The Krishna Love (Wattpad India Awards Winner)

Chapter 9 - Forest of Delusion

Ravi took a gander at his wrist-watch now and then. He felt his temper was boiling his insides. The person who he calls his best friend was always proving his lack of interest in punctuality.

Sid did arrive after five minutes, and he quickly astride on Ravi's bike.

Ravi wanted to give Sid a piece of mind, but the image of his Hitler dad manifested before his eyes. You're getting late, report your ass to shop!

He blinked away the negative thought and inserted the key into the ignition. The acceleration vibrated his motorcycle with a few jolt, and they rode away from the scene.

Two of them reached halfway. Sid alighted from the bike in no time.

Ravi took off the helmet before speaking. "I'll see you in the evening." Just a nod what he got from Sid.

Now Sid was all alone on his journey. He took a taxi from there and arrived at the desired location. The boy paid the fare, and the other hand reached to pull out his smartphone.

His eyes skimmed over the address that he had written down yesterday. 

A surge of nervousness washing over him. How in this world are you going ask this address to passersby? Imagine this, a young teenager looking for a religious, this fearful thought haunted him that it's going to be cultural-shock for many.

Somehow or other, he collected himself and approached a man who was passing by. The man was donned in traditional clothes as if he was going to a ceremony, and a red vertical ​tilak​ (religious marking) on his forehead glinted under the daylight.

"Excuse me! C-could you please tell me where this location is?" Sid said, his voice was still struggling with nervousness.

The man stopped and turned around to cast an eye on Sid's mobile phone. A slow-motion smile brightened his face. "Oh, great!" he exclaimed. "Are you going to the spiritual seminar?"

A smile of relief bloomed on Sid's face. "Yes," he burst out. "I heard they're going to give a seminar on the essence—"

"Oh, you're in luck." The man interrupted. "I'm also heading there. If you don't mind, you can tag along."

"Hell yeah!"

These two words made nervousness fly away like a bird. Sid nodded and started walking side by side with Prakash.

"My name is Prakash Singh." The man introduced himself while walking. "I'm a disciple of Swami Mukhteshwar, the speaker of the seminar. By his mercy, I'm the chief organizer and fundraiser for Babaji. We call him as Babaji. How come you're here?"

Prakash eyed the boy with a curiosity-filled glance.

Sid felt a lump of surprise formed in his throat. "No, I—" He momentarily lost words. "I... I heard about this seminar, and I'm pretty much interested." In the back of his mind, Sid considered putting forward one of his queries to Prakash. The man was oozing out with wisdom, really a scholarly looking fellow.

Prakash scratched his head. "It always fills me with pride when I see a young man like you take an interest in understanding our Hindu Dharma." A glint of awe glittered his eyes. "What's your name?"

"I'm... My name is Siddhant Kothari." Sid's voice was marred with a bit of shutter. "You k-know, I have some queries."

"Oh yeah? I'm certain Babaji will resolve all of your queries," Prakash said with a confident look.

While walking, a constant murmur of something (maybe a mantra?) kept on coming from Prakash's lips.

Several minutes passed with an amble, and the boy finally caught sight a bungalow transformed into a temple. Whatever he glanced, the big hoardings and posters of the Swami Mukhteshwar, eyed back at him.