~ Hasijaji - Life of Prudence ~

Today I want to present before you a life story of a wonderful man – a septuagenarian who has seen it all in his life’s journey. With an established career and a family to boast of, he now passes much of his time in the neighborhood park , brisk walking and sometimes silently sitting and engrossed in his own world of thoughts and imagination whilst he reads his daily set of newspapers.

I met him during recent times and quickly formed a bond with him as we shared the same bench – the unexpected rendezvous turned out to be a general chitchat of the situation of our country, then progressed into asking about each other's personal details and family's wellbeing. The bond we shared quickly turned out to be of friendliness and the meetings started to happen quite often, almost everyday as the time overlapped.

One day whilst we were talking about life and its uncertainties , we started to share our personal situations and circumstances and what life begets for each of us – “Hasija-ji” as I call him now, shared me a parable about his life – he routed to his topic of marriage and having a family as I had enquired about his! He started that he has two kids and both are very well settled in their own personal life – they were self-attained personalities and had done Bachelors in Engineering from prestigious college of Delhi and made of choice of professional life all by themselves.

Internally, he was very proud of sharing the achievements of his two children and his eyes just lit up whilst he shared their stories but he had a sublime regret, which during the course of his storytelling he quite remorsefully shared with me – he was separated from his better half since more than two decades, as he termed this event as ‘Fault in our stars!” – he had a well educated wife working for a premier bank of India and after initial hiccups , she moved out of life of domesticity – she was confident enough to manage and up bring her two children and she did so with great alacrity – this was again a fact which Hasijaji shared with me as a matter of pride – quite obviously, he still loves his wife very much as I could gauge his tone and demeanor and misses her company. Man is a social animal and cant live without relationships, be whatsoever wealth of achievements one can boast of in his kitty, he has to partner with someone to spearhead this journey of life – especially when, once the kids gets into their own working life and get absorbed in their own family!

“Sanjeevji – Sometimes what you want from life does not happen and initially you regret the situation and start to comprehend and analyze the whole events to find the cause of such happenings, but after a thinking rigor , you have to believe in the power of providence, and you certainly cant ignore it whilst you live.”

I could related to his story with an empathetic feelings as I have almost passed my prime age of being called a youngster – I could gauge what he was talking about and the empirical of life which comes to forefront in everyone’s life.

The best part of him is that, though he is alone, he enjoys his life situations and makes it a point to be happy and does assorted activities – from medication to exercise and also the best part of his living is that “He is a stock market champ!” – here I wont give myself the liberty to exhaust it all but since last 3 decades Hasijaji has been an active stock mart investor and thus has got to know the pulse of market dynamism – though he is ever humble and versatile in his outlook.

We generally talk about varied subjects of life – from destiny to health, wealth and sometimes share our common feelings of spirituality and God – He is a well-travelled  man and one observation about him which captivated my eyes was that he is a voracious reader and carries 3-4 newspapers daily in his bag which he carries daily to the park.

Today, as I met him, we shared commonality about life and the best question we came across was “ What is the purpose of life?, I am 70+, all hale and hearty with good financial strength and no obligation whatsoever but still I ponder of my livability!”– pondering about this question, I had no satiating answer as this is the key question amongst many of us who one day would be free from our moral and societal duties and would sit ideally and wait for our time to end this beautiful journey of life – till then ,many amongst us would be in a state of spiritual quest and meddle over this “Question of a lifetime for which many researches and experiments are being done to know the being of our existence!

~ A Life Lost ~

The feeling of loss of someone makes you believe in the ephemeral nature of the world we call home. To know the subjectivity of life, start meeting strangers and try to nature a bond of effective communication with them and you shall get to know the inner trials and tribulations people are going through, though outwardly they seems to be happy and cheering.

Quite recently, I had the misfortune of losing a close aide who took his life as he was “bored of living”. He didn’t believe in making falsifying targets and achieving them till eternity and thereby getting frustrated for not achieving them. For him, his idea of life was “to live without any real expectations, be it family or friends -as everyone is tied up in his own myriad world of living – there are people who have expectations from you and vice-versa and not bowing down to these leads to other complexities in relationships. Many people are today expounding their dying relationships with loved ones – even if they were madly in love with them at one point of time. The fast-changing dynamics of living and people’s sky-high aspirations are major cause of such decay of life! “

Though he was not married and lived single, had master’s in mathematics with distinction and was a schoolteacher in one of Delhi’s prestigious school, he held his notion of life parallelly for himself. There was no economic pressure on him to earn as his parents had actually left a fortune for their only son in cash and in property, but he had no charm to exemplify his wealth and lived modestly. Something inside him had died much long ago, as he didn’t want to marry and stifle himself in vicious chain of a relationships.

So, was it loneliness which was making him cult into a life of depression and slump? or was his dying spirit which was the culprit and he could not see a world beyond his own limited imagination? The answer to these questions can open a pandora’s box for many of us who would be making their own statements of failure of his life. There would be zillion suggestions from many people who think they are successful in careers and in relationships, have a wonderful family and have enough wealth to beat their ego BUT deep inside their state of mind , they could gauge the failure of what they thought about life and how vulnerable they are regarding their achievements and perfect shape life is in as of today.

My friends case is an excellent example of such tribulation of changing times – he was raised as a normal middle class kid , with both earning parents in government jobs, with an above average home and no liability , we went on to become a teacher of repute but suddenly life took a you turn and he lost his interest in living! No amount of psychiatry and self-development could make him come out of notion of life and one day he called it quits!

Ideally thinking, what is the real target in the world for which we strive so much – we falsify our own character and image, we hardly listen to the voice of our soul and keep on portraying ourselves in an image we are certainly not – we wear a mask everyday to work fully knowing that we are befooling not ourselves but also our creator – he must have been laughing at us on such overturns of life! Lying down in the night expecting a sound sleep, we still have daredevil dreams of our next aspirations or behavior that we will portray for the next day, to the satisfaction of everyone – such is the life we have made out for ourselves – a caricature of a beautiful opportunity we have been given for creating a periodical memory of time!

Ideally speaking many of us might have achieved what we really not thought of – we got to a point of no return, people who speak of leaving their cushioned jobs and start to live a life with minimalism sometimes befools their own senses as it takes lot of courage and responsibility to track back and start living a life with minimal needs. Life is surreal happenings of unexpected events which might happen any time of your living and once happened, your image thoughts of life and its direction would change.

Today , as I jot down these words remembering my old pal with whom I have shared my childhood, all I can say is that be thankful for all the memories he gave me whilst he made me meet souls who have taught me much about living, though for now all I can say and pray to the higher self is “May his soul rest in peace and attainment!”

~ Silence of the Universe~

Sitting down the memory lane and noting the godly design happening in and around me, I was forced to think laterally as to who created all this landscape which I am seeing today! This universe has its own set of functioning though quite mutely.

There are unspoken sounds of silence which we don’t hear, the universe always talks to us whilst we are engrossed in our own sense of pride and achievement. There are no prejudices which nature or the universe makes whilst it showers itself with its abundance. Almost all the things vital for our existence comes in bounty and are just free… be it water , air or the warmth of the sun which made life happen on earth, there is absolutely no effort which is needed to make life happen, yet it does all this silently with neither having a bass or a tenor but exemplifying  it’s act or benevolence!

Why are we humans so full of pride and justifying our acts of little achievements, be it achieving a position or a power center in society – forgetting that one day all of this sham would be dissolved in the spirit of time.

Many of us get up in the morning and are repeating the same tasks on routine without a mindset of change, for us doing what is rudimentary task has an economic cost which we all have to adhere to whilst we live but nature has a different design, it changes, but with silence , observe the seasonal changes – spring, summer, monsoon all have its own magnificence, old leaves pave the way for new ones, new sprouting of flowers, fruits happen in its own hidden silence.

This universe is the best teacher – it teaches through its splendid design with all of its nobility without a payback, for it is forgiving humanity for its disrespect and thankless nature, though it fully knows how to keep its equivalence and maintain the order to keep the show running.

Its all happening around us, all we need is to connect and observe the ‘Change’ which happens every second, the silence of it is very subtle but audible through your inner self – though it has been proven now that all the vibrations in space and in the entire cosmos is making the sound of ‘Aum’ ! Let us sit and bask in its divinity and make our life more meaningful and achieve a purpose for which we are here for a specific time before we call it a day !

 

~ The Unlearned Musician ~

His Sound of flute was mesmerizing to the ears, the tone was much captivating and pulled one towards its source. As I was brisk walking, with each passing step, the sound was getting loud and more rhythmic …may be he was a professional player, the flute was just acting as a guinea pig to the player but the aura he was spreading unknowingly was godly!

Suddenly, the man came to my sight and I could locate him just cross the road standing in with hordes of flutes – some hanging along with a bag he was carrying. The flute was of different sizes and colors. Another observation I could record was that he was carrying loads of Peacock feathers which added to his kitty of sell – maybe he was a roaming market in himself – whatever he could carry with ease was there in his kitty! 

Out of curiosity and the versatility of the sounds he was making through that little log of wood with caricatured holes which made sounds of different pitch. I could never think of such a simple wooden piece can make such a melody, but here was a man standing in front of me making it happen! 

I went as a buyer to him and started to converse, though I wanted him to play endlessly but he suddenly stopped and asked me what I wanted – I just wanted to ask him if he could be a teacher or a guru to me to teach me this art but that was just an imagination. I thus asked him what was the cost of the “Bansuri” which he was so melodiously playing. He started to show me a range of flutes in his own marketing style, but I was just interested with the same flute he was playing himself , as if he had that magical wand which anyone could just have played without any practice.

 He told me the cost of flutes of different shapes and sizes and started to gesture the art of playing the humble instrument to one’s satisfaction. I enquired if he had learnt it from some guru or teacher, to which he replied that “I learnt all by myself. As a child, I would love to just play with this instrument as that was what my father could afford, he gave me the flute and I started to practice it daily. Initially, it was a disaster but later with time I learnt the art of making out different sounds at different pitches to everyone’s surprise, though I never knew that a time pass would one day become my source of income!”

His short parable was interesting and I could learn that, with no formal training of music , here was a man who was such a perfection incarnate to play the flute as if it was coming out of something divine!

No wonder we struck a deal, and I bought the merchandise without any much haggle – the honor of having it from a street hawker so versatile was all mine! Now also, sometimes I see him quite often playing the flute with all his character – the music is still divine and makes me know that the unlearned musician has come and make us all sink in his divinity of music…

 

~ On Women’s Day…~

 Today, I pen words owed to the women of world and as we see them in fast changing world of expectations and desires. The woman of today are an ideologue to emulate as she lives in a multifarious world, sometimes she is a mother , at others she is a wife, sometimes she becomes a daughter, at other she is a sister but in all her avatar’s she exemplifies the true spirit of life, of compassion and of all round care. Many of them are just living as a listless and are nameless in this world full of bias and indignity , a world which does not care about the remarkable sacrifices a woman makes whilst she  embraces her situation with no regrets – She is a champion in the house who we seldom revere , at others she is taken for granted but still she carries on with same level of commitment without any expectations, such is the mark of a woman!

At times, she lives in different shades of life, be it a working woman as our mother, sister or wife or she is a housewife without a salary and working tirelessly without an appraisal or an appreciation, but you wont find any less of an effort from these relationships as she is perfect example of Godly existence in our lives.

She is a fighter till the end, be it in the farms or in the countryside as a labourer juxtaposed with her husband toiling hard to earn the family income as well as caressing about her children side by side.

She is also the working maid, who gets up as dawn to work in the households as she takes the responsibility of her family and wants her children to be educated ones and not liker her. She is the power woman – a corporate honcho who reached on the pedestal of success and is now emulated by the sundry and made her way up the jealous male bastion, but she did it all…

She is also the tough soldier on the ground and conquering the sky as a fighter pilot and has proved her worth with zillion stories of valor and honor of protecting the country’s borders!

She is a definitive woman of today – a formidable being who does not beg for a chance to compete but competes with equal fervor and wins all her battles though sheer grit and toil of competency and equivalence. She is not a support seeker but a lady who earns her space with dignity and fight in this male bastion society…

More than 500 years back as GuruNanak ji once said “So Kyun Manda Akhiye, Jitt Jamme Rajan… means why call her inferior? from her, the Kings are born!

Guru Gobindji revered women and made her proud by adding ‘Kaur’ to her title, meaning Princess!!!

~ The Joker ...~

Many a time you will criss-cross people who you might not have observed but who are lessons in themselves, they define a far-reaching meaning about themselves and could be mirrors to your life situations. Just the other day I met a man dressed quite ‘inappropriately’ as according to many sane individuals around him – But his job or situation demanded him to be done the character of an unorthodox looking gentleman – “The Joker” as he was quite loudly shouted at by passers by , mainly kids, who were fascinated by his colorful dress and laugh like demeanor!

His appearance attracted almost everyone – with his continues smiles and provoking gestures, he seems to amuse almost everyone. Sometimes he used to make funny grimaces at others he felt a little sad – people were getting adequate entertainment, but this juxtaposed the situation which led him to behave the way he was!

Suddenly, I could relate our lives situations to what I saw and quietly observed – Here was a man who was there on the street dressed amusingly and making us all laugh through his wit but internally who on earth would have dressed like that and come to the fore of public life – making fun of himself whilst he made other people enjoy!

All I could think was about his predicament which led him to take up this unorthodox job! Could be that he is bound by situations of life to take this up, or may be the pressure of running a family or the responsibilities he has to justify – though he did his job with aplomb and devoted himself to the role he was playing. I thought “ We are also jokers in our lives , Isnt it ?, sanely thinking, if we observe ourselves, we could quite convincingly subject ourselves to the world and situations we live in – donning the hat of different relationships at different times - a father, mother, sister, brother and all sorts of roles during our lifetime – behaving  the way others want us to act!

Many of us are entwined in the responsibilities of relationships which has become the part and parcel of our living. We sometimes smile to make others laugh; we act to make others comfortable. We all are jokers without our dresses who are in the comic world called “Society” which has benchmarked our roles to perform on day to day basis. 

As Shakespeare once said “All the world is a stage…” so here we all are , performing in the circus of life with our ego’s, character, achievements on our sleeve  but with a purpose to entertain each other on this podium.

Just like the Joker, we are also clapped on or reprimanded on our day to day performances – we are judged by people’s insane expectations as we are always expected to make the others laugh be whatever we are going though internally!

Deeply immersed in the sea of thoughts, a sudden lough cheer broke my oblivion to realize that the ‘Act of the Joker’ was over and it was time to shun some money for his benevolence of making us laugh – though again this situation related to the ‘Act of life which we are now, would end one day’ and we would be a bygone memories for near and dear ones who themselves will done the hat of a “Joker’ to satiate the world of its expectations…finally, the stage of life would continue…

~ Life Confessions of a Medic... ~

 Today I write about a poignant talk that I recently had with an eminent personality. His belief in external world is beyond your imagination. Working as a cardiologist in a prominent Delhi hospital, he has seen it all – Instant deaths, life saving moments. Relative's and family members just falling on his feet to save a precious life, the times he has himself lost ground and thought he would not be able to save the patient from clutches of inevitable death. 

As per him, he had immense faith in the abilities of medical science to begin with, what he was taught at MAMC – Maulana Azad Medical College became a cult of his medical practice over the years. Dr Sharma is a septuagenarian who has been practicing Cardiology for three decades! Another feather in his cap has been unequivocal service to the downtrodden, there has been some miraculous cases in his life whereby he had called it quits but some eventful happenings made him believe that all that there is someone up there, some force who is controlling our life’s situation. 

“I have seen it all, the fist Death in front of my eyes made me cry! But it gave me a jolt to my knowledge and my teaching of medical science. The patient was faring well but suddenly in the night his condition deteriorated, and the final call came within seconds – no amount of resurrection was successful.!” Hearing these cantos from a successful medical practitioner is surprise to the ear – why on earth with so much years of practice and handling multifarious cases and complexities of bodies, here is a man talking of the “Unknown” , the “Other Force” who is surely thinks is in command of our destiny and day to day living on this planet. 

As the conversation takes shape, Dr Sharma talks of a case which made him believe in the existence of something intangible which is behind the working of this world. “A Patient in coma after a Cardiac attack once murmured – ‘They have come to take me and are laughing and calling my name!’” , this seems to be when the person was in deep coma and almost brain dead. In medical science this seems to be a case of hallucinations under the effect of heavy medicine’s but for the spirit soul this seems to be the ‘Connect’ with the other world. After some moments he again muttered “Go back ,Go back!” – this is what I have seen myself in the ICU of a hospital.” 

Dr Sharma’s belief is not purely a makeup story but a fact for him – his insistence of facts where death meets life cannot be taken for granted , for it is the fact which most of us generally observe in day to day or our living but are not ready to accept! No Wonder, when a MD Cardiology speaks of his life’s experiences, you need to give a patient hearing and form opinions about what all is there in this world, so much of which is not explored by ourselves! Finally, the conversation ends on note of gratitude to the higher self , which according to Dr Sharma commands and controls the working of this entirety called ‘Universe’ and we are a very subtle part of its existence but it is us who have to believe in this duality of living in materialism and thinking that it is us who are the doers of our situation and destiny , till then  let the benevolence of his presence fall on all of us to live in harmony and in perfect health and obey his commandments!

~ The Honour Of Wasting Time...~

 In the line of an ATM Queue, I get fragile with impatience of long lasting conversations with two gentlemen , one an Octogenarian and other in his middle age, discussing ‘Something of Importance’ to themselves.

The ‘Hurry’ inside me made me quite unaccustomed to as I had a timeline to match. Thinking to myself as to what these gentlemen might be discussion in all perpetuity, I was about to ask them to please hurry up their chores and thus free the ATM machine to make me do the transaction in quick earnest.

Don’t know what stopped me from doing so, I kept waiting and sulking. On a further look I saw that the ‘Problem’ statement was not the ATM machine but the ‘Card’ which was not being accepted by the machine. The wait thus goes longer and so does the temperature within me.

Suddenly with a thug , they ‘CLAP’ and catch my attention and I get to know that the much sought after transaction has just ‘Gone Through’ and the buzzling sound of the ATM is a sign that cash will just flow now. Seeing these two gentlemen, I reminisce that the two elderly gentlemen must be old friends and today unexpectedly the ATM counter has become a meeting place with a lot of coincidence involved.

After the ATM buzzle, the counting of notes thus begins, the ‘Old-Habit’ never dies as they say, this reminds me of the times when these oldies used to count every single rupee to their satisfaction and then leave the cash counter in any nationalized bank.

Coming back to the situational analysis I was in , the ATM door opens and both the gentlemen come out by supporting and balancing each other with a note of ‘Thanks’ towards providing a helping hand for a ‘Successful’ ATM transaction.

To my surprise both turn out to be ‘Strangers’ and in anonymity met with the coincidence of time. The sight turns tearful for my ego , as earlier thinking this to be a waste of time standing in Queue of an ATM and waiting for the Slow ‘Elderly Gentlemen’ to fasten up their transactions turn out to be lesson for life.

Be whatever, even if time is less, the ‘Helping hand of God’ shall always seek you wherever sought. Thinking of the middle aged man, who was repeatedly explaining the nitty-gritty of an ATM machine and its operational attributes, wearing his Office suit, he must have been getting late but still shows his patient side and sees to it that his elder partner is not left half way through the process of extracting money from the ATM Machine. The way they parted ways by greeting themselves off turns out to be a sight to remember.

If I were to sit and think if I had so much of patience to help in such a situation, I could endow myself with a difficult answer. Generations come and go but the values you have engrained from test of time and your family remains encapsulated in your genre and his would be the ‘KEY’ to your day to day performance in Life.

Lesson learnt, the situational analysis on each and every eyesight can be a learned lesson in your life.

Those ‘Ten Minutes’ of my learning would be along with me for a long time to come and thus keep me of remembrance of the situations one can be and the conduct one needs to endure to have successful and pleasing living...

~ Humans of Delhi...~

 Living a life in a metropolis brings you to a level of ample observations, people around you have been just in virtuosity but living a nameless life, a life full of deprivation and struggle.

The sheer gut of these people make you stumble upon the bottleneck’s life offered to them via their birth in poverty but their challenge to life has been enormous. One such soul I keep on meeting near vicinity is “Monu” a native from Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur. He has a peculiar job which many of us might shun him to even talk to him, he is our market’s toilet cleaner.

Weather he likes his job or not was my obvious question I asked Monu the other day, his reticence was palpable by the nature of his work as I though he might not like doing what he is currently into, thus he spoke of some words which touched my heart, the words full of gratitude towards God for him being living in Delhi and earning and feeding his family though his handwork and not begging.

He told me that he came 2 decades ago as a child with his uncle after he had lost both of his parents to a freak accident in his native village. His uncle was a public car parking attendant and he took on himself to make sure that he is able to survive in this costly city. He did so but his conditions of deprivation does not let him go!

He astonished me by make me aware of his education qualifications – “I am a graduate Bhaiya !” – these lines pierced my inner being, Monu surely qualifies for a decent living but what he was upto speaks about the failure of our education system, our society has failed him totally!

For most of us, the dignity of work is what matters the most, here is Man I meet who did this with aplomb and whilst he does so, he quite explicitly keeps his self-respect at the same plinth. Monu has no big qualms about what life offered him, he is surely trying to make a silver lining out of his tough situation through a dignified living – as he proudly tell me “ Bhaiya, no work is big or small…I am batting on the pitch of life and waiting for one loose ball which I shall surely hit for a six!” – What a tremendous attitude this man carries under such depressive situation.

He has two kids who go to a nearby government school and his wife is a housemaid, together they earn much to fend for themselves. The best thing about Monu is his belief in destiny, as he says that God must have grandeur plans for him as if at all he didn’t had, he would have vanished from this existence long back! His gratitude towards the grand design is palpable with his zest for life!

Living a life full of self esteem and working towards his respectability, Monu gave me an exemplified teaching – Come what may , respect life in all of its elements – you never know what comes next, but whilst you do so, remember God’s oblivious presence, for you are being tested on his parameters of living!

~ The Park… ~

 A ground which confounded my existence with my growing up years now behaves the way I never thought it to be. Hours were spent playing all sorts of sports with goodness of friends and foes being those cricket and football matches – the fights and aberrations became the part and parcel of my adolescence.

 But off late, the Park has gained a new definition in my vocabulary of life, there is much to observe, live and dream about its presence around me – the thankless job it does to hordes of people coming to the fore for a simple stroll or an escapade of domestic life.

Today in these uncertain times, the Park has become our new dimension of living, with all sorts of souls avoiding the frenzy moments of homely living, Park is our sole refuge. With blossoming flowers and clear sky paddocks above, the place has an intriguing enigma. Brisk walks have become the norm of the day, I never thought of meeting beautiful people living close in my vicinity – souls brimming with wisdom of life, the die-hard octogenarians who have held formidable positions in government or private sectors but could not beat age and had to call it quits, though still they have not shunned the aura and respectability of positions they held.

On the other facet, I could see life in dilapidation, with no achievement, these lifeless souls occupy benches to time-pass their earthly sojourn and sometimes regret being born with not much luck or hope. Talking with them teaches me much about the dichotomy life offers, on one hand I see materialistic achievements and the boasting of same but on the other side of the aisle I see despondency and failure of life. On one hand I see kids full of confidence and playing their favorite sports, also I visualize toddlers just brought to a gentle stroll with their mothers – hoping for better future of their kids, there first footsteps outside the periphery of their homes. The Oxymoron of life continues as you would find the new and the old walking pass by each other looking with equal inquisition.

Of late with the pandemic taking its toll on the old, I sometimes hear the loss of someone gone without any signs of doing so, just the other day he was taking a stroll, but the life uncertainties took over him. Such vicissitudes of life – the park has seen it all, encapsulating the decree of pain and warmth of its regular inhabitants. Someone becomes a new member, someone losses his membership, the place sees quite a new visitor everyday and offers its meadows to captivating heights.

Park makes me meet both ends and continues to poke me with grim reminders of life – a life with all of its panorama it can offer. Today as I write this piece of thought, the park is all that is there with me, the fragrance of flowers, the buzzing of the winds , all that seems just majestic of what nature showers on you till the time you are here !

Raj ~ A Choice Of Life !

 Today as I was taking a stroll in my neighborhood park, I could see a man passed my vicinity , he seems to be a known face, though wearing a mask, I could decipher he could be my old buddy with whom I have shared some momentous moments of my life in my early childhood.

As we were circumambulating the park periphery, the next meeting was bound to happen, as I saw him coming towards me, I was more certain of the grandeur of his presence and took courage to call him by his name “Raj” – though with a fear of being wrong.

Just having done so, he downed his mask and I took a sigh of relief – Indeed my observation came to be true and it was him , my childhood friend Raj, but there was a total change in his clamor- he was seem to be living a life of seclusion, for so a life of a mendicant (“Sanyas” as we call it in Hinduism).

As we met, we exchanged some age old pleasantries – our own style that we always had but he was a bit restrained as his ‘New look and life’ didn’t permitted him to cross boundaries and tread a path which he had foregone.

The only question which came to my mind looking at his this state of living was “ What have you done to yourself, how and why this complete transition!” – listening to this , he smiled and then slowly talked about his transition from a regular day to day householder to nomadic life and finally taking the path of Sanyas and in complete bhakti and splendor of Lord Krishna!

He told me, he took this stand about eight to ten years ago, leaving all his near and dear ones, including his children and wife – hearing this, I become more inquisitive and asked him, why was this done?

HE was as comatose as his listening to my quest, he thus answered “Something inside me changed completely, and I didn’t want to live a materialistic life full of falsifying ego’s and rat race competition! Ever since I took this path, I have completely detached myself from worldly existence and have thus immersed in all completeness in praise of the Lord – I am a very satisfied soul and no quest for any relationship or materialism!”

I had no more questions to portray for him, we started to chat about generalities of life and living, where humanity is going and what is instore for all of us as we are becoming slaves of materialism and overloading information. He was very amazed about the fast-paced life man has started to live. “In the spiritual world, there is no need to rush for anything”  , he said, further clarifying, everything is self-evolving and there is nothing you or I shall be doing what it is not destined in our path of living!”

The chat became filled with gravity of thoughts, I was liking the spiritual prudence this man had gained whilst I did not completely recon his decision of leaving all of his near and dear ones, but after all it was his life and what path he chose to tread, if his family has accepted it as their destiny , no problem.

Further as time passed, there was lot of talks which we discussed, reminiscing our bygone cricket fights and our cycling sprints – I felt that time has actually stood still, and I just wanted it to be like that!

But alas, we cannot hold time together, there came the moment that we had to say “Adieu” until we meet again and when he comes back to Delhi from Mathura – I have no clue when that will happen, till then I would reminisce my moments today with my childhood friend but now a learned man altogether at a different trajectory of life which might look at ease but actually is full of discipline and focus – May he achieve his spiritual quest for which he took such a big stand , my best wishes would always be with him as a soul who had privilege to call you a friend for life!