Manu - The Trial

God opened the folder in front of him. It had been a tiring day and he was at this for the past 22 seconds (Two-hundred and twenty years in humankind). ‘State your name, please.’ ‘Manu, Bhagwan.’ ‘Age?’ ‘Fifty-eight years.’ ‘Occupation?’ ‘Interior Designer.’ Manu wondered why God was asking these questions; he was supposed to know. ‘To make sure no mistake has been done by my staff.’ God’s voice was terse. ‘How did you die?’ ‘Cardiac arrest, Bhagwan.’ ‘Married?’ ‘No, Bhagwan.’ ‘Why?’ ‘I am…was gay.’ ‘Any partner or partners?’ God had not even raised his head to look at Manu yet. ‘Not when I died.’ ‘Tell me about all of them.’ ‘The first one lasted seven years, Bhagwan. I was in college then.’ ‘How old were you?’ ‘Seventeen’. ‘And how old was your partner’? Manu considered lying. ‘Thirteen, Bhagwan.’ The truth came out. He was sure he had said sixteen. God looked up and stared at Manu and something inside him shriveled. ‘And the next one?’ God asked. ‘When I was twenty-eight years old. It lasted eight years’. ‘And your partner’? Manu shivered despite having no body. ‘Fifteen.’ This time he spoke the truth. ‘Who left whom?’ ‘I did, Bhagwan.’ ‘Both times?’ ‘Yes, Bhagwan.’ ‘Why?’ ‘Both fell for women.’ ‘And?’ ‘I stepped back, Bhagwan.’ ‘You let them go?’ ‘I did.’ ‘Any more?’ ‘One more, Bhagwan. But he was keen only on women so I never got to tell him I liked him.’ ‘For how long did this one carry on?’ ‘Six years.’ ‘Did you love them?’ ‘Very much, Bhagwan.’ ‘After that?’ Manu looked down and stared at God’s feet. He dare not answer this one. ‘After that?’ God’s voice boomed louder. ‘I met others.’ ‘How many?’ ‘I don`t remember, Bhagwan,’ Manu whispered. ‘Did you meet them or hire them for your carnal pleasure?’ Manu could have died one more time. ‘I hired them.’ ‘You bought carnal pleasure with boys all along?’ Manu hesitated; something was not right. ‘I did.’ God kept quiet, waiting and staring at Manu. ‘But I also wanted to hold someone,’ Manu blurted. ‘Why did you not find a partner for yourself?’ ‘By that time I was too old, Bhagwan.’ ‘Too old to fall in love?’ ‘I tried, fell in love, but was rejected.’ ‘So now are you ashamed you bought pleasure?’ ‘No, Bhagwan.’ For the first time, there was no hesitation. God raised his eyebrow – the left one, to be precise. ‘Because in whatever I did, I gave them dignity. Or maybe I did not take away their dignity.’ God looked amused and a smile hovered around his eyes. So Manu thought. Manu carried on. ‘Even when I hired them, I felt compassion and treated them with respect.’ ‘Did you love them as well?’ ‘No, Bhagwan; but I did respect them.’ ‘Did you ever abuse them?’ ‘Not that I know of, Bhagwan.’ ‘Not even the girl of ten years?’ Manu had nearly forgotten that. Not that even now he felt ashamed of that one. ‘Yes, Bhagwan. I made a mistake there but…’ Manu paused. ‘Carry one.’ ‘I never crossed the line; I did not defile her.’ ‘And why was that?’ Bhagwan asked softly this time. ‘It never crossed my mind, Bhagwan.’ ‘And anything good that you think you did in all those years?’ Once again Manu looked down – despondent at the way things were shaping up. ‘That is not for me to judge, Bhagwan.’ ‘And why do you say that, my son?’ God’s voice was openly warm now. ‘I did what I felt like doing. I did not think beyond that.’ God closed the folder and sat contemplating. It was a sign for sure. This soul accepted his misdemeanors but would not talk of his acts of kindness, of compassion, of his faith. Yet he could not be allowed to go without learning what he needed to. ‘You have to go back to earth again and this time you will live the life of a boy who sells his body for sustenance. You say you gave them honor, you treated them with compassion. That was your perspective. You must know how each one of them perceived you; if they too felt the same way about you. Is that agreeable to you?’ Manu was swept with a sense of relief. He had expected much worse, nothing short of being sent to hell, though he would have wondered why. ‘Thank you, Bhagwan. I agree. I thought you were going to send me to hell.’ ‘Where else do you think I am sending you?’ God asked with a smile.