Most readers admire Paulo Cohelo’s famous line in The Alchemist “When you really want something to happen, the whole world conspires to help you achieve it.” I am narrating my experience about nine years ago, much before I read The Alchemist.
My wife and I went to Shimla sometime in 2002 when Delhi was warm enough and we spent three nights there, in the State Guest House. On the first day, we had dinner and talked for a while when my wife suddenly said “I had seen clouds hitting the hills and rain pouring in the Hills years ago; how I wish I saw clouds, thunder, lightning and rain in the Hills again .” The next morning we visited places in and around Shimla. Chief Secretary, Himachal Pradesh, Harsh Gupta, a good friend, had made avaialble a good car and a still better Driver. While the car was negitiating a climb and the weather was pleasant, my wife asked the Driver “Do you get rains in Shimla in this part of the year?” . He slowed down the car, craned his neck out of the window, looked up and smilingly said “No madam, we do not get rains these days; but you should come during the rainy days and see the play of clouds and the hills and the bubbling rain water flowing down the hills”.
We had a busy day, our second day in Shimla. That night around eleven, we woke up at the sound of thunder and flashes of lightning. It rained heavily, for about a couple of hours. Perhaps nature conspired to fulfil her wish. She was ecstatic; I found no explanation how it could have happened. We talked for a while, watching the rain outside.
She unfolded yet another wish. She longed to see a pahari wedding and wondered if this could take place while we were still at Shimla. She was born in Garhwal but lived mostly in Delhi. During her infrequent visits to the Hills in childhood, she might have seen a few weddings.
We woke up early, to the sound of digging of the ground nearby. I looked at the garden outside the room. In the front portion of the State Guest House I saw around fifteen people and a lot of activities. Curious, I went out to unfold the mystery. The daughter of a Member of the Himachal Public Service Commission would marry a boy from Gujarat that day and arrangements were being made for the wedding in the State Guest House.
I could not believe that her second wish would also be answered. I rushed to the room to tell her about an impossible wish of hers materialising. We decided to be detached onlookers to the Pahari wedding. Our curiosity caught the attention of the bride’s father who was equally happy that my wife’s wish was getting fulfilled in his daughter’s wedding. We could not refuge his warm invitation to stay on for lunch. The sight of ladies carrying brass pitchers and coming to the marriage pandal was a memorable sight.
We left Shimla happy. I cannot be a cold blooded rationalist to treat both the experiences as mere coincidence. I would rather acknowlege the pervading presence of a benevolent Higher Force that guides us, protects us and makes us live happily.
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