The Yoga of Max's Discontent by Karan Bajaj

Author:Karan Bajaj
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2016-04-06T16:52:44+00:00

Maxi, I’m really worried you are never coming back . . . you don’t give up. Ever. But this time you aren’t chasing Trinity or Harvard or private equity, you’re asking questions that have no answers . . . I just think you’ll never stop looking. Don’t do this, Max.

Max wrote quickly to Sophia before the Internet went out again.

Don’t be crazy, Sophie. I’m just traveling for a bit. Chill, ok?

No email from Andre. It didn’t surprise him. Andre wouldn’t feel right telling Max he was making a mistake once again when Max had paid for his college and living expenses for years. The silence between them had grown even before Max left New York. They weren’t equals anymore. Was any relationship pure? Even friendship was complicated. Max returned to his email.

A long note from Anna. She was thinking about their night together and how they had shared something special. Why had he been so abrupt? Would they see each other again? Their brief encounter seemed such a distance away. He closed the email and went on to the next.

Notes from friends. The word had spread that he had quit his job to travel. People were surprised, shocked, even glad that one frog had jumped from the well. They sent updates of their own lives.

Just five days in silence and he felt overwhelmed by this sudden influx of information. He inhaled and exhaled six times and shut down his email.

• • •

OUTSIDE THE SHOP, he wished he had written a longer email to Sophia and had at least acknowledged Anna’s message.

“Someone looks like they are missing their girlfriend.”

Whoa, could Shakti also read his mind? Max turned around. She flashed him a cheeky, flirtatious grin. A tall, toned, auburn-haired astronomer with a cute accent and cuter glasses, Shakti was the ultimate geek fantasy. Yet he felt only a distant, detached sort of attraction for her, and one he had no desire to pursue. All he wanted was to start making progress in his quest. He had left behind far too much to fritter away his time.

“I don’t have a girlfriend,” he said.

Shakti walked up and high-fived him unexpectedly. The owner of the hardware-snack-Internet shop stared at them curiously.

“Good for you,” she said. “I should break up too. This path is lonely. No one understands. My parents will disown me now because I don’t believe I am born because Adam and Eve had apple for breakfast. My boyfriend thinks watching football leads to enlightenment.”

Max laughed. He felt his tension break. “You’ll find someone in India,” he said. “Like Hari, the handsome film actor.”

“I do not think he knows difference between Ramakrishna and me,” said Shakti.

“Is he very serious?” said Max.

“He has lived with Ramakrishna two times before. I think this time he makes promise to himself that he will not leave the ashram until he achieves enlightenment,” she said. “He never comes to town. He never talks for more than a few minutes even on the tenth day.”

Max wanted to be like him.

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