The Comeback

The fire in his eyes lit up again as the Mercedes came at the door of the ashram. “Good morning...Swami ji...sir…” the driver hesitated, not knowing what to call him. He got in without a word, and watched the gate of the ashram fall behind as the car took the road to airport.

The seat of his old car seemed warmer and more welcoming after all these years. He had bought the car just a few months before meeting his guru, Swami Adbhutananda, the man who had preached detachment from material world and convinced him to become an ascetic. He had left behind his house, his parents, and Boomerang Investments, the company he had founded with his friends at the age of 20. Hailed as a financial wizkid, he had made sure his firm emerged as small, nimble but credible name in financial markets. Five years later, he had met Swami ji, and then in next three years had renounced the material world to become an ascetic himself.

Best decision, he thought now. Only after being an ascetic had his own core values become clear to him; that he had learnt how Organisations function. They charm people, then trap them and use them. That’s what they had done with him. They had put him in charge of handling the Organisation’s finances, which means he essentially did the same thing he had done as CEO, but this time it was without credit, and for the cause of spreading an ideology..

He flinched at the thought now. Ideology. They had tried to make him believe in rebirth, and in the idea that Gods decided your destiny. No! You live only once, and you made your own destiny. It’s strange how people sell their souls and their common sense to an ideology; how they accept anything and everything said by the Guru. No! Have a spine! He had always had his own ideas, and they were being constantly shot down in the Organisation. Moreover, when he tired to defend them, they said he was being egoistic and should try to control his ego. This was Sanyaasa, they said, you cannot have desires and attachment, even to an idea!

Absurd.

He reached the airport and walked through the security checks without problem. He had nothing on him. As he boarded the plane, his mind raced quickly from past to future.

Within two years of his absence, Bhargav and Shreyas, the two friends who had founded Boomerang Investments with him had had differences. While Bhargav stood for offering quality services to fewer clients, Shreyas wanted to expand, with speed and without scruples. He was ambitious, that Shreyas. Bhargav had then called him at the Ashram and asked what to do. Bhargav’s call had sealed his decision. He had told Bhargav to wait for a year more, and then devoted himself to working for the organisation, meeting people, handling finances, getting new Ashrams built. They thought the recalcitrant boy had finally learnt how to obey, to “control his ego” No! It wasn’t his organisation anymore. In fact he had built contacts and made lists -of financiers, builders, high-net-worth devotees who needed financial assistance. The file of names and figures is all that he had carried with him from the Ashram.

“Good evening Swami ji!” said Bhargav as he met him at the airport in the Metro city. Seing his old friend, his eyes fired up again. “Is my suit at the Centurion still there?” he asked. “Of course! It’s always reserved in case we need discreet business meetings.”  said Bhargav
“Good. let’s go” He wanted to shed the saffron robes-the symbols of sacrifice and submission. He was a free spirit that no one could enslave -not even the Gods.

So now he stood in his suit at the Centurion hotel and took his own time to shave the beard and take off the saffron robes. Then, slowly and deliberately, he put on again after so many years, the best Armani suit, his favorite Rolex watch, picked up the new sleek mobile phone, and roared again the assertion that had had enforced his will on the empire he had built.

“My name is Aditya Singh, and I am the CEO.”

The king had returned.