On A Notorious Wednesday

                               

To execute the instruction of my foremost spiritual master, His Holiness Shree Nand Baba, and indeed, for honoring the pledge of disseminating English language lessons to the students from the vicinity of the pious Spiritual abode - Shree Karunamai Maa Shaktipeeth, at Sohna Rural, I commute over a hundred kilometers to reach the foothills of the Aravali range. Despite being the usual misty day of January, and yet, the fourth Wednesday of 2018 seemed a tad different. In a bizarre coincidence, the pestering inner voice, that periodically manifests intuitive tit-bits into the subconscious, prompted to carry along the Jio dongle that day. A delayed start by half-an-hour wasn’t the sole reason for being apprehensive. 

Doubtlessly, unresponsive pupils are the other.

Soon, the National Highway 248-A got underway. Perhaps, the clock ticked at quarter-past-three in the absurdly serene afternoon. However, the serenity didn’t linger. En route the Sohna Highway, as the point near the KIIT College rapidly approached, unprecedented traffic congestion awaited all commuters. Sounds of mayhem and commotion emerged from a distance. Locals in hordes began brimming onto a generally tranquil country-side. Suddenly, scores of juvenile youth with a demeanor of delinquent felons knocked on the windows of several cars.

A brief conversation sufficed for the vehicles to turn around.

Bemused with the happenings, I gestured at the same group. Discerning my hand signal, one of the youngsters headed towards me to stand beside the door. Upon being quizzed about the uproar, he replied, 'An angry mob has torched the state transport bus a few minutes ago.” Perplexed by this, I questioned the reason. To which, he retorted,"The agitation is in response to the Padmavat movie. Police has installed pickets to prohibit anyone from going further. For safety, take the alternate route through Maruti Kunj."  

Evidently, Maruti Kunj is one of the many hamlets surrounding the highway. Fortunately, sanity prevailed to keep the Wi-Fi running from the inception of the voyage. In a peculiar sense of irony, the network, muck like the vehement fanatics traversing the streets of a democratic nation, was incessantly broadcasting navigational alternatives on Google Maps, beforehand. 

Talk about foresighted intuitiveness!

Incidentally, residents in the outskirts of Delhi, similar to those for whom the seventy percent of the nation’s landmass is a domicile, have two commonalities – agrarian subsisting populace and animal husbandry. Like the rest of the rustic terrain, most households in the pastoral expanses that are dwellings for millions of inhabitants in the National Capital’s backyard, own, various bovine species for subsistence – cows, buffalos, goats, you name it. Certain affluent farmers possess the financial wherewithal to erect an entire cowshed, wherein, a whole gamut of animals graze, gulp, and chew for hours on end.

Nonetheless, the visual of a lanky camel tied-up at the gates of elementary homes with make-do amenities was flabbergasting, to say the least. Strangeness is a peculiar thing, the more it gets taken for granted, the greater the astonishment upon revelation of the undiluted truth. So, after an hour of driving on narrow lanes and winding dirt roads, meandering through constricted spaces between vast farmlands, opened out to the renowned Damdama Lake road, which is perpendicular to the foothills of the picturesque Aravali range.

From a geographic standpoint, the 12 kilometer excursion ensured the circumvention of the mile-long tumultuous stretch, between KIIT College and Bhondsi village, which apparently, became the epicenter of a riotous crowd running amok. Intriguingly, the acts of mindless vandalism continued, precisely, for thirty minutes. Perhaps, the inadvertent holdup facilitated a safe-passage. Conceivably, the Guru-energies, in tandem with divine providence, encapsulated the chauffeur of the decade-old Maruti Alto, borrowed from a benevolent older sibling (with a presumptuous unladylike alter ego), till all hindering perils got left far behind.

Such a perception reinforces the embodied Soul’s trust in goodness, thereby, fortifying faith in a compassionate higher power. Eventually, upon reaching the language class commenced, albeit, a bit off-schedule, to conclude as initially intended. In spite of the impediments causing momentary anxiety, some delays are certainly serendipitous.

After all, divinity knows best.