An old man walked into the bar. Everyone’s eyes followed him. The long flowing beard grazed the ground as he walked. It was amazing how he did not step over his own beard. He walked to the bar counter and asked the bar tender to serve him ‘Madira’.
‘Madira? Its not served on the menu sir!’ the bar tender replied.
‘What do you have then?’ the long bearded man passed the fingers through his beard.
‘We have Single Malt Whisky, Beer, Vodka, Martini, and even cocktails like Mojito, and the Bloody Mary’ the bartender replied.
‘Wow! That’s a lot of choice!’ He thought to himself. He looked around the corner and saw couples dancing on the floor, letting their hair down to the music that blared from the speakers.’
‘Sir, what would you like to have Sir?’ The bartender was eager to take the order from the old man.
‘I would let you make the choice. Give me something that hits hard on the head!’
‘Three measures of Gordon’s, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it’s ice-cold, then add a large slice of lemon-peel. Got it? And If you are still standing on your feet, then this one is on me.’ The man sitting a little away helped him make a choice. The bearded man couldn’t see him in the dim light, but he was sure there was something peculiar about him. It seemed he had a head that was larger than the normal human.
‘Sure, that sounds interesting’ the bearded man was relieved in having made a choice of the drink.
‘Thanks’ he turned to the large headed man. ‘Is that what you are drinking?’‘
‘Nope. This is the most expensive drink in the planet today’
‘Really? What is it?’
‘Water.’
‘Really? The place where I come from, water is freely available.’
‘Good for you’ he said, sipping the drink through an…. oversized straw it seemed, in the dark.
‘Here is your drink, Sir.’
The bearded man leaned to the bartender. ‘Who is this guy? I bet he is a regular customer here.’
‘Sir, I am not sure of his name. They call him Elephant head because of .. obviously the sheer size of his head. But no one dares to talk to him.' The bartender whispered into his ear. 'If he gets angry, he can wreck your life like hell.’
‘Hmmm. Interesting.’ He took the drink and gulped it down his throat.
‘Ahhhh. That was nice. What was it?’ The old man was eager to know. ‘Repeat this one please!’ he said to the waiter.
‘And you…’ he turned to the large headed man. ‘Thanks! You made my day! I haven’t had such a drink in ages!’
‘And… You are still standing.’ He took out a 500 rupee note and flipped it to the bartender.
‘Hi, I am Vyas’ the old bearded man introduced himself.
‘Ganesh.’ He said, turning around. Vyas was shocked as the man turned his head. It was like Déjà vu. He had seen this before. He shook his head and pinched himself. Was it his drink? Or was he dreaming?
The man indeed had an elephant head and the oversized straw turned out to be his trunk.
The darkness of the bar gave way to a bright light. The surroundings disappeared and everything was white. There were no walls or ceilings or even a floor. Everything was just white.
Vyas went weak on his knees. ‘Did you spike my drink?’ he asked the elephant headed man.
‘Haven’t you seen this before Vyas? Think hard’
A flash of events appeared before his eyes. A forest. An archer.. A gambling game. Disrobing of a woman in public. A war. A eununch. And then he saw himself. Narrating as the elephant headed man wrote down as he spoke. Realisation dawned to him instantly.
‘Oh Lord. I recognize you now. We have met many lives before.’
He fell on his knees realizing what he had just seen. The lights faded out and as Vyas looked up, everything was blurred.
‘Sir, looks like the drink got into your head’. Is what he heard the last as he blacked out.
__________________________________
The next morning as Vyas woke up, he found himself in a dingy room. A small window on the corner was the only place where the light came into the room. In the light he saw the silhouette of the large-headed man, Ganesh sipping a mug of coffee as he looked to the sky. He turned around as he saw Vyas waking up.
‘Good Morning! Hope you had a good sleep!’
‘What happened yesterday night?’
‘Don’t you remember?’
As Vyas recollected about the previous night, his face turned pale. ‘You spiked my drink, didn’t you?’
‘No. I did not.’ He replied. ‘You just saw the things in your subconscious. Actions that you have done, events that you have been a part of in the previous life. People call it Past life regression.’
It sounded crazy. ‘Where is the bathroom?’
‘Just down the passage on the left’ Ganesh pointed out. As Vyas entered the bathroom and relieved himself, he started thinking of the turn of events last night. He yawned and went up to the wash basin and picked up a tooth paste, applied it to his index finger and started brushing. As he looked into the mirror, he was shocked. His beard had got shorter. He screamt aloud.
Sensing there was trouble in the bathroom, Ganesh knocked on the door.
‘Is everything alright?’
‘My beard.. what happened to it…’
‘Ah! Sorry, forgot to tell you.’ Ganesh replied with a slight smile on his face. ‘It got stuck in the car door yesterday night and while coming back we were caught up in the junction where a cow was lying in the middle of the road. My hunch is that it might have mistaken your beard as something else!’
Vyas couldn’t bear it. He was heartbroken. ‘Do you know how many years it takes to grow that kind of beard?’
‘I don’t know how to grow a beard, but I sure can grow a trunk!’ he replied.
‘What?’
‘Never mind. Any ways, you look much better with a shorter beard!’
Vyas was angry of how the last twelve hours had turned his life upside down. He then wiped his face and then headed for the door.
‘Where are you going?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Strange. A man who once saw everything with his eyes closed cant see anything with his eyes open’
He slipped his feet into the pair of chappals and opened the door and left.
Vyas wandered around the city. It was his first visit to a city. The city of Mumbai was overwhelming at the first sight. Just yesterday, he had stepped out of the train into a crowded city where no one had time for anyone. He was born on the banks of the Yamuna to a fisherwoman as it was told by his father, Parashar. The only knowledge of his mother was from his father that she had later remarried to an illustrious man. Parashar was an ayurvedic doctor but Vyas did not have the inclination to be a doctor and became a teacher. He lived a simple life with a few friends. He had a turbulent affair with a woman of a higher caste, and when it came to eloping with her, she got cold feet and married someone else. Since then he had decided not to cut his hair or shave his beard. He lived a life of a loner. A few acquaintances at the local bar, some colleagues at the school and a couple of neighbors were the only people he knew. After many years, he attained retirement from the school and he thought of seeing the world beyond the little town. He sold his belongings and his house and took the first train trip of his life to Mumbai.
‘The sea is like our mind. It has many secrets within, but we humans only see the surface of it, the waves, or the thoughts, while we ignore what lies beneath it.’ a sound broke his flow of thoughts as he looked deep into the sea.
He turned around to see a man who must have been in his eighties. Neat flowing white hair and a beard alike, he was dressed in a well matched white kurta and white pyjama. He had a glow on his face and a twinkle in his eyes.
Vyas smiled at him and looked back into the sea.
'Most humans, in our living life, stop our inner thoughts, our inner voice from coming to the surface. We ignore it and in doing that, we loose the entire essence of our life. It is time you listened to your inner voice and follow it.' He said.
Vyas turned around. He was a bit irritated and wanted to be left on his own. But there was no one around. He must have walked into the crowd, he thought to himself.
A thought lingered in his head. ‘What if there was a reason for all that has happened and is happening? Is this world talking back to me? Is it telling me something? For long I had listened to my head, but for once, my heart, my intuition tells me that there is something important that needs to be done. What was that large headed man, Ganesh talking about? ‘
'It is time to listen to my heart' he thought.
_________________________
Vyas rang the doorbell. He then saw the door locked. As he was about to leave, the door opened.
‘I was expecting you’ he said.
Vyas entered the house. There were two cups of coffee on the table.
Was he expecting me? Vyas thought to himself.
Ganesh sat down on the couch. ‘Be comfortable’ he said to Vyas.
‘You know, I was thinking…’ he stammered
‘I know what you are thinking. Do you know of the man who said that - Everything happens for a reason?’ Ganesh asked.
‘No’
‘It was you! Don’t you remember.’
Vyas was getting into a dilemma.
‘I think it is time that I open the closed doors of your mind. Years ago, after the famine that lasted 14 years, many had forgotten over revered Vedas. It was you who organized the four Vedas and then went on to write the most important epic, the Jaya, now know as the Mahabharata.
‘Over years these stories were passed on to generations. Modifications were made depending on who rewrote the story. Devas became Gods. Hinduism became a religion and the story began to be mis-interpreted. It is time the story is re-written.’
‘You mean re-write the Mahabharatha? Are you crazy? Isnt it sacred?’
‘It is the idea of Dharma that is sacred, not the story of Mahabharata. This story has been retold many times. We can both re-write it together. You just have to keep talking of whatever comes into your mind and I shall type it on to my laptop. But you should not stop to think, as it will then bias your thought, the characters and the plot of the story’
‘Yes, I did like to write in my childhood, but never got the chance to express it as a profession and at the fag end of my life, knowing that I was a great poet in the past life makes me feel good at this age. I hope it gets published and I get a Booker or Pulitzer, or atleast a Crossword award!’
‘Well, it doesn’t mean that what you write would change the world or that you would get famous. In today’s age, a beautifully written lie has more value than the simple truth!’
‘I think you are right. As said by Lord Krishna – Believe in action, not in the fruits of action’
‘Looks like you are getting into the groove!’ Ganesh said as he opened the laptop and pressed the power button.
_______________________________
Disclaimer:
This piece of writing is just my attempt on putting the age old stories in a contemporary perspective. It is not to hurt any sentiments or beliefs.
