Unrecognizable faces
surrounding me. They are trying to say something but I really was not able to
extract the idea from all those buzzing noises. I was not even able to
distinguish the faces like if I was suffering from prosopagnosia. Just then, I
woke up to find myself laying my head on the iron bar horizontally placed at
the window of the bus I was traveling. The place was quite strange because of
the pitch black darkness. The bus was not moving. I got up and asked the
conductor which place it was and when will I reach my destination. He said that
the place I wanted to get off left an hour ago. He also insisted me to get off
the bus since my ticket expired. Semi-consciously, as I just woke up from a dream,
I got off the bus without thinking. As I disembarked a lonely dark
middle-of-nowhere, the bus (which was the only vehicle on the muddy road) left
leaving me alone in the darkness. I saw an old guy walking across the road. I
ran across and asked him when the next bus will come. “Not until tomorrow
morning” he said.
What added to my worries is that this is a
complete strange place for me. I don’t perfectly know their language. Yes, I
could understand what they’re saying but couldn’t convey them anything I want. I
walked, towards a distant light. The big bag I was carrying pressed my
shoulders every time I make a step. I never thought the items I needed for my
journey would become a liability like this. To my relief I found a street full
of tiny small to average sized buildings on both sides of it. My next mission
is to find a lodge so that I could retire. Not all building was open. But one
two-storied degraded building was open, slightly, and I think I saw a reception
counter. A middle aged man with a suitcase entered the building. I saw him
giving money to the woman at the reception counter. Well, this is the place I
was looking for. I entered the building.
I tried to speak in their language but
it was a failure as the receptionist scratched her head. She was like a mid
forty aged woman. Anyway, I shown her my ‘sleeping’ action and I think she
understood what my intentions were. She asked for Rs1000 as advance. I didn’t
know what to do. I stayed in lodges that only took around Rs300 for a whole day
on my past destinations. Well, desperate times call for desperate actions and
what was important for me is a place to sleep. I agreed, gave her the money and
I waited for a bell-boy to come and pick up my bag. No one came and I followed
the woman upstairs towards the room.
The room was more like a cabin. It was not
completely closed above i.e. the walls didn’t touch the roof. If I mount over
the table I could peep in to the adjacent room. The room was almost degraded,
the walls were creamy sour, the fan made kind of noise similar to a squeaky
mouse and it was so minute that one more bed would have completely filled the
room. I asked where the bathroom was and she pointed me towards a closed room
with a rusty iron door nearby. It looks as if it was the only bathroom in the
whole building. After taking care of my business in the bathroom I entered my
room and closed the door. I changed my traveler’s dress to simple three-fourths
for sleep. I put my Rudrakshmala on the small table nearby and switched off the
lights. The room was still illuminated as light from other rooms came from the
space above. I lay down and prayed. Suddenly, somebody knocked the door.
Well,
it might be the bell-boy with the flask of water. I opened the door and whoever
was that, just entered the room without giving me a time to get a closer look. I
turned around to find a girl, maybe 15 or 16 years old, not completely dark but
dark, and short. For a moment there, it all smashed me in the head like a reciprocal
of big bang. I went downstairs. The ‘receptionist’ was reading some magazine.
Like I said, it is difficult for me to say something in their language but I
somehow conveyed that I just need the room alone. She said I could spend my
night on the street without the girl because there are some customers without
room and they would definitely like me to get out of there. Furthermore, I
wouldn’t get a refund. Plus, some guys around the area had all kinds of weapons
with them and I really don’t want to make a scene there. I just went back
upstairs since I didn’t want to end up in the street. The woman came from
behind and slapped the girl in the face. “Woh..woh…easy there sister..”, words
just slipped out of my mouth. I think the ‘receptionist’ took my issue as a
disqualification of the girl. I asked the woman to relax and got back in the
room. The girl followed. PURE HORROR, just pure horror, this is the last thing
I wanted in my All India Temple visits which I thought was one step towards
Nirvana.
I tried to tell the girl to stay still and
do nothing. Like I said, she didn’t get the slightest idea. She won’t even take
her hands off me. I firmly grabbed her hands off my body and signaled her to be
silent and go to sleep. I laid down, she did too. I asked her to sleep on
ground and she did. I couldn’t sleep. As I looked down, the floor was filled
with dirt, roaches and other dirty stuffs. I told her to get back on bed. I
crawled up on one side of the bed creating a huge gap between us. Some 5
minutes passed. My body started to ache due to the stressful travel. I relaxed
a bit and started lying straight. The girl put her arms across my chest. I
didn’t do anything as I felt warm at this cold night. I turned sideways towards
her. She was facing me. Round eyes, long hair and my Rudrakshmala on the table.
The story of Lord Siva cursing Daksha for having sex in front of Rudrakshmala
stroke me like a bulldozer. I once again turned back removing her arms from my
body.
Sands were pouring on my eyelids yet I couldn’t
sleep. I was afraid that my whole life dedicated to Sanatana Dharma would end
in one night. The atmosphere around there was chilling cold and it impelled me
like thousand needles. The girl glided her finger through my back bone which
resulted in a chill crawling up through my spines. She once again put her arms
around me. I was in a pretty difficult situation at the moment. What had more
weight? The Brahmacharit which I promised to hold on or one night of pleasure.
Two facts knocked inside my brain. One is that this might probably be the only
girl in the whole world who wants to have sex with me and she is a real amateur
in her profession otherwise she would have been naked by this time. I got up,
showed the girl my Rudrakshmala and went back to sleep. She didn’t lay a finger
on me. My eyes shuttered down.
I woke up. The squeaky fan still
rotating. I found myself alone in the bed. The girl might have slept with
somebody else after I went to sleep. I got up and saw the girl sleeping on the
dirty floor. She might not have fallen down. From the looks of her innocent
face I knew that she didn’t want to disturb me on the other night. Moreover,
she was not meant to be a part of this job. I woke her up.
I went to the bathroom, refreshed a bit,
changed to my traveler’s clothes and hurried to the bus-stop. There were a few
people waiting for the bus which made sure that a bus will come soon. Random
thoughts attacked my conscience. A horn woke me up from the standing dream and
it was a bus towards my destination. I got inside it with other people and sat
on my favorite window seat. I was watching the buildings run by and then
someone sat on the empty seat near me. I turned around to see the girl with a
big torn bag, smiling. I remembered my spiritual Guru’s quote that Nirvana can
be acquired by doing any random act of kindness. For me its like..., “ Tickets
for two please…”.
