When they met ... again ... VII

He sighed and looked around. His face bore signs of confused pleasure and bewilderment . She stood there in front of him, with the baby still cradled in her arms. It was not hers , off course, but how did that matter. She was joined to it's fate, for now and maybe forever. The child too seemed to have had accepted her as its mother.

And she herself,as beautiful and coy as he had imagined, stood in her eyes. But more than her corporeal primness, something else appeared to be emanating from her, something that had no parallel in words . It was only to be felt and dwelt in.



But why did she let go? Was he the reason for it, or was it always lying there in her, and he served to bring it to the fore. He didn't consider the question relevant to the present scenario, yet whither now? Did he want her or wanting her did not serve as a proper interpretation of what he felt for her. And what about his own dilemma? All these thoughts kept on popping belligerently over the surface of his calm countenance.

"I have not come for you", she said , in a mellowed tone. "Nor should you be considering yourself responsible for anything. We have a mistaken tendency to relate effects to cause in a deterministic fashion, only to be befuddled by the mistaken belief. Yet I owe you gratitude for reminding me what I suppose I knew all along. It was nothing more than fate which brought us together , and I believe my fate has a direction different than yours. Last night you got deep into me, deep enough to be ever rooted out, yet , I know I cant have you .My destiny beckons me into a different direction and I shall answer its call. But, I will love you and I will suffer for you. In loving you and suffering for you I will assert myself in this life. When did ever love separate itself from suffering? Me and my child will get down at next town. But for you, I wish that you get over your dilemma."


He kept gazing at her, at her rosy lips that parted in such willful nonchalance as the gentle sway of petals. Her eyes radiating the charm that cast spells on him . To her words, he didn't react. He seemed to have gone immobile. He got fixed into her eyes, and she in his. They didn't move, nor did the eyes, just talking to each other in their own language and caressing each other. How subtle and deep were those "words" that transpired between them. And then his eyes were flooded with tears , for love and for suffering. He closed his eyes and turned away. Two culverts snaked down his face and swirled down into the dust beneath him.

A deafening silence pervaded through them and suddenly a realization dawned on him . Reinvigorated , a joy overran his face and he jumped off the cart and ran away, without even looking behind. The old man chuckled, " I told him so ".


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Epilogue
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Near a farmhouse sat a wizened man, carrying out his daily chores. He seemed lost in his work . Nearby his grandson played around with cattle, running around a goat, teasing her. While chasing the goat he found an old diary wrapped in dust around the outhouse . He picked up the diary and turned around the shriveled and smudged pages. Having found a new object of interest he got engrossed in destroying the new object in his hand. He tore pages, one by one and threw them up in air, rollicking with fun. Having conquered the object he got back in his chase.

One of the pages fluttered , caught between the reticulated wooden fence. It bore writings in ink pen.It read, " I don't know why I ran away , from her, whose beauty I had so much desired . But I felt the love within , that which was my pristine nature. I felt that all that I had gone through was just a path to attach to that supreme, who runs through me and her. I saw that in her eyes.
I shall exist in that order of world, in which I have been rendered this form, and then shall continue in another form. I will suffer and love , and I will connect to Him .And so shall ..." .Wind blew harder and it broke free off the fence, to fly away to distant places , to distant people.