Encounter

 Read the previous part here 

I saw a man in his early thirties standing  in front of me with a camera dangling across his neck. I got off my mat and started rolling the mat. The man was still behind the camera lenses. He was wearing a red chequered shirt neatly tucked inside his brown pants. He stood six feet tall and had swarthy features. He sported a well-kept beard. I could make out from his neatly fitted shirt that his chest was chiseled and his arms muscular.  There was a ruggedness in his persona which honestly speaking I found quite attractive. 

‘Shhh..’ He gestured me to keep quiet and went on to click pictures. To my surprise he was not clicking my pictures but of something else from the terrace. The lens of his camera was turned towards the floor. So, he was certainly not taking the pictures of the river, the temple towers or the bazaar.

That’s when a bird took off from the floor and I realized that he was taking the pictures of the bird.
‘Why did you get up? The bird flew away. I missed a good picture.’ He said with a childlike innocence.
‘You seem to be an amateur bird watcher.’ I said with disdain. I was somewhat hurt as he showed no admiration towards my headstand.

‘Why do you say that?’ He asked, and then admitted sheepishly, ‘Well, I am.’
‘That was a robin and you will find them in plenty in any part of the country. It was once a contender for the title of national bird of the country, but lost it to the peacock at the last moment.’
‘Nice to know.’ He said and continued to click some pictures of the river from the terrace.

‘You seemed to have multiple interests, bird watching, photography, intruding on people’s personal terraces to name a few.’
‘Is this your personal terrace? I thought it belonged to the town hall.’
‘Yes, technically the town hall is the owner, but I am a tenant and  pay a regular monthly rent to conduct my yoga classes here.’ I said.
‘In that case, I am really sorry.’ He spoke. There was a genuineness in his tone.

 By that time a few of my students had come and were spreading their mats and settling down. The stranger realized his folly, just said a bye and left. 

I continued my class, conveying instructions to inhale and exhale, but the truth was that the stranger had taken my breathe away. I continued the class as usual, correcting the postures of my students, asking them to observe themselves; not to fight with any thought and accept all that came. But the fact was that the stranger had occupied my heart, and it was difficult to not to think about him.
 

With time I too gave up the fight against the thought of the stranger. The more I tried to shove him away, the more he occupied my mind. Surprisingly, when I gave up fighting against the thoughts, he slowly faded in the memory like a scent.

But we were destined to meet. 

My mother had died when I was a child. My father became my mother too and when I grew up I became his grandmother, as he said. I would always take care of his diet. He was a diabetic. So, I would make sugarless tea for him and kept him away from rice, and he really hated me for that. At times I even caught him going out under one pretext or the other and drinking sugar tea at the tea stall.
That day when he returned home, I rested my head in his lap. He stroked my back. 

‘Are you crying?’ He asked. We were so wired that we would always unmistakably read each other’s mind. I wiped the solitary tear that had welled up in eyes. I raised my head and rested it on his lap.

‘I have no one whom I can call my own. I have already lost a parent and can’t afford to lose another,’ I said. There were tears in his eyes as well, ‘I promise you that I will never touch sugar again.’ He said. I held his hands in mine, kissed them and rested my head on it.

‘But I request for a concession. At least allow me have sweet stuff on your birthday and mine… and Sita’s birthday too. She would feel bad otherwise. She will say, I went to the heavens and you stopped celebrating my birthday and there is….’
‘Ok. Only of these three days you will get concession.’

‘And Diwali..’
‘No. You have promised.’ I reminded him. I loved my dad for his promises. Once he promised something he will never breach it. That was the reason he extracted a few concessions before the promise was made. 

My father followed his diet strictly. He even lost some weight, and in his own words, looked ten years younger. His sugar levels were just a little above the normal level. His doctor was surprised too. ‘I always thought, these diabetes reversal programs are merely a money making tool until I saw your reports.’ My father had a big laugh and when the doctor asked the reason for his laughter he said, ‘My diabetes reversal program is standing in front of you.’

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