Disbelief and Belief !

That day the buses were on an indefinite strike. Adarsh’s bike had gone to a ‘spa’ of vehicles. He, a twenty six year-old youth,  was greatly curious to watch the current  release of the much-publicized movie. On the postponing proposal of his friend Kunal, Adarsh decided to satisfy alone his will and wit. He didn't want it to be a passé for him. Since he had no other go, he accepted the offer of his muscular automobile to reach the theatre.A he was not in possession of a mechanical automobile. Taking the negation of his parents into no account, he proceeded to the theatre for the second show at night, though he always stood for filial duty. “ It is hardly three kilometers from here and so I can walk easily. And that may provide me with fresh air to inhale in the absence of vehicles,’’ thought he to justify his move.

Keeping the usual obstinacy of bravery away, he had carried a torch-light in his hand. He detected some other passers-by  also on foot like him in the dimly-lit light of the street-light.  His legs took paces long and rapid so that he could accommodate himself in front of the  ticket-borrowers’ line. The bus strike acted as a blessing in disguise that he saw the ticket enter into his hands without any effort.

 The movie was no doubt  a rave that depicted an evil-sprite raving against the hero to mislead him to the latter’s world. Its technicians and aesthetes could bag adulation and adoration of his without any suspicion.But the very theme of the movie supplied a snigger on his visage.  His atheistic mind couldn't accept a subject like that in this second decade of the 21^st century.

Adarsh was an atheist in true sense and spirit.  He hardly ever missed or rather dispossessed any occasion of arguing against the God, ghost, demon, sprite and the like that fell onto his tongue. Oldsters were very scrupulous to keep piety-based topic a mile away in the presence of Adarsh. He never proved any miserliness in  being disagreement with the believers and fanatics. And hence a kind of derision about the movie crept into his mind. “How foolish for a person to sow the seed of such a superstition among the movie-watchers, out of whom at least a few will be charmed by it.”

Nevertheless  leaving the mind to loiter freely, he set his leg- carrier on track for home. The time was attaining its midnight stage. Place- to- place moving inhabitants were practically nil or not in sight. The night had dressed up in a jet- black garb providing chance nil to identify the creatures, if at all any were there on the way. The faded luminosity of the street light failed to elucidate anything in its contour and dimension. The torch was also not smart enough to view distant objects.

Half the way he might have covered and then a bright flame knocked down into his eyes from a distance of about two hundred metres. Intermittently it grew enormously, seized the  magnitude sometimes and sometimes it shone in a slanting manner too.. His legs without waiting for his permission, curtailed the speed of his locomotion .Did a small shade of fright attack him? Yes, a sort of nervousness encircled him. His lub-dub turned faster and faster. For a moment his atheistic attitude vanished.

He stood there for a while and thought, “What could it be. Eh! It cannot be a demon or a ghost. Only humans can become demonic or devilish by nature.. One, if, attains death, one’s breath discontinues and body perishes, that’s all. On burning the corpse, the pyre converts it into ashes. No remnant or residue will be left on this globe. ” A smile appeared on his countenance about his silly feelings, sealing his disbelief with lac. He shed his panic and proceeded with more vigour.

But the incident recurred and again his limbs refused to be in motion. Did his heart beat unusually faster again? Yes, it did. He felt  that the atmosphere was at a halt and the plants bore very long faded shades in that dim light. Even the wind stayed behind  the trees to hide itself. Sweat flowed down in the form of a stream. Both his spirit and flesh were not willing and weak to move an inch.  At the spur of a moment he said, “Oh! God, save me. What should I do now? Show me a path of escape.” He whispered to himself, “I should twist back or even lope to the theatre and call someone from there. But no, it was believed that if one turned back in such a situation, he would be rapped by the sprite from the back side.” He didn’t know  what to do. Suddenly it seemed that someone from his inner side  commanded him to proceed forward and not to be cowardice. Courage crawled into his mind slowly and he decided to face whatever happens, though he was not solely out of the dreaded mindset..

The process of flames’ increase and decrease in different volume went on. He reached the spot with a short kind of fret. He observed the things well. It was nothing but a bulky stack of paddy’s husk which was invisible from a distance. It was put to fire as a practice of disposing it.  The flames looked as if they were hung in the atmosphere. His fright only gave him the impression that the wind was not propelling the twigs and leaves. In reality he was under an illusion that camouflaged the existence of the air in motion.It was playing a game  by allowing  the blaze sometimes  to flare up and sometimes to flicker. A sigh of relief emerged out of his mind making a weight off his head.

Adarsh replayed the whole incident recorded on his mind’s screen and he sealed a new belief that there is a superior power above us to lead and guide from jeopardy. “Had I deserted myself away from the scene, the result would have been unpredictable. Thank God, you helped me take a correct decision.”
He was removing the lac to open the seal of disbelief.

Adarsh now used the lac to seal the belief in God.He argued for Godliness among his atheist friends,  reiterating that God exists in the form of your inner voice. Man can accomplish nothing in this gigantic world without a favourable signal from Him.

 However an atheist you are, when in trouble you first take the name of God. “God provides for him that trusteth.”

Sarala.