“Can you give me something to eat please? I had not eaten for a week.” a 10 year old child begged for some food.
“Me neither. Please give me something too.” another 12 year old.
“Please”, “Please”, “Please……” He seemed to be surrounded by hundreds of hungry children.
Sevak woke up with a startle.He seem to perspire despite the december chill. He woke up checking the time. It’s 3.45 AM a 15 minutes earlier than his schedule. He still seem worried. He did not get this dream that often these days, but something seemed wrong. He went along his daily chores and fell into his routine of waking the children and help them follow the routine for the day. While in the meditation room, he was disturbed by his friend for life Sameera. And he knew something did happen because this was only the second time in the 15 years they have been together, that Sameera disturbed him while meditating.
When he came out of the meditation hall, he could see a van near the gates of “Aashray”, a few saffron clad people and also a few reporters. He noticed that among the saffron clad people was Sadguru, the patronizer and personal aide of “Bhole Baba” a widely followed religious and humanitarian personality in the country. That made his suspiscions more concrete. He went to them and enquired what the matter is. And the worst news came thru Sadguru himself.
“Bhole Baba passed away in the night”.
“When” Sevak asked with thoughts about the past clouding him.
“Early in the morning at 3.45 AM”
Sevak’s thoughts came to a pause. He seemed to cry for a moment, but somehow came back to his senses.
Without further delay he nodded towards Sameera and accompanied Sadguru to pay homage to “Bhole Baba”.
This left the reporters with little choice but to cook up a story of their own.
Soon the news channels were broadcasting what happened at “Ashray” as their prime story. There were many speculations as to what a atheist NGO leader like Sevak doing at the ashram of a religious person like Bhole Baba, that too when the Baba was known to be in his final hours. The media has still not known about the demise of Baba. It had been kept a tight secret only to a very few insiders. Even the people waiting in the Ashram were thinking that Baba is still battling his life.
After a few hours the news broke that Bhole Baba was no more and Sevak was to head the Bhole trust and all other organizations under it. The decision was taken with apprehension as Sevak was well known as a atheist and people worried about the future of the trusts. But nothing happened as they feared. The religious activities were held with as much fervour as were the charitable activities. Sadguru and Sevak acted as a team and took forward the ideology forward as a team.
Sevak started his activities with more intensity owing to the deep financial backing of Bhole Baba trust. His ambition that “No child in my country should go hungry” which was a mirage a few years back, seemed to become a reality soon. He extensively travelled across the country along with Sadguru and oversaw the activities of the child homes which were run by the trust. He seemed to get energy out of nowhere. As the years progressed, he could see a steady change. Not many cities had children begging on the streets for alms. They were happily studying and making a future in “Aashray”.
Sevak was now 80 years old. Most of his activities were confined to the ashram. Sadguru passed away only last year. His Sameera left him almost a decade back. Now all the works which involved travel were being taken care of by Asif, a gem of a person who grew in the folds of Aashray. It was december again and the cold was very harsh. Sevak went to bed again. He was suddenly reminded of the dream he used to get so frequently in his youth. He did not get it even once in the last forty years. The last time he got the dream was the night when Bhole Baba passed away.
Sevak slowly slipped into sleep. But his subconscious mind was working with much fervour today. He was having many dreams. About his childhood when he was raised by the streets among the dogs, the first lesson on begging and how he hated it, the pure joy he got after having a peice of bread bought using the money he earned himself by cleaning a shop, how he was adopted by a journalist and then was taken care by him. But the most important parts of his life slowly started coming back to him as a movie.
He was taken to journalism as his adopted father was one famous journalist. He was particularly attracted to investigative journalism where he dared to do anything to expose the evils of people to the society. And being an atheist, he did not take to the religious leaders and babas who he believed duped the people on their religious beleifs and exploited them. According to him one such person was Bhole Baba. He had a very large following among the ordinary and also the wealthy and powerful. He lives in an ashram constructed in a vast area amid much pomp and show. Sevak was determined to show the true colors of Bhole Baba to the world.
He started collecting evidence around the ashram and one night broke into a secret chamber which was used by Bhole Baba to store the things which he can use to prove to the world that Bhole Baba was duping the world. But his luck ran out soon and was caught by Baba’s disciple Sadguru and was locked up in a room. After a while Baba himself came into the room and said that he wanted to talk to him. The conversation and the turn of events that followed changed Sevak’s life for ever.
“Who are you. What do you want here?”
“I am here to expose to the world that you are not a sant but duping them all these days.”
“Do you believe in God?”
“No I dont. I am an athiest.”
“Good! I too donot.”
Sevak was confused by this.
“I want to show you something. And even after that you want to continue your work, I will not oppose you. But whatever i show to you, receive with an open mind. That is my only request.”
A rather bewildered Sevak followed Bhole Baba into the inner folds of the ashram. He was led into a hall, rather a dormitory where almost five hundred children of all ages were sleeping. Bhole Baba lead him to another two such dormitories where there were many children sleeping. He asked Sevak to wait till dawn, and watch the routine. The children’s schedule started at 4′O’clock. After freshing up, they went thru an exercise regime, and an hour of meditation. Then nutritious breakfast was served to them, and then the day’s schooling started. Bhole Baba came to Sevak after his regular bhajan program ended and aked him about things he saw. Sevak was partly mellowed down by then and he asked Baba to explain what he saw. Bhole Baba started the story of his life.
“I was a street urchin from the time i remember. I neither remeber seeing my parents nor anyone who took care of me. As i grew older, i struggled each and every day for a meal. There were weeks together that i went without a meal. I saw other street children struggle like me. I saw death because of hunger. There were two things that i observed people feared and liked. Its Money and God. I decided that i needed to make use of the so that not many other children did not suffer a childhood trauma like I did. So i started duping people in the name of god and the power of money. Never did i take anything from poor people or people who believe blindly. I only saw that whatever the bigshots duped the people was returned to them atleast in a part. As my following increased, so did the donations.
Today most of the dishonest politicians and businessmen who believe that they are really doing wrong in duping people of their hard earned money, come to me and donate huge sums thinking that it will lead them to salvage. Not that i believe it, but i am sure they will one day rot in hell. But the money they give is very much needed in my mission. As a child i used to get many nightmares. But the worst of all nightmares i got is that when i had a piece of bread in my hand, i am surrounded by hundreds of hungry children asking me to give me something to eat. So my mission of life was to never let a child go hungry. Today a thousand children here and another thousand in the other ashram are being taken care of.
So finally what i have to say is, If you expose me to the world, I donot have much to lose. But these children will be back on the streets. So take a decision which seem right to you.”
With that Bhole Baba left, and Sevak was left to his own thoughts. When he started leaving the ashram, no one stopped him. He could hear the happy voices of children ringing in his ears till he reached home. He remained in a daze the whole day. Then in his sleep, he got the same dream which Baba described, for the first time. He woke up startled and then made a decision which changed the coarse of his life.
His career may have been boosted by exposing Bhole Baba, but it would end up with many children back on the streets. Not all people can be like his father and he too cannot take care of many. He decided that he would start a place where he would according to capacity take care of street children. He set up “Aashray” and his life too now had a goal. As for his intention to expose Bhole Baba, he felt some wrongs should be left alone on their own “For the greater good”.
P.S: This post is not meant to offend anyone. The views reflected are purely imaginatory.
