HIMALAYA'S MONSOON

                                                  HIMALAYA'S HISTORY

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             MONSOON HAD STARTED IN FULL SWING FROM THE SOUTHEAST, FROM THE BAY OF BENGAL. THIS WAS THE SEASON OF RICE CULTIVATION IN THE SOUTH AND EAST OF INDIA. VAST STRETCHES OF THE RURAL FIELDS OF BENGAL WERE PARTIALLY FLOODED WITH WATER. TINY GREEN PADDY SHOOTS WERE JUST RAISING THEIR HEADS ABOVE THE WATER.

            FARMERS RELAXED IN THEIR MUD HOUSES AFTER MANY DAYS OF HONESTY, SELF-RESPECT, AND WILLING ENDURANCE. SOMETIMES A LATE RETURNING VILLAGER WOULD BE SEEN TARRYING ON THE MUDDY PATHS, BAREFOOTED, SANDALS IN ONE HAND AND LOOSE DHOTI HELD HIGH ABOVE THE KNEES IN THE OTHER. PASSING BY A FAMILIAR HOME, HE WOULD CALL OUT HELLO, GET A RESPONSE FROM OUTSIDE THE HOUSE - A WORD OUT HELLO, GET A RESPONSE FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE- A WORD OR TWO MORE- AND THEN CARRY ON THE LAST LAP OF HIS HOMEWARD JOURNEY. OUTER ACTIVITIES WERE OTHERWISE HARDLY NOTICEABLE.

           IN THE NIGHTS, FROM FAR - OFF DISTANCES, BENGALI DEVOTIONAL AND FOLK SONGS WERE FAINTLY AUDIBLE WITH THEIR RYTHMIC DRUMBEATS INTILLING A MYSTIFYING AND ENCHANTING MOOD.

           VILLAGE KADAMBINI WAS ABOUT FOUR MILES FROM THE LAST RAILWAY STATION ON THE NARROW GAUGE LINE. A DUSTY ROAD LED FROM THE STATION TO THE VILAGE, FIT ONLY FOR PEDESTRIANS AND BULLOCK CARTS. AT THE OUTSKIRTS OF THE VILLAGE WAS A WELL- KNOWN KALI TEMPLE, A GREAT CENTRE FOR TANTRA PRACTICES. NEARBY AT THE CREMATION GROUND, TANTRICS LIVED AND PRACTICED THEIR CRUDE TECHNIQUES NIGHT AFTE NIGHT.

COMMON PEOPLE OFTEN SHUNNED VISITING THE PLACE AFTER DARK. MANY STORIES OF DREADFUL EPISODES MADE PEOPLE SOMEWHAT FEARFUL. BUT NOT EVERYONE KEPT AWAY. ADHERENTS OF OCCULT SECTS CAME DAILY AFTER DARKNESS DESCENDED. SOME WOULD ENTER THE CREMATION GROUND AND START THEIR PRACTICES, WHILE OTHERS SAT IN THE VICINITY OF THE KALI TEMPLE. BEFORE DAWN THEY WOULD LEAVE, ONE BY ONE, FOR THEIR HOMES.

BUT THE STORY ONE DAY WHEN A YOUNG BHAIRAVI ARRIVED AT THE TEMPLE AND OCCUPIED A CORNER OF THE VERANDAH. SHE ALWAYS REMAINED IN SILENCE. NO ONE SAW HER EATING ANY FOOD. SHE HARDLY SLEPT. MOST OF THE TIME HER EYES REMAINDED CLOSED IN DEEP REVERENCE. SHE SEEMED UNAWARE OF OUTER SURROUNDINGS. WHEN NEWS OF HER ARRIVAL SPREAD THROUGHOUT THE NEARBY VILLAGES, THRONGS OF PEOPLE BEGAN POURING IN DAY AND NIGHT TO SEE HER. RARELY WOULD SHE OPEN HER EYES TO LOOK AT THE PEOPLE STANDING NEARBY, HER HEAD SELDOM RAISED BEYOND THIS POINT. GRADUALLY PEOPLE BEGAN TO BRING VARIOUS GIFTS. AFTER BOWING DOWN TO HER AND PLACING THE OFFERINGS AT HER FEET, THEY WAITED FOR HER BLESSINGS. HER SILENCE WAS ELOQUENT. HER OCCASIONAL GLANCE PACIFIED  VISITORS. SOME WOULD THEN GO AWAY, BUT OTHERS KEPT WAITING FOR HOURS.

NOT LONG AFTER THAT, STORIES BEGAN CIRCULATING ABOUT HEALINGS, PROBLEMS BEING SOLVED, AND SUCCESSESS ATTAINED, LARGER CROWS ARRIVED, BLOCKING THE WAY SO THAT IT WAS SOMETIMES DIFFICULT TO SEE HER FACE. A FEW SELP-APPOINTED VOLUNTEERS STARTED MANAGING THE PEOPLE SO VISITORS COULD STAND IN LINE AND SEE HER ONE BY ONE. THEY OFTEN ADDRESSED HER AS DEVIJI'S.

RAINS DIDN'T SEEM TO BOTHER MOST OF THE PEOPLE. THE TEMPLE'S SPACIOUS OPEN GROUNDS ACCOMMODATED HUNDREDS. THEY EVEN FORGOT THEIR DREAD OF THE CREMATION GROUND AND THE TANTRICS, BELIEVING THAT THE DEVIJI WAS NEAR THEM!

THE BHAIRAVI WAS FAIRLY TALL AND SLIM, WITH SKIN A BIT DARK. HER FACE WAS LONG AND WELL CHISELED AND HER LIMBS WELL PROPORTIONED. USUALLY HER BLACK HAIR WAS TIED UP AT THE BACK OF HER HEAD, BUT WHEN IMTIED, IT FELL TO HER SLENDER WAIST. WHEN SHE OPENED HER BIG EYES, VISITORS WOULD BE REMINDED, CHIEFLY BY HER PROMINENT EYELASHES, OF THE EYES OF A MUSK DEER. DEVIJI NEVER SEEMED TO NOTICE ANYONE IN PARTICULAR, BUT HER QUIET CALM AND POWERFUL BEARING MADE EVERYONE FEEL AT HOME IN HER PRESENCE.

A FEW MONTHS AFTER DEVIJI'S ARRIVAL AT THE TEMPLE, A YOUNG HOLY MAN WAS SEEN STANDING IN THE LINE. HE WAS DRENCHED BY THE MONSOON RAINS AND THE VOLUNTEERS MADE WAY FOR HIM, HELPING HIM REACH THE BHAIRAVI BY GIVING HIM PREFERENCE.

IN THE HUSTLE AND BUSTLE, DEVI'S OPENED AND FELL UPON THE HOLY MAN, AFTER A BRIEF AND BARELY NOTICEABLE HESITATION, A VERY FAINT SMILE - HARDLY A SMILE - APPEARED ON HER FACE. THE UNFAMILIAR HOLY MAN RESPONDED INVOLUNTARILY WITH A SHY SMILE. HE WAITED FOR SOME TIME, AND WHILE HE WAITED HER EYES DIDN'T CLOSE. THIS WAS PERHAPS THE FIRST TIME SHE WAS SEEN WATCHING SOMEONE IN PARTICULAR! BUT SOON THE HOLY MAN ARRIVED, VOLUNTEERS WOULD USHER HIM NEAR THE BHAIRAVI. GRADUALLY AND QUITE NATURALLY HIS STAY GREW LONGER AND LONGER, SOMETIMES EXTENDING THROUGH THE WHOLE DAY, AND RARELY, EVEN UP TO LAST NIGHT.

NOW DEVI SOMETIMES SPOKE A WORD OR TWO. ONCE SHE ASKED HIM, "SATYAKAM" HE REPLIED IN A SIMPLE TONE.

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