I sat up, startled. The sun was already active and was crawling across the sky
like burning liquid. Sitting there on my bed, I tried hard to listen, and after
some time I could hear it—the rumbling. Easily recognizable. But then
there was a doubt, too. Was it the noise of thunder or was it something else? Or
was it only an illusion?
I ran onto the street to try to find out the truth. Street truths are always
more authentic than those of a cloistered place. Just a handful of people, languid
and drowsy, were moving about on the path, still unable to discard the
engulfing layers of last night's somnolence. I stood there right in the middle of the
street and turned the head to one side to catch the sound of rumbling. After
some time, I could clearly hear the rolling noise of thunder. Just to make sure, I
waited some more time, and there it was—the noise as that of the pealing of
thunder. Unmistakable.
But, strangely, the noise did not seem to originate in the sky. I once
again waited for the thunder to roll, and this time I was sure the noise did not
come from the sky. Then it struck me that the noise might be of subterranean
origin. So, I bent down and put my ear to the ground to find out if I could hear
any noise. People, going along, thought that I was acting funny, some even
stopped to watch what prank I would play next. Here I was seriously engaged in
making some important discovery and they thought that I was engaged in
buffoonery. How foolish! I laughed to myself at their stupidity. |
