Shunya: A Novel by Sri M

Author:Sri M. [M., Sri]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9788193655603
Publisher: Westland
Published: 2018-05-28T18:30:00+00:00

22

At first, Diana stayed at the Mascot Hotel where Bob resided, but she went there only to sleep. She spent most of the day in the local library with Thambi or walking about in the coconut grove. When it wasn’t raining, she sat beside the temple pond with its greenish algae-covered water. Every morning, she and Thambi visited the Shiva temple. She was present at all the satsangs.

Meanwhile, a remarkable change was taking place. Her pain began to lessen, and she could eat and drink small quantities of food without throwing up. In fifteen days, she was able to eat normally. The pain had disappeared.

On the sixteenth day, Shunya called her for a special interview in the morning. Thambi escorted her to Shunya’s official seat under the jackfruit tree. The sun was out. The rains had stopped for a while.

‘Thank you, Appa,’ she said.

‘Aha! You are looking beautiful, anh! Thambi, you like her?’

Both Thambi and Diana looked down embarrassedly. Diana blushed. ‘Okay, okay, now leave the hotel and stay in Sadasivan’s house for some time. You need special food now. I’ll talk to Sadasivan later. Thambi, you tell him now. Diana, don’t worry, Bhavani, Sadasivan’s wife, is a very good girl.’

So Diana went to live in Sadasivan’s house. According to Shunya’s special instructions to Bhavani, Diana’s diet for the next twenty days should not contain salt. In addition, she was to drink a glass of hot cow’s milk every night before sleeping.

Bhavani looked after Diana with great love and affection. Diana saw Shunya’s photograph being worshipped in the little shrine room in Sadasivan’s house. ‘Photo by Bob sahib,’ explained Bhavani.

By then, Shunya had become well-known, and the crowds swelled day by day. Sadasivan and Thambi had to devise plans to protect Shunya’s privacy. They roped in a few others, including Kunjan Namboodiri, who now called himself a devotee.

All visitors had to register their names with a volunteer, who acted as the receptionist. Arrangements for food and lodging were streamlined, and so were the satsangs. The courtyard was extended to accommodate the crowds. There were four general satsangs in a week and nobody was allowed near the cottage at other times, unless Shunya had specifically asked for someone. When Shunya went for his walks in the coconut grove in the mornings with Thambi, guards were posted to make sure that no one disturbed him.

When he was not meeting people, Shunya preferred to remain in solitude in his cottage. Thambi, his constant companion, was the only one who had access to him at all times.

And as it happens always with fame, jealousy and hatred were not far behind. There were all kinds of people who disliked Shunya, who resented his popularity and would have gladly seen him dead.

Here was a man who seemed to have no respect for the establishment, or for organised religion, or for any kind of ‘ism’, including communism. He was dangerous because he was an iconoclast. He ridiculed ‘immaculate conception’, lived in a place that sold alcohol, used

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.