AfterLife: The Desolation

By Pankaj Kumar Shasini

The book takes a bold and decisive look at how we, as humans, try to understand mystical happenings that often occur around us. We ignore this and avoid finding answers to them. We not only see events unfold from its imaginary character’s perspective, but also see how the living try to rationalise events that they do not comprehend.

• Language: English
• Publisher: One Point Six Technologies Pvt Ltd
• Release date: Jan 11, 2021

Pankaj Kumar Shasini

Born on 10th November 1990, Pankaj has completed his graduation in Mechanical Engineering. Earlier, he has worked as a designer and delivered corporate training in various 3D designing software. He is congenitally an artist, which he believes is a gift from his mother. He believes any form of art is a medium of expression. He is a dreamer, who has always tried to explore different modes of expression through drawing, 3D designing and now through words. Not only is he a visualizer of events or nature, he is also keen on sketching a concept like product designs for cars or other innovative gadgets. He even loves to explore unsolved mysteries, which led him to come up with this concept of ‘AfterLife’. Other topics that he loves are about Aliens, Bermuda Triangle, Land beyond the North Pole and Why did America not go to the moon again?He is interested in educating himself on Quantum Mechanics and String Theory. His role models are Michio Kaku (American Physicist), Brian Greene (Theoretical Physicist), Manoj Bhargava (American Businessman), Deepak Chopra (Alternative Medicine), Leonardo Da Vinci (Polymath) and not to forget Steve Jobs (Co-founder of Apple Inc.)Music is like a pill for him, coin collection, pen collection, painting, photography, 3D designing, and concept sketching; his mind is always busy in thinking something.You can reach him at the listed social media handles below:Instagram: pankaj_ku._shasiniFacebook: Pankaj Kumar ShasiniTwitter: @pankajshasini

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

According to a report by TheAtlantic and TheHuffPost/ YouGov , 42% of the former and 45% of Americans in the latter, say that they believe in the existence of ghosts.

In India, the statistics surrounding the belief in the paranormal could be more compared with those results found in America. You can liken this with your own nation and it’s likely to vary depending upon your country of origin.

We come across many cases in our life, whereby someone claims a strong belief in supernatural powers – ghost or god – because of a true incident, which has happened in their life.

Based on these surprising percentages of people, who claim to have witnessed these otherworldly experiences, in spite of them hailing from completely different societies and geographies, having never met one another – one has to question – why are they doing so? And what will they get if they prove themselves right?

During my childhood, I faced a similar case where my mother claimed that she had seen a green rose when she was younger.

Having listened to her, I had countless questions; What are you saying? How is that even possible? I never believed what she had claimed to be true.

However, one day I encountered a surge of curiosity and considered that, if at all there is a green rose, then how would it look? Moreover, how does one find such a specimen?

I consider myself an individual with a great sense of self-respect and dignity, and hence, I am continually on guard against those who try to fool me.

So, was what my mother saying true, or was she simply creating a story to rouse my interest so that she could make fun of me for being gullible?

These questions lingered in my mind and secretly, when my parents were not around, and I was all alone at home, I embarked on some research to uncover the truth behind the existence of this mystical green rose.

So after few hours of research to find the truth behind the actuality of this rose, of course, with the help of the internet, I found innumerable articles, reports, documentary video and images of this formerly fictitious green specimen, and those were enough to make me believe. I had seen enough proof.

Still don’t believe me? Then I encourage you to look for yourself and check. I am sure it will blow your mind! For those of you who already knew about the existence of the green rose – well, Bravo!

Thanks to this small incident, I learned a very important life lesson. I understood that we humans could never really believe something by just hearing it, regardless of how reliable the source is. We can never believe it unless we actually see it and have a real time experience with it.

With this in mind, we cannot just ignore the fact that around forty-two per cent or forty-five per cent of people, which is approximately half of all Americans, claim to have been privy to the existence of a supernatural power. These views are seen within various nations, societies, religions and even different age groups. What causes all these people who are dispersed all around the globe to think alike?

They might have witnessed or felt something unusual, an experience that they want to share with the world through a simple message, and we don’t believe them because they fail to provide evidence!

I believe that being able to express a point of view is an art, which is not a gift that everyone has. So then how can we dismiss the opinions and views of those who simply have difficulty in conveying something effectively about something that does not exist according to the remaining of us?

We don’t believe it because they verbally express what happened to them, but not how it happened to them. There lies the difference!

Most of us are intrigued to know what transpires after death. But what is life? What keeps us alive and what happens to us after we are pronounced dead?

The common consensus is that oxygen and water are the fundamental elements necessary for existence of life. I say, Who said that? And how did this view come about? This concept was developed through the studying of various life forms on our planet and the need for water and oxygen was a collective need for most of them.

I am looking at this with the view of a common person, not at scientific perspective. When we consider that plants need carbon dioxide to survive, then the necessity for water and oxygen becomes contradictory. So, let’s discuss this at grass roots level.

Humans are unable to survive under water and likewise aquatic animals cannot survive solely on land. If you also consider that humans belonging to colder regions face extreme difficulty in adapting themselves to hotter regions and vice versa. We even know that species born in particular environments develop significant characteristics to survive within those bespoke conditions. So, we are looking at the same species, being born in different regions with the constitutions for them to adapt themselves. Then what is life?

It is very easy to explain the science through which a baby comes into this world, but in fact, we only know the physical stages of development of the embryo into a fully developed baby. We don’t know how the energy of life is given by the mother to that baby! Or how the baby got the energy to live by itself! The day we discover and understand this, will be the day that we can even impart real life on our autonomous robots. Life is a form of energy that enables one to learn and grow with response to its surroundings. Anything that is conscious, is living.

Finally, I would like to conclude, life is much more complicated to understand than we may realise. The surface of the planet earth is comprised of one-third land mass, and as terrestrial beings, we are still trying to understand and uncover countless species that we cohabit with. That is not even taking into account what may be lurking in the seas and oceans. Our level of knowledge on our own planet is miniscule. Still do you believe that you know everything?

Now let’s return to when someone is claiming to have seen something and we just disregard their comments without belief or true knowledge. We currently have no credentials to account neither for the theory of existence nor for nonexistence. I agree majority of such cases can be defended using complex medical terms, as science is good at it. Still fifteen to twenty per cent leaves us with situations unexplained.

Wait! Now we know this, but we still try to counter this using science. What is it that bothers you before doing wrong things? What is consciousness, intuition or instinct? How you dream the unseen like being inside a Hollywood film? Interesting! Isn’t it?

It is reasonable to doubt those things that are strange and bewildering, but ignorance can just make us foolish!

With this in mind, I will try to explain those strange instances that we may have formerly ignored and pair them with possible reasoning’s from lessons I have learned throughout my life. I will warn you that what you may read may change your opinion about what you think you know. It will give you a broader knowledge on the possibility of survival and existence. The way we believe we are living is not the way we live!

So, welcome to a different perspective of the world we live in!

CHAPTER 2

YAMRAJ ‘THE Y’

According to Hindu mythology, the one who is given authority to enforce justice based on the culmination of our decisions and actions, at the end of our lives is known by the name ‘Yamraj’. His existence has never been recorded, but it is believed that he hails from the time when life began on Earth. His purpose is to extract the soul from the bodies of those whose life comes to an end.

As we all have varying opinions about the afterlife, it was very important for me to introduce Yamraj. I know this unique character is very enigmatic, which may give you cause to question his validity. But, I feel without mentioning him my extract would become unprecedented to your mysterious belief.

According to a statistics, report on www.cdc.gov, the percentage of people who die in hospitals was 76% during 2000 and 73% during 2010. So, let me consider an average value to be around 75% of people that pass away in hospitals.

As the majority of people die premature and unnatural deaths in hospitals, the Yamraj understandably makes many visits to these establishments – likely visiting them more in one week than we do in a lifetime.

If you think of his role as being like a job for him. On achieving his targets, he received rewards for it, which helps him run his entire dynasty.

On one particular occasion, he was notified that four souls were to be extracted all at one time from the same place. He was already annoyed at the need for this bulk extraction, but he had to fulfil his responsibility.

When the time came, he reached the location five minutes early and opened his Souls-Tracking device – yes! why not he be using a device to track the whereabouts of souls ready for extraction? It is this very device that gives him the details of every target with a specified time and precise instructions.

As previously mentioned, the majority of people die from grave illnesses such as organ failure and cancer leading them to inhale their last breath within the grounds of a hospital, unlike centuries ago when death more typically came about from natural causes.

Due to this Yamraj was assigned to the hospitals for the most part, but it was not all plain sailing. Yamraj encountered many kinds of mistakes through hurdles and problems.

Before the times when he was without his Souls-Tracking device, his targets were delivered via a method like the means of radio waves. This is the same system used within mobile phone technology, where the messages get delivered from one person to the next through the device to a signal radar and then the message is transmitted through satellite to reach a specified location.

Many streamlines flow all around the globe in various directions. Where these lines intersect is the point of a unified location identity. Information would be sent along these lines, which was how they could make conversations via great distances, without any device.

We now use devices, as we do not have the ability to convert our human voices into waves. However, Yamraj did not need the device as he could use these streamlines and paths with relative ease.

So, returning to the scenario I was explaining about, Yamraj was mainly responsible for the extraction of souls from hospitals. He was provided with an ample amount of information about the identity and location of his target.

He would find the location without incident, but the problems arose when identifying the person in question.

Yamraj would receive an image of his target soul. However, the person that he sees within these pictures is not what he encounters when entering the hospital. The hospital is a maze of confusion with wall-to-wall beds all with identical looking people. All of them close to death, gaunt, attached to machines or wearing oxygen masks. All tucked under the same standard issue blankets or wearing the same white hospital gowns. Every single human becomes indistinguishable within the confines of the hospital grounds.

It was a difficult and torturous time for him and he committed many unexpected deaths during this period; extracting other souls in error. These mistakes increased over time and he rapidly lagged behind reaching his daily target. Consequently, he was penalised, received less recompense for his work and ultimately came into debt.

The stress of these events caused Yamraj to behave uncharacteristically and his behaviour towards all the recovered souls in his dynasty became alarming.

One of the souls among the empire was of a software engineer, who worked for an IT company. He had lost his life as a result of a plane crash during a trip to an onsite project. He approached Yamraj with a solution; a proposal to develop a Souls-Tracking device.

So, although Yamraj did not need the device to receive notifications, he chose to use it for the purposes of clarity and exactness.

Now coming back to the extraction case of the four soul’s, using this device, he reaches the ward of hospital, seeing the four patients whose souls he was to recover. They were all positioned in a row of four beds next to one another. He found this odd – as though someone was already aware of their fates and that they would be dying together, and knowing this, chose to keep them collectively within a single room.

Normally, Yamraj would introduce himself and try to encourage the souls to leave their bodies and come with him voluntarily. This time, he didn’t follow his usual actions and on seeing all four of them together, his innate response was to scream at them with frustration.

Yamraj was exasperated, and the reasoning behind this was very simple.

Every time Yamraj was notified of a death, he would need to visit a different location. Doing so, he was entitled to separate payments for each separate visit and each separate soul. Now he was faced with four souls within one place, at one time, and this would be counted as completing only one single job and therefore he would be paid as such.

Greeting these four new patients with rage was very unprofessional and not characteristic of how he would usually engage an initial meeting. This panicked the four of them and within this state, they started bombarding him with questions.

Among them was a young person who asked him, Who are you?

The Yamraj responded with a deep and powerful exclamation in an attempt to showcase all of his powers and states, I am the Yamraj!

The second of the four was a small child of 8 years old, who immediately responded, Yumm…!

Noting the innocent and juvenile nature of this response, the Yamraj became emboldened and filled with courage, I am not your delicious food that you would say, watching me, yummy…!

On noting the change in his tone, the first man who spoke, summoned the courage to question Yamraj again, Are you Yumdut?

Taken aback Yamraj mumbled, The meaning of ‘dut’ is ‘assistant’!

The man responded, If you are ‘dut’ then you must be an assistant to someone. Who is your master?

Aggrieved the Yamraj declared, I am the one and only Yamraj, the Lord for justice and death. Nobody is above or beneath me.

The third person among them immediately spoke up, If your name is Yamraj, and ‘raj’ signifies king, then what about your kingdom? Who serves in the kingdom next to you? If there is no one beneath you then what kinds of people exist, except the souls you collect?

The fourth patient who was afflicted with a mental disability simply exclaimed and called Yamraj ‘The Y’.

They all responded in confusion, Why?

The fourth patient responded, Y…Y…not why! It was because you all said Y so many times on seeing him!

Surprisingly, Yamraj was the first person to accept this new name and became increasingly happy with it.

Getting into his stride, he decided to elaborate on some points of note in relation to his new moniker. I can be called ‘The Y’ because everyone only utters one line upon seeing me when it is their time to go – ‘why me?’ I will give explanations to all your Y questions after you step into my kingdom. Reasons for why you should be given such justice for your sins? Why?

Truth be told Yamraj was pleased with the change – he was in fact quite bored of his usual name and was quite keen on the more modern suggestion.

The Y then made a deep sinister laugh and emitted an intense bright light, which illuminated the entire room with such energy, that it was very difficult for all four of them to even open their eyes.

As soon as the light dissipated, they looked around and found themselves in a very different and unusual place. Their surroundings were frozen and glacial. Fog emanated from all surfaces making it hard to see ahead. They all knew that their respective bodies remained functionless vessels at the hospital.

And this is how Yamraj came upon his new name as ‘The Y’. In spite of his power, prowess and strength it would be quite illogical for us to assume that he would never face any kind of challenges during his role of extracting souls from the human body.

CHAPTER 3

KISS OF LOVE

Kabir Bhattia was a middle-aged successful businessman, married to Trupti, who was really beautiful. They had been married for just short of a year and a half.

He had graduated in mechanical engineering and had received his qualifications from a standard private engineering institution. However, he had never possessed any kind of extraordinary academic record of accomplishment that’s why he had difficulty establishing himself within this field.

As you may know in India, the number of educational institutions are like shopping malls. Every major city is home to a minimum of two hundred engineering colleges and every year, approximately, eight hundred thousand students complete their degree. The number of graduates far outweighs the number of available vacancies, and therefore, the competition of finding employment is very tough.

Kabir dedicates his entire belief and credits his lovely wife Trupti, for his successes. For him, the proverb, ‘behind every successful man there is a woman’ rang true.

Even in their early days of college life, Kabir and Trupti were already made for each other. Kabir was a simple charming person with a very straightforward attitude. Kabir was unusual, as unlike most young men, he was not interested in having a girlfriend – not even Trupti. While Trupti was studious and determined in gaining only academic excellence in her subject of computer science. Their strange perception about love was that, Love can never be practical or realistic and is only something found in fictional books and movies.

They believed that love is unnatural, and only happens as a means for people to gain something from one another. By that logic, a girl would desire a boyfriend so he could pay her bills or a boy would seek out a girlfriend to satiate his physical needs.

Nevertheless, who can predict what would happen? They were part of a large group of friends and that is where they had the opportunity to meet one another. Over time, they had both rejected various advances from people because of differences in opinion and beliefs. Eventually, Trupti and Kabir realised that they had the same outlook about life and that their reactions to different situations was the same. This shared outlook bound their friendship and they became the very best of friends.

Whilst they were close friends, they continued to lead and live separate lives, but they would always share about everything that happened throughout their day, before retiring to their bed. Trupti was mostly involved in her academic activities with her classmates, while Kabir spent a lot of his time in pursuing body fitness and getting involved in many small projects, he undertook.

During this time, they encountered many problems caused by their so-called friends. Trupti noticed that some of her male companions tried to flirt with her and embroil her within romantic scenarios. Similarly, Kabir found that his female friends expected him to play the role of a boyfriend, fulfilling all the responsibility, but never attempting to provide the basic needs of a good friend.

Their frustration climaxed one day with this state of affairs and they questioned about how long could a boy and girl remain as best friends with each other?

They let instincts get the better of them and agreed to be with each other forever, with no strings attached. If they had remained as best friends, they could not have continued with their friendship, especially if they both married someone else. They had been honest and loyal to each other all this time with no expectations or demands. So they decided to commit to one another, without the need for a formal proposal or unnecessary grand gesture. All that mattered was that they were united in the decision to be together forever.

That is not to say that their relationship did not encounter any issues or problems. As with all couples, they fought many times over minor issues, suffered multiple breakups, questioned their trust for one another…I am sure you can add to the list of problems yourself as we all have extensive knowledge on this subject.

But unlike others, they never gave up on each other, as they had realised one of the great mysteries of life at the very early stage of their relationship.

This belief was based on a concept according to which, if you take any siblings that belong to the same set of parents, then they will have similar DNA and many biological similarities. They too will have multiple fights on minor issues during their lifetimes. They never develop any kind of hatred or impart their expectations on one another. Interestingly, they resolve their squabbles every night and continue together with their lives. So then how can we expect someone belonging to a different family and a different society to achieve our own expectations?

They had accepted the natural truth that no other human has ever been born specially to fulfil their expectations. One just needs to get along with one another, in the same way that we interact with our parents or our siblings, despite them perhaps being rude to us or disobeying us.

They believed that most relationships got into a dead state because of the belief that others do not meet one’s expectations. Ditching someone, as if they don’t unify with that character which we dreamed about.

Kabir and Trupti never learned to stop fighting with each other, but they knew how to resolve issues and begin a new day every morning.

CHAPTER 4

STRIVE FOR THE RING

After their graduation, Trupti found a job in an IT company, which was her chosen field. Sadly, Kabir was not as successful in securing a placement, while none of the core companies visited the campus.

Most of the universities advertise that graduating will ensure a placement for hundred per cent of the graduates, however the fact is that IT companies recruit for all courses.

Kabir had little interest in exploring the option of an alternative field of work. Trupti had to move to a different city to start work in her new role, while Kabir continued to look for employment in the same city, attending countless interviews to find a job.

In spite of the distance between them, they continued to remain committed to their relationship. This was the first time that they had ever been apart for a long period and they had no idea when they would see each other again. This situation came as a shock for Trupti, and whilst she was happy to have achieved her dream job, she was still at a loss during her evenings, spent without Kabir. Although they were happy with their chosen decisions, they both still felt that something was missing.

They handled their separation with great patience believing that fate had a plan for them. They would speak as often as possible when they had the time; however, Trupti was naturally busier with her new job, than Kabir who mostly spent time alone in his room.

Eventually, after multiple job rejections, Kabir lost all his hope and gradually, became very short tempered, and although this hurt Trupti, she never reacted, as she could understand the reasons behind his behaviour.

She did her best to help him in his search for a job – she would even use her time at work to look online at suitable vacancies and whenever she would find any kind of ideal job postings, she would notify him immediately, however, the outcome was always the same.

At times Kabir was so disheartened by his situation that he would stop applying for jobs altogether, so Trupti would submit applications on his behalf.

It was difficult, but not impossible for them to manage their situation, and then an unexpected turn of events altered things.

Trupti’s family were incredibly proud of her success, and now that she was established in a distinguished job, her family decided that it was time to find her a husband. Her relatives found various suitable matches for her and all of them were more successful than Kabir.

Trupti could choose to introduce Kabir to her parents, but as he was not earning money, she did not want her family to start with a bad impression of him. First impressions matter and so she decided that as soon as he found a job then she would introduce him to her parents.

Trupti hadn’t told Kabir about this issue and for a long time kept it secret as she was worried about his reaction. Finally, she built up the courage to discuss it with him so that they could mutually find a solution, however, as Trupti had feared Kabir did not react to the news well and just kept silent. Trupti had great hope that Kabir would be able to find a solution to this situation, however, he simply sat in silence immersed in the fear that he could lose her forever. His faith floundered because he felt that he’d never achieve a status that could compare to those others who were being matched with Trupti.

Trupti too was confused and upset, as this was the first time that she was unable to understand Kabir’s reaction. She suddenly felt very alone and wedged in between two phases of her life. On one side, she had her family and she could never break their trust, yet on the other side, she had her true love Kabir and she knew that no one could ever take his place in her life.

She could not see any way out of this situation and decided to tell her parents about her relationship with Kabir. She intensely hoped that they would listen intently and understand their current circumstances.

When they next called her, wanting her opinion on their latest suggestion of a husband for her, she was unable to listen to them. Their words turned into a blur of noises. When her parents asked why she was not responding, Trupti simply closed her eyes and let out a heartfelt speech detailing everything she felt about Kabir.

Her parents remained silent, listening patiently until she had finished speaking. Trupti was released of a great sense of burden, as she was able to explain how she felt. She was grateful for having parents who were willing to listen. In truth, she was not expecting them to listen to even what she had to say – she had expected far worse than this, but was thankful to God for being with her at this moment and enabling her parents to be patient and understanding.

Nothing further was said on the subject with her parents, changing the topic and engaging in polite chat until the call was over.

Following this, Trupti became emboldened, overcome with a sense of courage to face her adversities, seeing that there was light within the darkness of the situation.

That evening, she called Kabir and relayed the conversation she’d had that morning with her parents. Listening to her speak, Kabir was surprised and rediscovered his enthusiasm that led on to them having a long and wonderful conversation until the early hours as they had not had in a very long time.

Both were very happy, and the following days felt full of love and joy as they did earlier. This feeling continued for around three months, until she received a call from her parents wanting to discuss the next choice for a groom. Trupti was confused and annoyed – baffled about why her parents were acting as if they were unaware of her relationship with Kabir and behaving as if they knew nothing of him. This was a serious problem and Trupti didn’t know what to do; she had tried