The half truth

Please read the previous Moral Fiction here

Name of the Author : Suparna De

Note about author : A silent observer. Avid reader and occasional blogger. Loves to take in the ‘single line’ quotes. Interested in fashion, photography and a bit of cycling.

Read more on her blog here

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Chapter 3

The tall man in the robes stood in the corner. He looked like a man with more knowledge in his head, and less materialistic about the world.

‘How are some men so simple?’

Tisca smiled at the view as she shifted slowly over the seat. The philosopher boarded into the same compartment and sat in a seat not far away from her.

Tisca was heading home in a train, a not-so-unusual yet worth-sharing incident occurred. To describe Tisca, the protagonist of our story was a young, opinionated yet a person with unquestionable rationale. She also happened to have a knack of observing every minute detail under the sun. She analyzed her observations. She then made evidential inferences out of those observations. Most of these inferences ended up being accurate or in other words, fact or reality. At least, she preferred to think and eventually believe it that way.

To continue the story from where we left, the man dressed in a saffron robe sat right in front of her seat. The man was chanting “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare” in his own accent while he (read: pretended to count) counted mantras using the sacred string of prayer- beads.

This situation was one of the most apt cases wherein Tisca was certainly tempted by her innate flair of observing, analyzing and eventually passing her verdict on her chosen subject (if we call it a subject). She could not resist herself from wearing her (observation) glasses on.

Scene 1: A snack vendor passed by the white guy. He asked the vendor “how much?”

The vendor replied, “Dus Rupiah.”

He asked him again.

The vendor unaware about the fact that he was not being comprehended, answered again,” Dus Rupiah”.

This time the white man was irate when a co-passenger came to his rescue and said “Ten Rupees”.

Scene 2: A few moments later a female ticket checker was heard reprimanding someone for travelling without ticket.

And here was our man still chanting and passing a wry smile (Probably, at the TTE’s seemingly disgraceful yelling or at the plight of the person being caught for travelling without ticket).

By this time Tisca decided to take out her observation glasses and give some rest to her eyes. So, she closed her eyes and started contemplating.

Tisca started thinking about the guy in saffron robe. The guy all this while was pretending to meditate when his entire mind was concentrating on the outside world. He did not seem to have the slightest bit of inherent patience let alone tolerance to the poor vendor’s naivety. The guy must have left his own country and a zillion other things to find solace in life at the cost of what not!

She thought to herself that if one can’t find peace or spiritualism at home, he or she won’t find anywhere else.

When Tisca was about to alight she heard a man saying, “Poor guys, they come here in search of real peace.”

Tisca just smiled inside.

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