[Discover the India of your dreams @ www.oddroad.com - The Way I Like.]
This story is a joint effort by our fellow oddroaders:
Jaffer Sadique, Deepa Chaudhuri, Preeti Patnaik, Arunima Dey, Suman Maji, Geetanjali Joshi Tambar, Ameet Bhuvan, Swathi Komandur, Sandip Chakrabarty , Mangala Chavan and the Oddroad team.
Once upon a time there
lived a man who loved to travel, more than anything on Earth. And, he promised
to not rest till he has seen as much of the world as he could. One day a circus
came to his town. And he thought what carefree life the inmates of the circus
lived..singing, dancing, entertaining people....he had an idea......why not
join the circus and see the world while entertaining everyone? Then he
met the jokers in that circus and found out that their travelling in far and
wide countries had lot of strings attached... The jokers didn't look so happy
after all. They puffed and huffed and told the traveller, "You have to pay
for in whatever way you can...." "I can tell stories of the wonderful
lands I have visited, some funny, some dangerous and some with magic in it,
stories that will capture anyone's interest!" But the jokers did not seem
impressed. They said, " We have seen it all.." The traveler thought
and thought and decided to travel on and he came to a land... A land so
strange, unlike any he had seen before.. a land that got him overwhelmed with
excitement and sent a rush of anticipation cruising through his veins. a calling
that comes from within every nerve of his heart...'take me into your stride!'
With tears of joy in his eyes he entered this land...and as he did he met with
a young girl who said, 'I was waiting for you since long...oh! you look
famished. I was told you would be nervous, but famished? that I was not
prepared for." The traveller said, "I have been wandering around aimlessly until now but seeing you
here makes me forget it all...this beautiful landscape and then finding
you here, leaves me breathless on one hand and completely energised on the
other..." They sit quietly & gaze out at the magic around. Then all of a
sudden, out of nowhere, an old man with a weathered but a calm face walks up to
them... "Welcome to my land! I've been waiting for you, since my last
birth!" This land seems beautiful and mystical but there is still... so many surprises". "First the beautiful maiden
and now the old man",the traveller couldn't help but wonder,"is this a sign for something that is to happen in the future? "Or is it a
trap, a lure of beauty, a scheme hatched by the old man?", the traveller
was rattled. But as the traveller looked up at the old man he felt a sense
of familiarity... The traveller slowly got up and so did the young girl who was sitting with him. The old man put out his hand as if to embrace them. The traveller could not help himself and took the embrace. He closed his eyes and a warm feeling took over him. He could remember tales that his father used to tell him when he was a child. This embrace felt like that of his father, but he has been gone for so long. And, as the traveller opened his eyes he saw a land so beautiful, so mesmerising that he forgot all about his life and he entered the land holding hands with the young girl and the old man, all the time wondering, 'Is this Heaven?'
[Discover the India of your dreams @ www.oddroad.com - The Way I Like.]
