Faith moves mountains (860 words)

The morning paper no doubt carried the usual forecast of the meteorological department about the likely light to heavy showers in the evening. Yet when Vasantha left her house to do some urgent shopping, the sky was very clear with no indication of any rain. As she finished her purchases and came out of the large supermarket with a heavy bag on her shoulder, it was raining heavily with road dark. Most of the customers were waiting in the portico for the rain to subside. The wind was chilly and strong.  But it did subside after an hour when the roads by then were heavily flooded with water.

 She luckily saw a bus to her destination crawling opposite to the supermarket  in the inevitable traffic jam. She ran towards it and got into the crowded bus. She breathed a sigh of relief that she should be back in her home within thirty minutes. The bus started moving slowly and the rains also commenced again with greater fury. The road was filled knee deep with water. She could see many cars stranded after they broke down. It looked hours as the bus inched its way towards the destination. She regretted her decision to go out despite the warning of a possible rain as she also wondered who ever attached importance to  the weather predictions of the department.

The bus stopped at a stop that was about two furlongs away from her house. It was again raining cats and dogs. The conductor urged her to get down quickly. There were no trees nearby except a transformer. The bus stop was just adjacent to the transformer. It was getting dark. The road was dimly lit. She was afraid to wade through the knee-deep water with a heavy bag in her hand. She was apprehensive of open manholes that she had seen earlier. There was not a soul in sight. No auto rickshaws could be seen.

 It was those days when mobile phones were not in use. She got really nervous though a brave lady by nature. When things look so formidable with no ray of hope, people turn to god. She too prayed intensely to her ishta devatha Lord Guruvayurappan, the presiding deity of Guruvayur to help her reach home. Tears were trickling from her eyes as she continued the prayer amidst the unrelenting rain. Her clothes were drenched and legs started aching.

It was then incredibly a cycle rickshaw appeared before her as if from nowhere and the driver remonstrated at her “Have you gone mad, Amma, standing under a transformer in this heavy rain? Are you not educated enough? Get in quickly. I will drop you.”

It was then she realized that the driver was the one who took children of her locality to the school daily. Surprised she asked him,” How come you are here after the school hours on this horribly rainy day?”

“How does it matter,Amma? Lucky I am here.Get in  quickly,” he replied

She asked him” You know my house in 2^nd cross street. How much do you want?”

He laughed saying “What a foolish woman you are asking me such a question in this scary situation? You give whatever you feel like. This is not a time to bargain. Get in fast”

He dropped her soon at her house and pocketed the money she gave him without even looking at it to know how much she had given. Vasantha sincerely believed that it was Lord Guruvayurappan Himself who had answered her prayers for no rickshaw driver in sane mind would be plying the vehicle in such a downpour in that desolate road.

The air was cold and it was still raining heavily as Vasantha stood watching in the downpour  at  the rikshaw with her saviour in the front fading away from her eyes in the dark road.

The next morning sky was clear and the sun was shining brightly.Vasantha was standing near the gate plucking flowers from the plants when she saw the rikshaw driver  stopping at the opposite house to take their girl.

She hailed him  and said , “Hello, thank you immensely for dropping me at home last evening in the down pour.I should have paid you much more. If you can wait, I will fetch some more and give you.”

“When did I come last evening? After dropping the children, I went home  and rested. It must be someone else who must have brought you home,” he said.

Utterly in disbelief, she said. “No, it was you only  Don’t I know you and you even chided me for standing under the transformer. Have you forgotten so soon?”

“Amma,I do not know what you are talking about. I did not take you home last evening and I went back home after dropping school children. I am certain about it,” he said with finality.

Vasantha stood  dazed with goose bumps when she grasped the truth that it was none else than the lord Himself who had answered her prayers the previous evening.

  "We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade the presence of God. The world is crowded with Him. He walks everywhere incognito."