It was the coldest New Year night in my life and the wind chill was
further making it impossible for me to walk on the street comfortably, although
it was very warm inside the car due to heater, which had maintained the
temperature inside the car at comfortable level. This is the first time in the
last 44 years that the mercury has dipped below 10 degree during day time and 2
degree Celsius during night in Delhi-Gurgaon regions.
I wanted to go to
Connaught place-Delhi to buy cake, pastries and gifts for my wife and daughters
but later I decided to drop the idea and I took a u-turn and drove back home,
simply because, they all had gone to nanny’s place at Jamshedpur and will be
back only the next week, therefore, I decided to postpone the gift buying idea
till then.
By the time I
reached home, it was half past nine, I parked the car and as usual rang the
door bell, again unmindful of the fact that nobody is home and I have to open
the doors myself. It took me five minutes open and then shut all the doors and
shifting myself in the closed-room. After entering my bed-room, I first
switched the TV on for news hour and then changed my clothes.
I was having a very
strong urge of having one cup of hot tea and decided to make it myself; I moved
towards the kitchen; suddenly I saw the land lady, who was staying on the first
floor, coming straight to our kitchen carrying a big tray in both her hands,
which contained my dinner, fruits and sweets. I accepted the same with big
thanks and wished her Happy New
Year.
She inquired what I
was cooking; I said, “Tea” and also invited her to join me over a hot cup of
tea. She very politely refused my offer of the same by saying: she will ruin
her sleep if she takes tea at this hour of night and went back to her room
after wishing me good-night.
But I was dead sure that my night will never be good. This is the
first time in my entire life that I am sitting all alone in my room on the New
Year eve. I have once again realized the importance of my beloved wife and
angel-daughters in my life. As a matter of fact, I used to enjoy loneliness and
often cherish the freedom of staying all alone in my hotel room while
travelling but today, staying alone at home without my better half and kids
were totally different experience altogether, which I have never felt before. I
realized it to be very annoying, lonely and scary which would instantly kill
me, if I stayed alone for few more days.
Therefore I decided to call my wife
and wanted her to fly back with kids immediately, but then I recalled, she has
gone to her parents house after so many years and thought to let her be with
them, I will somehow manage alone, not an issue and immediately dropped the
idea of calling her back. They were physically not with me but I could see
their signatures all around and at each and every place of the house; on top of
it, this was very chilly winter which had further dropped my morale down and
these types of things I have never experienced and witnessed in my life
before.
I kept the food tray in the kitchen and came back to the bedroom
with my cup of tea. I was going to have my first sip of the tea when suddenly
my door bell rang. It was almost ten pm at night, who could come at this hour
of winter night? I opened the front door and came out in the lobby
and asked in a louder voice: “Who is it?” I saw one old man in the outfit
of a temple-priest with very heavy grey beard and long hairs in white clothes
standing in front of my gate and smiling. I noticed that he was not wearing any
woolen garments instead his neck was flooded with lots of garlands (Made out of
Chandan, Rudraksh, Sputik & Tulsi beetles).
He inquired about
one Dr. Sengupta who used to live in this house earlier. I first folded both my
hands and wished him and later very politely told him that no person by such
name lives in here any longer. He immediately apologized, said sorry and preceded
towards his SUV parked next to my house. Immediately thereafter, I very
politely called the old man and invited him to come inside for a cup of tea at
that chilly winter night provided it’s alright with him.
He willingly accepted my invitation and came along with me inside
the house without any hitch or hesitation; I requested him to sit on the
sofa-cum-bed and went towards the storeroom to get him some woolen clothes. I
offered him the blanket but he refused with broad smile and said he does not
require it, because he is not feeling any cold as such. I was a bit surprised;
he seemed to be a person of mid sixty years of age, very bulky but solid
physique, tall with whitish complexion and wearing white cotton clothes, omega
wrist watch and branded sports shoes.
I inquired if he wanted to use the washroom for which he said yes.
I gave him one new towel and soap cake. Meanwhile, I went towards kitchen and
started making one more cup of tea for my guest. By the time I finished my
work; he also came out from the washroom and went towards the drawing room
where his soft luggage (which was pasted with the stickers of different
international airlines) was kept on the floor. He sat down on the carpet and
took out some religious books and started performing his evening prayers.
After half an hour of worship he got up from the floor, looked at
me, smiled and said: “You may have to warm up the tea again.” I accepted his advice and went towards
the kitchen to do the needful. We both sat down on the sofa and finally started
sipping the tea; he first spoke about himself and started communicating with me
freely as if he knew me since long. He was speaking in fluent English, besides
his command on Hindi and Sanskrit languages were also excellent. He seemed to
me a very brilliant, learned and highly qualified scholar.
He was there to meet
his old friend who was a Homeopathic Doctor by profession. He came here after
five years, most of the time he used to travel abroad to meet with his clients
and disciples while keeping his head quarter
at Dehradoon city of Uttara-khand State
During our long conversation, he talked about everything except
politics. He was a well read man and had read almost all the best-sellers of
English literature; it came as a big surprise to me when he also talked about
Hindi, Bengali and Marathi literature with the same depth, length and detail.
It was almost five o-clocks in the morning and I requested him to take some
rest now. Instead he informed me that he had to catch a flight to Zurich from Terminal-3 of Delhi
He knew everything about my family members and spoke at length
about them in details. He even disclosed those things related to my childhood
which only I knew about and nobody else in the family. Later, he invited me to
ask him any question about my future and my family member’s future as well but
instead, I turned down his offer very politely without showing any interest or
excitement. Moreover, I was not very keen to know about my future and my
family-member’s as well. He was totally taken aback and was surprised and
shocked as to why I’m not asking him any question/s. He again asked me for the
second time, if I had any kind of question or query, with great humbleness, I again refused to ask him any
question about my destiny, fate and future without any excitement, interest and
inquisitiveness.
Finally he decided to use the washroom again so that he can get
fresh and properly dress-up for the morning flight; meanwhile, I also went
straight away to the kitchen to prepare tea and bread-butter-toast for his
breakfast. After his morning prayers he sat down with me and finished his
breakfast without raising any doubt or suspicion.
Later, he sat down on the floor to do his meditation in silence mode and he was uttering some phrases of
Sanskrit in very low voice. With lots of courage and conviction I asked him
about his Blood pressure, Heart and Piles problems; and to my utmost surprise
he responded in a very low and sad voice that those physical problems are not
under his direct control. I also inquired about his spouse’s health who was suffering from acute
gynecological and sciatica problems. He again replied to me in a negative tone
but immediately thereafter he asked me very bluntly: “How did I know about his personal
problems?”
As a matter of fact, giving predictions was his profession and not
mine and I was having no suitable answer to offer him at that point in time.
Even I was very surprised, how I uttered those words to Pundit ji, it was a big
surprise which only our Lord can answer, who happened to be the biggest astrologer,
numerologist and palmist of this universe who knows what to do, when to do and
how to do it; we have to simply keep our eyes/ears open, obey HIS instructions
and perform our duty honestly, sincerely with hundred percent dedication,
devotion and trust, on day to day basis without expecting anything in return
and leave the results in HIS hands without any doubt, fear or scare.
Today I was really very surprised at the same time fully satisfied
to see the outcome of today morning’s discussions with Pundit ji, which were so
appropriate, correct, convincing and positive with cent percent accuracy, as if
it directly comes from the Perfectionist who seems to be the original Creator of
this Universe!
With Prayers
Gurcharan
