Thirteen Years and Counting...........(Part-17)

Next morning she called me up at 06:00 A.M sharp to pick me up from my uncle's residence. I was not sure what she was going to do at such an early time.It was an unwise decision to go back to my village and reach at 06:00 A.M. next morning,hence I decided to stay at place which was close to the disputed site. Aurobindo Ashram, a branch of Auroville in pondichey is a small meditation center in Ayodhya,with which I was associated since I was in class ten. There is a small guest house in serene atmosphere of Aurobindo Ashram,where I rested myself to meet Ami next morning.

I could not sleep that night as I was resteless with this new assignment. So,without having a sleep, I reached to the meeting point almost half an hour in advance,sipped a cup of tea in a tea stall as my uncle's house was locked at such an early time and waited for Ami to arrive there.
Sharp at 06:00 A.M, the same red Maruti car stopped in front of my uncle's house and I rushed to see if everything was o.k.

She was little tensed but waved me and allowed to enter in her small car. We rushed straight to river bank. Upon reaching on bank just above the bridge,we noticed that sun was about to rise. We left the car and headed towards the eastern bank of river. We would have travelled half a mile and saw small pyres burning on the bank. It was the last rite place of Hindus. I stopped Ami that it may be an unwise decision to head towards that side,as it was not going to give us a pleasant feeling. So,we returned from that place and kept walking alongside river. Ami, as a sharp photo journalist took out her ultra modern long range photographic camera and took a photography postion by entering two meters in the Saryu. She took couple of shots of bridge and then of people who were taking bath inside river( Its a holy feeling to take bath early in the morning in a river in Hidu mythology). I was standing on the riverside stairs as I saw she was waving hand and calling me towards her. She was willing to understand about river and the ghats and about the Sadhus who were busy doing meditation on the bank. I narrated to her that how it is important to meditate and take bath early in the morning in a holy river in Hindu mythology. Then she turned herself to take few shots of rising sun. Sun was just coming out from the backyards of long distant planes of river bank just above the surface of river.
She tried to move little more deeper inside river, as I noticed her expertise over camera. She remained static in deep chilling water of river for more than half an hour and took contineous shots of rising Sun.
We had finished our task on the eastern side of river bank and headed towards the bridge to cross it and then move towards the western bank. Most of the temples are lined up along side river on western bank and a small stream out of Saryu has been metamorphosid as 'Ram Ki Paudi'. The real event was waiting on that side as we moved towards bridge..............................

To be continued..............................The Woman ,who was breastfeeding her son.