in this reincarnation. This cycle goes on till that eventual task gets completed and that particular soul reaches salvation. There is no universal salvation without individual salvation. The soul is devoid of physical mind and body, as it leaves behind both of these when it leaves the previous body. So naturally at birth and beyond, we do not know who we were in our previous birth. That explains why we do not remember anything about our past incarnations. The basic human nature is such that, we assume there do not exist such a thing, that we cannot experience. But then we do not even experience the several litres of blood that is pumped through the very veins of our body. Does that mean that we believe there exists no blood within each of us?
Death then is essentially like changing our clothes, from one dimension to another. Our mind and body changes, and this mind and body are not actually us. It is actually driven by that source of existence within each of us. And we are here on this planet to fulfil an immense possibility. And immense possibilities do not happen in a lifetime, it requires many of them together. That explains why each one of us cannot go to the moon, why each one of us cannot play the violin like some extremely talented 5 year olds, why each one of us cannot make a substantial impact to the world that we live in. But it somehow eventually will, for each of us are here for a destined purpose, and we will reach that destined purpose, for even Neil Armstrong would have incarnated several times to achieve the feat of walking on the soil of moon 3.8 Lac Kilometres away from home. And even he does not know that it wasn’t a struggle of one lifetime, but of several lifetimes together!
-Vishnu Chandrasenan
SE, SIES Graduate School of Technology, Navi Mumbai
#5 Happily Ever After
I wish for time to catch my fall
and save me from my decay
Happily ever after never do exist, or does it?
“Come here boy, here Scooby Scooby! Go fetch the ball Scoob! atta boy! Stop licking me! ”
Scooby and I go a long way together. I still remember I was so happy when I was gifted Scooby, how I proudly walked around showing off my golden retriever to all those kids next door. Scooby was the friendliest dog there ever can be.
We went through a lot, as a kid Scooby fought all the bullies I encountered, he helped me get my first girlfriend, and oh how she absolutely adored him. He helped me patch things up with my best friend. Oh he was not just a dog, no he can’t be, he understood me more than I could.
“Fetch boy, there off you go, fetch!” Scooby playfully jumped around me trying to catch hold of me, despite my ceaseless attempts to throw away a stick for him to catch and play with. So I ran away from him. Little did I know that would be my last memory of him?
Sands around the depths of sea, sands sinking my feet in
I awaited the final blow.
I was already an hour late, she waited eagerly to catch the evening show, and she had it all planned, evening movie and late night dinner. It was perfect. She was perfect. And it was time.
She always gets upset when I become late. But today she smiled when I came down on my right knee and opened that small box, and she teared down telling “you’re supposed to be on your left knee silly!”
“yes, I do”.
The weekend evenings we would spend watching classic old black and white romantic comedies. And then she’d drag me to a gala or a ball and would make me dance but all I ever could manage was tapping my feet and banging my head. And how she’d laugh every time I accidentally make the waiter fall because of my lousy dancing.
And then there she was, a little angle, she lay on my hands and took her last breath. I was in tears didn't know of joy or sadness.
Unbinding my soul from his will
The angle of death at his kill
I was lying on the hospital bed, tired and sick, waited for it to pass away soon. My daughter now married herself, caught my hand, never letting go.
Those memories I had coming back to me. And I so wished I never lost them ever...
I left the world with ease. Cause all these memories were where I was headed to. Where I was supposed to end up in, because I made the deal with death to help me meet them in Afterlife...
I closed my eyes and there I was on a beautiful summer meadow grass and flowers everywhere, with my head on her lap, and Scooby playing catch, licking me and her, and there we all were happily ever after. My Afterlife.
-Haripriya Iyer
Editor-in-chief, Scintilla Weekly
SE, SIES Graduate School of Technology, Navi Mumbai
#6
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” -Mark Twain
He shook with fear as cold beads of sweat rolled down his forehead. Preparing for the unknown wasn't his kind of thing. He laid down palpating trying to call for help. The calling bell wasn't working. He thought to him is this fate?
Until a few hours ago he was just another corporate guy who stepped out in this mad world, working for the paper in his pocket. That day had begun as normally as others. He woke up, had a cup of black tea and went for a jog with his dog. Making an omelette was a thing he had been doing ever since he was in 6th Grade. He hit for the showers and left for work. As the day progressed he could feel an uneasiness gripping over him. He sat there after hours trying to work.
He could feel a lump in his throat. He tried to speak but all that came out was a whisper hardly audible. He laid there waiting for help in the ward.
And suddenly all was gone. An agonising pain gripped his chest. A pain far more than cuts and bruises. He toppled over and hell down. And it was over. He was but a mere memory in the minds of the ones he loved and the ones who loved him. It was hours before anyone would know of his death. He saw his body lying on the floor. It was over. His dreams lay shattered. His ambitions gone with the wind. A thought raced through his mind. What do I do now? Might there be an alternate life after death? He recalled a line “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt”
He turned and looked around and saw an Elevator. He walked in as quietly as a cat. Twilight had fallen. He could see the skyline in a horizon, cars moving at high speeds and then as he sped away he could see many others just like him. When the elevator doors open, instead of our entourage, a stern-looking woman with steel rimmed glasses and a bun of grey hair will meet him. She is our life archivist. She's not happy about it but she's required to grant us access to those classified documents that were known in life as our permanent records. It was like an interview all over again. He rummaged through the files till he found his own. He sat down and started to read it. Flashbacks of his life on earth swept through his mind’s eye. She told him to submit the file at desk yonder. He thought” Movies showed paradise as a bliss” So where am I? Reading his mind the woman told, “You’re at a station waiting for the train somewhat like NYC. The ticket is given with respect to your archives. Your ticket will be your final ride." He stood in line waiting for his fate to be sealed. It was the final countdown. As he stood in the line he wondered why he wasn’t worried. Why wasn’t he feeling anything at all? So many thoughts gripped his mind. The thoughts floated like a pensive. The old man called him forward. And his fate was sealed. Said the old mam,”Son you’ve just earned your ticket to heaven”.
He was waiting at the platform. He was waiting for the train. The train which would change his life or should I say afterlife? A voice boomed," All aboard The heaven express"
-Chaitanya Ramji
SE, SIES Graduate School of Technology, Navi Mumbai
#7
Annie slowly opened her eyes, the bright lights tearing into her pupils.
Now awake, she looked around her, beside her was a table with the words “the Jew hospital” imprinted on it .there was a diary kept there, apparently after flipping few pages, she noticed she had stopped writing in it a long time ago. Just then the doctors came in and asked her to relax. A dazed Annie asked them “what am I doing here? Was I rescued from a ghetto camp?”A rather amused doctor said “what are you talking about. You are in the 21st century”.
Discharged later in the afternoon, she noticed everything was different, nobody had to sit on separate marked benches, nor did people have to rush inside if a plane hovered above; there were no discussions about any gas chamber.
Annie beamed with joy and got a sense of relief after seeing a world devoid of discrimination. It was all, a dream come true until a large T.V screen caught her sight
“100 dead in civilian war, 600 dead in clashes and protests”.
“Were people still fighting?” she wondered. Being in the 21st century, she still felt the old fears haunting her, the fear of losing one, the fear of being hated by the virtue of birth.
She struggled to find a way out; just then the truth dawned upon her.
“Am I in an afterlife? Have I reincarnated or is this just a fabrication of my mind?”
With a new lease of life, however with the same old fears and insecurities, Annie Frank walked on, like a free bird that couldn't fly away from the reality.
-Sayali Upasham
SE, SIES Graduate School of Technology, Navi Mumbai
#8
After such bouts of frustration and depression, I submitted to the truth that this was my existence now, not even sure that it was existence, a silent observer to witness the future of the world, unable to do or feel anything. A hypothetical entity, living the not so glamorous… Afterlife.
-Swanand Bhave
SE, SIES Graduate School of Technology, Navi Mumbai
#7
Annie slowly opened her eyes, the bright lights tearing into her pupils.
Now awake, she looked around her, beside her was a table with the words “the Jew hospital” imprinted on it .there was a diary kept there, apparently after flipping few pages, she noticed she had stopped writing in it a long time ago. Just then the doctors came in and asked her to relax. A dazed Annie asked them “what am I doing here? Was I rescued from a ghetto camp?”A rather amused doctor said “what are you talking about. You are in the 21st century”.
Discharged later in the afternoon, she noticed everything was different, nobody had to sit on separate marked benches, nor did people have to rush inside if a plane hovered above; there were no discussions about any gas chamber.
Annie beamed with joy and got a sense of relief after seeing a world devoid of discrimination. It was all, a dream come true until a large T.V screen caught her sight
“100 dead in civilian war, 600 dead in clashes and protests”.
“Were people still fighting?” she wondered. Being in the 21st century, she still felt the old fears haunting her, the fear of losing one, the fear of being hated by the virtue of birth.
She struggled to find a way out; just then the truth dawned upon her.
“Am I in an afterlife? Have I reincarnated or is this just a fabrication of my mind?”
With a new lease of life, however with the same old fears and insecurities, Annie Frank walked on, like a free bird that couldn't fly away from the reality.
-Sayali Upasham
SE, SIES Graduate School of Technology, Navi Mumbai
#8
Light... at the end of a tunnel of darkness…finally, it’s over...
The beeping sound of the ECG machine broke my death dream. It seemed to take all the strength I had to open my eyes. I saw my son sitting near my bed, staring into blank space. A sharp pain in my chest made me wince. It’s started... The beeping of the machine increased at an alarming rate. Panic filled the room; the nurse went out to page my doctor. My dear son was holding my hand, sobbing, saying something but I couldn't hear anything except an eerie hum whose intensity was increasing painfully with every second. The sound of death…coming to finish me...
The agony on my son’s face was unbearable. I wanted to say so many things to him, but all I could do was hope that he would understand what I was thinking. Compose yourself son, it’s time to let go, I am at peace, it’s the end of suffering for me and for you.
I always had been a scientific man, so this feeling of failing organs and diminishing consciousness was anticipated. But what I didn't expect was a purge of energy emanating from every molecule in my body.
A flash of bright light…pitch black darkness…
The vision of my body, pale and lifeless was before me, my first instinct was to look at my new form. All I seemed to be was a floating cloud of mist. What is happening?!! This can’t be real. People don’t turn into weird ghosts after dying in reality.
So many questions flooded my mind, what am I? Is this real? How can I even think or talk to myself when I have no brain? Taking the baggage of these questions with me I wandered around. Following my son, seeing him deal with his loss, trying to cope with it. I was happy to see that he had a wonderful family to support him. But as years passed I saw my grandchildren growing up, everybody with whom I had interacted when alive seemed to have forgotten me. I knew I was wrong in thinking this, but I found solace in being angry about someone. It gave me a way to vent my frustration and desperation. I wondered why there weren't any other ghosts around me. How was it possible that I was alone in this situation? My early struggles, the pangs of love and abandonment, separation, career, music and art, they flashed through my mind in no particular order, making no sense. Meaningless, like life itself.
I decided to turn to faith, I searched for my deliverer. God, Satan, anybody would do, better to burn in the flames of hell than to be stuck in solitude in a world which was not mine anymore. But no one was there who could put me out my misery. Doomed to roam this wretched world, a lost soul, with no place to call my own.
-Swanand Bhave
SE, SIES Graduate School of Technology, Navi Mumbai
#9
We often come across people with different beliefs and inclinations. Some believe in afterlife while some believe in eternal oblivion.
People believing in Afterlife have conglomerate assumptions. Some believe it to be natural while others to be supernatural. Also many believe in the concept of ‘Karma’ and on its basis they are destined to go to heaven or hell.
There are numerous theories on Afterlife (mostly fictitious). I believe in one such theory. To perceive this theory one has to accept the notion that Human Memory (animal memory) is a 4 dimensional space time with zero bit drops. The human memory can absorb infinite data which is the reality human experiences in one’s life with every minute detail. Though the human may not be able to reminisce every detail at every point in life, it does not make it imperfect.
This immaculate human memory often has numerous desires. These desires are also part of the reality continuum in the 4 dimensional memory. At times these desires are immensely strong and do not fade away in the memory. This desire is the factor that antecedents the Afterlife. These desires tend to remain immortal even after the death of the human.
This desire in the 4D memory is like an electron in a 3 dimensional space. As explained in ‘Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle’ that it is impossible to find the exact position and momentum of the particle and there is uncertainty in these quantities which is the inherent property of the particle. Similarly there is uncertainty in Afterlife. The quantities on which it depends is the moment when this desire was developed and the intensity of the desire and thus the probability comes into picture which gives rise to various cases of Afterlife.
In the first case we have a strong desire and there are probabilities of the Afterlife being a reincarnation so the desire can be fulfilled. The next case, again where we have a strong desire which tries to reinstate in the position of the human (who is already dead) to fulfill itself and thus there are probabilities of observing ‘Paranormal Activities’.
In some cases the desires and the reality continuum in the 4D memory are often stained with guilt or glorified with gratification and thus destine themselves hell and heaven respectively. This is the third and the last case according to this theory!
We often come across people with different beliefs and inclinations. Some believe in afterlife while some believe in eternal oblivion.
People believing in Afterlife have conglomerate assumptions. Some believe it to be natural while others to be supernatural. Also many believe in the concept of ‘Karma’ and on its basis they are destined to go to heaven or hell.
There are numerous theories on Afterlife (mostly fictitious). I believe in one such theory. To perceive this theory one has to accept the notion that Human Memory (animal memory) is a 4 dimensional space time with zero bit drops. The human memory can absorb infinite data which is the reality human experiences in one’s life with every minute detail. Though the human may not be able to reminisce every detail at every point in life, it does not make it imperfect.
This immaculate human memory often has numerous desires. These desires are also part of the reality continuum in the 4 dimensional memory. At times these desires are immensely strong and do not fade away in the memory. This desire is the factor that antecedents the Afterlife. These desires tend to remain immortal even after the death of the human.
This desire in the 4D memory is like an electron in a 3 dimensional space. As explained in ‘Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle’ that it is impossible to find the exact position and momentum of the particle and there is uncertainty in these quantities which is the inherent property of the particle. Similarly there is uncertainty in Afterlife. The quantities on which it depends is the moment when this desire was developed and the intensity of the desire and thus the probability comes into picture which gives rise to various cases of Afterlife.
In the first case we have a strong desire and there are probabilities of the Afterlife being a reincarnation so the desire can be fulfilled. The next case, again where we have a strong desire which tries to reinstate in the position of the human (who is already dead) to fulfill itself and thus there are probabilities of observing ‘Paranormal Activities’.
In some cases the desires and the reality continuum in the 4D memory are often stained with guilt or glorified with gratification and thus destine themselves hell and heaven respectively. This is the third and the last case according to this theory!
-Vinit Varadarajan
SE, SIES Graduate School of Technology, Navi Mumbai.
#10Man is born, he lives, and works, loves, dies and whence he goes one cannot know. Are there realms unknown in which he goes and does the same things again? Like a never ending cycle is he doomed to repeat all that he did in one? Who knows the answer...? Religion? Science? Philosophy?
If religion were to be believed, then is there a Heaven and Hell? Then what is the purpose of life? Why must one live it? Maybe the One Above All thinks it's a big joke to test us. If one goes to Hell then why must he also suffer in life, for is there a man whose life is pure bliss, and if he were to go to Heaven, why must he suffer at all...
If science were to be believed then one ceases to exist after death... Then what of his memories, his emotions, his experiences? They all cease too? How can conscious beings that have lived and loved just vanish into oblivion?
Such questions have been food for thought since man decided to think for himself. Is there an easy answer? Maybe...maybe not. Nothing of such significance just manifests itself. Such mysteries may keep us occupied for a few more centuries. Some choose the ignorance and some want the answers, but truly wouldn't it be nice that the afterlife is simply the next great adventure one must embark on. In my humble opinion I'd rather wait for that adventure, maybe it would be better than the one now, but for now life is adventure enough. As is said let's tackle one adventure at a time...
-Sathyaghan Iyer
TE, SIES Graduate School of Technology, Navi Mumbai
#11 Eternal Dilemma
Can you point me the time
When zygote in a womb comes alive
When does the spirit enter
And When does it leave
Are we all just one
Or Are we all disjoint?
When zygote in a womb comes alive
When does the spirit enter
And When does it leave
Are we all just one
Or Are we all disjoint?
Do my dreams cloak the answers
Or Am I trying to assuage
Unanswered questions with the same?
Certainty I can not provide
Sceptism I can not hide
Should I feel strong or weak
Knowing the Eternity beckons me
Or Am I trying to assuage
Unanswered questions with the same?
Certainty I can not provide
Sceptism I can not hide
Should I feel strong or weak
Knowing the Eternity beckons me
-Nilay Shah
SE, D. J. Sanghvi College of Engineering, Mumbai.