“Honey, can I ask you something that’s troubling me?”

“Sure.”

“Are you having an affair? Please be truthful.”

“Are you pulling a fast one?”

“No, I am darn serious.”

“What makes you think I am having an affair?”

“This afternoon, I again saw you driving around with that woman.”

“Which woman? In the morning, on way to the restaurant, I just stopped at Costco. After that, I was in the restaurant the whole day. I gave up my corporate career and opened the restaurant so we could spend more time together.”

“How did you then fall for her?”

“I didn’t.”

“Today I am going to present a psychiatric profile of an individual named Swaran Sharma who, even a few years ago, was very near and dear to us. The objective of this case study is to initiate a dialogue as to the power and efficacy of our inner mind when our outer mind completely fails. While this case study pertains only to the power of the inner mind as it relates to God, we will need separate studies to see if our inner mind can also be used to relate to one another in our normal interactions,” Margaret, the Senior Fellow at the Russell Institute’s Graduate School of Psychology, remarked as she started her presentation to the students of clinical psychology.

Swaran Sharma spent his early years in British Guyana. Then, at age twelve, he immigrated to Canada with his family. He excelled in academics from young age. He achieved a perfect score on the SAT. After completing his bachelor’s degree in mathematics at a leading Canadian university, he moved to Boston to continue his master’s at the Russell Institute. He stayed on to complete his doctorate program there. He enjoyed research and teaching, so he joined their mathematics department as an assistant professor. During the mid-90s, Dr. Swaran Sharma became the chairperson of the Department of Applied Mathematics. By virtue of his position, he routinely taught other quantitative classes including psychometrics. His publications were read and admired around the world. He won the prestigious ‘Russell Professor of the Year’ award twice. Under his leadership, his department came to be regarded as one of the best in the world. His peers knew he was a future Nobel Laureate. He was not only a well-respected professor, but he was also loved by all for his gentle nature.

Swaran was an avid traveler. With his wife and two kids he traveled around the globe. To find his family roots, he traveled to India on several occasions. His Canadian wife was not too keen about his family roots, so she used to stay back with the kids when he was on his personal mission to India. He developed professional relations with a number of Indian universities, so he often stopped by them as a guest lecturer. But he never lost sight of his bigger picture – the primary purpose of his being there. Based on his research, he was able to narrow his focus down to two provinces and visited the villages there. While he was always heartened by the naïve villagers, he was deeply saddened by the abject poverty there. In spite of all these adversities, his perennial mission continued.

As his quest for his roots continued, he started to get deeper into Eastern philosophy and religions. One day while traveling in a local train he met Roy, an American tourist who was very familiar with the local culture and life. Roy took him to a temple located right on the banks of the river Ganges. It was a very old temple, but it looked physically better than most temples he had seen there. According to Roy, the devotees came from far and wide to worship there. For generations people believed that they could get their wishes fulfilled by offering prayers to the temple deities. People were made to believe that miracles happened there every day. Roy introduced Swaran to Bharat Singh, the caretaker of the temple. Swaran was fascinated by Bharat who was educated in the US and had a flourishing career in Wall Street. At age thirty, he gave it all up and returned to India to take care of his ancestral temple. Even Bharat believed that the temple was an embodiment of miracles. Swaran was truly amazed by the miracle stories he heard.

Meanwhile, his family life started to suffer. Between his demanding teaching profession and his growing obsession to find his roots at the other end of the world, he hardly had any time for his family. His wife gave him an ultimatum to shun his hopeless obsession and pay more attention to the family, or else she would simply ring the curtain down on their marriage. He did abide by her ultimatum for a while, but then again his mind became progressively uncooperative. He kept thinking of the evenings with the villagers, his time at the temple and the endless miracle stories that he heard from Bharat and the visitors. He was keen to experience a miracle, but it did not happen for him. Of course, Bharat asked him to spend more time at the temple praying and worshipping the deities if he genuinely yearned for such an experience. So he decided to go back to India and spend the entire summer at the temple. As he broke his travel plans to his wife, she categorically reminded him that, if he followed through on his plans, it would be the end of their marriage. He disregarded her provocation and left for India on an extended tour.

Bharat was happy to see Swaran return to the temple for a longer haul. From their very first meeting, the chemistry between them was incredibly lucid. Swaran loved his room at the temple; it faced the beautiful river and also away from all the din and bustle of the temple. But what he enjoyed most about his room was the prodigious experience of the sunrise and the sunset. They both spent long hours at the temple meditating. At night, Swaran would sit by the river and listen to the water. He also learned from Bharat how to live blissfully on only milk and fruits. He felt amazingly tranquil during those summer days there.

At the end of the summer when he came back to Boston, the inevitable came to pass. His wife had filed for divorce. His institute was kind enough to let him temporarily stay at their guest quarters and then helped him locate an apartment close by. He was terribly distressed by the divorce and the separation from his kids. He knew he was totally responsible for his tragic loss. He had no ill feelings for his beloved ex-wife; she did everything right under the circumstances. In a few months their divorce was finalized. As part of the settlement, he gave her whatever she had asked for. He knew it would be all for the well-being of his kids. He did not want them to suffer in any way. On the final court day, he wanted to meet with his ex-wife and the kids and beg their pardon. But they had left before he got a chance to meet with them. Because of his growing erratic behavior, the court granted him only limited supervised visitation right. He did not contest that ruling either; he was the reason for this trauma.

He decided to go back to India again during the holiday season. On last few occasions Bharat picked him up from the local train station. This time since Swaran was carrying some more luggages for the temple, Bharat went to meet him at the airport. On the way back to the temple, Bharat severely chided him for destroying his marriage. Swaran was not keen to participate in that discussion; instead he was more interested in knowing the upkeep of the temple. He was however happy to move back into his favorite riverfront room. He was happy to see Bharat, the priest, the trees, the pigeons, the monkeys and, above all, the temple he had grown to love. As he stood outside by the river, the monkeys started to scream and jump off the trees to come and greet him. Bharat showed up. With Bharat’s help he started putting gold chains around the new monkey mothers’ necks. The new mothers were proud to show off their babies to him. Bharat remarked, “When you are not around, they routinely stopped by your room to look for you. Once an old friend of mine was staying in your room; suddenly the monkeys noticed a different person in your room and they started screaming so much around the room that I had to move him to the east wing. He was very scared.” As Swaran was listening to Bharat’s story, he realized how much he missed these monkeys too.

One day he was sitting by the pond next to the east wing. The pond was full of full-bloom lotuses and other beautiful surface-water flowers. As he was enjoying the beauty of the flowers and the serene atmosphere, he suddenly noticed that a man was walking on the water. He could not recognize the man, but he was astonished to see him walking on the water. He knew he was wide wake and he could not be hallucinating. Later that day, he shared that experience with Bharat. Bharat did not sound surprised at all. The next day Swaran visited the same spot again to see if he could have the experience repeated. But he did not notice anything unusual. The day before his departure he was busy packing his clothes in the room. An unusual chatter among birds drew his attention. He looked through the window and there he was. The same man was walking in the air, at least ten feet above the ground. He disappeared momentarily. Swaran was still shuddering inside as Bharat walked in. Swaran immediately narrated the event to him, but as usual Bharat showed very little reaction. But this time he did remind Swaran that this temple was an embodiment of miracles and he was obviously not hallucinating. Swaran was relieved but his curiosity began to skyrocket.

He decided to extend his vacation and stay on for a month longer. Bharat tried to convince him not to take any undue chances with his job, but Swaran would not budge. During his extended stay, he started to experience more and more miracles and other unusual events. One day while he was feeding the monkeys, he began to experience rain in broad daylight. As the rain intensified, he noticed that one of the deities from the temple appeared in real Goddess form. As the Goddess disappeared, the rain stopped. The same night upon hearing a knock, he opened the door. A beautiful lady was standing there with a holy book. She handed the book over to him and vanished. He looked all around, but she could not be traced. He stopped talking to Bharat about his experiences, but he also started to wonder if he was truly experiencing miracles or if his mind was slipping.

Once he returned to Boston, his department made their dissatisfaction clear to him over his unexpected extension of vacation at the beginning of the semester. Yet, instead of focusing on the department, he started spending increasingly more time studying miracles and spirituality. Without giving notices, he skipped classes to meet experts and authors in the field of miracles. Halfway through the semester, he was stripped of his chairmanship and demoted to a professor. He was nonetheless not at all intimidated by such actions. He continued his research and travel ignoring all provocations from the department.

One morning Swaran woke up with a terrible headache. After his headache went on unabated for a while, he finally saw his doctor. He went through a number of advanced diagnostic tests, but nothing unusual was discovered. Meanwhile, his mind was gradually becoming incapable of remembering anything from the past. The doctors were perplexed. Soon there was a point when he not only lost his memory, but he started to mutter delirium as well. His department did not need him anymore. They contacted his ex-wife for help, but she was already engaged to be married. She however suggested that they contact Bharat in India who might be willing to keep him.

As expected, Bharat got a letter from the Russell Institute that detailed all the events leading up to Swaran’s current mental condition. He was shocked. But he knew he would be the only person who could care for Swaran now. So he immediately flew to Boston and accompanied Swaran back to India. He arranged for Swaran to stay in his favorite riverfront room, surrounded by his favorite trees, birds and the beasts. Even the monkeys and the pigeons knew that it was their turn to take care of their loving Swaran. In the morning Bharat would take Swaran by the pond where the monkeys showed up and fed him some bananas and cut coconuts that they saved for him. The pigeons would also go around and gather some berries for him. Unfortunately, Swaran was mentally too challenged to see the miracles that were taking place to keep him alive.

“I am Margaret Chaplin. I am looking for Mr. Bharat Singh, the owner of this temple.”

“I am Bharat. I don’t own this temple. My family does. I am just the caretaker here. Anyway, how may I be of help?”

“I am a Senior Fellow of Clinical Psychology at the Russell Institute in Boston. I believe Dr. Swaran Sharma is under your care here. I read a lot about him. I am genuinely fascinated by his profile. I am here to study him for a while,” remarked Margaret.

“What is your time-frame?” asked Bharat.

“I plan to spend the summer here and then, based on my results, I will decide if I need to come back,” Margaret replied and then added, “How much do you charge for your rooms here?”

“No charge. I will put you up in a room in the east wing. I hope you are carrying a lot of can foods. We live only on fruits and milk donated by the visitors. As you know, the nearest town is twenty miles away. If you need groceries, please let me know at least a day ahead. I will arrange a ride with a visitor. You can take a cab back to the temple,” Bharat replied.

“Thank you very much. Food won’t be any problem. I will get used to living on fruits and milk too. When do I meet Dr. Swaran?”

“Tomorrow morning at 7am. At the south end of the east wing, there is a pond. He takes his breakfast there. You will meet him there. By the way, we all call him Swaran. Let me take you to your room.”

As Bharat opened the door of the room, Margaret went inside and looked around. In fact, she expected much worse. The room had a large wooden window facing the courtyard, a bed and a small dresser with a mirror.

“This room does not have an attached bath. The baths are down the hall and you have to share with other guests. We rarely have guests in weekdays. The linens are clean, though. I know how Americans feel about dirty linens,” Bharat remarked with a laugh.

“Where is Swaran staying?” asked Margaret.

“In the west wing, next to my room. The rooms there are nicer because they all face the river. Once the monkeys are comfortable with you, I will switch you there,” answered Bharat.

“You have monkeys here?” Margaret asked with a frightened voice.

“You will know them all. Without them, I could not have managed this place,” Bharat replied and bid her good night.

The next morning Margaret woke up quite early. She walked around the temple and the courtyard for a while and then sat by the river. She liked the cool breeze, the picturesque view of the river and the synchronized singing of the ferrymen from the boats carrying people back and forth. Suddenly she heard a loud screech. She turned around and saw a group of big monkeys screaming at her. She was so frightened that she could not even cry for help. A ferryman who just docked realized what was happening to the tourist. He ran up the stairs and drove the monkeys away.

He then looked at Margaret and said, “Madam, this place belongs to the monkeys. They have been here for generations and visitors must make peace with them. As a new visitor, you have to bring some bananas and coconuts for them. They will always remember you and leave you alone. In fact, if you are hungry, you can ask for food from them. They will go around and collect some bananas and other fruits and serve you in banana leaves. If you feel physically exhausted or mentally fatigued, you can sit under the tree. The monkeys will come down, sit by you and hold your hands to comfort you. There are days I have no business. I just sit and wait for the passengers. By mid-day when nobody shows up, I feel very disoriented. So I come up and sit under a tree. The monkeys know I need their psychological help. The mother monkeys are very affectionate. One of the mothers comes down, places the baby on my lap and hugs me. I feel as if I am reunited with God. Momentarily, I am re-energized and miraculously passengers start showing up around my boat. We call them miracle monkeys; the mountain people, following the Hindu mythology, call them the agents of God.” Margaret was simply spellbound by the ferryman’s depiction. With a deep sense of gratitude she said, “Thank you for saving my life. Will you please take me to my room in the east wing?” The ferryman laughed and then escorted her to the room.

Margaret rushed to the bathroom to freshen up. She was extremely excited to have the opportunity to study Swaran at his current mental state. She slowly walked towards the pond at the end of the corridor. As she crossed a small bridge, she could see the pond. Once she came off the bridge, she could not believe her eyes. For a moment, she thought she was hallucinating. She wiped her eyes and tried to watch more closely. She saw a man in white clothes surrounded by some monkeys and birds. No other human being was there. As she approached him slowly, she was even more mystified. The man was actually being fed by the monkeys and the birds. She was afraid to go any closer, so she stopped at a distance and sat on a large stone to observe him from there. She took out her notepad and started writing her notes.

In a while, Bharat showed up. He approached her and said, “I am sorry for being a little late. I had a small emergency to take care of. Come on; let me introduce you to Swaran and my other resident friends.” Margaret slowly followed him to Swaran. She was still very scared inside. Bharat looked at Swaran and said, “This is Margaret – the newest member of our family here.” Swaran was undisturbed and kept staring at the water. Bharat then turned to the monkeys and the birds and said, “Folks, please meet Margaret. She is one of us now. Please be kind to her.” As the monkeys and the birds screeched loudly together, Bharat told her, “That’s their way of welcoming you to their world. Now, no one will harm you. As you interact more with them, you will gradually understand their language as if it is your own. I do have one word of advice – try not to take Swaran away from them, instead just share him with them. Soon you will get to know the routine here. Swaran spends the rest of the morning at the mezzanine temple which is off-limits to the visitors. But I have instructed the temple staff to give you unrestricted access there. In addition to fruits and milk, I have also arranged for some cooked foods for you. So, please stop by the temple when you please.” Before she was able to say anything, he walked away. But she was truly moved by Bharat’s generosity.

Margaret began to walk towards the mezzanine temple. The temples were at the other end of the courtyard. Since she was meeting Swaran alone for the first time, she was very apprehensive. She could not wait to get over with it, so she started to walk faster. She walked up the stairs and went through the big wooden door. As soon as she walked inside the temple, she saw Swaran standing in front of the deities with his hands up and chanting something. She quietly moved closer to him and sat down on the floor. She tried to understand what he was chanting. She studied Sanskrit in college. She realized he was not chanting in Sanskrit, or in English. So she started recording his chanting to study later. She took a good look at him. She guessed he would be in his mid-40s, about 6 feet, quite well-built and unusually light-skinned compared to the local folks. After chanting for about an hour, he put flowers in the hands of the deities and then rubbed some fruits and milk on their lips. He then sat down and kept staring at the deities for the rest of the morning. She had never studied a case where a mentally-failed person could act so normally with God. She was simply astounded!

At noon Bharat showed up and said to Margaret, “It is his lunch time. He eats his lunch by the river under his favorite old tree. Come with us if you want to observe him.” Bharat took him by the river and made him sit down under an old tree. He then left. Suddenly the monkeys started to come down from the trees. Some of them brought bananas and coconuts. Another monkey brought a piece of banana leaf and they poured all the fruits on that leaf. She was surprised to see that the female monkeys had gold chains in their necks. A few female monkeys sat in front of him and started feeding him. If he was unwilling to open his mouth, the feeding monkey would make a screeching sound and then he would open his mouth again. It looked as if a human mother was trying to feed her own baby. Margaret never knew that the monkeys could be this organized, articulate and caring. It was truly an unbelievable scene.

Bharat came back in about an hour. He looked at Margaret and said, “It’s time for him to take some rest. Let’s take him back to his room and you can try to feed him some water. It will help you develop some chemistry with him.” Margaret liked that idea and followed them to his room. Before leaving, Bharat showed her the water jug and offered a word of advice, “If he does not open his mouth, do not get upset. Try telling him a story or sing a song, or whatever your imagination permits. You have to treat him like a baby. At 4pm, an attendant will take him for his shower and then to the temple again.” Margaret was happy to be left alone with him only.

She took a small glass of water and tried to feed him. As expected, he would not open his mouth. She tried to make various proven sounds from the books of psychology. But nothing worked. She even tried reading a story for him. She suddenly remembered how the monkeys were feeding him. While one female monkey was feeding him, two other female monkeys were gently holding his hands. So she held his hand and tried to feed him with her other hand. That would not work either. She remembered Bharat’s suggestion and started singing a song. While she held his hand with one hand, she again tried to feed him with the other hand. Bingo! He opened his mouth and drank some water. But the moment she stopped singing, he would not open his mouth either. So she realized that he was still somewhat susceptible to some warm touches and special sound effects. She was extremely happy with her initial experimentation.

As time progressed, she shared with the monkeys the feeding of the breakfast and the lunch. She also fed him the water and the milk at night. Meanwhile, the monkeys started to adore her. One day she had to go to the town to take care of some postal work. The monkeys thought she was gone. Out of rage they started terrorizing the visitors. They broke the window in her room. They even refused to feed Swaran. The next morning when she showed up by the river, the monkeys were pleasantly surprised. They gathered around her and started dancing to show their appreciation. They knew their lady of love was back. Margaret started to wonder how she could ever leave them.

The summer was coming to an end. So Margaret was confused whether to extend her leave. But she knew her department would not object to her request for an extension as she was working on an important case for her dissertation. After having discussed the progress with Bharat, she decided to stay on for three more months. Bharat also moved her to a riverfront room on the west wing, just three doors down Swaran’s room. The view from her new room was so gorgeous that she could not ask for anything more. She was always embarrassed that Bharat never accepted any money for her room and board. Every time she brought the topic up, Bharat said, “Margaret, this temple can never repay your services.” So the discussion never went anywhere.

Over a period of time Swaran became Margaret’s sole responsibility. In the afternoon and at night she would even wait until he fell asleep. She never took care of anyone like this before. It was becoming more than a study for her. She was slowly getting more possessive and emotionally more attached to him. While feeding him, she would let the monkeys sit around, but only she could feed him. The monkeys did not mind that because they had grown to love her too. She not only learned his language, but his every move as well. Sometimes he would suddenly cry like a baby. As she hugged him, he would slowly stop. Previously, he would continue to cry for hours. She was amazed how he felt the warmth of the human touch.

Margaret planned her next trip to the town very differently. Although it was an important day in the temple, she had to go to the town to meet a professor from a local university where she was planning to be a visiting lecturer. They left the temple in the morning with a visitor and planned to come back by late afternoon. In her absence, she however did not want the monkeys to go on frenzy. So she took a little one with her. While the mother monkeys never part with their babies, this mother gladly let Margaret take her baby. Thus the monkeys were also assured that Margaret would be back.

It was around 5pm. The temple was full of visitors. Bharat was resting in his room. Swaran was alone in the mezzanine temple. Bharat woke up on a loud sound of gunfire. He rushed towards the temple. People were screaming and running all around to find their nearest exit doors. Suddenly a few more gunshots followed. In the main temple he found the priest was tied to the window rods. All the jewelry from the deities was gone. As he untied the priest, he realized Swaran would be alone at the mezzanine temple. He ran as fast as he could. The door was wide open and Swaran’s blood-soaked body was lying at the feet of the deities with a piece of jewelry still stuck in his left palm. He realized Swaran tried to fight the bandits. They took his body down to the courtyard and placed his head on Bharat’s lap. The monkeys chased everyone out of the courtyard and sat quietly around Swaran’s body. Swaran was struggling for his last breath.

Margaret walked in. From a distance she saw the silent gathering of the monkeys and blood flowing all around them. She feared something terrible must have happened to Swaran. She started murmuring, “God, please don’t take him away. I knew I should not have left him alone.” She began to run to the scene, perhaps the longest fifteen yards she ever ran.

Margaret was sitting by the river. Bharat showed up and said, “Margaret, we are ready to take him to the city. Do you want to come and see him? He has been dressed in his favorite blue pin stripe suit. He looks as if he is resting before his next class.”

Without looking at Bharat, Margaret just said, “No,” and then added, “I will take his ashes with me.”

Bharat then said to Margaret, “By the way, I have confirmed your travel plans. Your luggage will be checked in through Boston.”

As Bharat was ready to leave, Margaret said, “Bharat, can you please tell me about his final few moments?”

Bharat started, “Remember, how unsteady his eyes were. Funny, during his final moments, his eyes were normal and steady, as if God had granted him his final wish. He was desperately looking for something or someone. He was trying his best to hold off on his exit breath.”

Margaret then asked, “Did he say anything?”

Bharat answered, “That was very unusual too. He uttered the word ‘Love’ a few times. Even in his sane mind, he never used that word.”

All this time, the monkeys were watching them from a distance. They all came down and sat by her. One mother monkey took out the gold chain from her neck and gently put it around Margaret’s neck. Margaret hugged her and broke down in tears.

Bharat said, “Now, in their world, you and Swaran are united, forever.”

“Grandpa, I don’t like you anymore.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know but I will think of one.”

“Are you okay with your Grandma today?”

“Definitely not. Grandma is conveniently avoiding Publix’s Godiva BOGO.”

“I know your Grandma can be evasive at times.”

“Okay, I will tell that to Grandma.”

“No, no, don’t do that. I will talk to her about the BOGO. Is that a deal?”

“Okay, until the next one comes along.”

“I wish you had a little lower IQ. Then again, you got your Grandma’s gene.”

“So, you’ve lower IQ than Grandma’s?”

“I guess. She is so smart.”

“Grandpa, I don’t like you anymore.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know but I will think of one.”

“Are you okay with your Grandma today?”

“Definitely not. Grandma is conveniently avoiding Publix’s Halloween BOGO.”

“I know your Grandma can be evasive at times.”

“Okay, I will tell that to Grandma.”

“No, no, don’t do that. I will talk to her about the BOGO. Is that a deal?”

“Until the next one comes along.”

“I wish you had a little lower IQ. Then again, you got your Grandma’s gene.”

“So, you’ve lower IQ than Grandma’s?”

“I guess I do. She is very smart.”

“Echo, I need a piece of advice.”

“Go ahead, you old man.”

“See, I am trying to teach a few good tricks to an alligator so he can look very smart to his buddies, but he is not able to hear me well from under the water. He wants to quietly sit by me and learn the tricks right. He also tells me he is very allergic to duct tapes. Do I let him sit by me and learn?”

“You dummy, the predators remain quiet before they attack. It’s the perfect calm before the storm.”

“Oh, I see.”

Richest 1% -- According to a recent Credit Suisse report the richest 1% now owns 50.1% of the world’s wealth. Given this absurd concentration of wealth, we need this 1% to be self-convinced (like Mr. Warren Buffett) that they are just temporary custodians of the wealth. When a big chunk of their billions remains wastefully invested in unproductive and ostentatious wealth like $50M yacht and $300M in multiple mansions, it hardly benefits the human race. They must therefore come to terms with the generational reset meaning, at the end of their lives, they must return a sizable portion, if not all, of their wealth back to the society, pulling tens of millions out of abject poverty each year.

In other words, the success or failure of the human race is largely dependent on them. If they are honest and honorable enough to accept this harsh reality, the advancement of the human race will gleefully continue; absent which, millions more will continue to drift away in utter poverty. Hopefully, this voluntary return of wealth – and not forced redistribution of wealth – will become a self-fulfilling prophecy in arresting the ever-widening income disparity and mitigating world hunger and starvation. We just want them to be more humane in feeling the pain and anguish of millions of mothers watching their children go to sleep hungry.

Remaining 99% -- We must learn to put the interest of the human race ahead of our own. So, the rich and poor alike must also come to terms with the generational reset, voluntarily returning a big part, if not all, of our wealth back to the society. Perhaps, we need a universal ring-tone ‘Mom, I am hungry, I can’t sleep.’ - which will constantly remind us that millions of children are hungry and that their mothers are starving. That nightly cry is the Via Dolorosa for those mothers -- that just never ends. We must never forget that these are our children and their mothers are our daughters and sisters. They are inseparably part of us!

“How have you been, Sidney?”

“I am doing fine. How about you, Arianna?”

“I am okay. How come you are calling me Arianna? You used to call me Anna. By the way, you put on too much weight. You should lose some weight.”

“You are right. I badly need to shed some.”

“You are not going to say anything about how I still look? I remember, you used to adore me as if I was an angel. You would often say, ‘I not only had the look, but I also had the heart of an angel’.”

“Honestly, you had the heart of an angel. You always thought of others first; in fact, you were the most unselfish person I ever met. You were a true larger than life person. I am sure you still are – an angel is forever.”

“So, you are not going to say anything about how I still look!”

“Arianna, I cannot comment on your looks. Today, you are happily married to someone else.”

“I do understand that. Yet, since we are meeting after 25 years, I would love to hear from you how I still look. When we were together, you always made me feel wonderful about myself. You always encouraged me to work on my talent. I really miss that. Today, I am like a production machine; as long as the production continues at the right pace, everyone is happy, or else the eyebrows are raised. Back then, I loved pizza but you didn’t. However, whenever we talked about any fast foods, you insisted on pizza, with all the toppings after my heart. I used to be embarrassed, but you wouldn’t listen. Now, when we talk about pizzas, nobody ever wants to know if I have any preferences. You took so good care of me. Whenever I am upset or lonely, I just think of those happy days to lift myself up. By the way, do you remember our first fight?”

“I didn’t know we had a fight.”

“Over Kramer vs. Kramer. It was a newly released movie and I really wanted to watch that, but you were, as usual, looking for an old movie that would not attract any crowd, so you could touch, hug and kiss me inside the theatre, any which way you wanted. You used to be so crazy about me. When we were together, you always had a big smile. We never felt bored with each other. I still remember how you used to look at me when I was ready to leave or you dropped me off. Then again, we could not wait to see each other the next morning. I really miss that.”

“Do you still sing? You had a wonderful talent in singing,” Sidney reluctantly asked.

“Not really. See, after I got married, nobody ever encouraged me to continue to nurture my talents. My husband was aware of my singing talent, but he didn’t think I needed to take it to the next level. But he did encourage me to complete my master’s degree and I actually did. Of course, my passion was singing and I would have loved to pursue that, at least as a hobby. Remember, I had to bug you to teach me an Indian song and later I got so good at it. You were not only a great lover, but you were also a wonderful mentor. You always tried to bring the best out of me. I really miss that. If I had married you, I know life would have been so different…”

“Arianna, you cannot even dream of, how miserable I was after you left me. I was so used to being with you. You ran around with me for three years, and then suddenly dropped the bombshell that you had decided to dump me for another man. It was like a bolt from the blue. I wish you had come to that decision after three months, not after three years.”

“I got carried away by listening to all the wrong folks. They all convinced me our inter-racial marriage would never work as we came from very different backgrounds. Of course, now I know I will meet them all in hell, again. Even after I walked off, I know you said all the good things about me to my mother. You once said ‘if we don’t make it in this life, we should at least be reunited in heaven’. After what I have done to you, I know I am doomed for hell.”

“Arianna, you are unnecessarily being harsh at yourself. Angels are forever, and when it’s your time, the Lord will love to take you back to the heaven. Anyway, I was aware of your trepidation. We all grow up in a box – one race, one religion and consequently one monolithic culture. We are naturally apprehensive of the competing boxes, but I thought you had the heart and character to rise above that petty mindset and decide on your own. To make things easy for you, I gave you every option under the sun. I just wanted you to marry me. Considering you would be uncomfortable with your world in dealing with the children from the mixed parentage, I went to the extent to suggest that we would not even have children. And, I meant every word I had said. Of course, at the end, I realized I fell short. I must also say, even after you left, I never cherished a drop of venom towards you. You were an angel and I always remembered you that way. What happened? You are still a cry baby! I am sorry; I opened up that old wound. It was totally unnecessary and mean. I apologize.”

“You are completely wrong. At that time, I was concerned only about myself, not of our future generation. If I were at peace with myself, I would be perfectly fine with our kids. In fact, I always thought, kids from the mixed parentage look more attractive. Please blame my judgment, not my character.”

“Again, I am sorry, I even I talked about our past. Your husband must be a prominent person to be invited to a Senator’s private party?”

“They are golf buddies. They were at Yale Law together. You must be prominent too?”

“It’s my wife who is prominent. She wants me to meet the Senator.”

“Hi mom. I was looking for you all over.”

“Sidney, this is my daughter, Pam. Pam, Mr. Sidney Khanna is my old friend.”

“Pam, I understand you are Harvard-bound.”

“Yes. In fact, I didn’t ever consider any other school. Nice to meet you, Mr. Khanna. Bye.”

“Pam is just like her father. She loves to brag about herself. My son, John is a junior at Harvard. But he is very different; he is very polite, if not saintly. You will like him.”

“Sounds like, he took after you.”

“Dad, let’s go. Mommy is getting upset. She wants you to meet the Senator, now.”

They looked at each other, perhaps for the last time. He thought, angels are forever. She thought, she took his happiness away, forever.

“Please don’t be upset with him. He is just paying for my mistakes…”

“Hi Mike! Didn’t I tell you not hang off a branch so high up? If you fall off from up there you could be badly hurt. Nobody from inside the house can even hear you. Come down slowly.”

“Hi Uncle! Actually, I am trying to see if I could fly. David tells me to first practice jumping from branch to branch like a monkey. When I am tired I can take a short break by hanging off high enough branches like a chimpanzee. If I keep practicing like this for a month and then manage to pass the test, he will teach me the next lesson on flying. He tells me it’s a step-by-step process and if I seriously follow his lessons I could be flying in a year. He also warns me that no friend of his has completed all the lessons. But he thinks I could be the first student to successfully complete them all, as I am the smartest kid he has ever known.”

“Why? Did you threaten to drop him from your soccer team?”

“No. Not at all. He is just helping me to acquire the skill of flying.”

“What does he know about flying? The fact that he plays as a goalie does not qualify him as someone who is capable of flying. That’s totally delusional.”

“I chose him to be our goalie because he is capable of flying. He is actually an alien. He is from an alien land called Ho-Ho-Kus. He tells me only aliens are allowed in Ho-Ho-Kus where everyone flies.”

“Mike, have you ever seen him fly?”

“No. He tells me he loses his alien power as soon as he leaves Ho-Ho-Kus. When he visits his fellow aliens during the summer break, he flies around with them. Do you know no cars are allowed there? They only ride bikes in the sky, even at night. For easy in and out, shopping centers have roof-top parking only. He told us so many good stories about aliens. We all love his stories. He says he loves to ride his bike at night under moonlight. They even have a midnight bike racing competition every summer which he also participates in. The night of the championship each year the human folks from the neighboring towns are allowed in Ho-Ho-Kus to watch the magnificent race in the sky. One year he won the competition, beating even the E.T. The kids there often race with hawks and falcons.”

“How come he doesn’t look like an alien from the books – those with the snaky vibrant eyes, without any flesh on the cheeks?”

“We once asked him the same question. He maintains although our books tend to portray aliens as having mean, ugly and scary looks, they are essentially human-looking with paranormal abilities. In fact, the E.T. looks more like us than was portrayed in the movie. Every time we talk about E.T., David loves to rub in how he came from behind to defeat the E.T., finally winning even the championship. Of course, he doesn’t share this secret with anyone else outside of our group for fear of being repudiated. Our lips are zipped – we don’t share this with anyone. You are the first person outside of our group I am sharing the secret with.”

“You didn’t share it with even Granny?”

“I did. Once.”

“You must have shared with others too?”

“Yeah, with my cousins.”

“Why did you do that?”

“Because I was short on cash.”

“So you are telling me you are basically selling your top secret without letting your friends know? I have a word of advice for you: Whatever you choose to do when you grow up, just don’t be an intelligence agent.”

“You are totally wrong there. When I have a job I won’t be running short on cash so I don’t think I would compromise. I wish they didn’t increase the price of candy bars. Moreover, I stopped selling the spare candy bars to my group. It’s all cutting into pocket.”

“Did you share David’s paranormal ability with Gauti?”

“I did. Initially, he didn’t believe in any of that. Later, after having listened to us repeatedly, he opened up his mind a little. He thought David could be of great help for their temple. The temple committee was trying to get the golden dome on top of the main structure cleaned. They trained two resident monkeys for the job. But they would just go up there, sit on the dome, chat with each other and come down without doing any cleaning whatsoever. So Gauti asked David if he would try his flying power to help clean up the tomb. He even offered David the services of the temple hypnotist had he needed any help to ignite his dormant power here?”

“Did David help them out?”

“He wanted to, but he couldn’t.”

“Why?”

“Because he is severely allergic to monkeys. Since they have resident monkeys, he doesn’t want to even go close to the temple. It could even trigger his childhood asthma.”

“Mike, finally you are telling me there is even a bigger con artist in the group? Don’t you see he has been faking the whole thing? Listen, if he is capable of flying in Ho-Ho-Kus, he should be able to fly anywhere. It’s the same sky!”

“Uncle, you now sound just like Gauti. He says exactly the same thing as you do, but I must disagree with both of you. David will teach me how to fly and we will participate together in next year’s bike competition in his alien land. I have to beat both E.T. and David, thereby establishing myself as the Supreme Commander of the aliens. I just have to learn to fly fast. Today, I practiced the monkey jumps; tomorrow, I will practice the chimpanzee hanging. I have to ask David if I should attach some feathers to my outfits to make me feel lighter, thus navigating the sky faster.”

“Mike, don’t you think you should have a heart-to-heart chat with the President about your grand alien plans? I hear our President is also looking for some fresh and forward-looking ideas on defense and military.”

“Yes, I plan on asking the President and the entire White House staff to come down to Ho-Ho-Kus to get a firsthand experience of what the real aliens are like. They would thus realize that the real aliens are just like humans, having the additional paranormal power. I will also tell the President to allocate a big portion of the US Defense Budget to the development of alien space ships, have the entire military retrained by the Ho-Ho-Kus aliens, and have the Rose Garden converted to a space ship factory. We need the smartest military led by the invincible. Also, the existing alien space ships have to be redesigned, allowing more leg space for the captain. I don’t want to be inconvenienced. Finally, I have to tell the President to ban all of those movies where aliens have been portrayed as human-haters and evil-looking. David thinks I should also talk to the President to pass laws banning all discriminations against aliens, particularly in schools, jobs and housing.”

“Do you guys have any plans to reduce the traffic jam and pollution in big cities?”

“David informs me Los Angeles has too much of smog and pollution owing to the excessive traffic. We will therefore build a new factory in Los Angeles to manufacture flying bikes for all residents. Since the bikes are much smaller and smoke-free, the lighter jam in the sky would be more acceptable and residents would breathe cleaner air. David agrees with me that once the people are trained to fly bikes we should ban all street vehicles as well as all airplanes there. Since David’s dad is also an alien and is looking for a better job, he thinks his dad should run the new Los Angeles factory. We will also propose to convert the Los Angeles airport to a second bike factory to expand the bike movement into other major cities in California. As the Supreme Commander of the Ho-Ho-Kus aliens I will inaugurate both factories by cutting red ribbons. David will contact the White House to borrow President’s Air Force One aircraft to transport me to Los Angeles, welcoming me with a red carpet military salute.”

“Mike, don’t you think all these achievements might annoy the non-Ho-Ho-Kus aliens to a tipping point and a war could break out?”

“In that case, I would move on to other safer and more rewarding pursuits, making David the Supreme Commander of the Ho-Ho-Kus. He enjoys power so he wouldn’t think I was chickening out. I don’t want to be killed by some stupid aliens. I might come back if Ho-Ho-Kus wins the war. They might need a real leader again.”

“Mike, let me give you a good piece of business advice: You and David should open up an online hallucination business. You guys will make money hand over fist. In no time you will have at least billon visitors from around the world. Just make an initial computer animation video showing you and David are competing with E.T. in the sky. It will definitely go viral.”

“Uncle, there goes my alarm, reminding us that the lesson time is over. Plus, I gave my most expensive secret away, making today’s session the most expensive one ever, so I have to insist on being paid by my favorite face on the dollar bill which is the hundred bill. Anything less will terribly upset me. You don’t want to upset your most favorite nephew, do you? If you ever do that, Granny would be very upset. Remember, Granny is your mother so she can always beat you.”

“Mike, do you know Ho-Ho-Kus is a small town in New Jersey?”

“I get it. You are telling me the non-Ho-Ho-Kus warring aliens could come from a stronger state like New York. What difference does it make to me? If a war breaks out, David will be in charge. Once the war is over, I will return to bless them. Of course, David has to make sure the red carpet is clean; I am very allergic to dust.”