I know you are here because you are intrigued by the headline of this blog post. But please be patient as I use my writing skills, some adjectives, some adverbs, and bring out an “alankarit” (ornamented) write-up for you.

Every girl wants to date a bad boy and marry a good man and that’s exactly what happened to me. But this bad boy was, in fact, a good man. And I was to know about it only after I was married. Immediately after I was married, in fact!

Well, my husband and then-boyfriend aren’t definitively bad, he would just turn roguish when necessary. What with his political ambitions and jazz, the word “radaa” or ruckus was something that he used often. Then there were those fights with dishonest rickshawalas and even I joined him when he fought against their loot. (But after the marriage that image sort started to wilt. He became a matured and responsible chap.?) But the day after my wedding my new family decided to break news to me which actually shocked me, surprised me and I am still reeling with the effect of that news!

I was introduced to the family’s past via the photo albums and there I saw an image of a guy, dressed in saffron-colored pajama,  jhabba, and a pagdi. I couldn’t recognize this chubby boy. My family is a lot religious and we follow a spiritual Guru and so I presumed that this boy was a fellow disciple of our Guru. I WAS WRONG HE WAS MY HUSBAND!

MY HUSBAND WAS ONCE A SPIRITUAL GURU!

Wait, weren’t you expecting that? But, really, I wasn’t. It was a shock to me. I hadn’t a clue if I should laugh or cry or feel cheated because my boyfriend never once uttered a single word about this past. Understand now, don’t you? That even if you date a person for a year or more, you are not really going to be acquainted with every aspect of their life. And with that thought, I sort of quelled my thoughts, pulled myself together and gave a hesitant laugh. Furthering my scare were these words, “I was going to become a Sanyasi.”

S.A.N.Y.A.S.I (That sort of came out in slow-mo or that’s how I remember it now ?)

Wait, what?

“Why did you….not…then?”

“Umm….my inclination towards history and politics is so strong that our Guru seems to have got a whiff of it and he said that I shouldn’t take sanyas….”

“Oh….”

“Perhaps, he knew that I was to meet YOU!”

Perhaps… Now that’s highly possible to have worldly instincts, you know? Enlightened people usually talk cryptically. And it’s up to us to solve those riddles they throw our way. And hence I didn’t think of it as odd at all.

“So you would give pravachan in those clothes?”

“Ummhmmm…every Saturday.”

“Wow!” That didn’t really come out the way I wanted it to…but yeah it was more of a surprise, every Saturday!

That’s when someone from my family chirped in (you see I was in a trance and don’t recall who asked this question next).

“So, why did you fall for her?”

I heard this question and his laughter followed.

“I married her because she replied to one of the most toughest questions quite easily?”

“What question?” I asked.

“Don’t you remember?”

“Nope….”

I was quizzed about a question I was asked! ?

“So, once I asked you, who are you?”

“Yeah ….??” ?

“To which you replied, they call me Siddhi but I am aatma.”

I AM AATMA. Make that sentence bold, italics and underline it. And here I was thinking I was someone special…

This Sanyasi married a soul who knew that she was just a soul.

Get it?