Yes by Santosh Jha (the read aloud family txt) 📕

‘It is like reading a book. Reading is also like a conversation with the author you probably do not know; never met. You read the lines of a book and even if questions arise in your mind, you cannot talk to the author. You may feel, the character should act and behave differently from what the author portrays. You may feel the author has erred somewhere in creating a reality; etc. But, you do not say anything. Rather, you keep reading, in the hope and anticipation that when you finish the book, all your questions would be answered. The magic is to be like a seasoned reader, who is ever willing to get transported to any reality the author weaves and simultaneously also relate well with the character and situation the author presents. You are unfamiliar with everything, yet willing to identify with everything in the book. This may be stupidity in other situation but as a reader; in book reading progression; it is the joy!’

‘Okay. I probably understand. Whatever you say, it may sound unfamiliar and unreal but I have to keep listening, as if you are a book, not a person. Is it like that?’

‘May be; but don’t let even this feeling make you unnecessarily conscious of your role as a reader. You are not only a reader. You are part of the book. It is like you are watching a movie but you are also part of the movie. Don’t bother about these details. You just be; let the time unravel itself. You are everywhere in every second of the time progression. You just need to be.’

She felt a passing sense of déjà vu. Suddenly, she felt she probably had seen him or met him somewhere. She began to accept that he probably was somehow known to her in her early childhood days, which she could not recall now. Seconds later, she could realize that probably, his magic was working on her. His talks had already arrived her to what he called the tree-level cognition vis-à-vis him. She even smiled at how he made her feel connected with him. Five minutes earlier, he was stranger and now she is considering him as some continuity of her definite past. She actually got relaxed. She was ready for what next he would say. She however was not ready for the reality he would want her to be in and definitely not prepared for the proposal he was going to extend to her.

‘There is always a hypothesis on which a theory is created. If the hypothesis is right and valid, there is good chance of the theory also being right and valid. I have a theory. I have a model of a reality, which is based on a hypothesis. This hypothesis is derived from loads of information I have garnered about you and your life. In other words, you happen to be the hypothesis of reality and validity for my theory or model of specific reality to be true and right. So, if you accept it as true and right, the reality shall happen. If not, the reality falls apart.’

The mist of mysticism was getting thicker every passing second for her and even if she could not understand much what he was saying, she felt she was being shaped into a character, who would be expected to deliver her lines any moment. Probably he was right. She also felt she is no more only a reader or a spectator. She was very much the book or the movie.

‘Around 100 kilometers from here, I have bought a piece of mountain. It is almost the size of a small village. In the last two years, it has been personally developed with unique features to facilitate a life-living reality, which I believe is right and true. The place is ready now. I propose that you leave your job and move with me to settle there.’

She heard it right but could not believe it because of the suddenness of its casual delivery. A hundred words competed in her minds to come first but he stopped her.

‘Please don’t let words and questions in your mind stop you from internalizing what I have said. Let everything sink in. Reacting may be intelligent option but it is not always right; at least it is not required here. As I humbly requested you, just be; be the book and keep moving with the author. I understand your situation but again I humbly request you to keep situationed at the tree-level timeline and the commensurate cognition.’

She had almost come to the edge of the chair and still wished to say things. He insisted she gave him two more minutes to finish. She was still not sure.

‘There is this hypothesis. My proposition is not important right now and we are not into it. There are so many details of this proposal and I know you would have so many questions to ask. I assure you I have all the answers but they can wait. The primary issue, the hypothesis, is; if you accept me as a person first, with whom you can think of being together, then only the rest of the issues and questions can have life. If not, they are dead. As I said earlier, the hypothesis has to be right and valid for the theory to be right and valid. The hypothesis is that at the very outset, there is the possibility of you accepting me as someone you can live with. I know, the age we are; there are strong and uncompromising sense of yes and no. If you are not revolted by very presence of mine in your life and this probability of sharing your life-space with me, then only other probabilities can think of having a life. You don’t need to rush into a decision. Think it over and tell me your decision. I shall wait for your response tomorrow morning.’

She couldn’t immediately decide what she needed to do. She definitely was not angered or offended. She could feel that things were not coming from a rank stranger as she had come around the belief that he was no stranger. But, she definitely wanted to ask him so many things. She even hurled all questions to him.

He was very receptive. He attentively listened to her but very politely he told her that all her questions would be answered very soon but she should only focus on the single hypothesis, which he offered her and say yes or no next morning. His poise, humility and persistent gentle persuasion made her receptive to his proposition.

He had made his preparations perfectly. He went inside the kitchen, opened the refrigerator and came back with a small bucket full of different chocolates. He told her, it was for her and she must eat all of them.

‘I have discovered it in painful ways that often, simple, easy and soft handling of a problem or situation is most productive but, we instead put forth complexity of intelligent ingenuity. This actually aggravates things. It is like, if you try to open a knot with hard hands, using force and with suddenness, you shall actually make it impossible to unleash. All knots open with soft, easy and patient hands. In most situations, we can win with innocence and simplicity of a child but, sadly, we have been trained to use the intricacies of grown up intelligence. These chocolates are symbolic. I wish you eat them all, as you would as a small kid and allow yourself consciously to fall back to the childlike innocence and simplicity. Though my hypothesis is not a knot; I would still expect you to open it with your chocolate stained hands.’

She could not resist a smile. She took the chocolate bucket. Back home, she looked at them; assessed them and thought for few seconds. She decided; she would skip dinner. She munched them all. She looked intently at her fingers. She licked them one by one. This was what she did when she was a child…

**

… the whole night she could not sleep. It took her a while to regain her normal self. She had listened to him and his proposal as if she was a character and was being presented with a script to act on. However, what involved was a true and real situation; an actual scenario, where she was expected to take a decision as real person. It involved her life and major changes, she could visualize, if she said either yes or no. Her troubles emanated out of the fact that she could not fix her thoughts to single issue as different aspects of the same situation kept knocking her mind. He had left her with almost no facts and positioned her to take a decision of life-changing dimensions.

Human mind has a fixation with complexities. The issue for her was simple and singular, yet she could not get to that as loads of questions flooded her mind and she kept herself engrossed with their possible answers. The complexities are what the consciousness loves. It makes the consciousness feel the pride and satisfaction of the warrior. Contemporary populist consciousness is oriented towards fighting it out to shine as a winner. Winning engulfs the cognition and naturally, the simplicity and microcosmic realities are lost in battle-mode positioning of self. The childlike innocence and innate simplicity is tough for us; the contemporary milieus have killed them. We are intelligent; not honest, simple and uncomplicated.

This is a big trouble for entire humanity. Life does not wish much for its survival and continuity. Life-living prudence is simple and singular. A person’s own wellness also does not need a host of attainments and possessions. Still, people think they need unending and complex support systems for survival and wellness. A bird seldom dies of starvation or malnutrition. An animal does not need billion dollars in his bank account. Human needs are the same. Yes; humans have special emotional and intellectual needs. For that, one needs personal suitability of his or her own consciousness and cognition and; someone special, who figuratively and literally means a whole world to him or her.

Slavery is not in chains and forced will. It is in the mind consciousness. The fear and unsettled cognition about unknown is slavery. We are born free and self-sufficient but grow and evolve to enslave ourselves. We fear, feel insecure and then embark on a long intelligent journey of attainments and possessions of infinite support systems for survival, wellness and so-called security-safety of excellence. Slavery of life is purely cognitive; so is freedom.

She too is waging a battle not with the new situation in her life but with herself. For survival and wellness, she needs only two things – her own self-sufficient consciousness and a person, who is a whole world for her. He is offering her exactly this. His hypothesis is all about this. He wants her to first accept this hypothesis that she needs nothing in her life’s wellness but her own self-sufficient consciousness, which she definitely has. That is why he is investing his entire life and life’s earnings on her. She only needs a person who is the whole world to her. He is offering himself as this option. She however is not able to zero down to this idea. She has the right to. Why is he there for? It is a man’s prerogative to catalyze his woman to best of her potentials and excellence. He has invested on her…

**

A night’s sleep is almost a simulation of small death. Every morning is like initiation of a fresh life. All lives have made this association with rising Sun since billions of years. Death is worthy precursor of all lives. It de-clutters and prunes the undesirable and toxic dump of milieus so that the morning could be simple and clear for a new beginning. She wakes up late but feels the