He had never thought he would have to leave his 12 feet by 12 feet cubicle or move down the three small marble steps of the temple that sat snugly on the banks of the Narmada.

He was a Sanyasi, and like all sanyasies, he had basically broke the connection with all the pleasures of the world and forgotten his name.  But he was different. Over the years he had got a large group of followers. They would come to him for advice and blessings. The Sanyasi was fed thrice a day by his followers. He was happy.

He now wondered what would have happened if he had had refused to the idiot meditating inside the cave where it was so cold, water automatically froze to ice. Little did he know what god had in mind for him.

                                                                          ***

30 years ago....

He walked on the soft, white sands of the Narmada. After losing his respect, his father and his dignity, He had now lost his house too.  His legacy had now been given to his extremely stupid cousin. His father had given his house to his cousin instead of his own son! And that too for just not being able to pass an exam! He hated his late father.

His beard swayed in the cold wind. Nobody took notice of him due to his tattered clothes. As the sun set in the west and the sky turned black, a peasant from the suburbs came and sat beside him. Dry mud caked his feet and his hair was full of dust. He looked extremely frustrated and haggard and deprived of sleep.

“What happened?” asked the potential Sanyasi.

“How can you help me?” replied the peasant.

“I know you need help. So just tell me what happened. Maybe I can help you.”

This man looked promising to the peasant. He had a certain air of wisdom about him.

“I am Kaustub.  I am a farmer. I have a farm at the end of the town. Yesterday when I was working near-very near- the boundary, I found an odd metal object in the ground. I called my enemy and old friend Karan, owner of the  adjoining farm. He looked at it for a small time. Said didn’t know what it is. We started digging. After about three hours of digging, we found a pot full of gold coins and a statue of the mountain goddess right on the boundary. Karan is insistent upon dividing the treasure and the goddess. I have agreed to give him half of the treasure but he still saying he wants his share of the goddess. Oh! How can I give him half of the goddess?”

The potential Sanyasi listened in complete silence. Finally he said, “Meet me at five o’clock here at same time take me to your field tomorrow.”

By 5:30, they were at Kaustub’s farm. The statue was sitting on the boundary of the farm.

The Sanyasi shouted, “You want to divide this goddess? Here, let me do it. Bring a hammer.”

Instantly a crowd gathered. Somebody brought a hammer.

 The Sanyasi brought the hammer high above his head. Kaustub watched in utter disbelief. The Sanyasi brought the hammer down in one sweeping motion.

“Stop!” somebody shouted

“Who are you?” asked the Sanyasi

“I am Karan, the owner of the adjacent farm. What are you doing?”
“I am doing what you wanted- giving you your half of the goddess.”
“Are you mad? How can you do this?”

“This is what you wanted, didn’t you? Your share of the goddess.”

“Yes, but not like this.”
“How else?”

“I don’t know”

“I ask all of you present here- isn’t god in everyone and everywhere?”

They all nodded in unison.

“Then how do dare ask for half of the goddess? Stop this fighting.”
“Karan, what happened to us, why are we fighting? Why can’t we be friends like we used to be? What happened to us?” Kaustub suddenly spoke.

“Someone told me that you called me a dog.”
“Completely false.”

They hugged each other. “I am sorry I doubted you brother.”

“Now what do we do of the statue?” somebody from the crowd asked.

“I know what to do with it.” Kaustub blurted.

They lifted the goddess and brought her to the river bank and placed her at the spot where the Sanyasi had met Kaustub. “We will build a temple here.”

In 2 years he became so famous that people all over India came to meet him and asked for his blessings or listen to his discourses. His life was very comfortable, and without any complaint.

Disaster always comes at the most unexpected moment, a bolt from the blue. One fine morning when the flowers bloomed, a rather excited man came running to the Sanyasi.

“Some great baba has come to meet you.”

“Bring him here.”

The baba was brought to him. Instantly the Sanyasi rose from his wooden throne and touched the feet of the sage.

“God bless you.”

“What brings you here, o great sage?” asked the Sanyasi.

“You see, me and a few of my bakhts are taking a short trip to the Himalayan Mountains. Passing through here, we came to know that you are also a great sage. We are here to invite you to come with us.”

 The Sanyasi looked at the expectant crowd. They wanted him to go. And what would a short trip cost?

“Ok sir.”

“Then we must leave right now.”

It is funny how humans think small decisions can’t change their life. The Sanyasi was going to find it out soon.

                                                                            ***

When the small group of sages reached the cave, they all started meditating except for the Sanyasi. He pretended to do it for a few hours, but after that, he couldn’t sit in the cold anymore. He got up and cursed the idiot sage who brought him there inside his mind. He exited the cave.

A bright sun shined high up in the sky. He felt better outside. He knew the way towards the base of the mountains.

He walked hurriedly down the way. The snow was white and extremely soft.

He encountered a very narrow turn in his way. It was only half a foot wide and the Sanyasi had to put one foot in front of the other to cross this path. At the narrowest point of the turn, the bright sunshine had melted the snow into water. It was as slippery as an ice rink.

He kept his foot safely in the water. But as he brought his back foot forward he lost his balance and fell in the valley.

They found his body twenty years later, frozen inside a glacier. The excavators said he was at least two-hundred  years old. He now sits inside a block of ice in a top-class museum.