My thoughts about a place that haunts me and will haunt for ever!
In the Himalayan foothills, there is a small village called AMRITPUR where a girl named AMRITLEKHA lived in a magnificent mansion surrounded by a beautiful garden called AMRIT BAUG. The village is blessed with a vast deep lake called AMRIT TAL.
Amritlekha is a girl of phenomenal beauty always in her early twenties. Her beauty has a uniqueness. It changes the way you would like see her. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder! It transcends ones concept of beauty. She is all you are looking for and a step further. People younger than her strive to be like her. People of her age envy her. People older than her want to become younger. Such is her beauty.
She nature’s wonder! Her age is stagnated. Everyone around her gets older and older but Amritlekha doesn’t! She doesn’t become old. It is as simple as that. She has seen millions come into this world, grow and die. No one knows how old she would have been had she been growing! People around her for many generations accepted her as it is. No questions asked! She could become a Goddess due to her immortality but she refused to be that and always lived as one among them. Amritlekha remembers everything since her childhood. But she believes that she is born as she is now. Actually some natural wonder must have happened at her age of 21 that stagnated her aging and muted her for life. She never grew older than that for centuries. Her aging is measured by the incidences happened around her for centuries. But no one questioned this because everyone adored her for all that she is!
She has been a mute witness to all that happened and still happening around her. She could not talk about her experiences to anyone. She had lost her ability to cry. She could not sing. She felt helpless.
Her phenomenal beauty started to become a curse for her when men from the planes noticed her! She got exploited by one and all that came in touch with her. She could not even cry aloud to tell to the whole world what she suffered from inside.
She knew what grief is when she chanced upon an ancient manuscript which told the story of her existence. This was written by some Sage centuries ago. Unfortunately the story stopped at the place where a massive storm and natural calamity was predicted the result of which was unpredictable by the author. The only line which gave her solace was the line “The thunder may bring her world to a grinding halt and take away her voice forever but she will be freed from the curse when a young man would marry her. But would it be her freedom from the chain of time or from her bodily existence?”. She could not find an answer to that.
Many travelers passed through this place and everybody was just passers-by and none to stay back and talk to her. She started to feel very lonely and almost withdrew to herself.
Then one day an Emperor came by and as expected he was stunned to see her beauty. He decided that he has to own her and expressed his wish to Amritlekha. Though hesitated due to her past experiences, she decided to meet him behind a curtain as he was a known emperor who wield his power almost anything he sees. The ever arrogant emperor tried to influence her by putting a price on her. She could not tolerate that and pulled the curtain away. The emperor was shocked to see the almighty’s masterpiece standing in front of her. He could not look at her eyes for long. He bowed to her and simply and asked “Shall I serve you and your village by making the place a comfortable abode for you?”. She suddenly remembered her father, smiled and answered “You are like my father. You are free to met me if you plan to visit this place often. That will alleviate my loneliness. What do you think?”
As mentioned in the scripture she chanced upon, she waited for that special day when she gets her voice back with the help of a young prince; but at the cost of her immortality. But she was more than happy to shed her immortality for love!
Tailpiece : Mughal Emperor Jahangir set his eyes on the valley of Kashmir and said “Gar firdaus, ruhe zamin ast, hamin asto, hamin asto, hamin asto”. If there is ever a heaven on earth, its here, its here, its here.