Ipod, spirituality? Steve Jobs must be laughing up there. But stranger things have happened. When you are going through a creative menopause you feel like your pen is wearing a condom. The creative juices just refuse to flow. You get your metaphors mixed, the grammar doesnt seem right and the ideas get wobbly. You pray for that one act of providence. God make me write something sensible. Here I was in the holy town of Triveni, right in the middle of the confluence of the three holy rivers totally fascinated with the siberian birds. These birds needed no visa and yet no one dreams of deporting them. I was trying hard to get them on the boat. But they just wouldnt come. Bribing them with food could only bring them close but not inside. I was trying hard but still that one picture was elusive. I was being distracted by the jerks in the boat and the jarring voice was of God’s messenger, the extremely loud and irritating priest. The Priest was trying to convince me to take a dip. It would rid me of my sins. Not able to convince, he was now explaining the full cycle of human life. “ what goeth around cometh around.” But still I wasn’t convinced. Nothing ever came back to me.
Not that I do not like water. I am a true blue blooded Piscean and take to water like a fish. But this was different. The smell of death was all pervasive. We were here to immerse the ashes of a close friend’s mother. Wherever you looked , you could see only boats and tonsured heads. I felt like it would be an insult to the dead. Didnt matter if i came back a human again in the next life but i am not dippin in.
Suddenly there was a call. It was my sister. The whole family was visiting me for christmas. She gave the whole plan and then while signing off casually told that she is bringing my ipod. In that fragile mind of mine , I felt jolted.
Onal had completed her MBA and it was her convocation. I was in USA then and was visiting her. When I asked what she would like to have as her gift, she didn’t think for a moment, IPOD. It was new then. Today when we think back it sounds like day light robbery. It wasn’t even 1 GB if i remember well and the price was $250.
Time flew and soon Onal got married. Her younger brother went to hostel to studying engineering. The doting sister gifted her prized possession to him. The price was irrelevant. She had collected some priceless music in it. But time still refused to stop. Soon Yugesh completed his studies. It was time for him to leave. He doesnt believe in much baggage. So it was redundant to have an ipod when you could download the music on your mobile. He asked if he could give it back to me and hence the phone call.
I looked incredulously at the priest. “ What goeth around cometh around”. Without a word I undressed and slipped into the holy water. Washed of my sins, I was brand new again.
The birds also seemed happier. They gave me one breathtaking picture. Take a look. It could win a contest anywhere.
Now only if i get the flow of my writing back, I would be a practising Hindu.
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