Notes From Qutub

The sun is out. Almost kissing the top of Qutub Minar. Today being Sunday, decided to sleep a little longer and skip the 4 a.m. walking routine. Stepped out of home when the clock displayed 6.10 a.m. with Zack in tow.

The fruit vendors were just unwrapping their wares to begin the day and the night sentry with a lathi greeted me as usual in the phal mandi. Half a dozen black puppies came rushing at Zack which I warded off deftly. Found the elderly security at the ICICI ATM in the marketplace was seated in his plastic seat with legs stretched. I have been seeing this gentleman for over a month now, except once or twice when a much younger security used to be guarding.

The elderly security also has a black dog chained to the ATM - perhaps as his companion which hardly moves or barks.

Half a dozen news vendors are busy sorting out sunday morning papers while a makeshift roadside chaiwallah is dishing out garam chai and 'fan' and rusk to the delivery boys. The Mehrauli bus terminus is almost empty and hear a conductor shouting 'AIIMS", 'New Delhi railway station' "connaught place' Three or four auto rickshaw drivers were standing outside their vehicles while their radios were blaring some old hindi numbers. "Shoo, shoo'' yells one driver at Zack which gives a royal ignore to him. A few early morning walkers seated on the parapet of Bhool Bulaiya - a 12th century old architecture curiously peer at me and my dog.

Zack dutifully drags me to as many pillars and tree trunks as pssoible to sniff and pee to mark its territory or as its identification mark. Hundred metres down the road, another pack of black and brown dogs come rushing out of the MCD car park and the Yogamaya Mandir - where the Pandavas conducted yagna during their vanvas - and Zack barks at them with equal ferocity. False courage, I presume. I know it simply cannot handle the pack. Still.... it barks at the top of its voice while I shoo away the pack to avoid any damages.

As I move towards Qutub, I sense a shooting pain through my legs. I stop in my tracks and bend down to check out. After a few seconds, the pain stops. I move forward and again the same drama repeats. Who's feelng the pain:Me or my body? is the question that pops in my mind. Why this confusion over body, mind and me? what's me? Is this 'me' different from 'body' and 'mind"? Is 'body' not 'me"? Is 'mind' not 'me'? I brush aside these thoughts and move ahead.

Near Qutub, I overhear a few elderly gentlemen-morning walkers talking about actor Shiney Ahuja and his 'consensual sex' confession to the Mumbai police. "His wife categorically declared that he is not that type - meaning 'rapist'," one bespectacled and baldy man was remarking. "Lekin, he would bed the maid if she agrees! What morals?" another chortled. "Poor lady - his wife who has so much faith in him,' I heard one of them saying. 'Dirty mind,' was another comment.

"Dirty mind" and 'dirty body' also. What about his soul? Is that also dirty? Don't think so. Soul is pure, unblemished. What our mind thinks and how our body acts has no impact on our soul. All of us nurse thoughts and indulge in various activities - including sec 37 of IPC. Luckily, each one of us is privy to our own thoughts and deeds. While deeds are monitorable by others, our thoughts are not. How many of us can claim to be 'pure' 100%?

Does Zack has a soul? It does, surely.