I was on leave...I travelled...I'm back...I bring back picture tales...here is one such story...

This is Madhusudan Das - I never asked him his age...the only thing I know is that he was born twelve hours before Guruji and thats the age difference he is on. He lives in a small cemented hut in Padla Village, right at the very end. There is a deep well in front of his hut, a temple is also close by. He looks after a revered place called Baageechi. This is a powerful place where Guruji would pray to all  the Shaktis. For those with little faith, it is meaningless...for those who believe in its powers, it is a pilgrimage. Madhusudan Das served Guruji for 45 years of his life. His eyes hold wisdom of times far away...you can look into his soul. He has no fear, no scruples and well...that's him...all simple and pure in a very ancient way.

We spent about an hour and a half with him after taking a parikrama of the place. Women are not permitted inside the Baageechi. So I simply took pictures from outside. There is a powerful Hanuman Mandir inside the sanctum. His wrinkled hands brush away the tears that dim his eyes...afternoon slowly gets chilly while we hear of snatches of his times with Guruji. He cries a bit...eyes brimming with tears that he quietly prevents from flowing down his eyes.

He says that he is happy serving there and not staying in the Ashram. He does not understand the Ashram. For him, this is his entire life, this is the Ashram for him, and the one single dham where he is meant to serve. We sip hot tea that he insists we have. We sit out on a rug spread over a slate placed over a make-shift table. My daughter and I take pictures while he talks...my daughter catches the sky while I click on...taking into the memory of the camera, moments, ex-pressions, a way of life that is simple...what I can never caupture on camera is what I capture inside my soul...the pure air around, the sound of parrots and birds, the blueness of the sky no camera can ever catch, the smell of mustard all around...the power and the very essence of nature.

He asks us to stay...we have three hours to drive back and we reluctantly leave...Madhusudan Das and his hut, a simple life that is focused on his love for Guruji, peacocks scatter alongside the trail that moves away from Baageechi...onward bound...to the complexities of a crazy exisitence in an impure extravaganza we call civilization!

Baageechi was a pilgrimage...so was Madhusudan Das.

- Copyright Sandy

Picture taken at Padla - Rajasthan