The Day I Saw Death Very Closely

 In my life, I have seen how the last day of life might look. I feel as if I came back from death to life. This happened on a Holi day.

My father was staying at our farm for two months to take care of wheat cultivation. My responsibility during those two months was to take tiffin to him every day. Our home was about 4–5 km from the farm, but the route was not easy. Only 30% was proper road. The rest was through the river path—sand, water, small ups and downs, and narrow tracks passing through other people’s farms filled with babul, mango, and tamarind trees.

On that day, I gave tiffin to my father and stayed in the farm for 2–3 hours with him and the workers. Slowly, the weather started changing. From sunlight to dark clouds everywhere. By 3 pm, the day looked like evening. The farm workers told me to go home immediately, because heavy rain was coming. Without telling my father anything, I took my bicycle and started my journey back.

My route began through the sandy river path. I was enjoying the cool air and watching the clouds while riding. When I reached the river bridge, one truck passed near me. At the same moment, a big block of ice—around 3 kg—fell on the bridge and slid straight into the river. I thought someone in the truck had thrown it. But then another ice block fell beside me and broke loudly. That’s when I realized the truth: it was hailstorm.

From here, my home was only 2 km away. I started cycling fast. The hailstones got bigger and heavier. By God’s grace, none of them hit me while I was on the cycle.

As I reached near my hometown, I saw the Hanuman temple. Suddenly a huge hailstone hit my bicycle. I immediately threw the cycle on the road and ran into the temple for shelter.

Slowly, more and more people gathered there to save their lives. I saw one woman crying silently because a hailstone had hit her shoulder very badly. I felt deep empathy for her.

The temple had a strong steel roof, but when the hailstones hit it, the sound felt like if someone’s head was below it, that person would go straight to heaven. That was the power of those hailstones.

After about 30 minutes, the hailstorm stopped and everyone left for home.

That day was Holi. When I reached home, my friends were already waiting for me for celebration and gossip about hellstorm. I went there as if nothing had happened. After one hour, my father came from the farm just to check whether I was safe. He hugged me tightly and went back to the farm. I was only 13 years old at that time—the most loved only child boy in the family.

A day after the hailstorm, my friends and I went again to the farm with tiffin for my dad. On the same route, we saw more than 50 dead herons. They had been resting on the trees and were all hit by the hailstones. Some farmers also suffered big losses—many of their cattle died in the storm, and their crops were destroyed. People told us that the rooftop of the Mehkar grain market looked like a sieve, because the hailstones had punched holes all over the roof. Someone from our hometown had also lost his life in that hailstorm.

Two days later, a friend told me a story people were talking about. A famous Maharaj from Mehkar had a hailstone fall near him, and the story said that the hailstone threatened to destroy all sons and daughters. The Maharaj picked it up, threw it away and said, “Go away from my Mehkar.” At that age, I believed it completely, and I felt he had saved all of us that day.

today, whenever I visit my hometown and see that Hanuman temple, I feel something deep inside me. The place has now changed a lot with new construction, but the old temple still lives in my memory. I stop there for a while and my eyes become slightly wet. I feel very grateful in my heart.

Anjani Putra Hanuman ki jay .

I understood one thing: without God, you cannot even breathe on this earth.
Hari Om.