A Search In Secret India by Paul Brunton

Author:Paul Brunton
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781473527836
Publisher: Ebury Publishing

CHAPTER X

AMONG THE MAGICIANS AND HOLY MEN

SPACE AND TIME, those defiant enemies of man, hurry this pen again. My feet must once more take giant strides on this eastward trek, while my pen sets down a few salient things that are worth a written memorial.

It is true that the faqueer of a few tricks, the magician of the streets, holds for me, as for everyone else, a natural interest. Yet mine is only a fleeting interest, for he can throw little light on the great mysteries of human life which are alone worthy of a man’s deepest thought. Still, his presence is a diversion and I turn aside on occasions to enquire after him.

I want to picture a few of the types who come into the orbit of my wandering, to point my pen at widely differing men. One of them looms up in memory, though he is but an insignificant trickster whom I meet at Rajahmundry, a quiet town in the north-eastern part of Madras Presidency.

An aimless stroll takes me through a place where my shoes sink into the soft sand which covers the ground. Eventually I arrive at a narrow street which leads to a bazaar. As I walk along in the sultry air, old men squat in open doorways, children play amid the dirt, and a stark-naked youngster dives out of a house—only to disappear again on catching sight of the stranger.

In the long, bustling bazaar itself, elderly merchants sit in their little shops and stroke their beards expectantly while I pass; the sellers of food and grain squat beside their open booths, while an army of flies is busy attacking their wares. In course of time I come to the somewhat gaudy structure of a temple, where a little group of men and women stirs out of the dust at my approach. The leprous, the crippled and the destitute make their rendezvous near the temples and the stations of most Indian cities, that they may gather alms of the pious and the strangers. Worshippers walk noiselessly into the building, their bare feet treading the dust on the stones. Shall I, too, wander into the building and watch the ministrations of the priests? I debate the question and decide in the negative.

I proceed on my protracted ramble until I observe a youth striding along before me. He is dressed in a European shirt worn, as is the custom, back to front, and a flowing waistband, while his right arm clasps a bundle of cloth-bound books. When I overtake him, he instinctively turns his head; our eyes meet—and our acquaintance begins!

The exigencies of my profession have taught me to serve the conventions whenever one can, but to dispense with them whenever they stand between one and an objective. I like travel, but usually in an unconventional way; hence my Indian wanderings will hardly be a model for the Cook’s tourist or unbohemian traveller.

The youth proves to be a student at a large local college, and he possesses an air of general intelligence which is quite attractive.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.