Tingles were shooting across Sid's stomach every now and then. Now that he was standing on the place he yearned to be, the wheel of introspection was spinning faster than the usual.
Sure, he made this decision to participate in The Great Debate, but what if he'll have a nervous breakdown while debating with tough competitors? Not a day ago he was worn to a frazzle due to over thinking on this decision. I'm happy to be here; it's my chance to demonstrate what Braja's said to me, Sid thought.
What amazing words they were for him! Each word expedited his consciousness to the higher realm of Bhakti yoga. He heard philosophy a lot, imbibed every aspect of knowledge into his heart and soul. Now it was the time to exemplify devotion for generations to come.
Lately these days he was having this strange feeling that The Great Debate was the purpose of his life. He was good at debating and once he had wondered will his debating skills come in handy someday? Now that the destiny presented him with this opportunity, a fact crystallized in his psyche: nothing in this world is redundant or meaningless. It's your perception that filters your vision.
Talking about meaningless, Modern Ecclesiastes will be a participant in this debate competition, rumor has it. Sid's eyes unconsciously traveled to the row of star debaters from the previous tournament. Modern Ecclesiastes, however, was nowhere to be found.
Sid was all ears to the whispers of the people about category Modern Ecclesiastes was going to put himself in, which was still a mystery. The memories flash backed into Sid's mind; everything is meaningless, all is vanity. Those idiosyncratic words had influenced his entire perception at some point. A soothing warmth, however, jam-packed his heart when he thought of the knowledge of Bhagavad-Gita. Personally, he felt he has no level to go one on one with Modern Ecclesiastes, but with the knowledge of Gita, he was ready to go debate with anyone who hinders his way in accomplishing this self-assigned mission.
A shot of nervousness rose within his heart and subdued brewing excitement. Damn, I must overcome my fear of public speaking. I'll be the butt of a joke I speak like ah, ah, ah, duh, duh, duh.
Sid took a shaky breath and closed his eyes for quick meditation relief; he waited in the queue for his turn to come for registration. Only a man's voice snapped him out. "Name?" the man sounded like an underpaid employee of the private sector.
"Sid... Siddhan... Kothari," Sid's voice stifled due to a cough, he hawked. "Siddhant Kothari." This one was loud and clear.
"Age?" the man didn't care to look at Sid, he was busy filling the details in his laptop.
"Nineteen."
"Ninety," the man spoke to himself while typing.
"It's nineteen, one-nine!" Sid burst out.
"What!?" the man exclaimed, for the first time, he laid his eyes on Sid only to have a shock of life. "Kid, what are you doing here?"
"Excuse me?" Sid questioned. His left eyebrow raised in disbelief; he thought maybe the man heard him wrong. "I'm nineteen years old."
The man looked down; a chuckle was audible even it was muffled. "Do you have any idea where you at?" There was a surprised look on his face.
The man's voice was dripped with a mocking tone, it was sending jitters to Sid, adding more to his nervous breakdown. "I... I know where I am. I'd marked down address perfectly."
The man laughed cruelly. "Let me show you something." He turned around his laptop screen toward Sid. "Just see age list and tell me do you find anything strange?"
YOU ARE READING
The Krishna Love (Wattpad India Awards Winner)
Spiritual"Let's explore the world, man. First, we should go to the Himalayas," Ravi said as he was searching best spiritual places of India on his cell phone. "We're not going anywhere," Sid said sharply, his eyes narrowed in disbelief. "Isn't that what you...
