A lone girl, nine or ten-year- old, on a desultory road. Her eyes red with crying. Stains of tears imprinted on her cheeks, though her tired tears had dried up now. Her hair, dusted, knotty, covering her face, she was not even trying to put them back. Anger makes her face abnormally red. She is walking fast, furiously, as if to catch someone who is trying to escape. She doesn’t bother about the wind blowing her skirt or the sun blazing her body. No shoes on her feet, injured and bruised, blood-clots showing themselves even through the dust. Visibly agitated, she, again and again, looks at the sky and murmurs: This is the world you have created. Is this the world you sent me to? Why? What have I done to deserve it? She clenches her fist as if she would hit the sky, or someone in the sky.

No. They always told me you were kind and benevolent, always helping the distressed and suffering people. We prayed to you day and night. What was it that we didn’t do to please you or keep you in good humor. Where were you when they turned our house into rubble, or when they killed my parents, my brothers and sister, my entire family. You wanted them to be killed? If yes, why? If not, what were you doing then?

My family, devout, religious, following all the rules, honest and hardworking. My father worked hard all his life and spent all his money on the house that was razed in one blow. Why? What was his fault? We were having the house-warming ceremony, we were so happy, never had we been that happy in our entire life, and you couldn’t tolerate our happiness. For those happy moments, my father and mother had worked day and night, sacrificing all their comforts, and asked us too, the kids, to study hard to rise in life one day. .. One day, my foot! I saw their dead bodies in blood, all of them, in one minute they were all gone. With them went all their hopes and dreams, their faith in themselves, above all, in you. What do you think you are? Don’t have a high opinion of yourself. You are a sadist. You enjoy the sufferings of the people, or this won’t happen, never. They call you omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient. This is your omnipotence! You allow them to kill innocent people, who love you, have faith in you, pray to you day and night. What are you?  Are you in league with them, the conspirators? Or, Impotent? I can’t accept it. There is something very wrong with this world. No rules. No governance.

She rubbed her eyes. My God, there was a stream. She saw it. She ran to it. She was so thirsty. But as she approached it, she changed her mind. No, she won’t drink water. No, she won’t eat or drink. A dirty world. No, why live in such a world? No use. Better to quit. Only agony and anguish. No hope, no pleasure, and now no family. Who would take care of me? There is nobody. It is  a Godless world….

She opened her eyes and looked up. She was amazed. A simple, radiant face smiling at her. In this wilderness!

‘Who are you?’ she asked.

He smiled and touched her. A soothing touch. ‘You are thirsty. First, take water, then we can talk.’

‘No, I won’t take water or anything. That is my resolve. My protest against this wicked, inhuman world.’

‘My dear, you are so sweet, strong too. But it is not good to…’

‘Goodness, my foot! My parents, my brothers and sister, they were all good people. Always good. Never did anything bad. And yet they were all killed. Goodness has no meaning here. It’s a bad world. Only bad people survive here. They kill others and enjoy. Good people always suffer. Why should I live in such a world?’

He smiled and patted her. ‘Yes, I understand your mental state. So sad that your family, all the members were killed, your house was razed, and you are left alone, with none to care for you at this young age. But you must live. The world is not as bad as you think. No doubt, many people are bad, but there are good people too. Otherwise, it would have perished long back’.

She gazed at him and retorted, ‘My world is gone. That was my world. For me there is no world now. And there is no one for me. But why do you want me to live? Who are you?’

‘I am what you call God.’

‘What! God! How can you be God? No, you can’t be God.’

He smiled and sat down near her. ‘Alisha, I am your friend. Just believe me.’

She was confused, baffled. She thought it over. How did he know my name? Where did he come from? How did he suddenly appear here? In this lonely place? And if he is God, as he says, then why did he not come to protect my family? Why doesn’t he kill them who are killing thousands of people? God is there to protect the innocent people, they say, but here he is , smiling while they are dying. Why doesn’t he go there and save them? Or, why doesn’t he stop them who are killing? What kind of God he is?’

He smiled and said, ‘You are right. Whatever you are thinking is what everybody thinks. But I don’t interfere in the day-to-day affairs of man. Birth and death are a natural phenomenon. They go on happening in Nature. People come and go. Millions of species. Billions of creatures. Nothing is permanent in Nature.’

‘Strange! What kind of God you are! This is your world, your creation, and it is your duty to protect it, save it from evil people. Natural deaths are OK. But evil people killing the innocent, is it natural?’

‘I too have to go by certain rules.’

‘Rules! What rules! Why did you create evil people at all? Why should they kill us? And where are your angels?’

He grew serious. ‘I created man. I didn’t create evil. Or, evil people. But the chemistry of man is such that it can turn into hundreds of varieties. Evil too is one such variety. And if it is not checked, it can go out of proportion.’

‘What do your angels do then if they don’t check it?’

‘No, I don’t have any special angels. All the good people are my angels. They must be strong to check the evil. Only they can prevent evil from spreading its tentacles. Unfortunately, in today’s world, these angels have become very weak. They are fearful of their own existence. Fear, you know, is the worst instinct in man. Angels today are hiding behind the walls or have fallen a prey to temptations.’

‘Then set things right. You are God. All powerful.’

‘But I gave man free will and a right to make choices. That is the basic principle of creation. I never thought man would misuse and abuse these rights. Today, he has gone beyond me.’

‘You mean, it is a hopeless situation, and you can’t do anything about it.’

‘No, I can always annihilate the world when it becomes impossible. Creation, Destruction and Recreation’, he said gloomily. ‘But, it is my baby. I love it, the beautiful world. I feel for it. It is a fascinating creation. I am pained to see so much evil .But I still have faith in man. They should be my angels and serve the world,  Or….’

Alisha rubbed her eyes, looked around. There was no one. She grew sad.

Suddenly she realized something. Oh, God wants me to be an angel.

She smiled and drank a lot of water.