Divya's awakening

Divya’s awakening

“Roop tera mastana” is the starting lyrics of a very famous song from a Hindi  film which later became a box-office hit in the early seventies. The child Divya just aged around three was humming the tune in perfect melody and beats to the absolute thrill of her parents who doted on her.

Divya was a darling of the entire neighborhood of the residential block where her parents Alok and Seema lived. She was an extremely pretty kid with the right mix of innocence and that exact shade of naughtiness in her expressive eyes. From the time she was awake and had her fill of food around nine in the morning she would be the toast of every neighbor in turns and will be back home only by noon to have her lunch. After an afternoon sleep and a similar routine in the evening she would come home for dinner and then to a comfortable sleep. Life in Alok’s household was close to “bliss”. Both the child and the parents doted on each other.

Divya started school from a nearby institution, which though not very great, was however known to be fairly good in academics and the alumni represented a fairly large number of its students in eminent positions. Divya grew up excelling in her classes, both in studies and in other extra-curricular activities and was among the most popular not only in her peer group, but with her seniors as well.

The first sign of a streak of something not quite so much in sync with her personality was noticed by the time she was about 14. She was teamed up with a couple of others for submission of a project and though she was not too keen to start with, she was more than interested when she found a great potential to turn out a nice end product.

But the rub was this; one of the team members was one who was not particularly known either for intelligence or for any other great innate quality.  The contribution from this guy was however substantial which had the potential of exposure of his hidden talent to others. Divya was quick to recognize the danger of her losing her elevated perch and wanted a way out. She decided that she would opt out unless the credit titles recognized solely her name with the others getting only a casual mention.

To cut the episode short, the project itself was dropped and the third member of the team – a very close friend and an admirer- by name Sunidhi was slightly shocked but out of love for her friend and her innate goodness decided to keep this bit of knowledge to herself.

Times passed. Divya went on to finish her engineering and then a management course and got an excellent opening in a MNC. By this time her fondness for keeping her name always on top of accolades list, combined with an extra-ordinary intellect took on more menacing overtones. She would willfully fail to acknowledge or just feign ignorance about a junior’s contribution and would be more than curt with anyone who was found wanting etc.

The corporate world however not only overlooked these but were able to  discern an immense potential for leadership, which they felt could be harnessed. They loved her, and soon enough she rose in ranks and was even tipped to take over the reins in Singapore to head the Asia-pacific operations, in a none-too-distant future.

During these times she lost both her parents and sensing that she could be vulnerable, she cultivated a deliberately supercilious mien which not only prevented anyone from taking any liberties with her but also helped create an aura of being far superior to most of the peers, besides possessing that  inner strength which makes one a leader. There were however times when these affected kind of cultivated habit prevented her from getting any real friends, the need for which was particularly felt in those times.

It was during this time that she felt attracted to Padmanabhan – Paddu, to friends- her peer in the finance department, and would have been too happy if this could lead to wedlock. He was the exact opposite of Divya; soft, approachable by any and every one irrespective of rank sans any reservations about the time of call. He was as handsome as Divya was beautiful.

Paddu was brought up in more conservative environs. He was the only son of his religious parents though without the trappings of strict orthodoxy. His parent’s house where he grew up was open to any guest almost all the time if he /she were genuinely in need for help. Being nice, helping fellow humans, etc were all part of a de-rigueur, during his upbringing. The beauty was that he was a natural, and these imposed discipline only aided in honing his latent goodness.  

He understood Divya completely; he knew her ambitions and was certain that she will get to the top one day. He knew that she liked him, and was more than a little uncomfortable to realize he was envied by a few who discerned Divya’s soft corner for him. But he was also very clear that marriage to her was never an option as even though he liked her&, wished her well, love was frankly not an emotion he felt for her. 

He was also convinced that the girl, who would want her space and would never be satisfied enough on this aspect, would just not fit his family milieu which he loved and respected and which merited a much greater priority than the girl’s amorous feelings towards him.

Times passed. Divya got over her momentary soft-side, and quickly got back to her steely resolve to get to the top of the organization ladder. She soon went to Singapore as number one heading the Asia-Pacific region. She also found it difficult -after the Paddu episode- to compromise on what she felt was her un-intrude-able space which a marriage would entail. However being human she explored a couple of live-in experiences and these turned out to be nothing short of disasters.

Meanwhile Paddu got married to a girl of his parent’s choice and who happened to be –by sheer choice of the providence- Sunidhi, the bosom friend of our chief protagonist, Divya, from her school days. Paddu went on to head the Indian operations of the firm. Sunidhi was the head mistress of a reputed school. She was beautiful, cultured, could naturally and effortlessly slip into the role of a daughter to Paddus parents -- who doted on her --  and the couple had two lovely daughters to add that extra color to a very blissfully happy family.

Divya’s live-in relationship had perhaps something to do with Paddu’s marriage to her closest friend in school. And it somehow happened one day that Divya had to visit India to oversee operations of the firm. As head Paddu was the chief host. Though there were those uncomfortable moments when she and Paddu were on a one-to-one- kind of meetings, being a professional she overcame those quickly, and finally after three days it was time for some informal chats.

Paddu invited her to his house for lunch, especially since Sunidhi wanted to meet her. He went one step further; being a week-end, he suggested that Divya spend the next two days at his house with the family. In spite of all her aloof exterior mien, she found it very difficult to reject this wonderfully warm suggestion as she knew how sincere Paddu was, and was also equally keen on meeting Sunidhi.

When she said yes almost immediately, Paddu felt a pang of guilt in his heart; this brave girl sans her misguided notions about her “space” was perhaps actually very vulnerable and needed love, and since he was not prepared to give her that when she probably wanted it, he decided that she will get the best attention at his place.   

Being a Tamilian herself, the south Indian menu served for lunch was divine to her. Sunidhi was genuinely warm and the children just a delight. She could also sense the almost perfect empathy between the parents and all the rest of Paddu’s family. Just for a moment she went back to her own childhood days when her family was almost similar. The ambience was so pure that any thought of a regret or envy at not being a part of all this just did not cross her mind and for once Divya was surprised……..

It was the second day -a Sunday- and she found herself waking up late only to see Sunidhi and the rest having had their baths, morning puja complete and that wonderful aroma of freshly brewed coffee and nice breakfast “Pongal” permeating the entire house. It was a long time since she had had such a wonderful beginning to her day. In fact she could not remember when she had last woken up in a home full of friends who were just there for you.

Paddu had planned a short outing with Sunidhi and children along with Divya to the Mughal gardens and be back for lunch. The normal Divya would have been furious if anyone had taken any decision without consulting her. But once again the absence of anger surprised her.

There was something about this house; she found herself instead saying that she was not quite keen as she was tired. She wished to spend some time with Paddu’s parents, and since it would not be fair to children -- as they would have been excited about the promised outing -- she suggested that all of them take the trip, leaving her with the parents. The suggestion being so logical, all those immediate perfunctory murmurs of protests were quickly and easily brushed aside. Divya looked forward to some comfortable time with the elderly couple who reminded her of her own parents.  

Divya warmed up to them immediately and was narrating to them about her life in Singapore as if she was just a three year old girl excitedly narrating some episode to her enthralled parents in her childhood days. Being an old lady, Paddus mother could not resist asking her as to why she chose to remain single. Though this was sudden, it was not however unexpected. She mumbled something about how she felt that marriage was too much of a compromise and how it was difficult avoiding letting go one’s space etc.

At this the old man did something totally unexpected. He just got up and hugged Divya and planted a mild kiss on her forehead and just said “oh my poor child”. It was so warm & spontaneous that there was this instant empathy between the two; she knew that the old man had seen thru her excuse. All she wanted was just to be loved as she would have been as a three year old, and the old man as if reading her mind did just that…

Divya was overwhelmed and just wept on the old man’s shoulders. At that moment she realized what she missed all these years, and wished that the time was just frozen and she could savor this forever. After a few moments the old man spoke.

“Sharing only enlarged one’s space; the more her father gave in to her whims in those early years, the more space he found to share. The root cause for this fear of losing one’s space was the overreaching desire to possess everything. Instead a strong desire for a union with Him should be the sole purpose in life. 

With this firmly on mind if one went about life doing what is to be done, sharing what we can, loving without being judgmental, He will show the way as His only desire is to aid you realize this oneness. Any obstacles in this path to realization are to be taken as course corrections which unfortunately are known only to Him. The key to happiness therefore was “faith”, without fears of either losing one’s space or someone else walking away with whatever was due to me kind of mindset.

Having found an apt listener, the old man was now unstoppable. He went on to narrate a story from the epic Ramayan about the illiterate but devout old lady Shabari, just to bring home the point that His grace had no bias for either one’s status or erudition.

Lord Rama is told by sage Bharadwaja to go and see her as her only wish as she was preparing to leave her mortal body was to see her Lord. When He visits her, she tells him that though she would love to sing some hymns in praise of her Lord, being illiterate regrets her inability to say anything at all. She therefore suggests to Him that being that all knowing self- effulgent omnipotent /omniscient Lord, fathoming her love for Him being not so difficult, He can compose the most befitting hymn in his own praise, pass on the authorship to her illiterate self, and then take it as her offering.”

Divya was transformed; she was now the three year old listening to her dear papa, telling her nice bed time stories before she went off to sleep. Before she could realize how long they had been thus chatting, Paddu returned. He could see that Divya was happy, and wondered as to what was exchanged between his parents and her. For Divya the time spent with the old man was an uniquely pleasant experience and though she was not able to fully digest what he said, she realized the old man’s love which touched her, and quite unexpectedly she found herself promising that she would mull over what the old man had said.

They all had lunch and later some excellent time talking about all kind of things till it was time to take leave. Paddu could see tears welling up in Divya’s eyes. As if reading his mind, Sunidhi gave her a reassuringly warm hug and to relieve the heavy atmosphere, mockingly told her that if she failed to be in touch for more than a single day, she would see to it that she gets a nice spanking thru a courier!!!

Within a few months of her return to Singapore, she received news about her taking over as CEO and with posting in the US of A. For perhaps the first time in her life she was not too excited. She remembered her conversation with Paddus father. If indeed this was part of His course correction, she was determined that she would try and follow her own intuitive directions, based on what little she understood from her conversation with the old man, with the faith that He is guiding her.

She mulled over what she will do; there could be an emphasis on improved employee satisfaction rather than increased turnovers/profits etc, and perhaps she will also do more on CSR issues, for starters. And most importantly having found an unusual peace at Paddus house she would visit them, see his parents  spend precious time with those loved ones who all loved her and had her happiness in their mind and hearts, savor this news with them, and finally take their well-wishes, before taking up the new posting with added responsibilities.  

That night after a long, long time she went to bed in peace without feeling the need for a pill to induce sleep, and slept almost immediately…….   

Sutradhar Vichu’s epilogue:

When will He deem it apt to give me a hug and say “oh my poor son”?                

                                       

Hope you will like it folks…….. Vichu