How far you will go for your love!

Today, I will bring you a love story that may surprise you.

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It was on a diwali night in Kolkata, along with my friend I wanted to visit Dakshineswar temple. As we walked a little over a kilometer from Jadubabur Bagan Bari, I was drenched in sweat and feeling thirsty. Before entering the temple premise, I sat down on a wooden bench outside of the temple, and my friend went to bring me a bottle of water.

My eyes fell on the sight of two beautiful dogs, one black and another white engrossed into each other’s eyes so much that they did not pay any attention to nearby devotees entering the temple.

I was very tired, but amused by their aura. They sat side by side, holding each other’s paws and foreheads pressed together, as though the world around them no longer existed.

I was very tired and leaned back, resting my head on the wooden backrest; moments later I didn’t know if it was true…

A scene unfolded-

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A guest house manager of Puri, a temple town in Orissa, was giving a loaf of bread to Som, a white Indie male dog. Laughingly he said, ‘I know Som you will not have it, now go Ratri must be waiting for you’.

Som took the bread in his mouth and happily ran towards a black female Indie dog; the dog, was constantly in hiccup – hic, hic.  Yes she was the heroine of our story, Ratri.

Som knew Ratri, whenever she felt hungry, she did this; hunger was something she could not control.

In the guest house along with some other devotees from Kolkata, there was a woman Mrs. Alka Roy, who came with her husband to visit Puri. She was staying there for past one week. She used to feed both the dogs, but over time she developed a special fondness for Ratri. Often, she would jokingly tell her in Bengali, “Tomake niye jabo” (“I will take you away”).

Mrs. Roy used to wear shakha-pola bangles in her hands, and with her hands she used to feed them with tender love.

Ratri was amazed by the beauty of the bangles, and every time she used to look at them and exclaim- ‘Alka devi is pure Annapurna, it is actually the shakha-pola which transforms her into devi as she feeds us!’

Ratri once conversed with Som that she feels that because her hands wear shakha-pola, they become not only a married woman’s hands but also the hands of every nurturing Bengali mother, wife, and Annapurna who has ever fed a hungry soul!

Once, Mrs. Roy was talking a lot with the guest house manager about Kolkata, Godess Kali and Dakshineswar Kali temple, and how the mother is the real Annapurna and mother of all beings!

Som listened to her with pure bliss as he lay on the ground, basking in the sun, and whispering sea wind. He was happy to know that there is a mother out there who takes care of all living beings equally!

One afternoon, Mrs. Roy was packing her luggage. It contained all the gifts she had bought in Puri. A packet with a new shakha-pola set lay outside the bag, perhaps because she planned to pack it later.

She lovingly stroked both the dogs’ cheeks and said she would come back again sometime and went out.

Som was relaxing on the sand outside the guest house and ended up sleeping until almost nightfall. Feeling a little lethargic, he made his way back to the guest house. But within moments, he began to panic; Ratri was nowhere to be found!

The hotel manager said- ‘Ohh Som you came back, Mrs. Roy went away with her husband to their place at Kolkata, as there was some emergency back home. And yes, even we are unable to find Ratri, since then.’

Som understood he has been robbed; her Ratri may have been taken away by Mrs. Roy!

In a moment his world collapsed.

Som saw a set of sakha-pola still lying on bed in a pouch. The bangles which a Bengali mother wears, which the divinity wears.

Som picked up the pouch in his mouth and started walking away slowly.

At first Som was panicking about the absence of Ratri, but after some time when he started feeling hungry, he remembered Ratri, as she could never ignore her hunger, and when it came, the hiccups would begin uncontrollably!

Some understood, the place where he is standing right now is far from Kolkata, where probably his Ratri and the universal Mother Ma Kali stays. Som made the most difficult decision of his life: he has to reach Kolkata, no matter what!

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Scene changes-

Sensing Som’s distress, the hotel manager stepped forward to comfort him. After understanding his plight, he approached a group of Bengali devotees who were staying at his guest house in the holy town of Puri. Since they were returning to Kolkata the next day, he requested them to take the dog along with them and may be if Mother Kali wishes Som reunites with Ratri.

Som understood the journey wouldn’t be that easy, as the devotees were planning to return to Kolkata with a few traditional commutes that may not include comfortable traveling beside himself being just a child!

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The devotees left the holy town of Puri before sunrise. Som along with them started walking barefoot for several hours along the road. While walking sometimes some farmers offered them a ride on a bullock cart, sometimes a few village women gave them some puffed rice and jaggery.

Midway through the journey, they reached a rough stretch of road. The bullock-cart driver refused to let Som sit inside the cart where the other devotees were allowed. Accepting his fate without complaint, Som continued on his paws under the scorching summer sun. Thorns pricked his paws, and the endless dust of the road clung to his once-white fur, turning patches of it a dull brown.

Yet he kept moving forward, driven by a single hope to reach Dakshineswar temple and give the shakha-pola pouch to Goddess Kali, as he believed she is the Annapurneswari,the Goddess who ensures that no one goes hungry and who blesses the world with food, ‘She will take care of my Ratri!’

One night passed, the devotees along with Som startedwalking again at dawn. A truck driver carrying milk notices him and lets them ride in the rear for part of the journey. At a roadside tea stall, the devotees halted to buy some tea and a couple of biscuits, they offered Som a few biscuits, but he could not fetch himself to eat them.

The thought that Ratri might be somewhere, hungry and in hiccups from an empty stomach, weighed heavily on his heart. Every biscuit reminded him of her, and so he quietly turned away, carrying his hunger as he continued his journey. As the journey continued the devotees halted at a Dharamshala, travelled by a bus, where the conductor showed kindness in taking the dog inside the bus.

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Arrival in Kolkata

Throughout the journey Som had learnt so much about Mother Kali, that he pressed the sankha-pola pouch in his mouth a little hard. The bangles’ pouch had indeed turned dusty, but carried with so much of love, emotion and hope Som had for the Goddess!

By evening, the devotees finally reach Kolkata, though the devotees had food, cloth, bag, prayer beads and water with them, Som had nothing in his possession except the pouch of shakha-pola and unshakable love for Ratri.

Covered in mud, coated with dust, and scorched by the relentless sun, he finally reached Dakshineswar!

The pouch in Som’s mouth was now completely torn, the beautiful shakha pola was visible from different places from the pouch bag.

Som’s only intention was to give this to Goddess Kali, as she is a mother to all living beings and she will take care and find Ratri for him.

‘My Ratri, My Ratri must be hungry, she must be having bouts of hiccupps from hunger by now!

Night fell.

Exhausted from the long journey and wounded by the hardships of the road, Som lays down outside the temple of Dakshineswar. With no strength left in his body, he rests his face upon his tired paws and drifts into a deep sleep. As he did, the small pouch containing the sakha-pola slipped gently from his mouth and fell beside him.

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The scene changes

Hic,Hic!  Som hears a familiar sound!

Amazed, he sees a beautiful motherly figure with utmost love standing before him making this hiccup sound. She is smiling!

The golden aura around her pervades everything nearby in shades of gold and crimson.

‘You are tired my son, let me feed you with my hand.’

Som saw his Annapurneshwari now wearing the shakha-pola in her hands! In astonishment he notices Ratri is now sitting beside him!

Som looks around, not a single soul is present around.

It was only The Mother, who is blessing and feeding him.

To Som – the moon, his Ratri – the night was so close to embrace!

The shakha-pola on the Divine Mother’s wrists did not merely say she was a mother, but she carried a glimpse of Annapurna within her, feeding the weary, and turning love into nourishment!

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Have water! My friend called out my name and handed me the water bottle he just got from the shop for me!

I opened my eyes with a lungful of air, not understanding what I saw right now. Is it a dream or a reality?

To this date I only knew one thing: I am a part of this wonderful love story and yes, there is no animal sitting before me!