Maya - Chapter - 1

I was walking back from work, tired but satisfied; I had almost reached the gate when I saw him; his back was so exceedingly hunched that his face was parallel to the ground; he was dressed in an expensive suit, but was all alone and was stumbling at every step. It was a dark evening; I assumed that he probably was waiting for someone to pick him up, and certainly would be better-off waiting at my house for the pick-up to arrive.

Thus assuming, I approached him and asked, “sir, are you waiting for someone or looking for someone”? When he turned his face towards me, I was mesmerized – his face probably was the calmest and the handsomest that I had seen in my entire life. His eyes clearly indicated that he was an enlightened being. He took a note – a neatly folded piece of paper, out of his pocket and handed it over to me.

Assuming that it was an address he wanted help with, I unfolded the note and read it aloud; it simply said – “reach the sign-post that says man-eating-tiger-sanctuary tomorrow at noon”. The words ‘man-eating-tiger-sanctuary, rang a bell – the signpost on the Delhi-Gurgaon highway, which had those words, was an obscure one, hidden amongst the more ‘famous’ ones that advertised various jewellery and inner-ware brands and hence probably went unnoticed by many.

Thoughts they say, are photons of energy, flowing freely in ether and creating recognition in the brain. Many unwelcome thoughts around the possible meanings of the sign-post assailed my brain. Deciding that whatever the meanings are, the note definitely was not the one he wanted me to read, I placed the note at a respectful distance in front of his face and said, “Sir, I think this is not the note you wanted me to help you with”. His response, “This is the note I was supposed to pass on to you Adi”, shocked me out of my wits. I took the note back, and began scanning through it, checking to see if there was some secret message, as if someone in this world wanted to send a special message to me!! Suddenly I realized that the old withered gentleman was no longer there with me. I looked around; I could not see him anywhere!! There was no way he could have walked the entire length of the road, either way.

I shook my head; I was seeing things!! I threw the sheet down on the road and started walking towards the gate, when suddenly someone called me from behind. I turned around in surprise, it was a school boy from one of the nearby schools; he had the note in his hand – he said “Ma’am, I think this was passed on to you and has been dropped by you inadvertently, I mean intentionally”!
Grimacing, I went and took the note from the child’s hands, turned and went back to the gate thinking to myself – “The local school attended by this child seems to be a real good one, look at the choice of words – ’Passed on to you’, ‘inadvertently’ and ‘Intentionally’” ! Deciding not to think much about it, I shrugged, put the note inside my messy bag alongside many of the office papers, bills, chits etc., and went home.