ENCOUNTER

It was a very fine morning. Though I woke up late, the loud devotional songs from my friend's room came as a sudden reminder of a holiday which compelled me to shrink into the bed’s embrace once again. But like all delights those the world offers this too did not last long. The most disliking ring of the calling bell prompted me to depend on the legs and spine once again, after a total dismissal of them for more than six hours.
A man in torn cloths and with worn out face was waiting outside. My opening the door and his hasty retreat happened simultaneously. Not realizing what exactly was happening between two beggars [one, of course a privileged one],I followed him with irregular steps.
He stopped at the gates and I too. He sat there on the bare sand and i stood. With a sudden flash of realisation i returned to my room and got hold of a packet of bread and one of my old shirts. He wore the new shirt and I offered him the bread. Holding the bread packet tightly to his chest he remained silent for a while. I whispered, "Please have your food." He looked at me and smiled, stood in firm foots, and tore open the packet. Suddenly i noticed his dirty hands with long nails, each with its own fund of dirt in it. He broke the bread and with trembling hands offered me my share and told in an antique voice, "take it, and please have your food."
Tearfully i went back. Tears almost blinded my eyes and I forgot the many a time trodden path.
That was my last encounter with my Master... and that was before i murdered the child in me and hurled it into the sea.
It is years since i met him, and every morning i expect the ringing of the calling bell in vain…