Shashi Sarma

Drama

5.0  

Shashi Sarma

Drama

The Light

The Light

5 mins
469


It was in the year 1965. I was just eight-year-old. It was a cold winter night in November. The strong chilling winds were knocking the windowpanes of my bedroom. It was dark. A strange calmness prevailed inside the house. Only a lone table lamp kept at the corner table castes a dim yellow light in my room. My parents had slept. It was 1030 pm. I was reading a storybook gifted to me by my aunt on my birthday.


It was a story of a saint. I had read that many times, however liked to read over again. There was no sleep in my eyes. I felt as if something was keeping me awake to experience. The wall clock struck one bell. It was one o clock at night. In a gap of few seconds, I heard a sound outside at the back door of my room facing the backyard of a garden. I got alert and started thinking as to what will it be at such an odd hour. I gathered strength and opened the back door of my bedroom. I saw a few dry leaves in the courtyard. I saw a light in the desolate street. I felt the chill down my spine. I stood still to understand what it was. Suddenly I felt that someone unknown was forcing me to follow the light. I was just following its instructions as if my senses were being controlled by it. It was guiding me towards a lonely hut a little far from my house and near our fields. The boundary of our fields faced a graveyard on one side. The hut was at one edge of the graveyard. No one actually lived there. But my father used to tell me that an old hermit of around 86-year-old lived there. He had divine powers and always helped people in trouble. But for the last ten years, no one knew where he had gone.


I followed the light entering the hut. There was a torn mat, a square wooden plank, and an oil lamp. I could not make out if it was a dream or a reality. The light slowly took the shape of a man wearing a positive aura and his face was glowing with the radiant light. He smiled at me. I could not take my eyes away from his face and kept on looking into his eyes. He held my hand and pressed my forehead with his right thumb. I felt the positive current passing through my body. He shared few words of wisdom and instructed me to serve humanity. He advised me to look inside me and do self-realization. He addressed me to become perfect and to have faith in Almighty. He further told me that he would be by my side whenever there would be any problem. He informed me that before my birth, my father served him for two years to be blessed with a girl child. He said that I had to fight my struggles on my own for going on the right path. I would be leading my life all alone though I would be surrounded by many people. After sharing this he vanished. I found myself alone. I came out of the hut and saw the light far off on the way to my home. I followed that and reached back home. I felt relieved. I could not understand as to what was it- a dream, illusion or reality. Then I slept.


Next morning when I got up, I found myself with great positive energy. I didn’t talk about this with my parents. I became more matured than my age and even confident. My father was trying to know the reason for the change in me. I studied hard and topped in my school, completed my B.A. and Masters Degree. I started working and along with it gave tuition-free of cost. I fed stray dogs every day. I never had time for myself.


Once I got an opportunity to teach a boy called S staying near my house. His family was financially sound and had a joint family. I always felt that he didn’t mix up with his parents, cousins, and relatives. He loved to be alone. I started chatting with him and made him comfortable to talk to me. What I judged was that he was a slow learner and his mother was strict and always compared with his younger brother and cousins who were sharp in studies. Now I knew his problem, hence worked hard with him. He was in the sixth standard. After two months he scored very good marks beyond expectation by the mother in his UT exams. This motivated him. With my help, he won prizes in writing competitions also. He came close to me and started discussing his family matters also.


One of her aunts started feeling jealous of him and I as he scored more marks than his own son in the same school. She kept on poisoning the mother. One day I got shocked when his mother started blaming me that his son didn’t listen to anyone except me. She forgot all that I did for her son. I saw hatred in her eyes. I felt hurt badly and stopped teaching him. But he used to talk to me over phone whenever he got a chance. He could not forget me. I blessed him for his success in future endeavors.


That night I could not sleep and cried. I thought of the hermit and felt his presence in my room. He appeared and consoled me by saying that it was my first mission completed and more such missions to be completed. I felt peace at heart. One day I came to know through someone that S has become Charted Accountant and is a confident man today. It was the light that guided my path and decided what I am supposed to do in my life. 


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