If You Want Real Progress, You Can’t Believe the Lies You Tell Yourself Anymore

That feeling of confronting the unknown? That’s scarier than a devil you know.

Anu Kumar
4 min readNov 27, 2022

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Photo by Bach Nguyen on Unsplash

What if your entire life was built on a lie?

All of it. And I don’t just mean that story about your estranged Aunt Sally. Your birth, your name, and your role in their chess game.

It could be more likely than you think, and Kalki from “Blue-Skinned Gods” shows us how.

Kalki has blue skin.

His father knew that Kalki was a god.

When Kalki was born, a cobra snuck into his crib and bit him. Rushing at his cries, his parents could only stare in disbelief. Not because their baby boy died from a cobra bite, but because his skin turned blue.

Kalki’s heard the story many times. He’s the last incarnation of the blue-skinned Hindu deity Vishnu, prophesized to lead the world from darkness into light. Once his parents realized this, they gave up their old life to help Kalki become a fully realized god in his father’s ashram in Tamil Nadu, India. He gives hope to the people who visit it, ranging from local followers to foreign visitors.

At least, that’s what his father tells him.

Unraveling the lies you’ve been told

Kalki spends his childhood in the ashram. As visitors come and go, he heals illnesses and comforts woes. He has his faithful father to rely on, never questioning his duty as a god.

But after a while, he starts to see loose threads poking out of the woven fabric of his life.

  • Why did his previously ill aunt never tell him directly that his healing sessions cured her cancer?
  • Why was he able to heal a sick girl in the ashram, under the close guidance of his father, but not a girl who had died in a car crash in the street?

It’s not until Kalki runs into his cousin in America that he realizes his whole life is a complete lie. His father faked Kalki’s entire life, including his birth certificate. Kalki wasn’t the last incarnate of Vishnu.

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Anu Kumar

I write about books, culture, behaviors, and practical self improvement. Words + Fiction @ par-desi.com.