Continued from “Spirituality of Materialism”

Chapter 11, Book Two – ‘Dharma and Moksha’ of Jewel-less Crown: Saga of Life

Letting Vidya have a view of the classrooms of love, Suresh took her round Misty Nest.

“How I wish guruji joins us,” she said as they entered Gautam’s room.

“I did talk to him about it, but he wants to be left alone,” he said, and added mysteriously, “but I see a way to entice him back into our midst.”

“How?” she asked playing the innocent.

“I know you’re no babe,” he said smiling, “at least after that.”

“Why lose time?” she pushed him towards his room.

“Who would like to,” he pulled her ardently, “with a willing mate?”

In their unity of purpose, they were united once again.

“Show me your mother’s room before you take me again,” she said, as she came out of the bath in her lingerie.

“What a way it is to indicate one’s want!” he said smiling .Holding her hand, he led her towards Senha’s quarters.

“Though I have seen that album,” she said, as they were on their way, “never did I imagine a house could be as fabulous!”

“Seeing you in your sari,” he said admiringly, “neither I did imagine you’ve such a curvaceous a figure!”

As they entered Sneha’s room, they kneeled in reverence before her painting.

“Do you know why I am so confident that riches cannot corrupt me?” he said, with a choking voice. “It’s my mother’s last wish that I make a difference to my life and to the others as well. As you know, if not for her sacrifice, I would have been dead and gone long back. So I feel it’s my sacred duty to fulfill her last wish till the every end.”

“I respect your feelings,” she said, moved by their mutual feeling, “and make your cause mine own.”

“I’ll cherish you all the more for that,” he said taking her into his arms.

“I hope I’ll be able to give you a beautiful daughter like her,” she said prognostically, “so that we can name her Sneha.”

“Can there be a better inducement for my father to join us?” he said, hoping for the eventuality.

‘Could there be a better place to conceive?’ she said pushing him on to the bed.

So he pulled her into his embrace as though in agreement. At length, her orgasmic convulsions occasioned his ejaculation amidst their prognostic feeling of conception. Moved by their sentiment, they made it the master bedroom for all time to come.

When her pregnancy was confirmed shortly thereafter, to greet the new arrival, she plunged herself to ground a Sneha Gruha by acquiring a plot for the proposed orphanage near their Mehrauli House.

When Gautam heard about the developments at the home he had abandoned, he couldn’t remain indifferent for long. While he was thrilled about his daughter-in-law’s confinement, he felt grateful to her for her keenness in commemorating Sneha’s memory.

As Vidya’s delivery time neared, Gautam developed a premonition that Sneha would reincarnate herself, and thus awaited the arrival of his granddaughter. And a week ahead of the child’s expected arrival, he felt out of sorts during his discourse that forced him to end it midway. Feeling uneasy all through the evening, he skipped his meal and retired early to bed. Failing to manage a wink past midnight, he impulsively reached for his trunk and picked up the album. Staring at Sneha’s pictures adoringly for long, he was overcome with love and sorrow. At length, feeling at ease, he believed his unease should’ve been induced by the birth pangs of Sneha’s reincarnation as Vidya’s daughter. Closing his eyes with a rare sense of inner peace he had never experienced before, he let sleep overwhelm him in time.

Waking up cheerfully, he awaited the news of the new arrival. But, it was only towards the evening that the confirmation came by telegram—the birth of a girl midnight the previous night. Elated at the development, he was convinced that Sneha had indeed signaled her arrival telepathically to him. In time, he turned sentimental on that count and came to believe that she had forgiven him after all. As that thought gave him an immense relief, he was seized with the desire to espy his wife in her reincarnated shape. However, he tried to control his emotions and sent a message of congratulations to the happy couple suggesting the baby’s barasala be performed at Vanaprastham.

When Gautam's telegram was delivered to them at the Nithya Nursing Home, the happy parents were in seventh heaven.

“How she resembles my mother!” Suresh said for the nth time.

“We can expect guruji to get glued to her,” Vidya repeated parrot-like.

“I hope after her barasala at Annavaram, Delhi would be on his radar,” he wanted to believe what he said.

“Now I can see the change in him,” she said fuelling his hopes further. “How he used to detach himself over the years!”

“Let’s hope it’s that way,” he sighed in hope. “How I wish he lives with us.”

Spending five more days in the nursing home with his wife and the newborn, Suresh drove them home that evening. Seeing the Gautam waiting in the portico for them, the couple couldn’t comprehend their position. But, recovering their wits quickly, they jumped out of the car ecstatically. Even as Suresh bowed at his father’s feet instantly, Vidya put the baby in the right hands, and followed suit.

“I had a premonition about Sneha’s reincarnation,” said Gautam without taking his eyes off the child.

“It could be so for all the resemblances,” said the gratified parents.

“Now I’m sure it’s she,” said Gautam with finality.

“Glad you’ve come to share our joy,” said Vidya.

“Let’s go in,” said Gautam, still looking at the child. “I’ve come to stay for good as it’s my dharma to guide her to moksha.”

The joyous yells of Suresh and Vidya that greeted his statement made Gautam realize he had come back to where he really belonged. And little Sneha opened her misty eyes as though impelled by an urge to see for herself the joyous welcome her reincarnation occasioned at Misty Nest.

Continued to “Epilogue”