Trudging along the stony roads, with nothing to cover his already sore soles, he looked up and saw the mountains ahead. Bogged under the load he was carrying on his back, he couldn't look too far up the steep slopes. A long way .. 'phew'
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He had been carrying this load for long. Long enough that he thought it had been there since the day he was born. And it was, all he did was add to it. Every day added its own load on his back. His every action, his every thought, his very existence were adding to it and yet he did not realize that it was troubling him. 'Mind games', he would tell himself. 'I am not troubled by anything'. But he was. 'I can get through this storm', but he couldn't. He was wading his way through the blizzards of life and yet he was at the same place he was yesterday, and the day before, and the day before. He was walking alright, but the storm never seemed to settle.
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There was a smile on his face. A day had passed since he started on this path and he was starting to like it. But there was an apprehension. He had taken taken a steep detour from his previous road to take this one, and he was not sure whether he would reach the destination he had set his sights on. Night came and he slept...
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The gong went off and he woke up. Rubbing his eyes,'do they have to start at 4 am?', he thought. He wrapped his blanket and stepped out in the cold towards the hall. Mornings are tough to sit and do this work, he reminisced, after one and half hours. The whole day went by and his body was aching from all the cleaning and clearing. Tired, yet happy, he dozzed, remembering the only words that fell on his ears,"abhi aur bahut kaam baki hai",(still lot of work is left to be done).
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He woke up, and packed his load. It was now his ninth day of travelling. But with every passing day, he had felt lighter. As if the load he was carrying when he began had been magically removed, not completely but to a great deal. There was a smile on his face. 'I am not missing my family anymore', he realised. 'Shit'.
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'A lot has happened in the past 9 days'. He was sitting at his favorite spot below a tree. Reflecting on everything that came his way and everything that was dealt with with silence, reflection and non-reaction. Now he sat here, considering staying there forever. 'Is this what I am supposed to do in my life?', 'Will my parents allow me to?','I sincerely want to do this..','Will I be able to?','has this washed off everything?','There is only one sure way to find out..'. and the gong went off again, he got up and left towards the work-area.
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Its the last day of work. Ten long,gruelling painful yet fruitful days later he was standing on top of the mountain peak, with the joy of conquering a huge task. He sat down and talked to himself,
"I did it", his first words in ten days.
"I did it".
There was a smile, a weird smile. It did not show his happiness, nor was it sad. IT WAS. 'The journey was neither good nor bad'. IT WAS.
"I must call up aai, she must be worried sick". He got up with the smile still there.
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He picked up the receiver and dialed a number.
"Aai..."
"Kon?", the voice from other end echoed in his ears.
'WHO?'.....'WHO?'.....
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He got up and looked ahead. There were countless such peaks remaining to be conquered, but for now he would have to return to the world he left behind, soon to be back again. He might be able to start from where he was standing right now. '...but I must leave for now..' he said that looking the direction of the farthest peak. And like an acknowledgement, the peak glistened in the sun.
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'WHO?'.... he smiled
'Aai, its me'...
The conversation ended in a while and he placed the receiver back on its dock...
'ANICYA.... ANICYA.... ANICYA.... ANICYA....' the word kept appearing everywhere he saw...
