Aarav found his grandfather sitting on the wet sand at Puri, watching the evening tide. Dadu had been a fisherman all his life, and even now, retired, he could not stay away from the sea for long.

Aarav flopped down beside him. "Dadu, my friend Meera asked me something weird today. She said her grandmother told her that the last thing you think of when you die decides what happens next. That sounds scary. And also kind of unfair — like a surprise test you can't study for."

Dadu chuckled, deep and slow. "Ah. But it is not a surprise test, beta. It is the most fair test there is." He scooped up a handful of sand and let it run through his fingers. "Watch the water. Where is it going right now?"

"Out," said Aarav. "It's going out."

"And this morning?"

"It was coming in."

"The sea does not decide each second which way to go," Dadu said. "It follows a pull it has been following for thousands of years. The mind is the same. At the very end, it does not suddenly choose a new direction. It flows the way it has always flowed — toward whatever you spent your whole life thinking about."

Aarav frowned, pulling his knees up. "So if someone spends their whole life angry…"

"…then anger is the worn path the mind knows best, and that is where it drifts at the end. But if someone spends their life remembering kindness, remembering God, remembering the people they love —" Dadu spread his hands toward the glowing horizon, "— then that is the path the mind walks home on. Not because of one lucky last thought, but because of ten thousand ordinary ones."

Aarav was quiet for a while, watching a small crab scuttle sideways into the foam. "So the last thought is just… the most-practised thought."

"Exactly so," said Dadu, pleased. "Which means you are practising right now. Every day. What you fill your mind with today is the channel the water will flow down at the very end. So do not worry about the last moment, beta. Worry about today. Fill today with what you love most, and the last moment takes care of itself."

The tide pulled back, smoothing the sand into a clean, shining sheet. Aarav pressed his palm flat into it and left a small print — there, then gently erased by the next wave. He smiled. Tomorrow, he decided, he would start practising the good thoughts on purpose. He had a whole life to dig the channel deep.