Half breeds of Fate

       Beyond the skies… do I actually need a Karmic telescope to find something that might never be there? One week of idyllic surroundings, meaningful discussions and workshops at the Ashram had failed to quieten the unrest within me…

       I have long understood the meanings of contentment, compromise and amicable symbiosis with all people I have crossed in this finite life of less than ten decades or 1200 months. How little that sounds when so reduced! When periods like million-billion-trillion years or centuries get mentioned, I wonder how many of us can fathom the enormity of such Time. With a little math I could write down one followed by those many zeros and then not know how much that really means! It is like asking an ant to imagine how many steps to the mountain summit!

       What am I then, along so much Time and on Earth, a humble planet in Universe? A fleck or a grain or an atom of Consciousness? Is this it then? Just be born and die, not knowing why it had to happen? Just no more than a flower which also goes through its life cycle in a pre-ordained manner? Or how would a flower, bird, mountain, river search for peace? Or want anything else than being themselves? And how would wanting something even as less materialistic as Peace make me a superior creation than all the living and ‘non-living’? What is my quest? What or who waits to quench my restlessness?

       Futile workshop.. What made me come at all? Hot tears sting my eyes, my coffee is now cold and crusted and the food court is deserted. The public address is announcing the departure of another flight. Mine is delayed by over 3 hours…Three hours in a 1000 months is hardly significant. Yet whiling it away minute by minute is so agonizingly long…!

“Excuse me?”

“Yeah?” There is a Japanese man staring down.

“May I…?” He trails off gesticulating towards the empty chair before me. I shrug. Why did he have to choose my table when it was the only one occupied in the whole cafeteria? I plan to get away and park somewhere else.…

“Akio Takeda.” He says sitting down and still staring at me. Only when he extends his right hand I realize he is introducing himself.

“Uh? Howdy?” I thrust out my moist hand, unwillingly, just so that they don’t conclude Indians are rude. I don’t give out my name. His palm is soft and cool, the handshake warm and lingers longer than intended. He appears vaguely familiar. I could never tell one Japanese or Chinese from the other but him-I think I can recognize him anywhere. Grey strands in thick black hair-may be as old as I am, grey, open collared tees, clean shaven, fair skinned…I am mortified as I realize I am staring too! Yet I fail to look off.

“Do I seem familiar?” he asks with a slight accent.

“Uh? Where have I seen you before?” I blurt out, actually intending to say no! And before long we have actually launched ourselves into conversation! We are poles apart professionally, geographically and every how else by peoples’ standards…yet we have so much to talk and discuss. It isn’t culture, world politics, weather…it is all others but! 

       He tells me his name means ‘glorious hero’…and Takeda is a famous Samurai clan. He is curious about Hindu Gods–Ganesha and Hanuman. I recount the mythologies…“Chimeras,” he says. “Distinct breeds born of two genetically distinct parental cells. Human cells plus elephant’s or monkey’s or snake’s…” I marvel that he thinks it is scientifically possible and not deride our beliefs. I discover he agrees or has similar views about most of my thoughts. I only had to start with the outline and somehow he got the whole picture! What’s it with me today that I have shared so much with a stranger than I had ever with any friend of mine, all my life!? Something was happening here and it was beyond romance or a casual fling! He may be Buddhist or a scientist, an actor or a factory worker… it doesn’t matter to me. Doesn’t matter if he is married or single, straight or gay…only that I have met him does. 

       “Akio Takeda,” I don’t realize I have said his name aloud. “Yes. That is me in this life, “he says cryptically. I suddenly recall he hasn’t asked my name…actually he has not asked anything about me and knows nothing more than what I have divulged. It seems he too isn’t bothered who I could be. He is sitting across happy, attentive and talking excitedly as if we were longtime buddies. We have latched on to unseen twines…had we left them off only yesterday or in some yester-life? Like two jigsaw pieces that found each other! A Karmic aura engulfs us. Us…it sounds so intimate now. So apt and bound to happen. 

“Hello soul-mate!” I jump back from reverie as he says Sssssooul maete. And suddenly it dawns on me that it was the perfect word to describe us. My eyes brim with happy tears. He looks deep inside and I know instantly that he was what was missing from my life. At that moment I feel blessed that my life is complete now. He is my inner peace. I don’t care if he will have any part in the rest of this life time. That he had always been there before is soothing. And that he has found me in this lifetime is magic enough.

“Had you been searching?” I whisper. He nods as he places his hands on mine. The touch feels delicious and carries with it a de ja vu, of so many past lives. We have sought and found each other in this life. Strangely, it now doesn’t matter if we have to go our ways. The knowledge of a soul-mate somewhere on the planet is company enough…is proof enough that Time and Space can be vanquished.

“Last and final call for passenger…travelling to…” The three hours of my 1000 months has simply flown! “That’s my name they are calling on the PA,” I say as I gather my purse. He nods. Sadness descends on us. How many lives had the two of us passed together? To so part after a fraction of Time? The thought that we could have many more in future thrills me. My heart lurches at his sad expression. ”… we can still stay in touch, for the rest of this life...” I say fishing out paper and pen. Jotting down my name, phone number and mail ID, “Hey, where is your home? “I ask as an afterthought.

“Ishinomaki, Japan.”

I hurry off not looking back, thankful I can hide my tears. Can catch him on chat, Facebook…no more isolation.

Next day, as I look up Ishinomaki, I begin to cry. People dead-2127, people missing 2720. Number of buildings destroyed-unclear. Maximum devastation…The 11th March 2011 Tsunami has ravaged his home-town. Has he also been reduced to statistics? As days pass and he does not contact me, I realize I have to wait another life time for Akio.