Valley of Flowers (4 page)

I cannot think of such an act, Nicolas told
himself. To say I would even consider playing here is really quite
scandalous and perhaps subject to libel.

Nicolas felt sure hitting into these bands
of colorful sharp dressers was not one of his options. He wished to
escape from this high place. He had the urge to retire to a life of
quiet contemplation.

Nicolas stepped up ways to
do away with this situation. In a repeated message he told himself,
and rather angrily this time,
Just end
this thing and head back!

He wondered next how it might be to send his
drive into this colorful perfumed lot. No, he thought. Hitting into
this flower valley, which seemed to accept gladly all that came its
way, was something I cannot see myself doing. And he discarded the
notion wholesale.

There is only one choice to make, he told
himself steady and sure. The choice is either to enter and begin
play here or do not at all.

One plan stood out prominently in his mind.
It was to give an apology to this good teacher, leave here quietly
and be back home at the earliest. This was acted out first inside
his head. But then, without thinking more of it, he openly said so.
He looked to Arjuna and told him plainly.

"
I'm sorry if you have been inconvenienced. But I object to
this.
"
And for a
split moment all action escaped him.

Nicolas looked to the many-flowered valley.
The sight of ripe immortal peace in his path overwhelmed him with
grief. He experienced a crisis in his own citizenship here.

Nicolas Kumar, son of a thoughtful scholar
but chemist by profession, possessing a blameless character, lifted
his eyes to the silvered heights for guidance. All came to a
standstill for him then as no help seemed forthcoming.

He stood feeling coltish.
Nicolas wondered what more he might do. Piously inside he heard a
lot of can
ts.
No hope pressed.

One thing Nicolas knew he could do was put
up a brave front in the face of this big playing meltdown. Inside
his heart ached.

How can fate be so unkind? he thought.

Again he looked mournfully
out at the Valley of Flowers. He sank down then, as if time and
space had both collapsed. His back he held erect. The heel of his
right foot pressed firm at the base of his spine and he
said,
"
I will
not.
"

5

Nicolas sat planted as a seed or sapling. In
perfect
silence he
stayed still there, not moving and also not doing.

By changing the form of a crucial verb,
Nicolas
, s
tricken, knew
he had undertaken his firmest reservations here. He felt at the
core of some supreme righteousness.
He
made believe
too
he was calm and not that wounded.
He
planned to
stay where he was, sitting there doing not much.
He
appeared ready for a good long fight
ahead.

In demonstrating
this
asan
from
classical yoga, Nicolas attempted next to not have one
thought-desire.

He set his mind for some
compressed repair. Nicolas closed his eyes. To any who happened by,
he was glad he would appear as one who is holy, an astute guru in
his own right, unraveling the immense mysteries of the vast
universe. He entertained the idea of staying this way for all time.
He felt he could stage this strike or
dharna
until hell froze him over.
This could come in just a few months’ time, he quickly figured out,
by the onset of an early winter.

A fresh moment passed where otherwise he
might have been up and doing. Lid-blinded he stared into dark
chaos.

Nicolas felt the urge to act. He moved his
forearms down onto his knees. His forefingers and thumbs touched to
form a pair of neat circles. In this way he struck a near-perfect
pose of achieved bliss or perceived blessed joyousness.

He got more settled. Nicolas hoped to show
his nobleness more. He sensed the flowers come in close and he
opened his eyes. The flowers looked as if they wished to thank him
and to somehow aid him. They appeared to move in closer.

Nicolas sat feeling loved, surrounded by
these visitors. He imagined they were grateful for what he was now
doing for them individually, as well as for the community as a
whole.

The pulsating sea of
flowers came in crushingly close then to try and compress him. He
next imagined them showing a more friendlier
What's up?
attitude towards
him.

Nicolas sensed the flowers turn angrily west
at him. They appeared to him as any large crowd on a railway
platform. He made believe they were gathering expectantly for their
final shuffle, sudden rush, push and hard shove, towards the one
exhibiting the awe-inspiring bright light.

He then created a sense
that railway police officers were present. Nicolas had the coppers
take up positions over all in the valley. He had them holding up
their
lathis
,
or baton weapons to be used on the
flowers if needed.

Nicolas gave his attention next to these
mountain pillars. They stood as giant law-keepers over all in the
valley. The Indian Himalayas outlined strikingly the area's terrain
that bordered on rich decadence. He was unhappy then with the
breeze coming in which no player worth his salt could ever really
trust.

An electrifying charge permeated the chilly
atmosphere. Nicolas again took refuge in his mind. He militated
more against playing up here. He considered a fast-unto-death.

He cited under his breath, Nobody can
dictate terms to me, recent qualifier of the Open Championship, not
even this good teacher, learned as he appears to be.

Nicolas pondered this until realization
surely thumped him that he was indeed being made to play into these
flowers.

He said aloud and defiantly, "No, I can’t
possibly. I cannot soil my hands by striking out at those near and
dear to me."

"
And by pause do you defend your position any better in this
world,
"
said
Arjuna.
"
By not
striking out and entering this fray,
"
he added,
"
do you—
"

"
Yes, but this is not a fair way!
"
erupted Nicolas, sensing no scope
for mercy. He said to himself, What could Father and this good
fellow have been thinking? May God bless all such people with some
sense.

"
I cannot say what is fair and not right,
"
the old man said in an even,
modest tone.
"
Maybe seeing things just and so is, yes, unfair. Wouldn’t you
say that good and bad traverse this course together? Perhaps you
are more accustomed to fairways made from Benares silk. No doubt I
am behind the times, but may I call you sweet?" Then in a more
serious manner he added, "Now is the time, dear Nicolas, for you to
convert this place into your own fair way virtue and exhibition
ground, as it is all experience anyway.
"

"
But I do not want this freedom!
"
cried Nicolas, stating this at
some volume.
"
Give me the tried and true knowing most everyone enjoys, as I
have no desire to change anyone. I have only to adjust for them and
things will be made right.
"

Nicolas went quiet. But
then he added,
"
Have you not been telling me since we began all are
kin?
"

And in his grief more sorrowful words came
from him.

With tenderness from a kind heart the old
man listened. His gentle consideration of the youth, the luckless
warrior here, sympathetically understood his grief to be much like
his own when he was young and in the company of his exalted
teacher.

At that long ago time, when shockingly
pitted against his cousins, the old man remembered how he had
undergone his own power crisis.

Nicolas had the idea now
that nothing could lift him above his current state of demurral. He
thought that no one need advise him. As the battlelines had been
clearly drawn, it occurred to him that not even a police
lathi-charge
could get
him to start his play here.

At this time, the challenge-busting feeling
sat inside him as a yogi in near-perfect posture.

Nicolas looked to his clubs sadly. They
remained standing by and idle. This put him in a more fouler,
brooding mood.

His sad eyes sought Arjuna’s. His eyes
looked as one on the verge of filing a mercy plea. But excusing
this youth, by giving him some sympathy waiver, was not at all what
this good teacher was willing to do. And Nicolas saw that.

Tension gripped. The feeling of no intention
ruled him.

Nicolas remained seated in this magnificent
outdoor space. He carried on making remarks in his mind. This
produced yet another good start for more mental agitation.

Will you be the offender
or the offended? Nicolas asked his self. No, he answered and his
gloom darkened. And w
hile using his guile
he
added,
"
I will
be neither the offender nor the offended.
"

6

Nicolas showed his firm intention. He had a look
on his face
that reached
this elder soft as a baby’s touch
, a
nd the message was that he, Nicolas
Kumar
, the Unbegun, would be
spending an infinite amount of chill time at this spot.

Arjuna smiled. He knew the difficulty in
understanding this high philosophy. The old man was not upset, nor
was he at all troubled by this refusal. He felt gratified only
thinking mildly, This is the way it is.

The old man
eased back in
his mind. His eyes went more remote. He returned to his own
formative years. He threw more light onto his distant playing
past.

The one with the lifelong adolescent smile
had returned to his earlier playing self. He was again in the
company of his exalted teacher. This guide stood all but solidly
beside him plain as day. His life tutor was instructing him then in
the most high-ranking way. And the message was he must go out into
this world to perform.

The old man came back to the valley when he
felt more in favor of fighting today’s battles than yesterday’s.
All was not lost, however, as Arjuna had brought back with him one
nugget of advice.

"
Hardest of all and by a long shot,
"
he said,
"
is the going out after the battle,
to carry on correctly, while struggling to live daily by these high
ideals, and not fall back too often.
"

Arjuna wished to press on hard now. He
sought to give his youth-rendered philosophics a more serious
twirl.

"
There are no graves here,
"
he said.
"
Eliminate this first mistake. Take
time to understand this, and years may not do, but come to know its
verity. Remember, all alive will live always and never have you not
been, and nature, while rewarding action, allots little to
indifference.
"

The old man went quiet. He appeared to be
formulating what next to say. Then he was back at it, instructing
in the fine art of enlightening.

"
Now is the time for you to show your great
talents,
"
the old
man said,
"
being
as they are reputed, and to discover a true happiness that is
already yours. You are young. Know inexperience as opportunity and
nothing to fear. So think well here, dear Nicolas. Come up in life
and not down in spirit as performing task is your great
instinct.
"

Nicolas Kumar refused to budge. Without hint
of tiredness or perceived disappointment, Arjuna contentedly
continued.

"
Nothing can be achieved without drive,
"
he said.
"
And fairest best is the achiever.
With your ambition, exciting changes will happen now to you. So do
act, Nicolas, if it wills you. Remember, on this day along with
most others there is need for action.
"

Nicolas lifted his eyes to
the soaring Indian Himalayas. He thought little of
Arjuna
’s
words. He felt pushed into this
brooding mood. He then began hatching a marvelous plan.