I read a beautiful book last week, Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom; it brought me to tears, then a smile on my face, till I teared up again. It moved me in a way that simple books with profound messages often do. It was a subject I have talked of often, how each person we meet, and who meets us, leads to a domino effect in our lives. Nothing or no one lives in a bubble, so we are all interconnected in ways that we have not imagined. No interaction, howsoever small is meaningless; everyone we meet is leaving a footprint in the sand.
I wondered who I might meet in heaven, and there are a few that come to mind. Of those I hope to meet, I am more than sure I will meet my guide and mentor, Akash. He was the very reason I came to work for myself. He nudged me into doing more with my life than just a job. He met me at a time when I was unsure of myself and who I was. I didn't believe him when he said you would make a million dollars one day soon and you would own a mercedes benz as a car, as I drove around in my old Maruti Suzuki that was rickety but reliable. I rolled my eyes, and never paid too much attention, despite how energized and enthused he was, no matter when we spoke. He always thought big, and dreamt even bigger. He had ideas that were beyond their time. With time and technology, I saw them all come true. I pooh-poohed him mostly and went back to my drudgery. Yet every interaction with Akash was annoying, exasperating, and exhilarating as he tried to push me to imagine a multi-million dollar company when I barely had 10,000 to my name.
Yet, for all my small thinking, he continued to dream on my behalf. I was a hard worker, perhaps a little too hard working for the most part....so I believed life was tough, and it was.
Akash was living in the UK, and I was here in India...we were to meet in a few months to sign an agreement to set up a company in the UK. It was another pie in the sky project, and because he lived in the UK, very often we would get on a call late in the evening for updates.
That particular evening we were talking about the UK project and many ideas that were erupting as they regularly do with entrepreneurs at 11 p.m., till I interrupted him and said, "I have to go to bed, Akash, it's only 5 p.m. in the UK, but it is very late here. Let's talk about this tomorrow." In his effervescent style, he said, "ok ok, let's talk tomorrow, but i have another idea...." I cut him off and said, Good night Akash.
The next morning I came into my office at 9 a.m. sharp, as I always did, and a few minutes after, I sat down. I received a call from his brother Arun. But it made no sense to me because it was 5 a.m. in the UK. Why was he calling?
I was numb as I heard him say the words, "Akash had a massive heart attack in the middle of the night; he did not survive it." Akash was gone forever. I was in shock. More than that, I was in denial. I cried for days. Instead of going to our project, I went to the funeral in the UK. Meeting everyone he had ever spoken of who wanted to work with us. I had a realization that was an awakening. That life was a possibility only till we had a life. I turned into Akash. I believed in everything he had ever dreamt. I began manifesting whatever I wanted, and what was hard before suddenly became easy. I saw why he had come into my life, to teach me a lesson. To teach me that all you have is the here and now while you are alive. Say what you need to say now. Do what you need to do now. What if we had spoken a bit longer? What if I had listened to him for a few moments more?
Unsurprisingly I went on to become a multi-millionaire, to own a mercedes benz, among other things, but more importantly, I understood all he had given me that was far more priceless.
The UK project never did materialize after his death. However, he left me with so much more. He left me with perspective. That your life will be exactly as you see it. Envision it. Manifest it. Today I live my dreams.
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