The Hermit That Taught Me To Love

His eyes were as vast and deep as that of the Arabian sea. Only they didn’t carry the oscillatory waves but somehow attuned to the calmness of the middle of the ocean, also that they were brown in colour. His bare head that only had a few white follicles peeking outside, were a replica of his hedonism. 

I looked and looked, but couldn’t look away…

His clothes were tattered, which was a meagre ochre robe, one that was discoloured, perhaps from the scorching rays of the sun. But, his physique seemed utterly unaffected by the rockiness of the shades.

I looked and looked, but couldn’t look away…

His speech was full of praises for the developed nations, how the others fared so well, and we are still left behind. Far far behind. “Perhaps because our India hasn’t united, Sir,” says this effulgent being.

I looked and looked, but couldn’t look away…

My heart aches to see his lotus feet travel these dusty roads bare feet and travel far off distances with these gentle feet. But his composure doesn’t adulterate. Not even for a bit.

I looked and looked, but couldn’t look away…

I tell him of my eagerness to help him out, to contribute in some way to this utterly difficult path of his. He smiles and says, “Not now. There will come opportunities when we’d require help." “But why not now?” He smiled and walked away.

I looked and looked, but couldn’t look away…

Years later, I am this dilapidated self, fighting the injustices of life, jostling hard to make ends meet, and sometimes even pondering the adversities of my gender, and the horrific experience we battle everyday, every moment…

The restless and helpless me visits him, with nothing to offer. I find him to be the same self, even more invigorating, even more divine. He steps forward, and says, “Worry not, it shall all be fine. Meanwhile, just try to love…”

I am baffled, speechless and awestruck. Did Tagore wanted to convey the same emotions in his poem ‘Abhisar’, with the young sage Upagupta and Basabdutta? I start contemplating, leaving the premises to find him with his innocent smile, walking barefoot…

I looked and looked, but couldn’t look away...

Image courtesy:Freepik