The Door

Ten years.

Ten years is a long time. It’s enough time for thing to change, but some things remain the same, even after ten years have passed by. He met the sage ten years ago today in a toy store.

It was his birthday and he wanted the new Batman doll- Anti-Freeze Batman. He always had a soft spot for Mr. Freeze, but his favourite villain had to be Poison Ivy. Anyway, he met the sage in the toy store and the sage spoke to him and his parents.

The sage told them about the door. He predicted that one day, in the future, there would be a door that needed to be reached and that once it was reached it would either have to be opened or kept closed. This, he had said, while smoking a strong cigarette, was something that only he would know to do.

Thus, ten years ago, went his meeting with the sage.

Okay, let’s call him A. A is the man who had to find the door. A is the man to whom the sage spoke. Yes, let him be A. I like A.

A did not forget the incident, though he was not able to remember the face of the sage. He passed out from elementary school and then when it was time to pursue higher studies, he hit a stumbling block. A could not decide what he wanted to do. He had taken up 

science in his high school days, but his results were dismal.

His uncle counselled law, his father engineering and his mother literature.

In this interval, ten years had passed. A could feel something in his bones leading him on to a path. At the end of the path, he knew, would be the door.

A walked down following the path, to where it bent in the undergrowth and he took a left turn emerging onto a clearing with a wall in front of him. In that wall was set a black door, with intricate carvings in gold on it. It was not locked, but it did not have a handle either. It was smooth, discernible only by the gold carving.

A touched the door.

The door opened.

The Bilge Master