July 18 2008

Text By Greg Fallis

Set the palaces on fire, heaven is the hut of my beloved. So goes an old Punjabi proverb, and it makes sense to me. People talk a lot about heaven. Regardless of whether they call it Paradise or the Pure Land or Elysium or some other name, most folks agree that heaven is a very fine place.

A fine place, but as so many wise Punjabis have pointed out, not necessarily a grand place. It is, in the most simple of terms, a place where you are happy. Happy. Completely happy. All the time.

It's almost impossible to imagine such a place. For me, I think, it would be a coffee shop adjoining a bookstore...much like this one. The chairs would need to be more cushiony and the tables a tad larger, but this is quite a good start. The little hooks for coats and hats show a godlike attention to detail. And if it could be arranged so friends and loved ones arrived to visit only after I've finished reading a chapter, that would make me...happy.

This is the hut of my beloved. So go ahead, set fire to the palaces. Just don't do it until I've finished this chapter.