My Little Messiah

What do you take away from your tryst with nature? Perhaps, the experience of a lush green forest or a gently lapping lake. Holidaying in the hills is just perfect to snuggle cozily beside the fire place and watch the soft white mist gently veil the distant peaks. To see the mist roll down its white carpet until it swirls around your feet. And before you know it, the landscape is a white haze of silence. The very thought of spending my holiday in one such idyllic retreat filled my soul with ecstasy. Or maybe what you take away is a refreshing point of view to life

Perfect! I had not had a vacation since past couple of years; life had become so mundane, humdrum and monotonous. Well I was to board the train today, my railway tickets for Delhi were booked and from there I would be heading towards Mcleodganj.

The clock had already struck 12 though it did not seem as if it was noon, the weather seemed pleasant, a white layer of clouds had concealed the scorching sun. and yes, I realized I was running short of time, but that’s me, always behind schedule, just like Bhartiya rail. I hurriedly packed up my rucksack and gorped up my lunch like a wild glutton.

Fortunately the traffic was all smooth, no jams. Zoom, a black Honda city went past my taxi. We had hardly traveled a few kilometers that all traffic came to a sudden halt. Though I could figure out a traffic light at some distance but the signal glared green not red, nor could I see any traffic policeman standing, yet the tempest rush of Pune came to a stop on its own? Strange? Taxicabs, private cars, tempos, motorists, lorries, trucks covered the whole breadth of the road, rushing to the kerbs and ultimately all traffic lurched precariously. Though the traffic had come to a halt but the hula boo continued for some time. The truck driver nearby stood clenching his red teeth (due to beetle chewing) but moments later, the driver, headloaders, vendors, foothpathers beggars all stood frozen as if they had seen some ghost. Dumbstruck they watched the proceeding across the road. Even my inquisitiveness rose, I tried asking the driver nearby but he was all traumatized to speak so I got out of the car to witness what on earth had had stopped the bizarre traffic of Pune.

With small faltering feet, lay on the road a small naked child in a pool of blood. I shut my eyes, it was too scary a sight. I reopened my eyes, looked at the sky, the sun came into picture again, sun rays piercing the heart of clouds and spreading across the sky as if they have freed themselves from the captivity of the murky layer of clouds. Despite of the sun blazing, you could hardly feel the heat. It seemed as if the sun had come out just to witness the affair, the rays didn’t appear to carry fire but were spread to envelop the surrounding with some kind of enchanting luminosity. There was something strange in the air I was breathing, I was inhaling and exhaling it but I felt so week at the knees, as if somebody was stifling my mouth. I gazed down across the road again and noticed the black Honda City that had driven past our taxi, sitting in the drivers seat a teenager, son of a moneyed man. Lay in front of the car was the son of the beggar woman, gasping for air. Faltering and wavering he managed to stand up, looked at the people around and the teenager in the car and walked past them without uttering a word but his face spoke volumes. Surely. Surely, he was the Messiah of Pune. By his spell he had stopped the pandemonium of Pune’s traffic and the sun, the clouds, the sky stand witness to this.

As death looms large on either hand, my Messiah goes tottering on, remaining oblivious of the stricken cries, not for him but the drivers gnashing their teeth. But no belly-aching on my part, I had found my little messiah, had breath the same air as he, shared the same place as he. I lost all spirit to go on the trip, all I wanted is to run away, escape- escape from the traffic, from people around me, from myself, from my hazy state of mind.