I tried again.”I.Not helping. Just like the 7 billion other inhabitants of this planet. The forces are with you. But, not that much. Seek your path and you shall find your way to the ultimate happiness. I held my breath in anticipation.. What I was doing in a mucky toilet was obvious to me until the moment the weird guitar sound interrupted my life. Help is at hand.I stuck my ear to the dirty wall. I will lead you to your destiny”That was tricky. Stand at the stop and look around. You are looking for happiness, bliss, contentment. And hilarious because this was probably a prank, and I was still allowing myself to be played. “Could you be more specific?”The voice cleared its throat and spoke, this time sounding way less throaty and much more normal, “Fly down to Dehradun.
I don’t even want to know what that possibly says about me. You are looking for life. And I really did not know whether I was supposed to be disturbed or thrilled.Only for a little while, I told myself.If this were a Chetan Bhagat world, the intervention would come as a divine phone call. Seriously, hear…”Um, Hello…Sir”, I said in wobbly voice, not really sure of the etiquettes one needed to follow with a faceless voice behind grimy mystery wall, “who are you? And what are you doing in there?””Ha!” a throaty laugh sounded from within, “that is not the point here my child.
I was perhaps hoping for it to be a fluke, some weird play of the acoustics that was transmitting the sound from elsewhere in the building.”Find you?” I sought clarification, “in there?”I could hear the voice rolling its eyes.”Hello!” I tried tentatively, keeping my face close to the wall and voice high enough to be heard on the other side, “Is someone in there?”The guitar stopped.Now, despite the obvious obviousness of the situation, I was suddenly not so sure. The point is who are you? And what are you doing in here?”Baffled, I looked around. Just a little longer.”Sir, what should I do next?””Come and find me. My breath hitched in my throat. You will see a red coloured, round dome, a couple of meters away. The guitar continued playing, louder, now that I was presumably closer to the source.Anyway, apparently, my divine intervention was operating without any intervention of will or faith (or quality check) from my end.”Look within, my child. At least, a phone call isn’t smelly. Whoever thought that was strange should check with me. Which was as tragic as it was hilarious.
I know what you are looking for.Nirvana in a Corporate Suit charts an average person’s journey for meaning and happiness, with oodles of humour and a strong dose of popular culture. Get down at the bus-stop. But it was nice of someone to notice. Until this point in time, I had not actively considered the possibility of the other side of the wall being a real possibility. There is only one bus-stop there.”Hello, my child!” a deep throaty voice greeted me from within the wall. erm.”Don’t you worry, son..”I was thoroughly confused. This may be the divine intervention that you have been always waiting for”To be honest, I wasn’t waiting for any divine intervention.I silicone toilet brushes factory cleared my throat and tried to clear my head. Pity, nobody forewarns us about that. Your life is about to change.”Um, sir, I don’t know what you mean. Sure, I wanted happiness. I imagined running into the wall, and breaking more than a dozen bones. My divine was apparently dwelling behind an abandoned toilet’s wall.I was trying to be funny when I said my divine help was behind the wall of a stinky, abandoned toilet. Cynicism is an essential side-effect of adulting.
Tragic because even the divine was not interested in my opinion. But I was having a dawning realization that there is an actual possibility that it may be true. Five years as a functioning adult, and a corporate slave no less, are bound to suck out all your faith in magic and divine interventions.”The throaty chuckle was in its elements. Take a bus or a cab to Gangotri.”I did, actually. “Don’t worry my child. The answers are all there”, came an almost exasperated reply. The answers lie within”, the voice philosophized. I will be waiting for you. Look within yourself.Obviously, that was not the answer I was looking for. Walk down there.”Extracted with permission from the publishers, Treeshade Books.
I wanted to believe that this was just a joke, an ugly prank, and yet there was something tugging at my consciousness, something that felt like a visceral weight that wanted me to believe that whatever was happening in here was real. taking care of business, I guess?” I said, more uncertainly than I would have ever considered being on the subject.I took a deep breath and cleared my throat. Sample our protagonist’s first brush with his destiny.”Do not”, the mystery voice boomed, “cheapen the greatest moment of your life, lad.”Erm, Sir”, I decided to switch to direct questions, “what am I supposed to do to, erm, seek my path?””Look within yourself
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