HE - Episode 14

HE​

A Serial By Varalotti Rengasamy​

Episode 14 ​

Timeline A​

Madhavan was about to be killed. Somehow he managed to escape from his captors and was now walking towards the sea.

Only now Kalpana’s words started ringing in Madhavan’s ears. Did Priya have an affair with that take-over lawyer? Did they both plan this treacherous act together? My God!

For a few moments he felt like Mrs.Indra Gandhi during the last few moments of her life. What kind of shock she would have felt when her own guards, who had sworn to give their lives to protect hers, opened fire on her?

That was the ultimate betrayal. And so was Priya’s.

‘It could have been better if they had killed me’, Madhavan thought. What was the point in living now?

Madhavan now felt the beach sand under his feet. He now walked towards the sea with determination.

Destiny was now skilfully moving the coins in that complicated game of chess.

With the kind of powers it had, it had already divined Madhavan’s suicidal thoughts.

It did not want Madhavan to die. It had already put a person in place to protect him.

 

Part 2!

Part 2!​

The moment Madhavan’s bare feet touched the cold water of the <st1lace>Arabian Sea</st1lace> he felt a powerful grip on his shoulders.

There was no violence in that grip. But Madhavan felt so overwhelmed by the intensity of that benevloent force that he lost all desire to oppose.

Madhavan had been facing nothing but evil during the past two days. His senses were extremely alert now. He could feel in his bone-marrow that the hand that gripped him belonged to benevolence.

It takes some time for the human eye to adjust to a sudden bright light, if it had been in darkness for a while. Madhavan’s mind which had been in the darkness of evil for sometime now shrank on the seeing the bright light of benediction, but nevertheless recognised it with a jolt.

It was still dark outside. Madhavan could not see the face of the person who had so firmly opposed his decision to die.

Given his present state of mind he could have never guessed that he was standing in the presence of an enlightened soul, a real saint, who alone could restore Madhavan to his former splendour.

In fact what he got back from that person was much more than what he lost. He lost his wife, his company, all his wealth and in a sense even his identity as Madhavan.

What he got back was wisdom, maturity and sheer bliss, blessings it takes lifetimes to acquire otherwise. But all those things were to happen much later.

When the hand that gripped his shoulders turned him away from the sea, Madhavan did not offer any resistance.

They walked in the beach for fifteen minutes. Now the other person held Madhavan’s hand very gently.

If Madhavan had wanted he could have easily freed himself and ran away towards the sea and to his death. But the other man’s touch had induced a strange calmness in Madhavan’s mind that he did not want to do anything.

They reached a group of huts in a secluded area. Madhavan was led to one of the huts.

“Please lie down.”

Madhavan complied. There was no flooring in the hut. The soft beach sand served as a bed. Madhavan’s head was held by a small mound of sand which acted as a pillow.

“You need to sleep now.”

It was the strongest command expressed in the softest words.

 

Part 3!

Part 3!​

Madhavan woke up around nine in the morning.

“Good Morning. Welcome home,my son.”

The sheer affection in those simple words startled Madhavan. He turned around to see a man in his late fifties in wornout jean trousers and a loose fitting T-shirt.

He was sporting a well-trimmed beard. His eyes were extraordinarily white and clear. The way in which he looked at Madhavan through those kind eyes made Madhavan feel that the man held him in a tight embrace.

The man called somebody else who took Madhavan to another hut nearby. Madhavan cleaned himself and was given a simple breakfast of papaya fruit, baked corn, boiled channa and a cup of hot milk. He was led to the presence of his benefactor.

“Did you have your breakfast, son?”

“Yes. Thanks.”

“Please sit down and make yourself comfortable. I know you are in deep trouble. Otherwise a good, kind man like you would not have decided to kill yourself. I want to know your story, if it’s okay with you.”

The kindness in the voice was so great that for a second Madhavan could not bear that. He broke down and started crying.

Ever since the lady lawyer Kalpana warned him against Priya and the Vulture he had had strongly felt the need to cry.

But being brought up in a society which scorns a crying man with as much intensity as it does a laughing woman, he could not give vent to his feelings. And now standing in the presence of his loving benefactor he could no longer withhold his tears.

And that crying was the most therapeutic thing that happened to Madhavan. After five minutes of non-stop crying he felt relieved and refreshed.

He cleared his throat and started telling his story.

“I was an orphan. I was named Madhavan by the Swamiji who was more than my father and mother rolled into one.”

He told about his childhood in the orphanage. How he came up in life and how he met Priya.

He also told about the Smart Ads take-over, the attempt to take over Creative-Ads and how he prevented it. And finally about the betrayal – the worst betrayal he ever saw in his life.

And how he managed to escape from his captors. And finally why he decided to end his life.

His benefactor patted him on his shoulders.

“Well done, my son, well done. You have been a good soul all along. It’s rare to find persons like you. I am really happy that I saved a good man from dying.”

Madhavan looked at him with reverence.

“I am not that foolish to think that I can offer off –the-cuff solutions to your problems. Let me meditate on them. May be we can have another talk late in the evening.”

Madhavan was silent.

“You have been a very sincere man. This is a cruel world, my son. It might choose not to punish some sinners. But none of the sincere souls are spared.”

“Sir, seeing you reminds me of the Swamiji who brought me up. Can I call you Swamiji, the same way, I called him?”

“As you please, my son. My disciples call me so.”

“Really?”

Madhavan glanced at the denim trousers and the fashionable T-shirt.

The Swamiji had a hearty laugh.

“That’s our problem, son. We cannot think of a sanyasin without the safron robes or some other foolish external symbols. Sanyas is a state of mind. Dress-code is the last thing a sanyasin requires.

“When you go around this place you’ll see my sanyasins in all kind of dresses, some in dhotis, some in jeans, some even in lungis and one person in the Scottish national dress. I prefer denim.”

“Swamiji, I want to know more about you.”

“There’s not much to know. At one time I was a leading Psychiatrist in New York City. I had my large office in the posh Fifth Avenue Street. I was very sincere to my patients.

“I was one of the very few shrinks who listened to every word the patients said and lost sleep over their problems.

“I belonged to that ever-growing class of idiots who sacrificed their precious family on the altar of their professional commitments. When I woke up, it was too late. My only son was into drugs and one day he killed himself.

“That was excuse enough for my American wife to walk away from me with almost everything I had earned till then.

“I came back to India and was given shelter by a native Doctor in a remote village here in Kerala. I have been running this Ashram as his representative for the past 15 years.”

They talked about a number of things. Then Madhavan was taken around the large Ashram scattered over a number of huts within a secured enclosure. About a hundred people were there in all.

Everybody was busy doing something or the other. For the first time in his life Madhavan felt peaceful doing nothing and watching people do the simplest of things to sustain life.

The wound was still raw in him. After all the wound had gone all the way in to the deepest part of his being. But he felt a strange peace within himself.

 

Part 4A!

Part 4A!​

He was summoned by the Swamiji after dinner. The dinner was again a simple fare of rotis and dhal.

When Madhavan stepped into the Swamiji’s presence he felt as if he were in the sanctum sanctrum of the holiest temple on earth.

Swamiji was in his study, which was a hut with a row of bookshelves and a number of comfortable chairs.

The Swamiji strongly reminded him of his own Swamiji. This time he could not resist his urge to fall at his feet. It was not just a gesture of respect shown to an elder. It was the sign of complete surrender in love.

“Welcome,my child. Have a seat.”

Swamiji pointed out to a chair placed opposite to him.

Madhavan sat on the floor near Swamiji’s feet. Swamiji placed his hands on his head which sent shivers of love through his spine.

“God has been exceedingly kind to me, Madhavan. He gave me some valuable insights into your problem which I am going to share with you.”

Madhavan just looking at his kind face.

“At your stage it is easy to lapse into persecution complex – I’m sorry dear, I can never get rid of my jargons. It’s easy to blame your wife, her lawyer, your captors, your fate, God, Destiny and a million other variables. But remember Madhavan, you started the whole thing.”

Madhavan was surprised.

“You lost the bid to your competitor. Of course what he did was not fair, getting the deal through the backdoor. But your unfairness was no less. When your wife suggested that you could takeover Smart Ads, you readily agreed with a glee. Right?”

Madhavan nodded.

“That was when your downfall began. Now don’t tell me that there are many players in your industry who have done far worse things. Yes, there are such people.

“But you were God’s chosen child. “When you chose to go astray, even God felt bad. And with His overwhelming love he saw to that you did not morally go down any further.

“Your losing your wife and your possessions is nothing, Madhavan. As it happens every time, God gave a very favourable deal to you. He gave back your soul and took away your wealth and your business, which are just dust compared to what you have got.”

 

Part 4B!

Part 4B!​

Madhavan was now in such a state of mind that every word spoken by the Swamiji went directly to his ears, to his heart and from there to the deepest depths of his being.

“Your life reminds me of the Appolo 13 Mission sent to Moon. It never made the trip. It was a grand failure. But it was rightly dubbed as the most successful failure.

“The whole world knows about Appollo 11 and Armstrong, the first man who set foot on the moon. Besides that, success story Appollo 13 looks like a grand failure. The craft did not reach the moon. It developed snags midway.

“There had never been a greater concern for human lives or a more intense co-operation among caring human beings to bring back the crippled vessel stranded with three men, some 200000 miles away from earth.”

“Appollo 11 was a technical success. 13 was a human success. That’s why they made just some documentaries on Appollo 11 but an Oscar-winning film on Appollo 13.”

The Swamiji allowed some time to let his words sink in.

“Your life is exactly like that. You might not have reached the targets you set for yourself. You can never use the word success in your biography except in a negative sense. But to me and to Him who sees from above, yours is the most successful life.

“There are some missing links in your life which God has asked me to provide. After that you will become a full man and lead a life of happiness, that none can match.”

After a long time Madhavan asked in a choked voice,
“
Then Swamiji, are you suggesting that I should go back and reclaim my life, my wealth and my company?”

“You don’t have anything to go back to, Madhavan. But you have the whole world to go forward to.”

“Then…”

“Leave your life to my hands. You are now exhausted. You have been driving your car for long. Take a break. I’ll be on the wheel of your car for a while.”

The silence in that small hut was so profound that the sound of the waves coming from a distance served only to deepen it.

After what it seemed an eternity to Madhavan the Swamiji spoke almost in a whisper.

“I have been carrying a responsibility for a long time. I have been waiting for the right person so that I can shift the burden on to his shoulders and go my way.”

“I don’t get it, Swamiji.”

“You’ll know that soon. But I now see waves of anger, hatred and resentment dashing against the shores of your mind. You still feel that you have been betrayed and want to settle your account at the earliest opporunity. Right?”

Tears of anger were rolling down Madhavan’s cheeks.

“Don’t worry. You are God’s favoured child. The persons who wronged you are going to be paid back in their own tender. Several times over. But you have to forgive them first.”

Madhavan was silent.

“I am not asking you to practise forgiveness as a virtue, the way your religious scriptures demand. As your Doctor I am prescribing that as a life-saving drug.

“You are going to start a new life from today. You are dead to your past life. You are re-born today.

“Tomorrow is an auspicious new moon day. We are going to have a simple ceremony to give you a new name, followed by another ceremony to begin the teaching.”

Madhavan was surprised.

“New name for me? What is that And what are you going to teach me?”

Swamiji placed his hand on Madhavan’s head as if to bless him. Madhavan shivered while Swamiji spoke.

“I am going to name you Sethu. And I am going to teach you Varmakkalai.”