The Journey has just begun- Chapter 2- The Companions

Chapter II - The Companions

I was staring meaninglessly yet absorbedly at the blue lamp just above the berth. Not entirely meaninglessly, as I was in a thoughtless state of yogic trance. I was distracted from my exalted state by a flashing thought of the famous lines of a poet whose name I could not recollect despite best efforts. My recollection of the lines too were not perfect- “The heights of great men were not by sudden flight attained and kept. They kept toiling upward in the night as their Companions slept.”

Suddenly I realized that I had not even bid a proper farewell to my companions. The same persons whom I had introduced to you a while earlier, Kantaka, the squirrel who talked ceaselessly without good judgment and Nishabda the deaf- mute maid servant, who never uttered a word or was perturbed by Kantaka’s incessant chattering. Guiltily, I turned my eyes away from the light towards the door. There I saw Nishabda standing smiling at me, with Kantaka perched on her shoulder. As our eyes met, Kantaka rattled off.

“How could you do this to me? Do you think I could remain without you in this God forsaken place? And that you could accomplish your mission without me, your thought-keeper.” Even as he labored for words, I wondered, whether he was speaking for himself or for the beautiful Nishabda, who was looking out of the window at the crowded platform. For the first time, his words seemed to have some meaning, that too, only if Nishabda had uttered them and not that indiscreet rodent.

“Now that you are here, why don’t you just shut up?” I protested weakly and tried to return to my trance. I felt my body grow numb and totally oblivious to the surrounding, which was growing more agitated. The protesting voices of my fellow passengers were fading of into a distant murmur. For a moment, I empathized with them as I realized how I felt being disturbed by the annoying pontification of a talkative rodent. As the train started to move, I heard someone say to his companion, “Why don’t we ask the ticket examiner to detrain this guy?” I laughed to myself wondering how the ticket examiner would kick a ticket less squirrel off the train.

It should have been an eventless journey, as I do not remember much of it now. Or to be more precise, I can not remember anything at all. When I awoke, I was tired and lying on a bench in a rather deserted platform of a non-descript platform. Still in a sort of stupor, I surveyed my surrounding. I could not make much of it. I was alone and cold. It was frighteningly dark and my mind could not focus on anything as I drifted back to sleep. How long I remained there or when I awoke, I do not remember. The next thing I can recollect is that I am standing at the end of a serpentine queue before a temple, just behind Nishabda.