Chapter 2

Chapter 2
May 02

It was not the first time Rodger was in Switzerland. He had a number of holding companies chartered here, had many bank accounts confidential and not so confidential. Those accounts were used one time or other for his legal, illegal or make-believe legal transactions. The road to riches not always passed through all legal territory. He always had many businesses to take care in Zurich but this time he resisted the temptation.

He took shower in his hotel and ate a very simple breakfast in a French restaurant. He had one full day in the Zurich and he wanted to walk around the lake and the streets. In his last several visits he flew in his jet and flew back in the same day or rarely spent a night here. He always wanted to take trams, walk along the lakeshore and sit on the benches by the lake like all other people. He still had tinnitus in his ears, what he could do about it? He must learn to live with it. He walked on the lake shore, sat on the bench, took a tram trolley without knowing where it is going. From the last station he walked back along the tram tracks to the same place and then rented a bicycle and went around the lake area. At noon he had a big salad and a sandwich. At evening he saw a movie and then called Jennifer, all was well; many of his executives were in suspense about his sudden and unusual absence. A ticker tape on a bank front indicated that copper and oil futures moved even higher, so he was even richer, his stocks too were moving up. In his hotel lobby he checked Internet. Wall Street Journal ran the story of his involvement with Canadian Government for mineral mining and processing rights. It was a deal too huge and too uneconomical for any other company in the western world but he had engineering know-how and machine fabrication facilities in India and Thailand, he was able to run this operation profitable. Canada Government transferred its own losing stake to him for almost nothing in the hope that he would bring prosperity to a disadvantaged arctic region; his hard negotiation skills brought him even more tax advantages. Over the night his holding company’s stock went up by thirty percent. That deal pushed Canada Composite Index higher by two percent. He regretted using Internet because this news gave him anxiety and made him nervous. Head start was not easy in the semi-arctic remote region in Yukon Canada, even the though of it made his stomach churn. Environmentalists have already come out on the streets.

He went out for a walk on the lake shore and came back to his hotel at eight in the evening, watched TV but avoided all financial channel or news then asked for a wakeup call at reception at 5 AM. Tried to sleep, when reception called him to wake up at 5 in the morning he was still awake and nervous, his hands were trembling and eyes were heavy. He took a shower, packed up his belongings and called room service. Hotel employ loaded his belongings in the trunk of a stretch limousine and he arrived at the Airport to catch the flight to New Delhi.

An unpleasing suspense was waiting for him at Zurich airport, apparently some body in the airline staff recognized his name and informed press, even this early in the morning some press reporters were waiting for him on the airport, their cameras flashed, they already had a knowledge that he was going to India. He answered few questions and rushed to immigration control because he already had the boarding pass for onward flight. His passport was stamped, an airline employ led him to VIP Club. He felt sick, and nervous. He took the medicine to avoid panic attack. His dream to have a quiet vacation in Uttarkashi was ruined even before he set his feet in the land he loved. He knew what was waiting for him in Delhi. He could feel hot flush on his face and throbbing headache, his whole body was throbbing and felt pressure in his eyes, and even the fingertips were pulsating. He took a blood pressure pill from his medicine box and opened the cap of mineral water bottle. His hands were shaking and water was spilled while he took the medicine. He sat on the sofa with his eyes closed. It took a while for the medicines to work, a Club attendant told him that it was the boarding time for his flight, he walked to the gate and first class passengers were to enter first in the aircraft, he sat on the seat, hostess brought him a tray full of news papers but he took only regular news papers, he was scared even to open any financial news. He removed financial section from the newspaper and tossed it on an empty seat behind him.

2

River made a long wide bend in the valley around the mountain; it came down, filled the valley with noise. Its water was of grey color because it carried sand and rolling rocks with it. One could hear the noise of rolling and crackling rocks that were to disintegrate into sand and minerals down the river. The sun was very clear in the blue sky, and there was a cool breeze. It was still fairly early in the afternoon. Mountains surrounding the valley were lush green with Pine and Deodar forests. It rained in the early morning so environment was rain-washed and air was filled with the fragrance of wet earth and pine aroma and once in a while one cone from pine tree fell on the ground with a bang.

A small ancient temple was there situated on the green mountain, it was hardly visible from the valley because it was covered with deodar woods but whole valley was visible from it. Down in the valley along the bend in the river was a pretty town that looked even smaller and beautiful from the height of the mountain. Entire town was visible from the height of the temple. A road wound its way from one end of the valley to the other between green rice-fields full of sparkling waters. It entered in the town and passed through bazaar then left the town. It was the last town on the road so there was some traffic from below but not much to the upriver. A Suspension footbridge crossed the river in the middle of the town. In the north direction, towering snowcapped mountains were visible from the temple but they were not visible from the valley. Few eagles were floating in the sky effortlessly. A road snaked up from the valley to the mountain but ended about hundred feet below that small temple. There was a trailhead that led to the steps of the temple, which was surrounded with a verandah. Three brass bells were hanging at the beginning of the steps to the temple. Next to the temple was a water tap, which was always running, it brought water from some spring above the mountain. Another road was visible above the temple but both roads never met. Same steps that lead to temple ended up on the other road above that went to the villages on the mountains in the far.

Each day, only few vehicles passed through the road above the temple. People living in the villages on the mountains walked through the road then made a shortcut route to town that passed through the temple. Almost everybody stopped at the temple and took off their shoes. Second step was going to the tap to wash the hands and feet and then they always drank some water. They all rang the hanging bells and walked on the steps to the one room temple. If Priest was there he always offered them prasad to eat, and also put a tika (sandalwood rubbed on a rock along with a red colored dye, that resulting pulp is called tika) on their forehead, they usually chatted with him because everybody knew everybody in the area.

Upon leaving they again rang the bell. Even small children from distant villages walking to school in the town followed this routine. Verandah served them during rains. There was a concrete platform in front of temple under the holy-pipal (Ficus Religiosa) tree, where they rested or chatted with each other in gentle warm sunlight in the height of the mountains. Any stranger would have wondered about the unusual existence of a Pippal tree on that height of the mountains but tree seemed to be very happy just to be there.

The river in the valley was the holy river Ganges. The name of town along the bend in the river was Uttarkashi. Uttar means north so Uttarkashi means the Kashi (Sacred town Varanasi) of the North, or some people say it is the Kashi where one gets Answer to all questions (other meaning of Uttar is ‘an answer’). It is an ancient holy town, which is, situated the halfway to the grueling mountain journey to the source of Ganges. At the side of temple, under the trees some birds were bathing under a water tap, the water of which was brought from a nearby small waterfall.

On the concrete platform by the temple Rishi was lying on his side in the Buddha reclining position with his knee touching on the ground and head resting on his hand. He was not thinking but looking down at holy river Ganges in the valley. It was calm and peaceful, one could still hear the noise of the river from this far, sound of the water rushing out of the tap, birds were chirping, anytime somebody visited temple and rang the bells but it was all the part of the serenity of the place and he was aware of all sounds. Rishi was there, just there. A crow was taking a bath under the tap and then it fluttered its wings and sprayed water all around, some drops of water landed on his face and he closed his eyes for a while to feel the cool of water and the breeze which he felt touching his face and swishing along his ears. A leaf from the holy-pipal tree came down slowly and landed on his shoulder just where his shirt and neck met. He felt the cool surface and the fresh smell to the leaf, but he didn’t make any effort to remove it. It was joy to be there. The crow flew away and then a parrot came and sat on a branch of the tree. It was very beautiful creature; they both looked at each other Rishi smiled at parrot and parrot too maintained an eye contact with him and looked at him curiously. Parrot was looking at his face and stated talking in its own language. Rishi was smiling.

He was thirty and very handsome but looked like he was in his late twenties and he was not balding and not overweight. He wore an un-ironed light brown shirt and green denim pants. It was the third time he was visiting Uttarkashi. He was born very poor but somehow he managed to complete his engineering education. After college he got a job and rose fast in the hierarchy of corporate command structure but soon discovered that he cannot work for someone and on someone’s terms. He quit his job and became a consultant selling his engineering experience. When he quit his job his family resisted because one was lucky to have a good job. He struggled initially to make the ends meet. But he was always very honest in his dealings. First year he was begging to sell his services to new clients and in the second year he got few good contracts and in third year he stopped taking new clients. His clients had total trust in him. For his clients he traveled around the world and made many friends. Initially he enjoyed traveling but now his urge to travel to see new places was not intense anymore. He was selling his experience and was making his ends meet comfortably. He completely lacked ambition but was making enough money to live in the world. He never had many desires and always believed in his capability so he worked on his own terms and took off anytime he wanted. Most of his clients waited for him and they always had assignment waiting for him. He never abandoned any of his clients and always finished the assignments even before it were due. They never asked him for any estimate and he billed them fairly. Never a question was asked on his billings practices they treated him like a loving family member. He traveled on his own too but recently he was going to few selected places. He was not rich and he didn’t consider himself poor. He was not married yet and he had no urge to marry. Some of his close friends thought he is enlightened and respected him and were always seeking his company. Rishi never performed any miracle but they thought he knows the supreme truth.

Ancient temple was run by a young 28 years old Priest who was married and had two children. Temple committee paid him small wages but those were not enough to keep up his family. Like most of temple Priests he too was a Vedic Astrologer. He went to school to learn Sanskrit and astrological sciences dealing with the motions of stars and predictions. People asked for his opinion about dates for weddings and all other ceremonies. They asked him to make natal chart of the newborns and fortune telling. People believed in whatever he told them. He never asked for any fee for his services, but always expected them to pay. He was a simple and good-hearted man. Priest was given a small room next to temple where he had few utensils to make tea or warm up the food that he always brought from the home. He lived in the town and stayed in the temple from morning to sunset when he performed his last pooja to the Mother Durga and locked the doors.

During ancient times Ganges originated from the glacier at Gangotry but now the glacier has receded back eighteen kilometers further. Gangotry is about 300 kilometers from Haridwar and is a very sacred site for Hindus. Pilgrims start their pilgrimage to Gangotry from Haridwar where Ganges leaves Himalayan Mountains. Indian army maintains roads and night driving is prohibited so it is not possible to complete journey in just one day. Uttarkashi is in halfway between Haridwar and Gangotry and is the last major town where people can buy provisions and rest in the night in some hotel or religious establishment etc. Pilgrims or tourist rarely came to the temple because it was not a famous place and pilgrims usually prefer their goals. Most strangers use Uttarkashi as only a night halt place next morning they go to Gangotry, which is further deep in the mountains.

Priest watched the stranger coming to the temple he knew at the first sight that he is not a very religious person. Like most people do, stranger took off his shoes and washed hands and walked to the temple then stood there next to the platform and watched the scene of the valley then walked out. But actually he didn’t leave just went out to the pine forest surrounding the temple and came back with a handful of pine needles arranged to form a broom and started cleaning up the concrete platform. Platform had no dust because recent rains washed it all up but it was full of leaves and a day ago some devotees spilled up food there so there were some insects crawling over it, even Priest could see two large caterpillars resting in the sunlight. Stranger was careful not to harm any insect. He brushed off the insects carefully. Priest was watching it and actually he was responsible for the cleanup of temple so he was a bit embarrassed. He went to his small room and brought a broom and helped him clean the platform and then he left to attend the devotees. Then Stranger sat on the platform cross-legged but in relaxed position and later on Priest saw him lying in the Buddha style reclining position and was gazing at the scene in the valley. An hour passed and it was clear that stranger was not in any deep meditation or pondering or daydreaming but just watching the valley passively. He was also aware of the arrival and departure of devotees. After Priest finished up with all devotees he came to the stranger; not that he was suspicious of him but just to have a chat to resolve his own loneliness in that wilderness.

Rishi anticipated a conversation so sat down cross-legged facing the Priest.
“It is a beautiful place, isn’t it”, Priest said.
“Yes very beautiful”.
“Please let me know if you mind my company”.
“Oh no, thank you for joining me.”
“How is the weather down there, you are from plains, aren’t you?”
“It is very hot there, burning hot. It is good to be here.”

That’s how the conversation begun stranger told Priest that his name is Rishi. Priest liked him as well his name. Rishi in Hindi means Hermit Scholar. Stranger asked him few question and listened to his answers. Priest ended up telling him about whole of his life, his birth, education, marriage, had become a Priest and astrologer. Once a while some devotee or villager stopped at the temple as it was a custom and once a while Priest went to attend them but mostly he shouted to people to self-serve prasad and tika to themselves. During that long conversation Priest repeatedly questioned himself that why is he telling everything to this stranger. But anyway he kept telling him because his heart felt like melting in the presence of stranger. He told him about his fears, joys, good times, bad times, anxieties, his poverty, and his sex life and about his children. Priest told that he is a very religious person and does yoga and meditation almost everyday, there was a time in his life when he wanted to attain Nirvana, had spent time with a very cruel Guru who made him do fasting and physical suffering for many days and he got sick then Guru kicked him out saying he was a weak person and Nirvana is not for weeks, that day he accepted his defeat as well weakness and gave up the Nirvana dream. Good two hours passed and sun was setting behind the mountains in the west. In mountains evening comes early because sun goes behind a mountain. During this conversation Priest went to his room three times and made tea on the wood stove and brought some snacks. Priest felt he has nothing more to tell. Now stranger knew everything about him so he was not a stranger anymore. He started calling him Rishi Sahib.

At about four in the evening Rishi said good bye to Priest and left but he didn’t take the steps down towards Uttarkashi but went on the road above. Where steps met road there was a forest check post and Priest could see him chatting with forest guards and finally he turned towards north to Uttarkashi but it was a long and scenic way passed through the wilderness and offered breath-taking view of the valley and the town. Road was sparsely traveled and he was the only one on it, and Priest watched him till he disappeared behind the deodar trees.

As Rishi left Priest had an empty feeling in his mind. He felt light. He was not sure if he missed the company of the stranger or was happy that he left. He lay down on the concrete platform exactly as stranger lay and focused on the valley down there. It was a mesmerizing scene, how come he missed it, he was been serving the temple for the last seven years and never knew such a beautiful scene existed. He saw the Holy Ganges river which was most revered to him. Anytime he was to make any important decision he went to the ghat in Uttarkashi and touched her water and asked her the question and Mother always gave him right answer. Mother always resolved his confusion. Today he first time in his life he saw the beauty of Mother Ganges; tears came to his eyes, the tears of joy. He thanked river for having him close to her and closed his eyes in peace and stayed there with that moment. Time to time someone visited temple and saw him lying there with closed eyes, luckily nobody disturbed him, they offered their prayers and left. He opened his eyes and it was sunset time and the time to offer final aartee to the deity. He performed the final aartee, it was the time for the deity to sleep so he closed the temple door gently and put up a weak lock. He came back to platform, and first time in his life he decided to performed aartee to Mother Ganges from there but then changed his mind. He just sat cross-legged and tried to focus on the sound of river for some time. Finally he rose from the step, joined his hands to pay respect to the mother river and walked towards to steps that led to the road head below.

Priest was not in hurry today so he walked slowly. Since road was zigzag and there was a shortcut trail which he usually took but today he preferred to take long way. Slowly his thoughts were coming back, today was not like any other day today was different; he asked himself, “why today is different”. Why was today different, why he is in peace today but then he gave up because by asking himself he was only disturbing his precious peace which he found today. He told his whole life to stranger who listened without any judgment, why did he tell him everything; he just melted in front of him. He even forgot to ask the stranger if he will come back, how long he would stay in Uttarkashi and where he is staying, who he is and what he does for living? Is he married, has children, what is his education and more? Wish he knew more about stranger whose name was Rishi Sahib? He thanked Ganga-Mai (Mother Ganges) that he brought milk with him today and served tea to stranger. One thing was absolutely clear to the Priest that the stranger was not an ordinary person. He had an aura. A radio was playing an old song by Mohammed Rafi, in a house above the road. First time in his life he felt immense joy in listening a song. He sat on the grass by the road till song ended. Road was deserted and he saw nobody coming, he started dancing on the road. He waited for next song but unfortunately the program finished.

3

Rishi was walking on the road in the direction of Uttarkashi that was bathing in the crimson departing light of the evening. Sun was setting behind the mountain in the west, in the other side of the river. Rishi sat on a rock and watched the sun till it vanished. Dark arrives faster in the mountains and it was unsafe to walk on the rugged road, so he started walking. He had a good day at temple Priest was a friendly person who told him about his life. This was not strange to him because almost everybody did this to him, everybody told him his or her story, each story was almost similar in a way, and it was always the story of the mankind. When he was a boy his too many friends were always annoyance to his parents. He had all types of friend, good, bad and ugly and he rarely had any fights with anybody. Some times he too was annoyed with his too many friends but soon he learned to tell them that it was the time to leave him alone and they immediately said good-bye and left, there was rarely a hard feeling. Uttarkashi was about five kilometers, and it was getting dark very fast. He could see the lights of the city and other villages on the mountains, it was very beautiful scene it. Once he did camping with his three friends on the border of Canada and United States on some island in Saint Laurence River in the area of Thousand Islands. He vaguely remembered they built a huge fire and a forest ranger appeared on his golf cart, he had no objection about the huge fire and actually he was too happy to get rid of a huge waste willow tree scrap wood around their campsite that had a private beach facing Canada side. But ranger warned them that he wouldn’t tolerate any unattended fire. They were drunk and cooked their dinner on that fire. Forest ranger appeared again because their fire was huge and he saw them dancing and drunk, drinking was not prohibited in that state park. Ranger ordered them to put off the fire because he was not going to trust a bunch of drunken idiots he gave half hour’s notice and left. They filled their cooking utensils with the water from the Saint Lawrence River and tried to quench the fire that was huge and die-hard. To make sure that the fire was out they spread up the ashes and suddenly a windstorm blew and carried sparks to all over the campsite. One could see the sparkles glowing up in all directions. Lights of Uttarkashi reminded him of that campfire in America. It was a crisis and grass was dry all around and sparks flew in all directions and grass caught fire. They all were running after each spark to crush it. But soon it was a happy ending because it started raining suddenly. Ranger came again to make sure the fire was out and indeed it was out.

A jeep stopped and Rishi arrived in the city in ten minutes. He walked to the ghat and again borrowed a loincloth from the hermit.
Hermit gave him the same loincloth and said, “You should take bath in the sunlight or you would get sick.”
Rishi changed his clothes and entered in the dangerously rushing waters of the holy river.

4

Rishi was the person, who brought her luck. Everything Vinita got was because of him or that was what she thought, The Enlightened, Rishi. She revered him. She loved him, once she wanted to marry him, and she would have done anything for him, just anything. Not a day in her life passed when Rishi didn’t come in her thought. She had his picture in her purse. She was astonished to see Rishi in Uttarkashi.
She asked herself, “Is it a dream or real?”
She pinched her own wrist. It was not a dream and indeed he was Rishi. She took out a laminated picture from her purse and kissed it then touched it to her heart. She came to the public ghat at the aartee time but stayed there longer because this place gave her peace. Two metal-halide lights lighted ghat. She was sitting at the step and Rishi was standing in the dangerously fast current in the holy river.
Hermit yelled to him, “Fool if you wash away, who would be washing my ghat today.”
“You are more worried about your loincloth.”
All pilgrims laughed. She laughed too but she hid behind a pilgrim. Hermit stated cleaning the small temple. Rishi was wearing a loincloth and she was too ashamed to surprise him. She waited him to wear the clothes. He walked out of water but started washing the ghat with an iron bucket.
She smiled. Yes he is Rishi the enlightened. My Rishi.
His body was pink with the chill of water, he looked handsome in his half naked body, had not changed even a little in these five years or actually he looked even younger and ageless and timeless. He was washing Ghat with a music and rhythm of his whole body. He was filling up the bucket from the river and throwing water on the higher step. As Rishi washed the ghat now he was wearing his clothes and suddenly a group of tourists came on the Ghat and she had to move to give them access to the water and suddenly Rishi disappeared. He was not there anymore. She felt helpless. She looked around and rushed to the market in his search but he was gone.
Hermit seems to know where he is staying.
She went to the Hermit who volunteered to undertake the maintenance and aartee at the ghat.
“Maharaj, do you know where I could find the person who was washing the Ghat?”
Hermit pointed to the loincloth hanging on a little rope next to the temple and said, “The sage who was wearing this.”
She smiled and said, “Yes, the sage who was wearing this, and where can I find him.”
Hermit pointed to a white-green building which was visible about half kilometer at the other side of the Ganges, “That man of God, true son of Ganges is staying there.”
“Thanks Maharaj.”
It was late evening; she crossed the long suspension footbridge and walked to the other side of town across the river, in the direction of the hotel.

It was a beautiful hotel with a huge gate so busses could enter in the compound. A low wall separated it from the ravine of the Holy River. There was an opening at the far end where steps led to the river. Hotel had a big lawn facing the roaring Ganges River. Guest rooms were on ground and first floor. Three rooms and a verandah were visible on a huge terrace that was above the whole first floor. One could see the terrace offered the views to river and the vast valley.
She said to herself, “A beautiful place, and no wonder why Rishi is staying here.”
A boy was watching TV in the reception room. “Yes madam?”
“I am here to see Mr. Rishi, please check if he is in his room.”
“Oh! He is not in his room”
“How do you know he is not in his room?”
“You can see the lock from here,” he pointed to the room above.
“Oh! I see”
It was dark and it was inappropriate for a lady to meet a stranger in a hotel so she decided to come back to hotel in the morning.
“Any message for Rishi Sahib, he is like family member here, not just a guest,” room boy said.
She smiled, “No, l will come tomorrow.”
He is never a guest. He is like a family member to every soul of the world. Even hermit said, that man of God, true son of Ganges is staying there. Just the sight of him brings a good luck.
Vinita was to go back to the home where she stayed as a paying guest. She crossed the footbridge and went to a temple between the ghat and footbridge and prayed. She came to the ghat and left her sandals on the first step of the ghat. Hermit was not there, but there were still some pilgrims sitting near water. She walked down to the last step and played with the water, she put her feet in the water. Ice-cold water was running fast; it was pushing her feet soon she felt her feet would freeze, she moved to the higher step and let the air dry her feet. Then she remembered Rishi who was standing in the ice-cold roaring waters just one hour ago.

She was in Uttarkashi for the last seven months. After her nasty divorce and the death of her mother she was left heart broken. She requested her company to send her to some peaceful place. Since nobody else wanted to come to Uttarkashi so they were too happy to send her here. She was a liaison engineer for her company. She was analyzing requirements and specification to prepare the estimates for the bids and tenders. She had a small staff working under her in an office by the hydroelectric works

Room boy of the hotel had to walk five kilometers to his village on the mountain so he left immediately after her departure. At nights hotel owner Hira Singh’s wife took care of the reception because Hira Singh was always drunk. Customer had to press a bell button, which rang in her home at the end of hotel.

In the evenings Vinita usually visited ghat and often she sat there. She never took bath in the holy river because she was always alone, was always shy of other people but she always desired to take bath there like all other ladies who took bath in their whole dress and then changed clothes in the privacy of the veranda.

She was still on the ghat and her cell phone rang. Cell phone worked only in selected towns of the mountain state of Uttranchal.
She said, “Hello”
“Hello dear, with whom am I taking,” a lady on the other end said in a very sweet and American ascent.
“Hello, I am Vinita”
“Honey how are you, hope I didn’t catch you at wrong time. I believe you are in Uttarkashi, far in the Himalayas”
“Yes I am Vinita, madam may I know whom I talking.”
“I am Jennifer from New York, and I am Mr. Roger’s executive secretary. Hope you know who Roger is?”
Vinita was overwhelmed by the excitement and she pressed her phone her ear. Conversation lasted for ten minutes.
At the end Jennifer asked, “What is the strange roaring noise in the background.”
“It is roar of the holy river Ganges. I am sitting at its banks.”
Jennifer replied, “Then it is not a noise but the sound of music and say my hello to Mother Ganges.”

Vinita walked to the last step again and dipped her feet and let it freeze. She cupped her hands and washed her eyes and mouth with the water and muttered.
“O, Mother Ganges, please guide me, please be with me. Don’t play games with my life. I am already beaten to the pulp. Tell me that it is a prank.”
“She felt week and broken.”
Lady on the other side was the secretary of a great man of the financial worlds. The Big Bull! She saw Roger’s face just today on the cover of a magazine.
Her feet went numb with the chill of water she had to use her hands to pull her feet from the water.
“Mother, please tell me it is a prank”, she started weeping.
Now her feet were burning. Definitely it was not a dream or rather nightmare. Then she remembered Rishi was in the water waist deep and how come he was so happy, how come water didn’t freeze him up. She felt an instant relief that Rishi is here. She opened her purse and looked at Rishi again. Senses came back to her and said, “You are with me again. Why am I worried?”
Then she laughed and played with the water of Ganges and said,
“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you my beloved mother Ganges. A lady from New York said hello to you, please bless her too.”

5

Vinita was deep in thoughts. Seven years ago at one late evening in the printing room of her company in Bangalore, where she was an unpaid Engineering intern, Rishi found her weeping alone in a dark corner. Rishi was a well-known Engineering talent in the company and she was embarrassed to be caught weeping, instantly she wiped her tears with her handkerchief and said hello to him.
Rishi didn’t know her name and but everybody knew his name, he patted on her shoulder and looked in her sad eyes and smiled.
“Please go home and come to my office in the morning”
She nodded and left.

Company was not hiring people so she though Rishi just wants to console her. A year ago she graduated from a mediocre engineering college in the South Indian city of Bangalore, and jobs were nowhere to found. She was lucky to be accepted for internship in that famous engineering company but they made it very clear that she must work for free. With some experience she had more chances to find a job so she was working for free. Her father was a small time accountant and mother was a typical Indian housewife. They were hardly making the end meet. Her father borrowed money for her education and was still paying interest on that money and she had no job but expanses. She had to change three buses to get to the work and the company was very demanding even interns worked ten hours a day. She always brought her food and ate it quietly. She seldom made any friends because she was afraid she might have to go to restaurants with them. Her bus pass was to expire next day and she had no money to pay for her fare and she never went to canteen for a cup of tea. That day one of her best friend had invited her for on her birthday party and she had no money to buy a present. So found nobody in the printing room and started weeping silently. Her parents were always sad because they had no money to marry her.

Following morning she paid cash for her bus fare and reached at work. Her boss was an engineer who supervised the manufacturing and fabrication projects. Engineers made drawings based upon the specifications and requirements. Every drawing was sent to Rishi, no design went to the fabrication factories without his approval. Nobody ever dared to question his judgments. He had access to the highest levels. Company was designing and delivering heat exchangers, boilers, huge rollers, shipping loaders, barrage gates, cranes, mining hoists and what not. They had order from many countries. She shared an office with five people, one was her boss, to whom she was directly accountable and two other interns and one salaried engineer.

Next morning she went to her desk and found her belongings were removed from the table and some one else was sitting there working on a drawing. She felt dizzy; the assumed that she got fired or just company had no use of her. Her throat went dry. Suddenly her boss appeared and instructed her to go see Rishi.
She asked him, “What happened to my position and where are my things?”
“Rishi wants to see you immediately, you better go there,” her boss replied.
She went to Rishi’s office and her belongings were lying in a cardboard box on a chair.
“From today you will work for me.”
She saw no other table or chair there and asked, “Where would I sit”.
“That we will find out, come with me, let’s have a cup of tea”, she meekly walked after him but they didn’t go to company cafeteria but took the elevator to ground floor and left the building. They walked to an open-air restaurant behind a building. They took seats under a Kigelia Pinnata tree, it was an upscale café and no other people were there. He pointed to big stony fruits handing with long stem and said, “Hope they won’t fall on our heads.”
She laughed after long time.
“Do you know what is the name of this tree?”
She shook her head in negation.
“It is called Kigelia Pinnata or sausage tree.”
She smiled.
Waiter came with two glasses of water and Rishi asked her if she wants to eat anything, she was hungry but said no. Rishi ordered two plates of idle-sambar. They ate in silence.
Waiter came back and he ordered two cups of tea. When waiter came with tea he said to waiter, “Now don’t come back here for one hour, last time you licked my head for three hours and today you own me that time.”
Waiter left laughing and said, “This is your own restaurant.”
Then he said to her, “So Vinita, how are you?”
“I am fine.”
He asked few questions and she told him her whole story. Her childhood, parents, that she had no other sibling, went to college, poverty, debts and how she got the internship. She cried, laughed, smiled, got angry, wept. Finally her story was over. They were there for two hours and had three cups of tea. Finally at lunchtime she said she brought her lunch but he ordered two fixed-meals. After they ate they talked more.

It was already late noon; they walked back to his office. He sat on his chair; she sat on other chair facing him. One envelope was lying on the table and he slid it to her. She took it and opened it; it was a company check made of five hundred rupee on her name. He said tomorrow she has to go to Hosur on company business, since she is ranked as an engineer she is getting taxi fare and food expanses. She can use any mode of transportation and eat wherever she wants. Check was made at last day.
She stared his face with tears in her eyes, “How did you know?”
“That is not important. We have a job to do. Right”
“Right”
He talked on a phone and soon her former boss came in the room with a roll of blue prints and left.
He asked her to unroll the blueprints and spread all pages on his table. There were nine pages, four pages fit on the table rest she spread on the floor.
He made a circle with a pencil on a paper and said, “I give you one hour to study this area.” and he left in a rush to attend a meeting..
She was totally baffled and confused. She saw the drawing; it was the design of a railway wagon un-loader for a power plant in Tanzania. As a matter of fact she worked on those drawings with her former boss who brought the roll.
He came exactly after one hour and sat on the chair. She was still confused.
“What did you find out?”
Her mouth went dry, she was very nervous. She said, “I am sorry, I tried but I don’t know what to look.”
He took out her personal file and said, “You are mechanical Engineer. Right”
She replied meekly, “Right”
“You designed a strain analyzer in your final college project.”
She was too ashamed to admit it.
“Seems like you or your team did lots of welding.”
She nodded.
“Now you tell me if it is mechanically possible to weld this part, or even if this part is fabricated somehow which is a very difficult corner welding, could this thing survive the strain, check the specifications.”
Suddenly a person looked into his room and said, “They are waiting for you in the conference room.”
Rishi left his office again.
He came back after one hour and this time she was ready with the answers. He was really impressed.
“Good, this is already on the fabrication floor in Hosur. Tomorrow you go there and talk to the engineer in charge and foreman. Take a picture of their all-welding equipments; get the pictures developed from one-hour photo lab. I will see you here tomorrow at four. Now you go home and take all these papers with you and study them. This is your copy.”
“I have no camera.”
He pressed intercom and a person appeared he said, “Give her a camera”.
She rolled back all documents and the same person brought a camera and a box of reels to her. She said good evening to him and left in joy.

At home she studied all Engineering Drawings again and found few more problems. Next morning she took a bus to Hosur and went to fabrication unit. All went well, even fabrication Engineer was surprised to find the problems. She spoke with floor foreman and took pictures of all welding equipments. She even took the pictures of brand names of welding electrodes. All other flaws she found were resolvable on the floor but she made notes for Rishi. Hosur Factory Engineer was impressed on her presentation and thanked her. He happened to be going Bangalore and gave her a ride to her office. Rishi met her at four, she gave him the briefing of the visit and shown him all her other findings. He didn’t like the welding electrodes they were using and spoke to the engineering department to add the specification for the electrodes too in all further designs. He told her to type the whole report and hand all findings to her former boss. That day first time in her life she felt that she is a real Engineer.

She worked for Rishi for five months, he taught her many things. Almost all drawings passed through her before they were passed to Rishi. He was also sending her even out of city assignment. She took her mother with her on all out of town assignments. She started loving him and even mentioned this to him. He took her to the same restaurant and politely told that he is not a marrying type of person, she insisted that she would be a best wife to him but he politely declined but promised that if he decides to marry in future he would marry her but no other woman. She was making some money out of her expanse account and was also helping her family but she was still insecure because she had no permanent job but was just an un-paid intern. Suddenly situation took a new twist.

Their company took over another company and merged it into itself. That other company had a mega contract to designing, fabricating and installing the loading and unloading heavy equipments for a shipyard container terminal in Kenya. Routinely its mechanical drawings passed thought Rishi. Actually new drawings were for the extension of the project and Rishi discovered a serious flaw in the engineering design. Rishi ordered the drawings for the whole project to be brought on his table. Company already spent heavy amount of money in fabrications. Parts were already manufactured and sent to Kenya where they were ready for installation.

Rishi kept his findings secret and conspired with her and she went along. Rishi sent her to Kenya. Many senior Engineers objected his sending an intern to abroad bye-passing other full time Engineers, but he had his ways. Vinita made the trip and came back in a week then Rishi arranged a conference in his company calling all Executive Engineers. Vinita gave them a presentation showing the engineering flaw that was a disaster waiting to happen. Rishi set up everything so Vinita could get all the credit. There was uproar in the meeting room; later on independent experts confirmed the flaw. Now company was busy to cut the losses and repair the flaws to save its name. Vinita was instantly given a high ranking and high paying job in the company. Two days later Rishi quit because he planned his departure a long ago. Company hired him as an independent consultant; he billed them for his services and was traveling for them around the world. Many other companies asked Rishi to work for them so he worked for them too on his own terms.

Time to time Rishi visited her office in Bangalore and after few months her company was taken over by Rodger’s Indian operations. They sent her to United States on H visa. She lost all contact with Rishi. Those days he they had no cell phone, only emails were the medium. Later on they both changed email addresses and lost all contacts. Three years ago she met Rishi on the transit lounge of Atlanta airport. He was going to Peru on a personal vacation with his cousins and she was going to San Francisco on office visit. Both were in rush and unfortunately she didn’t have her business card and Rishi gave her his email address but she lost the paper the same day. She returned to India because her mother was sick, her both kidneys were failing. For the sake of her dying mother her father found a boy and she got married. Boy was an egoistic person and he abused her mentally, later on she found out that he was having an affair. Seeing Vinita miserable her mother passed away even sooner. Her father became extreme religious and went to an ashram to serve a Guru. She was sad, lonely and now she was there in Uttarkashi.

Jennifer instructed her to receive Rodger and asked her to keep his visit confidential. She mentioned that it is Rodger wants to travel like a private citizen, Jennifer also added that she can walk around all Uttarkashi hotels and make a mental note but let Rodger to pick one where no serious stairs climbing was involves, let Rodger do whatever he wants. She gave her a code of western union that she could withdraw any amount of money Rodger needs. She said that Rodger is a very good man, a man with the heart of gold, Vinita needs not be afraid of him. She also requested her to take care of his medicines and take him to any doctor he needs, have a good car ready etc. Jennifer did not know when Roger would be arriving in Uttarkashi. Vinita was to carry her cell phone all the times and stay at a place where she has uninterrupted phone reception. Probably he would arrive tomorrow and how, Jennifer was not sure. Jennifer asked her to take off from her job for few days just to show that she is on personal leave, she would be taken care later on.

Vinita was having anxiety but cold air and roar of Ganges soothed her feelings. She had good reception of phone signal at her host’s home. She could go home and sleep because Rodger would come at anytime tomorrow. Jennifer said he already arrived in India. She rose from the step and walked up. There was a newspaper stand next to the footbridge, and just to see if there is any new about Rodger she bought all English newspapers. Luckily she found Financial Times too. It was too dark to read papers while walking on the street and also she was too hyper to do anything she reached the home of her guests where she had a room. She ate her dinner and first opened the Financial Times. Rodger was there. She read the whole story. Rodger was even greater man than she expected. Financial times printed his interview at Zurich, it was also mentioned that Indian Ambassador to Switzerland missed him just by few seconds. There were rumors that Saudi Prince was buying the stock of his new company, its sources said Rodger had dinner with the Prince just two days ago. She again felt thrill and nervousness. Sleep was out of question; she stayed awake the whole night. Countless times she made sure her if here cell phone was working.

6

Rishi walk in the bazaars, he visited famous Vishwanath Temple and had a chat with an Ascetic. He walked on a path on the bank of river that passed through most of the ashrams. Then he returned to the ghat and sat with hermit and had a cup of tea with him.
At eight he said goodbye to hermit who replied in a shout, “Jai-Ganga-Mai.”
“Gangagiri, Jai-Ganga-Mai.”
Rishi found Hira Singh waiting for him with a bottle; they went to the terrace.
“Why you gave back the money to my wife”, Hira yelled.
“You owe it.”
“No, you take it back”
“You are a dear friend, one can only stay few night with a friend otherwise it would be trouble.”
“No trouble, you can stay here forever.”
“Today I have money, tomorrow I may not have it, and would you give me a room.”
“A room will be always waiting for you, forever.”
“So stop barking, I have money today and who knows about tomorrow.”
Hira Singh calmed down. “OK you win, you pay half.”
“Ten percent discount.”
“You win”, can I open the bottle.
“Give me the bottle”, Rishi said and took the bottle from Hira Singh. Pulled a pen from his pocket and put a mark on the wrapper.
“This much we will drink today”, Rishi said.
“Huh! Few spoons.”
“Yes.”
One could easily see the disappointment on Hira Singh’s face but Rishi had too many friends and he knew when to get tough otherwise his life would be a hell.
“You win,” Hira Singh said in a defeat.
Rishi opened the bottle and poured few drops in each glass and filled up the rest of glass with soda.
“Cheers!” they said at the same time.
They spent two hours there, when the glasses were half empty Rishi filled them again with just soda. Hira Singh again told him his story and Rishi was listening to it again like it was a new story.
This time Hira Singh’s wife came with the food tray and sat on the chair next to them for some time. Hira Singh and Rishi ate food in silence. At the end Hira Singh packed all the empty dishes on the tray and gave a bear hug to Rishi and said good-bye and walked to the stairs. Rishi knew that he will come back and indeed he came back.
Rishi handed him the bottle. “You came for this.”
Hira Singh watched him in amazement and said, “How you knew that I came back for the bottle.”
“Take it and go away.”
“But how did you know?”
Rishi took the bottle and went to water tank and placed it in a concrete slot where it was not visible to other people.
“This Bottle belongs to you and this property belongs to you. You can take it at anytime.”
“I came for the bottle … but how did you knew?”
“Go away before I kick your ass on your own property”, Rishi said.
Hira Singh finally left in bewilderment and had no intention to come back to touch the bottle. His wife was happy to see him sober, it was second nigh in a row and that was an achievement.

7

A gale was blowing from the direction desert to the ocean that was about to engulf the huge ball of the red sun. Gale carried the aromas of the lands it had traveled. Don was pacing in his veranda in his sea-facing mansion in Dubai. His lion’s share of the ransom money was already delivered in Nigeria by the money laundry channels. It was a simple channel where you pay the money to a dealer in Mumbai and he calls his counterpart in the other country to hand the desired currency to the recipient. Transaction took place in just one minute. Agents had a network to transfer any amount of money around the globe and they made their cut in both ways. Unbalance portion of the money at any place was couriered in the form of Drugs, Diamond or other extremely valuable commodity.

Don’s heart was in palpitation because his Lebanese partner was not accessible, and his whereabouts were unknown. May be he was not able slip into Sierra Leone or Liberia, or may be UNO or African peace keeping solders had detained him at some international border.
“Oh God! Please help me in these crucial times. Please support me towards my goal to become a legitimate businessman. I will do good deeds to wash my sins. Please help me.”
Cell phone on the table rang and Abdul took it to his ears.
“Sir I got the news from Nigeria. He personally picked up the money and all is well.”
Don asked, “Tell me the word to work conversation.” Don never spoke on the phones himself. Speaking means leaving the voiceprints. He liked to get details in highly encrypted emails that arrived at a specific time in the evenings.
Abdul said, “He said ‘I got the money and all is well’ that’s all he said.”
“Good! Good! Bonito! Bonito!” don said.
“And Sir I must check your blood sugar and inject you insulin.”
“Of course.” Don unbuttoned the left sleeve of his silk shirt.
Loudspeaker from the mosques reminded him that it was the time to pray.
“Abdul, it is a beautiful sunset I will pray in the verandah.”
“Very well Sir, I will spread the mat,” Abdul went on, “Sir your sugar is still above two hundred.”
Abdul walked inside bring the mat and Don murmured, “Once I am in the serenity and security of Canada I will fix myself. Peace alone will heal me. God please help me to attain my goal.”

End of chapter 2