easy like ...

o joy! o blessed weather!
I had the most incredible early morning drive.
Nobody alive at seven on a saturday morning, traffic lights just blinkin n winkin, a cool, dewy wind blowing through my hair, skies a bright shade of grey, a light drizzle on my windscreen.
A drive is better than a long walk in the rain - atleast your boots don't get squishy.

Driving back at two is usually a nightmare but the weather continued to be benign. I was driving back, mighty pleased because of the wind and the weekend. I stopped at the red light opposite Humayun's tomb, switched off the engine and generally grinned at no one.

Thats when I saw a tall, young man in saffron robes, his head shaven with a bunch of books in his hand walking towards me. He bent down and spoke in a mellow British accent, very Zen. He was from ISCKON and was wondering if I would be interested in some books on Krishna.
I mumbled some apology about not having any money on me (i didn't, really) and then immediately regretted it because maybe he was just offering these books and not actually selling them.
He just gave a very sanguine nod, a gentle smile and walked away.
I wondered about this man who belonged in a Sabyasachi fashion show, and who'd instead apparently forsaken the world to spread the message of God to us materialists.

I felt a wild stab of something, which for lack of better understanding I'll call envy. I wished for a moment I could give it all up too, the fears and the worries, the pains and the pleasures. I wished I could travel barefeet, no purse-strings attached, living on the opiate of spirituality.
I tried to picture myself in saffron robes but Uma Bharti kept coming into mind.
And then the light turned green and I remembered the big party at 8 and I left the leaving behind behind.