If I meet Michio Kaku, I<\/p>\n
won\u2019t ask him about supernovas and black holes, about<\/p>\n
New York or California, but<\/p>\n
about his pond of fishes;<\/p>\n
How they live two-dimensional lives<\/p>\n
unaware that there is life beyond<\/p>\n
water.\u00a0 We can\u2019t breathe without air,<\/p>\n
Dr. Michio Kaku. We<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
can\u2019t breathe even without the love<\/p>\n
of our loved ones; the stomach churns, the heart<\/p>\n
beats so fast when I think of my mother; in this<\/p>\n
limited three-dimensional existence of<\/p>\n
social media, and nuclear bomb,<\/p>\n
Elon Musk Brand colonies in Mars, it is<\/p>\n
hard for me to breathe if<\/p>\n
I think about the moment<\/p>\n
when the doctor woke me up: we have<\/p>\n
been looking for you; your<\/p>\n
mother is no more.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Did he really say your mother<\/p>\n
or patient number something-something? Did he say,<\/p>\n
your wife, to my father who was lying in the bed<\/p>\n
against the wall? She lived a glorious life, she lived<\/p>\n
an abundant life, I said, hugging him with one hand,<\/p>\n
but not asking him to stop crying. I didn\u2019t say<\/p>\n
it is okay because it wasn\u2019t; I didn\u2019t say<\/p>\n
it will be okay because it never will be.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
That was five years ago; life was different then;<\/p>\n
winter, less harsh. Deaths, not so common as today. How<\/p>\n
worried I would have been about her<\/p>\n
now, if she were still living, in the world<\/p>\n
of rationed care? This year,<\/p>\n
when caregivers need care, while<\/p>\n
an invisible killer sucks away our souls.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
If I meet Michio Kaku, I will ask<\/p>\n
about dimensions. He said once,<\/p>\n
that we are like those fishes who live<\/p>\n
in two dimensions, we are like those fishes<\/p>\n
who can\u2019t imagine there is life<\/p>\n
beyond water. I will ask if death is another dimension<\/p>\n
where good people go. Of course, the<\/p>\n
people we love are always good.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Do people who leave us, watch us<\/p>\n
from this dimension? Like we watch<\/p>\n
protest marches, hot delivery post-men,<\/p>\n
from our balconies? Or is it a new life<\/p>\n
where you are born at the same age<\/p>\n
you had died, and you appear<\/p>\n
in this world as you were?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dear Michio Kaku, if<\/p>\n
death is another dimension, is it in this world<\/p>\n
of rivers, deserts, mountains, meadows?<\/p>\n
I had once watched a short film where<\/p>\n
people go after they are dead; it is like a commune,<\/p>\n
similar to our world: a TV, a living room, people<\/p>\n
who spew scathing comments or shower compassion,<\/p>\n
but this world is crowded; the character we follow<\/p>\n
is upset, confused, remembers her past life, and doesn’t<\/p>\n
know how she reached here. She doesn\u2019t know<\/p>\n
what she remembers is a past life. What if<\/p>\n
life after life is a crowded room<\/p>\n
with a TV blaring. Mundane, poor,<\/p>\n
full of absences.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
If I meet Michio Kaku,<\/p>\n
I will ask him these things. I will<\/p>\n
ask him where dead people go. If<\/p>\n
the dead are really dead. If<\/p>\n
the world they go to is<\/p>\n
really a happy world where<\/p>\n
they rest; if they live next to us,<\/p>\n
can see us, can help us, can bless us. If<\/p>\n
they are in peace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I think about the moment \/ when the doctor woke me up: we have \/ been looking for you; your \/ mother is no more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":6575,"template":"","categories":[9,49,119],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6571","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aquifer","category-literary-features","category-poetry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n