Issue 13
Sage
Uma Mahadevan-Dasgupta
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Sage
My mother left my father and all of us, once, and went to the Himalayas. She was following the footsteps of a guru. He was this tall man who came to our house one morning in the monsoons. Begging for alms, the way sadhus do. She was making dosas for us. She gave him a dosa, then another. He ate silently. Then, after he had put down his coffee tumbler, he asked her what she would like.
"I am content," she replied. "I want my family to be happy."
"And you? Wisdom, peace, happiness for you?" He sounded like a salesman offering three different vacation packages.
"Yes," said my mother.
"Yes," asked the wise man. "Which one?"
"Yes. Wisdom, peace, happiness for me," she replied.
"There is no happiness with wisdom."
"Then it is not wisdom."
It went on like this for a while, in riddles, while we ate our breakfast and watched curiously.
"Come with me," said the man.
"I will," said mother.
She put down the ladle with which she was pouring the dosa atta onto the pan, switched off the gas stove, and followed him into the dripping rain.
She came back a month later. I thought she looked wiser.
~Uma Mahadevan-Dasgupta
Uma Mahadevan-Dasgupta lives and works in Mumbai (Bombay), India. She is currently working on a travel book. Email.
© 2003 by Uma Mahadevan-Dasgupta. All Rights Reserved.
© Copyright 2003 by Cayuse Press. All Rights Reserved.