Down the dusty lonely road the bus drove on, there was no soul to be seen for miles and it seemed that even the bus was as old as the mountains it was passing by.
There were only two passengers on the bus, a young woman in her mid twenties. Her name was Stacy, an attorney by profession. She was on her way to meet her client, a reclusive millionaire whose portfolio Stay had recently acquired. This was her first big client. He had invited her to his place to spend a weekend with his family. And she had to get few papers signed and he had insisted that he visit her rather to use the postal service.
And the other passenger was an old man who was around 70 years old; he seemed to be a local resident going by the attire he was in. He had beads in his hands and he seemed to be lost in prayers.
Stacy felt bored as she had no one to talk to; the country around her was beautiful. But she was looking over some documents and has no interest in the view. She was worried since she had no mobile network and she had been out of touch for almost six hours now, she was lamenting all the wasted hours, the amount of work she could have completed and amount she could have billed to clients, she knew that her colleagues would be working away and that this absence from office would be affecting her future as her firm had made it clear that they she will not be allowed to bill this journey.
And suddenly the bus gave a couple of jerks and came to a halt. Stacy let a curse out. She did not notice the old man had noticed her. By the time she looked at him he was back in his prayers.
The driver having checked the engine came in and informed that it would take a couple of hours before they could continue the journey.
Stacy stepped out of the bus cursing, she was angry at the client for making her travel this far for couple of signatures. The old man too stepped out of the bus and was looking around after seeming to find something he started walking towards a little bridge at a small distance, he looked back and it looked if he was asking her if she would come too. But she wanted to stay and wanted to make sure that the bus gets repaired soon.
After few minutes she regretted staying back As it was getting too hot and she was thirsty, she asked the driver if he had water as she had emptied her bottle sometime back, the driver passed his water bottle. But she was unable to drink the water as it was really dirty. She remembered the old man carrying a bottle.
She approached the bridge, as she climbed down she could see a small river flowing and was sitting under a small tree and meditating. He opened his eyes and as she approached and offered his water bottle even before she asked. She thanked him and drank some water. She sat next to him and turned her laptop on to continue her work. But the laptop seemed to be out of battery and did not turn on, Stacy let another curse out.
‘Do you realise that this could be the most beautiful view that you have ever laid your eyes on?’ the old man said.
She wanted to retort that she had more important things on her mind, but he seemd to be back in his prayers.
Then she looked around and had to agree that the view was breath taking.
And suddenly clouds appeared out of nowhere and a breeze started to blow. The air was filled with fragrances of wet earth as little drops of rain started to fell from heavens, the breeze and the drizzle brought the heat down and everything around her looked fresh and beautiful. The greens of the mountains made the landscape breathe taking.
Stacy just looked around and wondered all the other places she must have missed in this journey. She strolled around the terrain and was feeling overwhelmed. She took her phone out to take pictures but it was turned off too.
After sometime the bus came and the driver called her, she came down and called the old man. He stood up and gave her one more water bottle and started to follow her.
She got into the bus and the bus started and moved on, surprised she asked the driver that he forgot the old man; the driver replied that there was no old man and she was the only passenger for the day. And then she observed a small painting next to the driver, it was of the old man, stunned she asked the driver who that person was. He replied that he was a monk who lived in these parts few hundred years back. And everyone around these places respected him a lot.
Stunned she came back to her seat and wondered if it was just a hallucination.
To this day she is unable to explain the water bottle in her hand.