Mystic Evening

With a reddened face , caused by the hard toil of the day the Task Master was having his final sweeping glance, through the trees ,before going down the horizon, to take care of the other half of the globe. The curfew gradually crept in. The eerie but solemn silence was only occasionally being broken by the giggle of the playful,mischievous waves.

I was sitting alone on the steps of a desolate ghat on the bank of the Ganges , with a vacant mind, savouring the bliss of silence, looking at the silhouette of a man at the rudder on the boat sailing through the middle of the river.

The sudden sound of soft foot-steps of a man turned my attention and I found the shadowy figure of a man. On a closer look I found a saffron cladded, matted hair, bare footed man with an Ektara in his hand. He took his seat, a few paces away from me, absolutely oblivious of my presence. In the dim light, I could found that with a child-like innocence on his face. He fixed his gaze at the river, lost in his own thought.He was a Baoul,I recognized.

After some time he started singing a heartrending song while playing the Ektara. The tune of the song filled the air with an unspeakable ambiance, striking at the same time on a long-forgotten chord of my mind. After about an hour he stopped singing. The silence descended but I could not find yet why my mind was getting disturbed.

I got to my feet, came to that man and extended few notes to him. With a Godly smile on his face, silently he declined with the swaying of his head and after a pause he quietly said, raising his head towards the sky,that again The God has failed him and his prayer so long has gone un heeded.
Having felt a slap by some invisible hand,I put back the money in my purse and staggered back towards home ,deep in thought,to get to the reason of disturbance in my mind.

Walking back, along the deserted road,all the while probing deep into my memory,cutting the layers of time.At last I saw the light.One long disputed question in my mind has just been sorted out;....The origin of the word"Baoul" is not "Baykul" but "Batul" and this man follows that maxim. So, to him any materialistic thing is of no significance and he was saddened to see that his prayer to God to change my mind did not have any effect. Now,with a lighter mind I started walking.