The train stopped at Mulund and the silence of the compartment was disturbed by a group of army men. A strange feeling swept past Mrityunjay, as though he just had a trim haircut like a cadet with the feeling of breeze tickling the almost bare temples. He felt unusual - as though he was a part of their regiment, till the train jerk shook him back to reality. The Army jawaans chuckled at this daydreamer and muffled his long hair. Mrityu gave them a salute as though he was actually reporting to them. But somehow did not speak or greet them. The train had passed Bhandup while Mrityu rose from his seat to stand near the door and enjoy the long stretch between Vikhroli and Kanjurmarg stations, with the train at its fastest.
As he stood there, he found someone waiting there at the door. An aged monk smiled with the himalayan wrinkles folding all over his face. Mrityunjay who would otherwise not care a damn, folded his hands in and unusual greeting and gave a bow. He felt a deep de ja vu, as though he had lived the whole train incident before. The army ... the monk.. and now the breeze of the train door that invited him to hang out!
Fading lights!
As he hung out of the door , tightly holding the door-bar of the train, he could feel the breeze forming vortices over his face and fondling his flowing hair. The night was very dark, the breeze blew, while he could hear the himalayan chants of the monk very distinctly, as his lips mysteriously synched the monk's chants! The gusts of the breeze got stronger as the trained passed through the empty stretches of Godrej property at Vikhroli.
As the train whizzed past at its fastest possible, everything that Mrityu could see outside fuzzed with motion blur, as though a beautiful painting almost drying was smudged in one particular direction. The blur of the place outside, as well as the sharp sight of the insides of the coach, including the wrinked monk now seemed to ... merge....
Merger.... not with the darkness of the outside... nor with the bright fluoroscence of the inside lighting... but a combination of both... A mysterious Grey. Mrityunjay felt a bit relaxed with all his tension being relieved part by part.. as his focus moved towards this Grey shade that was filling up gradually... everything that he could see..
The trees and the tracks outside.. turned grey... The monk and his smile turned grey.. The sounds of the merry-making soldiers faded too.. all of a sudden ... Mrityu's entire line of sight was filled with a fluttery curtain of Grey! The tracks .. the train and everything beneath his feet... they dark sky the fluoroscent lamp and everything over his head... disappeared surrendering to this shade of Grey . Mrityunjay found himself floating with approximately the same speed as what the train took him.. He could still feel the acceleration of the train giving him butterflies in the stomach.. Or was it the TRAIN that moved??.. for NOW there wasnt any train.. Just the Grey matter in which he was suspended.
------End of episode one-----------
Episode Two
Open window and the narrow crevice
"Ether??.. space??.. white wilderness??" - random names sped past Mrityunjay's mind as he tried to name the colour and the experience in which he was suspended. The chaotic rattles of the train and the gusty breeze was transformed to an unusual calm state of rest. He could feel his feet now gaining firm ground even as his eyes filled with Grey couldn't make out whether he was downside up or upside down. The dimensions were all lost and even his body was getting consumed gradually by the Grey mode, just when he could feel his thoughts holding his shape and not mixing up with the mysterious.
Mrityunjay was almost convinced that he was permanently doomed to see and feel only lonesome grey for the rest of his Life .. or whatever unknown state that was. At that moment when fear was about to turn the grey to dark, Mrityu felt a gentle assuring caress of a white dazzle from behind him. It felt as though the light came from a door that he had left open and walked ahead. Indeed! when he turned back there was a crevice that resembled the open crack of a partly shut door, that was almost in half-mind whether to shut .. or not. Mrityu was glad to se that ray of white which was slightly brighter than the rest of the monochrome grey everything… grey everywhere ……but the opening of hope.
Before he could get tempted to open the door, his feet were dragged towards a series of other glimmers that came from a chain of windows that were further down, away from the door. Releasing his glance from the door.. Mrityu was tempted to take a dekko at one of the windows. Mrityu paused near one of the windows, which by itself opened wider with an immense blinding white glow emanating from it, that gradually faded to show a scene. Looking at this Mrityu got a deep intuitive feeling that one of his closely guarded questions would be answered. The questions were linked to the repeated sighting of monks and soldiers throughout his life before Greydom. One of those answers was now smiling wide at him through the window, with its dazzle gradually toning down to show the scenes it held.
He could gradually see hopes of many more answers smiling at him through the other windows too. The maindoor from where he entered however was to wait longer for him, since the best part of the show was to be savoured last.. with the biggest mystery awaiting to be unveiled. A little more about the symbols that flashed in Mrityu’s mind that coincided with his sighting in the train - The Monk and his wrinkles, little less shrivelled though and the Same Group of Soldiers, but in a different uniform. The question however was why did Mrityu's mind seek "answers" in these symbols that flashed while the loudest and fastest element--- the train was forgotten!
------End of episode two-----------
Episode three:
Reminiscence from the first window
Mrityu’s sight got anchored back to the first window where he could now see a beautiful scenery that kept him spellbound, as much as he felt familiarly at home with it. The landscape it showed was a scenic Himalayan village, fortified by the gigantic snowclad peaks with ribbons of glaciers turning into rivers. Melting.. trickling.. flowing and roaring rivers.. straight to the village, which gave Mrityu a deep sense of Deja-vu, as though a scene was brought out alive from his past… as though he still remembered the taste of the water from the streams and the sounds it made as it gushed down the valley. He could now see the villagers who dotted from the village enjoying the dawn, including few of them rushing to the monastery across the rope bridge that connected the village across the river. He felt one among the villagers, despite
He could now hear the people speak as they approached the Monastery, which had tall gold-clad statues of the Buddha. There were scores of disciples busy chanting, and among them was a fresh student Lama by the name of Mayo. Eversince his childhood, Mayo seemed disinterested in rearing sheeps like his father did. His mind stayed concentrated on the West peak named Domar La, where he was hoping to find answers to some of the questions he had about life and his existence. He was fascinated about the peak and was thrilled about finding out his answers which he believed were hidden in the majestic presence of the peaks. He was undettered by the record number of lives that the peak took toll of, some of them mountaineers and few of them.. seekers of truth too.
With hopes of keeping their son safe and alive at the same time to drive him into a Holy life, Mayo’s parents entrusted him to the Zydong Monastery under the guidance of the great Master there. He was forced to lead a super-disciplined life that made him eat the same diet daily, wear the same clothes and chant the same verses.. over and over again. The routine was killing Mayo and he started feeling being more and more distanced from the answers that he sought. One morning he stood gazing at the great Domar La peak, when the great Master asked him about his fixed gaze. Upon hearing Mayo’s belief about the peak, the Master laughed and said that the peak was nothing but a burial ground of snow. Mayo felt hurt since the Master hit directly at his closely nurtured faith.
At this moment Mrityunjay could sense not just Mayo’s feeling but also his heartbeats that was in absolute synchrony with his. All of a sudden he felt as though the window was gone and he was in the Monastery looking at the scene through the tearful eyes of Mayo. He could feel Mayo’s footsteps which were now escaping the monastery towards the moonlit forest. He was careful to leave behind an apology note and a prayer wheel to his Master. Mayo had decided to find his own way to Domar La and the truth.
During his lifetime Mrityunjay did have a couple of dreams of the colorful
But what did remain in his mind unshaken was the wrinkles of the Monk in the train that was fold-to-fold similar to that of the Master who had warned him against the fascination of the Domar La peak.
The sighting was over like a two hour movie, except that here Mrityu was on the other side of the screen living and experiencing the whole scene as real as living it... being brought back to the state of Greydom at the end of it. But he had few more windows to go through where he could perhaps find the answers to the unanswered riddles of Mayo .. the riddles of his own past.
The story will be continued... watch out for this space again in sometime or leave your mail id in the comments!
16 comments:
Interesting!
wow!!!!
Hey bhagwan yeah kya tha...
Yeah kahani hai ya meri moti buddhi me kuch nahi jaa raha hai
Abhi beta .. kabhi apni buddhi ke paash se mukt hokar .. kaalpanik duniya ke mehmaan bano!!
awesome!!!
arre yaar, everything went above my head. i agree with abhi. even i can think with only dimag. not dil. hum dil kho chuke, sanam (ko). whatever it was.. that u wrote.. keep at it. dev bare koro.
Arey Bhai meri buddhi ke paash se to mukt hogaya kyonki mai kabhi usme phasa hi nahi tha.
Parantu kaalpanik duniya me jaane ki train puncture ho gayi hai.
Kyun bhai bada patrakaar banana hai kya.
BTW apne blog pe latest post hai...
gr8 going dude..
mast work.. :)
I actually lived the whole scene in front of my eyes! Don't mean to sound like a pompous ass here, but I did picture the scene as I think you wanted me to picture it. PLEASEEE hurry up with the other 'windows'... ;)
Great one, keep going...
Dazed!!!
Why the name Mrityunjay?
I know the meaning but why the name?
Thats the first name that came to my mind when i imagined the story line. Though you cant overcome the cycle of life and death easily by merely traversing through it, Mrityunjay here comes to know what happens after a particular life and what death actually means... all of this of course within the boundary of my imagination and writing skills :-)
BTW White Magpie.. is that your real name too?? :-) or perhaps of someone you know closely ..maybe too closely?
Haha..Yeah I know someone close who goes by that name. Its very rare hence the question.
Mystery solved...finally.
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