________________
186
A LOVER OF LIGHT AMONG LUMINARIES : Dilip Kumar Roy with the scene. For was not the lofty temple of Shiva presiding over all, like a shimmering grace, on the russet Hill of Shankaracharya? A winding pathway spiralled up to its summit, festal at night with arcs of gleaming lanterns, at once illusive
and beckoning."8
Amar's escape from his own house is narrated vividly by the author. The narration is interspersed with dialogue:
"The door was pushed open and Ruma entered followed by Amar's Musalman door-keeper.
"Maf kijiyega Huzur" said the latter. "Khud Police aab." Mala looked at her maid. "What is the matter?”
“Red Sahib, didimoni-very red-with a sepoy—" she faltered out in a scared voice.
The last drop of blood was drained from Amar's face. "What do you mean ?" he rasped.
The two servants both spoke at once wanting to throw an immediate flood of light.
Man: "Police-police, Huzur !” Maid: “And a sepoywith a shiny banduk, didimoni!”
Amar suddenly swayed, grasped at a chest of drawers; his legs shook visibly; then with a supreme effort he said: "All right, - tell them I'm coming."
The servants withdrew, leaving the door a-jar. Mala sought Amar's eyes in vain....
"What on earth is the meaning of this?" she asked.
But Amar offered no explanation. He stood awhile transfixed, his eyes wild and face blanched for sheer terror. Then suddenly, as one possessed, he sprang to the door, bolted it and then leapt out through the window down into a flowerbed eight feet below. Mala rushed to the window with a yell. But Amar ran like mad towards the low hedge which he took like a stallion in the flickering of an eye and vanished into the twilight shadows."
Many of the speeches delivered by Gurudev Swayamananda are reflective in nature. Guiding Raka, once, he said:
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
