And She Kissed a God

11. God

The headline said: Police took a mystery man into custody who was claiming to collect souls.

I read the whole thing. Few families had complained against a weird man walking through the streets, sometimes even lingering at one or two particular houses. When confronted, he told them he was there to collect the souls of the recently dead. Police were investigating his whereabouts.

"I still got nothing."

"Imagine, Aditya," Sam said. She thought I talked to her. She twitched her head like a baby watching a bird for the first time. "Imagine each bottle filled with a hundred fireflies."

"So easy," I snapped.

She didn't care. I bet she even forgot about the blasted helicopter in the garden. So I extended my hand, patted her elbow with the newspaper, and Sam took it. She read it aloud in a calm, unwavering tone.

And then she guffawed. "He really collected the souls."

Anil walked around with hands in his pockets, elegant and grim. "When I heard about these bottles, I pulled a few strings and gathered them. I just wanted to show them to you. But I understood this was beyond us when the goddess explained the situation."

"But why?" Sam asked.

Anil pointed his hand at the shelves. "What's your first thought on this?"

Sam swung her head and said, "Why is he collecting the souls?"

"Exactly, grandmother." Anil's voice turned sharp, eager to explain. "Why is a human collecting soul in the first place? He could be gifted. He could be guiding the souls to their place. But these weren't a few; not a dozen. This is an entire collection. And what are these souls doing on the mortal plane, anyway? Taking a holiday?"

Sam nodded. "Isn't the God of fire supposed to collect them?"

With the mention of God of fire, I remembered the Goddess. Sam said she was his eternal wife. I was hoping things finally might make sense.

I exchanged my blank expression with both their faces.

"Well, he is the barrier," Sam said. "The God of fire is the barrier between the gods and humans. If you do a ritual, he carries those offerings to the gods. If you burn a body, his fire carries the soul to hell and then beyond."

Anil was standing to our back. "If God of fire had done his work, this wouldn't have happened."

I shrugged. "That's just dumb. He's a god. It's not like he would take a break."

Sam opened her mouth to talk, but closed it again.

"What if he is forced to?" Anil said.

"—Svaha," Sam exclaimed. "That's why she's here. She was searching for her husband."

Anil nodded calmly.

I pressed my forehead with my thumbs. It was getting long, tedious, and stupid. "Why is she searching here? On earth?"

Sam wasn't smiling anymore. She stiffened. "He might be cursed, and then he will be here; stripped of his duties and forced to live like a mortal. Then gods couldn't receive their offerings and the humans would feel abandoned, damn the world should be in chaos."

"It is in chaos if you hadn't noticed," Anil stated.

"What did the goddess say?" Sam was keen and unruly. "Who cursed the god?"

Anil sighed and folded his hands. "On one occasion," he began, "hundreds of people did a fire ritual to the God Shiva offering several varieties of things to him; ghee, curd, sugar, honey and many else. That day God did not receive all his offerings. It was because Agni did not perform a sincere duty and consumed some of those offerings. Enraged, God Shiva abandoned him from heaven, and cursed him to give up his divinity, and be born as a mortal on earth."

Sam was lost in her thoughts. "How come I never heard of it?"

"I too didn't until the goddess approached me."

"So, where is he now? The cursed god? Did the goddess find him?"

Anil swallowed. His gaze was no longer steady, avoiding her grandmother's eyes. He was hesitating. "About that," he mumbled. Then he lifted his face and looked at me. He hadn't shifted his gaze again.

I turned to Sam, but she stayed put; frozen and dim like a sculpture. Her face turned sallow. She kept shaking her head, repeating, "No."

And like a wave of terror hit the room; like I was a demon unleashed onto her, she began walking away from me.

***

What wouldn't I give to be in my apartment right now? In the middle of the night, a packet of chips, some ice cream and the 'die-hard' movie in my 42-inch television. I always termed myself as a hobbit, reluctant to mingle and enjoying the little community I live in. And then I got a girlfriend.

What wouldn't I give?

I rewound my life. Middle-class parents. Normal school life. Normal college life. Never had a problem with any person. Won a job in campus placement. Own apartment. The journey couldn't be smooth. And then I got a girlfriend.

Everything ended with Sam.

Again, everything began with her.

She was standing a few feet away, staggering and lost in her thoughts. Anil's words lingered in my head. A hysterical accusation that I was a god.

In fact, it felt funny.

I chuckled. "Are you guys serious about this?"

The smell of metal around us increased.

"Why will a goddess lie?" Anil said.

"I don't know. If I am a god, wouldn't I have a clue?"

"That's not how a curse works."

I turned to Sam. "Come on, Sam. You said we shouldn't trust the gods."

No reply.

"So, the goddess is here for me?"

Anil shrugged. "She said someone might kill you if you stay with my grandmother and she couldn't allow that even if you possess a human form."

I rubbed my eyes. "This is all too much. I was okay with Sam being an immortal. I never had a chance. I was okay with a goddess slipping us out of this place. But this, I just couldn't wrap my head around."

"I need some air." I walked out of the safe and my footsteps began ricocheting again.

Sam followed me. "Adi, wait."

Both of our footsteps created an over-lapping, meaningless echo, and I boosted my pace. Then other footsteps joined the noise. Anil seemed to join us.

As soon as I stepped out, I walked straight to the bushes. Sam almost reached me, walking in my huge shadow cast to my left.

When I reached a hedge, a plant cut in the shape of a dog, I froze. It was unclear at first, but I saw a heap of bodies ahead. Arms and legs flinging from the sides, it was the heap of our men. All dead. 

*******

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