Some Place Else

Rishikesh

Shankara asked Burak to follow him as he walked out of the town in a cold, deserted road. The town lay at the edge of the Himavant, the forbidden world, and this was the last road to nowhere. It was late afternoon. “Are you ready for your ordained destination?” Shankara asked Burak.

“Are we going straight away?”Burak asked expectantly as he jumped off from the stair on which he stood, and followed Shankara. “ I meant that we could, perhaps, do some preparations as we leave!” He tried to explain. However Shankara seemed to be in no mood to stop.

“You’d been preparing for this throughout your life Burak!” He said, and walked on till he bumped into a young sadhu. The sadhu seemed to recognize Shankara and immediately prostrated in front of him. Shankara held the sadhu’s arms and made him rise up. “Vidyadhara, have you brought my consignments?” Shankara asked the strange sadhu.

The sadhu immediately produced a box from his bag, and handed it over to Shankara. Shankara smiled and took the bag. “We shall meet on the other side. Perhaps.” Shankara said to him. There were tears in the sadhu’s eyes. Without saying a word, he turned around, and swiftly walked toward the town. Shanakra and Burak stood there and saw his silhouette disappear in the mist. It was getting dark and cold. It was almost dangerous to go anywhere outside the town at this hour, especially into the wilderness toward which they headed. They suddenly came to a point where the road ended. They could listen to the sound of flowing water somewhere from the woods ahead of them. Shankara continued uninhibited, Burak swiftly followed. Both stopped at a point inside the woods where there was nothing to go ahead, except the swiftly flowing Ganga, that lay in front of them. Shankara turned back to Burak and said, “ Look in front of you. Those are the mountains of the East.” He pointed towards brilliantly shining snow covered horizon, built up by successively taller layers of mountains, that almost obliterated the sky. For the first time in his life, Burak could not see where the land ended, and the sky started. The end seemed to be a bit of both the land and the sky.

“ You shall need to dive through the waters of the Ganga to get to the other side. Take this oxygen kit, and dive immediately after me. You can turn behind after I dive, and join your group after I dive, but remember, this is why you have come so far. Remember the verses that you read in your childhood, that made you come out of the world!” Shankara handed the box over to him. Before Burak could think of anything, Shankara dived into the river, leaving Burak alone to figure out the rest of his life in a moment. An inner voice suddenly overtook him and told him that the man who dived before him did it because he trusted that he would come. If for nothing else, he should trust him because of this and do it.  In a moment, he took out the oxygen mask and jumped into the Ganga.

It seemed petrifying. Cold water had surrounded him on all the sides. As he opened his eyes, he saw a different word, a murky aquatic reality. When he lived by the Van Golu, and the Caspian, he often thought of the life underneath the great water bodies. He had imagined it to be somewhat similar to the aquarium, but being inside was a completely different experience. He felt the waxy and ribbony water grass touch his body, and a sudden fish rush before his eyes. Suddenly, he felt a thrust from behind. He was pushed forcefully ahead. Suddenly shankara came over him, and dragged him along with himself.  Within minutes they had surfaced to see a high wave building in front of them. Suddenly, they were takem upon the crest of the wave, and after a few tosses in the water, Burak could sense the turbulence calm. He could feel something by his hands. He cleared his watery eyes and saw brilliantly white snow covered landscape in front of himself. He was at the shore.

Burak couldn’t recount that how long he remained in water. Even though it didn’t seem long, but, by all standards, it would have been really long time, as it was bright daylight. He was exhausted. As Shankara looked around, as if searching for something, Burak just fell down on some warm earth on the riverside to rest. When he woke up, the sun was overhead, but the chilling winds made the warmth almost ineffective. Shankara had gathered some twigs and made a fire close to Burak. It gave him some warmth. His clothes had, miraculously, dried, A Burak stood up and went a few steps ahead to inspect the landscape, he saw the most wonderous thing he had ever thought of!

He saw a humanoid figure appear in the horizon. The person seemed perfect, except that he had long ears, and strangely enough, a bow and a quiver full of arrows. As he turned back, Burak saw that Shankara had come close to him. Shankara quietly indicated Burak to remain silent, and spoke just one word in whispers. “Elf.”

The elf was surveying the sky intently, as if trying to figure something out. He then wly took out an arrow from his quiver, and aimed at the sky as if there was something there. He released the arrow towards the sky. The arrow vanished, but the elf kept looking at the skies as if searching for something. Suddenly, there was a shower from the sky. Amazing large pink fruits fell from the heavens, as if there was a tree up there. The elf quickly collected the fruits and wnt away, kicking some fruits here and there in haste. One of the fruits reached the place where Burak, and Shankara stood.

It was a pink colored fruit. Shankara indicated Burak to pick it up.  “ You can eat it. It’s safe.” Shankara said.

The fruit was almost the pulp. Without a covering or the rind. Burak was filled with unspeakable joy as he took the first bite on the fruit. This was the sweetest, juiciest, and tastiest fruid Burak ever had. All his tiredness and worries were gone in a moment.

Shankara was smiling at Burak. He gave out a short laugh and said. “Welcome to Himavant.”