I lost my life 77 days and 34 minutes ago to the most unexpected of tragedies. It was exactly 70 days ago that I realised that I was granted a place in heaven, and that it was going to be my humble abode from now on. One day while exploring this new realm, I finally comprehended that I could have a conversation that would have seemed unfathomable just a few months ago with an inspiring individual that I was lucky enough come across on heaven’s official video chatting platform: BOON. This is a glimpse of how the conversation went.
Interviewer: Hello ma’am, it’s an honour being in heaven with you. How has it been for the past 60 years?
Freedom Fighter: I hope your ride to heaven was comfortable. As for my existence in heaven, it’s been pretty enlightening and distressing watching what’s been going on in our home country. Can’t say that things have turned out to be the way we predicted when we first fought for freedom.
Interviewer: Why do you say that ma’am?
Freedom Fighter: Well, the very problems that existed nearly seven decades ago still persist in different ways or forms across the country. Whether that be women safety and discriminatory issues, poverty in our country, discrimination against lower castes, illiteracy, colourism and so much more. I thought these would be issues of my past, but unfortunately, they were a part of your present as well.
Interviewer: I wholeheartedly agree. Even the very soldiers that protect our country are often not treated with respect and given the financial remuneration they deserve. How do you feel about that as someone who fought for freedom for the very nation they protect?
Freedom Fighter: It’s a shame to be honest, considering how soldiers are ready to sacrifice their lives to protect the people and integrity of the nation. You would expect people to appreciate it more, but the sad truth is that people are so caught up in their own lives that they don’t respect the ones that make sure they don’t have to feel unsafe or enslaved in their own motherland unlike us, or the millions of people caught up in the cycle of poverty and capitalism, those who can’t even afford one square meal in a day.
Interviewer: Absolutely! India has the maximum number of poor people in the entire world. The LGBTQIA+ community faces a lot of discrimination and bias. Caste and religion based discrimination still exists, and while things have gotten better, we still have a long way to go. Ma’am how do you feel about the religious riots that have been going on in our country at the moment?
Freedom Fighter- It’s disheartening to see the people that fought together as a united front against the British forget that they’re Indians first, and not recognise that the hatred they have towards each other’s communities has resulted from nothing but propaganda. But it’s also been a great at times, watching young kids speak up for the rights of minorities and marginalised communities, the government finally abolishing Article 377, our athletes making the nation proud at international level and so on and so forth. We’re moving forward, but this war isn’t over yet.
Interviewer- Certainly ma’am! Thank you for taking out your precious time to talk to me. I hope my mortal Indians down there come to the same realisation, so that that we can truly become a free and independent India.
Now that you’re aware of what the very people who sacrificed their life for us believe, I hope you’re able to analyse, realise and empathise. Thank you for reading! (Are you wondering how a dead person is able to post on a living/mortal people site? Let’s just say that hacking wasn’t something I was bad at, when I was alive like the rest of you!)
-A Dead Person
The Vivid Gypsy 