GRACE

           

W

hole day went hectic. It was the first day after six day long holiday. I breathed a sigh of relief while exiting office gate. But a huge sledge hammer was still beating my head.

            I soon rushed to SHREE GHA:  a shrine. Every now and then I visit there to cool my blazing mind. I bought an ice cream and went to a corner. I finished it. But the temperature still remained the same.

            I sat with my hand supporting my head as if they were the stand of globe. I partially rotated the globe and discovered a bevy of boys’ b-boying on the left and a couple of old Mongolians scattering grains to pigeons on the other side. As I saw them, I plunged into my flash back…… I, with my friends Subhash and Roshan bought 3 buckets of grains and hurled them to pigeons. The cool breeze became the pure gratitude from flapping wings and we were in the middle. We had forgotten our angst, grief, problems and rejoiced together with those pigeons. That moment we really were blessed with absolute bliss and candid ecstasy…..

            But then, hot air was flowing from flaps or due to my burning mind, everything turned hot. I felt, I was in the small non-ventilated space and AC being positively on.

            A ragged mass of clouds was still hanging around my head. I closed my eyes. After a while, my murmuring with my emptiness was interfered by a sound “OM MANE PADME HOON” coming from the people chanting and revolving around the stupa.

            My head was still aching, so I opened my facebook account on my cell phone to ease pain but nothing went good. Again, I closed my eyes in search of fire brigade for my blazing mind.

            As I opened my eyes, they encountered a pair of eyes. She went smiling. I was swimming in the pond of pain. But then something new was experienced. She came again and went smiling as before…….and a gentle zephyr was trying to head for me penetrating the hot air. Half of my pain had vanished then. Her arrival sugarcoated the bitter pill, indeed. I felt those pigeons were also cooing, “OM MANE PADME HOON” for tranquility to make me happy.

            In fact, she was circling round SHRE GHA. After a while she appeared again with her same smiling charming countenance. She came in front of me and said, “Bye, bye Dada”. With her left hand flapping on the air as if we had already known each other for long. She was holding a hand of her mother. Her sweet and innocent words made me off my pain. I found divine peace on it. I admired her innocence. Heart turned into a kite and took flight in twilight. I kept looking at her until she was out of my sight.

            I remembered the cheery innocent face of that kid who was in her early 5. Glanced at the steeple of the stupa and a pair of  Buddha’s eyes……………those were already looking at me……………..smiling…………………..