THE FINAL PICTURE

The backdrop:-A man in his death bed, counting his last minutes as he looked forth to hug an inevitable friend-"death", earlier than expected.. His wife was in the same hospital in the gynaecology ward, pregnant with their first child.. His only hope was to see him-his creation, his baby once,the little arms nudging against his face as they screamed :"Papa!" in their own way.. Visualising the image, tears trickled down as his mind drew more "i wish" chants from his inner soul.....

Mark was battling leukaemia,the very last stage which unfortunately had been diagnosed too late to be treated..The doctor horrified their lives with the words : "I am so sorry,Mr.Scott..We promise to leave no stones unturned but i can't assure you anything cause you have been diagnosed at a very late stage..But one thing i will try to make sure-Your son will meet you." Mark Scott did not know how to react as a pall of uncoloured darkness left him open-mouthed.The thought of dying haunted his very frame (WE are all afraid of death,aren't we?) but on the other hand the joy,or should i say,the probable joy of meeting his son made him feel less heavy as if a flower had bloomed in a barren battleground or a cocktail of mixed emotions!!..He couldn't come up with a satisfactory reaction to suit the weather that crippled him inside..

His son was supposed to be born that day and there he was lying,waiting to see a glimpse of his own blood taking form..He began to retrospect on everything that had happened in his life-his childhood spent on the hills with his grandparents..He recalled those dark days when during his adolescence,he side-alleyed to the dark lanes of life as alcohol caught his reigns and made him commit faults in frenzy..Then one fine day,a girl came in his life,or rather as Mark would say it-an angel came and uprooted him from his real hell,only to plant him in her garden of care and love..Slowly he became sober,fell in love with this "angel" whom he later married.As these thoughts gathered colour in his stormy mind,he burst out crying : "Please God!Let me live..I have so much to see and so much to do..I didn't even tell my son the stuff i always planned to tell him..I won't get the chance to even play catch or throw ball with him and be his best man at the wedding!"..His sobs gathered pace, took momentum and in minutes he was wailing and lamenting and clasping his head in despair..A nurse plodded in to pacify him..

And then his wait ended..he heard cries,his heart now aiming to run the 100m dash, and in minutes the nurse and doctor came in,along with Katie in a wheelchair carrying their son-their angel,his heart almost skipped a beat and slowly won the gold in the 100m dash..No olympic medal,no international accolodes,no certificates or recommendation could have brought Mark that immense heavenly pleasure as he was feeling then..He did it,he did his "Everest climb" and had got his "Guinness record"..as the amplified joy gained a shape in the form of smiles,he started feeling weak,and he felt very cold and withered as if he had lost all weight..A white light flashing before him like that of a flashlight took him to a the most weird place one could ever describe-it was rather a utopia,but without "anything"..Everywhere,in every single direction or the depths that his eye could fathom he saw only white-an unending expanse of white..There were no walls,no roads,no trees,no nothing,only white,white and white..He began to ask himself :"Is this heaven? ..Am i dead?"..suddenly flashes of images or contrived pictures started dancing infront of his eyes..

There it was-a slideshow of abstract blurry pictures of his child growing up-all smiles and laughter..He was reading and playing and having a wonderful time with his mom..Suddenly the pictures leaped their positions as he could now see him growing up.."all right,my boy!..So you will become a scientist,eh?..Good !!"..His boy was doing extraordinary stuff, helping addicts, and in time his boy became a renowned figure and then the final image brought golden tears to his eyes-His boy,his heart,his creation getting the Nobel prize for finding a cure to leukaemia and mentioning him in his speech..That golden tear slowly eddied and oxbowed down his cheeks and fell very slowly to the ground and just like a switch, everywhere around became colourful and he realised for the first time that he had died and he was in heaven

...He took the road leading towards the bright light that came from the North and as he stepped onto the pavement carved out of shiny rocks,he began thinking to himself :"You will be great ,my son and for that i am grateful.I wish i had the chance of holding you in my arms for once..Be well,my son,goodbye!!,and slowly he fade into thin air.....