Chapter 9 Beginning

 

The d-day had arrived. I was so psyched about this trip that I hardly slept a wink last night. At 6 a.m., the rental car pulled over at my house. Half-sleepy friends greeted me with hugs as I got in.

“Whoa Andy! Nice belly man! Never took you for a guzzler.” said Rags.

“No guzzling here dude. Just practice regular lack of exercise and you can get to where I am now. You have to work at it, but you’ll get there someday!”

Everyone burst out laughing. I felt good already; and the trip was only getting started.

 

As the car gathered ground, I kept looking out the window across the paddy and cane fields. Slowly, the sight began to get hazy. The fields of crops danced frivolously with the downpour, as I began rolling up the window. There’s nothing more lovely than a summer rain; and at a time like this, for a guy like me, this was godsend. I watched in awe as olive crop fields turned ripe green across as far as the eye could go. The windshield had gathered a few droplets too, as the wiper began coursing its mundane sweep across its confines. Music from the stereo was just right; mellow tunes lilted through the car and something stirred in me. Moments like these are magic, and I wanted to do something about the way I felt. Without much thought, I took out my cell phone and started typing a few lines.

“Fragrance in the air rises from aground,

With fallen tears from the skies above,

No soul unstirred by its sobbing sound,

For pain now felt at the hands of love.”

I don’t really know if it was the rain or the pain, but I felt liberated. It was as though a rock once tied to my heart had been cut loose. One moment there was gloom, uncertainty; and in the next, hope and an unprecedented clarity. I do not know if I shed a tear then, but I knew something in me had changed that very moment.

 

Our car prods along the countryside with fair speed. Several moments had passed since that magical one and I had started falling asleep. Suddenly, I felt the car pulling up by the roadside. It was official- only a few hours into the trip and we had a puncture, thankful in no small part to the rugged roads. The rain had ceded too, and we all stepped out onto the road. Abhi and Rags decided to take this opportunity to attend nature’s call, while the group in-charge for ‘publicity stills’, Akki decided to take some photos. I had no interest in either, and instead gazed at the sun that seemed to take a break from work, cavorting with the maidenly clouds.

As I looked across the lush green fields, I saw a woman carrying a basket on her head, walking across the fields. A man, who probably was her husband, was working in the fields. As she called out to him, he raised his hand in acceptance and waded through the field. As they meet under a peepal tree, both of them exchanged a silent smile. She laid out the food she had brought for him, as he washes his hands. They both sit under the tree and have their food, sometimes exchanging a few words, but usually just a few silent glances.

“Beautiful.” I said to myself.

 

It seemed to be God’s conspiracy to get me to see and feel these things like never before, or maybe it was just my mind playing tricks on me. Nevertheless, I had never felt this way before. Clarity I had never felt before, despite the fact that I still did not know what I should do. It felt reassuring that the best moments in life are not in our hands, and in that they were the best because we could not change them by will or chance.

I would have stood by longer, but the tire had been replaced and we were ready to move again. As I slowly made my way to the car, I looked across the fields once again to catch a final glimpse. My mind had been silenced and I took this calm with me even as the car started moving.

 

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