An earthly party in Yamlok

KR Bharti

ON a routine round of  Yamlok, Yamraj noticed a great demographic spurt. Pleased with the expansion of his domain, he announced a grand party and ordered his accountant Chitragupta to send an invite to all gods and demons.  Just as things began rolling, a Yamdoot suddenly appeared with a body. 

‘Who is he?’ thundered Yamraj. ‘He ran a hotel on Mrityulok (earth), Sir. He died of a cardiac arrest. He carries in his hands a ‘menu’ containing the names of various dishes, unheard of in Yamlok. If you approve, we may include them in our party,’ counselled Chitragupta. 

 ‘A fantastic idea, but who will arrange these dishes here?’ 

‘This very man! He will do the catering, if only you could grant him some lease of life!’ 

Yamraj acquiesced. 

The day of the party arrived and all reached in time. Vishnu left abruptly owing to some work exigency. Soon, items ranging from tikkis and chaats to noodles and spring rolls began to be served. Hardly had they finished with snacks when there was a call for food.

All were surprised. ‘What you ate was a prelude to food called snacks,’ said Chitragupta. They were then led to the food table. Seeing the exotic dishes, their mouths began to water and they all pounced on food. Brahma, however, refrained from food. 

The jubilation of the party suddenly took an ugly turn. All gods and demons complained of upset stomach and nausea. Baffled, Brahma appointed Devrishi Narad as an inquiry officer.

Narad air-dashed to earth. Just as he landed, his eyes fell on a milkman mixing water in milk from a water spring. ‘Will you sell spurious milk?’ Narad frowned.  

‘Can there be a better combination than milk and water? There are people who sell synthetic milk,’ the milkman said without compunction. 

‘Synthetic milk!’ Narad wondered. ‘Yes, people have developed a technique to make milk from chemical fertilisers like urea.’

Beating his head, Narad crossed the fields where he witnessed farmers using chemical fertilisers, insecticides and pesticides excessively in crops, little realising that this was making the food and vegetables poisonous. So much so, fruits were also being ripened with chemicals.

 Narad stopped at a grocer and halwai shop. While the grocer sold most food items like pulses and condiments in spurious form, the halwai mixed artificial colours to sweets. 

‘Only Shankar can digest such poisonous food,’ he remarked and hastened back to Yamlok to apprise Brahma of this naked dance of adulteration.  

‘Is it for eating poison that I created the world? Let me talk to Vishnu. It is his bounden duty to sustain life on earth,’ said a peeved Brahma.

Yamraj, meanwhile, took a vow to never serve earthly dishes in Yamlok.