Babaji left us all in teary eyes....

                      

   This afternoon while i was sitting on the couch , listening to a jazzy music , enjoying the monsoon rains, a cool soothing breeze blew across the window . i could smell a very pleasant & familiar scent. i found a hard time remembering that particular scent.

I looked everywhere if there was any kind of perfume but couldn't find it. I looked out the window and  found the scent was coming from the kadamba tree . The sweet fragrance and the eye catching beauty of its flower  brought some good old childhood memories back. 

At that time i was living in a small block of Odisha, where my father was posted as a paediatrician. We were living in quarter allotted to my father in medical colony. There was a not so big kadamba tree in front of our house. As I can remember I was perhaps in class 1 that time. 

One day a villager from the neighbouring village brought a billy goat as to offer to god residing in temple . After rituals he tied the goat at the kadamba tree. 

From that day that goat became a integral part of our colony. A uncle untied him and fed him some leaves of that tree . He used to go door to door and stood there until some one gave him something to eat.

Slowly slowly he got a name 'BABAJI' . Everyone started to call him Babaji. That name got quite some reputation. Couldn't remember how he got his name ! but i think his looks had to do something in it. He had a long white beard like some old himalayan hindu monk. 

HE used to come to our house every morning , my mother would give him some left over breads from previous night and vegetable peels. I remember, i often ran my hand over his soft white and black fur coat , while he was eating those. Then he would lick all over as a token of love. He was like a pet to me who didn't leave in our house. He used to sleep under the kadamb tree every night. the tree was his home sweet home. 

In all those year Babaji and me grew very close. In summer vacations, I would chase him all around the colony all day long. In rainy season, his house got a new makeover as flowers blossomed all over it with a sweet fragrance. In winter, he would have a feast as leaves fall. he seemed to be very happy out there. 

But that time was not for so long, he grew older and older. he started to have some health issues.The glow of his coat faded away. he coughed all day long for a long time.

one day when i returned from school, in the afternoon , my mother told me with a heavy voice,"Babaji is no more!". Tears rolled down from my eye. Believe me! I felt like I lost a close friend that day. As I can remember i threw my school bag and ran to the place where his body was kept . 

His body was covered with a white cloth, garlands were decorated on it. Everyone in the colony were very sad, as far as i remember. everyone started to share their memories about Babaji one by one. At my turn came couldn't say a word. I was in a state of shock at that moment. The last thing i can remember was B Uncle(my neighbour) saying,"Babaji left us all in teary eyes...."