Mrutyunjaya

“Mrutyunjaya”- gasped a passerby when the boy moved by during the usual long walks. The usual influx of cheap and effective fitness bands did their trick of taking care of a lot of things. One of the things that they did not, were the gasps, sights and sounds that just were passing by the boy at times more than normalcy. He realized this was a result of an overtly imaginative mind and on top of it the annual plans of doing things including a trip playing themselves out as mirages in front of him. However, that would have to wait for now.

Presently, a family squatted in front, at the end of the footpath. A motley group of family:  a middle aged couple, a not so old man and a bunch of surprisingly well behaved kids. And not to forget, heaps and heaps of bags. Add to it the sweltering heat of the plateau was taking a toll and playing out as a power tussle between the perceived couple. The boy, just getting out another mirage of eating/ binging of some hard core rasam rice came out to be face to face with the man supposedly in charge. Of course, the silent nod of the head between the power tussle was very well noticed by the boy. But then the charm of rasam rice was a bit too much to resist or register the next action.

Standing in the middle of the street, the boy barely registered what the guy in front was talking about- the long used ploy of – we came to work sir, they got us here sir, all family saar, but no money to go back home saar. While this and a multitude of domestic problems were being spewed out in a monotonous voice of a kid reciting a nursery rhyme he barely knows meaning of.. the boy glanced an absent minded glance at the group of bags in front of them, removed his almost empty wallet, relieved it of a currency note, plugged his earphone back and kept walking.

The walk continued in its own laborious pace of a straight footpath. Half the time the boy just wished that time just went static and he could just enjoy the time and space between that spaces where his mirages were produced. These came about mostly when he was completely full in his stomach, or was having thoughts of being contented in life with all its myriad plays.

Going or coming back home was not a question. For the heart found solace in a genuine smile wherever it was found and a small pitch in helping a smile would always make the boy feel content. Momentary bliss, added to the account of the infinity.
A quick sleep and a fresh pair of clothes later , the walk began in the morning again. This time to a train station. The encounter this time was just a guy who came back... neatly dressed in formals dress, toting a high end mobile phone. The music and ear phone wee staple in the boy’s. The bike stopped near and the man began not by introducing like the couple but with profuse apology for disturbing the boy in the middle of the road! IT continued with the same line of thought.. Forgotten wallet, no money, fuel almost empty, account number transfer, repayment… A note that remained in the wallet was emptied out and the journey continued.

The walk continued.. The journey was something that took about 12 years in the making- or was it 15..  Either way, a little gaia- with all the finite communications had transcended to be anything but little. A lesson here and a nice thought there had established gaia worthy and more of the legend of gaia- the one that protected even Zeus from the Titan.. (more on that on a different story, especially the sambar bending)
The sun, just had begun its ascend right above the head.. more positioned to shine his light and high summer temperature across the board with no prejudice and no favor. A relatively long stretch lay ahead. Long enough for the boy to see far far away that light get distort into mirage visions. This would be using walk... or so he thought.
One step after other.. the steps continued.. so did the innocuous music in the ear. The eyes followed the road, the mind/ heart its own mirages. One opened to back home, decently healthy and relatively much cooler day, being spent in nothing but walking. Both home and now had one comforting factor.. Dogs and curious people.( no insults meant here, I find dogs curious, and people me for finding them curious) So curious that telephones and peeking into them was almost a religiously followed affair.  The stretch opened to a slightly free space, no one to follow, peek or come back again.

On the right was a major intersection and on the left a statue graveyard. Half strewn status in various stages of dilapidated conditions met the boy’s eyes. The harsh sun’s temperature notwithstanding, the boy just stood involuntarily and watched.  For some it was a Minotaur, for some nandi the messenger to who all messages of Shiva could be entrusted with no fear or malice.


The broken ear was not of a concern, the hooves were visible even though the statue was made to be shown as a sitting bull. Probably chewing cud! Since this was a statue graveyard of sorts, Nandi did not have the onerous task of passing Shiva’s messages, or being a Minotaur. All Nandi had to do was listen and for a change when the boy stood, Nandi narrated a story.


There once was a tree, a tree that wilted in summer and bloomed in spring. Yet, the tree had always showed no partial responses to all those that came under it for shade. Yet one day, a man came by, slept under the tree, ate its fruit and yet cut the tree piece by piece- why, for building wooden furniture. Was this right, was this wrong, no idea, but this is what the man did. The huge tree trunk that man cut out was taken to a timberyard and kept under the cooling shade of a big metal roof. For a tree that shaded all n its lifetime, the tree itself was under a metal tin due to be utilized over across. Take what moral what you have to child, but remember this.. Each did their duty that they thought was what they had to do, and in right earnest. It is not what is right or what is wrong. It is what need be done and what comes back to you.


The boy turned- murmured under his breath “mrutyunjaya” and moved on with slight smile.. What he had understood, would go along on a walk with him.. no mirage but life had come full circle.