I often stare at the painting of the bull in my living room. Such intricate work, such finesse, and the amount of patience that went into making it amazes me every time I look at it. I have many such Madhubani paintings at my place, a few of them even superior in theme and execution. But I keep coming back to this bull named Nandi. Yes, He is none other than the ardent worshipper of Lord Shiva.
The reason which drew me to this painting was His enchanting eye. Only one eye is visible since it is a two-dimensional painting. The more I look into it, it appears to reveal some truth...as if, they have words of their own...trying to speak a language I have long lost comprehension of.
The other day, my yoga teacher, Mrs. Dixit dropped in at my place without any hint of doing so. I was totally abashed and unprepared. I was having my lunch and everything was lying helter-skelter. I didn't know what to say and how to react.
Silently, she entered through the entrance door as if that was quite normal and expected of her.
"Why didn't you come for your yoga class Kavya?" she asked me with a worried look in her eyes.
I was puzzled. My half-finished biryani was staring at me.
How could I say the truth that her yoga steps were driving me crazy! For three days I had been trying to ace dhanurasana and twisted my left leg badly. After much coaxing from her, I tried to stand on my head leaning against the wall. The world around me seemed to be revolving after I stood on my feet. Either my upright position was not correct or the headstand went wrong. I felt dizzy and quickly understood that yoga was not tailor-cut for me.
"Actually, I don't think I can continue with my yoga classes anymore," I jabbered out my words.
Nervously awaiting her reaction, my eyes guiltily pried towards my biryani. I wished that she didn't mind my unapologetic behavior.
I gave a cursory look at her. To my utter surprise, she was not looking at me.
I followed her gaze and found her examining the bull's painting.
"Doesn't that eye seem mysterious to you?" she asked thoughtfully.
"the mystery is in His eye
or in the beholder,
the bull seemed to
have hit its target-
appeared as my Saviour..."
By Nandini Sengupta
@metaphors_of_life
I wondered how you were going to wind this up. I could not see any connection between Nandi the bull and the yoga teacher, but I have to say, the end was indeed masterful. Nandi the savior to the rescue. The narration was lucid and eloquent as one would expect from the likes of you. A slice of life which sweet, humorous and at times deep. The Biryani munching Kavya and her unwillingness to try anymore Aasans made me chuckle. A lovely read this, Nandini. I truly enjoyed reading it, given that it has been a while.