A seekers fairytale

A seekers fairytale

The Mysterious One: A lyrical journey to freedom
Author: Nitin Orayan
Publisher: Notion Press
Pages: 134
₹ 250

All children are seekers. They perceive the world with wide-eyed wonder, dreaming the impossible and often actualising it, much to the disbelief of the saner, worldly-wise adults.

The book, The Mysterious One, by Nitin Orayan, transported me to my innocent childhood days, where God was a playmate hiding just behind the tree trunks, waiting to pop out suddenly and take me to the gossamer world of purple fairies, diaphanous butterflies, rainbows, chocolate waterfalls, and trees that grew candies instead of fruits.

Impractical as it may appear, the same childhood holds keys to the magical unknown where parallel realities intersect and merge, birthing new galaxies and creating new worlds.

Nitin is simply urging the readers to connect with their inner child to find the key to the magical treasure trove buried deep inside their hearts. For, unless we develop the credulity of a child, how can we ever believe that, persuaded by our desperate calls, God can actually materialise before us?

The story is about the dwellers of a village, spotting a mysteriously fascinating creature in the dense forest that stood across the river skirting the village. They decide to go on a hunt for that being. A young 12-year-old boy too pleaded with them to let him come along.

They hunted high and low but could not find that luminous being. Tired, they began to untie their boats to go back, when the young boy sat down under a tree and began to play his flute. And lo and behold! Out of nowhere, the beautiful celestial being appears before him.

His tribesmen seemed to freeze in time and the boy, mesmerised by the enticing gaze of the beautiful being, walks away with him into the forest. The being introduces himself as a wanderer who walks lightly on earth and has befriended all of wildlife and human life. He is fearless, loving, kind, wise, and possesses a surreal appeal. He befriends the young boy and experientially teaches him the true principles which govern and support life. Like a genuine seeker aching to find answers to his existential turmoil, the young boy opens his heart, shares his fears, doubts, and angst, and the mystical being, like a true friend, gently peels away the layers of false beliefs from the young boy’s inquisitive mind. By the time the young boy is ready to leave, he is glowing with the light of new discoveries and yearning to share them with the whole world.

While reading the book, I felt that the little boy is no one else but Nitin Orayan himself in his childhood years, wandering in the wilderness and looking for a magical being to come, hold his hand, and take him to a world where nothing but love and light exist. Whether he met the celestial being or not, Nitin has surely distilled the essence of happiness by appointing life itself as his teacher. The nuggets of wisdom, which he has freely shared in his lyrical work, testify to his difficult but highly rewarding journey on the path of realising the ultimate.

A wonderful read indeed.

By Shivi Verma