WANDERERS – XVI

‘Was it a good idea to intrude’, he kept asking himself but had no convincing explanation for either yes or no. With a heavy heart and a big guilt of lying so openly, he walked as quickly as he can out of the compounds to the muddy roads and into the lake.

The woman had seen him when he asked her husband to reach the cave house next morning. Her worried eyebrows told him she was suspicious of the happenings but that didn’t bother him as much as his guilt of having lied to someone. He kept walking on the wetly-muddy side road along the lake with many such accompanied thoughts. The hot Sun caused the lake to reflect more eye-pinching glares and he hadn’t realized he was walking miles ahead of the town and to the other end of the lake.

He stood where the lake ended. The surroundings of the cave house looked smaller and imaginary from the other end! This was the place he had seen sitting on the rocks at the lake-shores during sunsets for past few days. Now he’s here transformed into another mesmerizing natural habitat. There were trees and more greenery, silence everywhere except for birds chirping, no traces of any form of pollution and no humans either. He was naturally grabbed in…

As he walked, several historical monuments stood broken. A big tomb that he had seen earlier from the lake was what he was entering. His foot felt cold at the touch of the floor after having walked under the hot Sun. There was breeze coming from inside that almost challenged him to get inside the hall. It was nearly 200m long and 50m wide with many paintings hung on the side walls almost at roof level that would constitute a 3-storey modern building. The paintings were huge and carried stories written in ancient language with no translation whatsoever. A red carpet, though seemingly old and nearly worn out lead him to the other end of the hall where he saw the life-size picture of the great 13^th century reformer standing and calling!

He walked for several minutes almost like a metal that’s attracted to the magnet bit by bit, slowly, eventually! Looking eye in eye he felt the reformer come alive. Such was the effect of the painter’s art and the man that the art contained. He smiled gently and felt all the worries and questions, burdens and sorrows evaporating at the effect of the power the reformer had caused. It was a moment that was long lasting and the wanderer sunk in a feeling that he was seeing someone he always wanted to, someone who’s the ultimate creator and someone that others called God!

There was no reaction and he was completely sucked in a world that had him transformed. Did the cave have same effect or fell short, he didn’t question. But it was a calling of lifetime and he slowly sat on a small mat under his feet closing his eyes gently attaining a nirvana or sorts. For hours he was immobile but time wouldn’t stop and the moon replaced bright skies.

It was dark around the tomb and no one walked outside, no light was ever hung. There were candles inside the hall and here n there outside. An old man and his daughter dwelled at the outhouse serving food for whoever visited the tomb hall. They were more than happy to receive the wanderer as not many people frequented this alien place. He was fed generously and shown place to spend his night.

At the other end of the lake, the sanyasin, the boy and his mother waited for the wanderer to return before they fell asleep. The next morning wasn’t very far and it was time when the angry rude man from the bungalow set himself to see the wanderer at the cave house, as the wanderer slept through his new found world.

Continues…