Soulmates - Part I

Posted on February 9, 2004 16:53 PM EST

Although we were such close and old friends, all three of us were entirely different. Anand (names changed due to reasons of national security) was from a middle class background, the brainiest among the three of us, and also the most dramatic. He had tremendous energy, optimism and enthusiasm for life, and strongly believed in Swami Vivekananda's philosophy, the high quality of Hindustani music, the beauty of Indian dressing style and the existence of soulmates (every time he met a lady, regardless of her age, marital status, etc., he wondered if she might be his soulmate).

Amar (also name changed due to national security) was from a more affluent background compared to the two of us. His father used to be one of the leading scientists in a famous Indian scientific organization. That, and his love of research, inspired him to take up a government job, instead of working for one of the scores of multinationals that came into the country in the '90s. Unlike Anand, he was not very optimistic or enthusiastic - he tended to have a more cynical and pragmatic approach to life. He thought all philosophy was bullshit used by more intelligent people to control the stupid and the gullible masses. For him, the only music worth listening to was the type usually played on MTV and V Channel, the only clothes worth wearing were t-shirts and jeans. He did not believe in soulmates or in marriages or even in fidelity. He thought that every person had different needs and that all of them could never be fulfilled by any one mate, even if it were a soulmate, and so depending on the need of the hour, a person should be free to choose companions.

I come from a much poorer family compared to Anand or Amar. I am neither optimistic nor cynical - I like to think I am simply practical. I have no opinion whatsoever about any philosophy (after all, philosophy is hardly a requirement to lead a practical life). The only music I know is from the movies and the only clothes I wear are made by the tailors in my father's shop, who have been stitching for me from the time I was born. I do not have any opinions about marriages and mates - I have told my mother that she is free to choose any bride for me, provided the girl has a degree (preferably a master's degree) in Physics. In fact, the only things about which I have opinions and ideas are things related to Physics, and occasionally, the expenses of my rather large family, and I think that is enough to lead a practical life.

Despite the differences, the three of us also had much in common - we were graduates of India's no. 1 college, among the most brilliant students to pass out of the college (the principal said that, not me). All three of us have master's degrees in varied branches of the same subject, Physics - Amar got his from an American university. Though the three of us work in different organizations (whose names are not mentioned due to reasons of national security), all of these organizations belong to the Govt. of India, and all three organizations were involved in a top secret project at the time of this story. It was this project that brought us together, to this remote place (not named here due to reasons of national security), in India's Thar desert.

The project was so secretive that, all the scientists working on it were given false designations and id cards that said they were officers in the Indian Army. However, the uniforms we wore were all authentic army issues. The security measures were so tight and the integrity of the people working on the project was such that, each of us knew only those details that pertained to our department's work. Although we each had a fair idea what the other two were doing, the three of us did not discuss the details of our work even among ourselves. May be that is one of the reasons why on that particular evening we were discussing soulmates, of all the subjects you would expect young scientists anywhere in the world to discuss.

We got one of those rare out-passes on Anand's birthday. The only people who got passes to go out were really top guys, and Amar had to pull some strings among people who knew his father, in order to get the passes. Anand thought the whole thing was funny - the way we had to struggle so much just to be able to go out and have fun on the town, if that place (whose name I am not supposed to say), can be called a town. If it was Bangalore (where I work) we would have most probably burnt some money in one of the pubs and then watched an English movie. Here, though, we watched a Hindi movie in an old theater. It was more like a tent made of asbestos sheets, and the projector stopped five times, while all the guys including us whistled and made catcalls like crazy. After the movie, we went to eat in a relatively newer, though I would have liked it to be cleaner, eating place. Anand clearly did not like the food, while Amar relished it. I think some of it was just pretense designed to tease Anand. I personally thought it beat the army food we ate in the camp. We were instructed to refer to the place as a camp. It was a camp with some of best and most expensive scientific gadgets and instruments, and also some of the biggest firecrackers that were ever burst in the country (I checked the security manual which we were supposed to know by heart - there was nothing which said we cannot talk about crackers).

Now that I think about it, the whole day was dominated by talks of soulmates - Anand patiently explaining his theory of each of us being made for some special person, one special person, and Amar equally patiently, and logically, tearing apart his theory piece by piece (or was it argument by argument?), and Anand equally logically putting it back together. I have seen this same scene played out countless times from our college days, only with different subjects. Sometimes their arguments - they call them "discussions" - were fascinating, especially if it had something to do with Physics, but mostly it would be about some useless philosophy that has nothing to do with practical life. Anand's belief was that we are all spiritual beings who are made in pairs, and for some reason, such as forgetting the lessons of life, we are separated from our soulmates, and the purpose of our lives is to learn certain lessons so that we may be reunited with our soulmates. Amar's argument was that there is nothing like spirituality and that we are all nothing more than combinations of chemicals created accidentally and the only purpose of our lives is to live as comfortably as we can and to ensure the propagation of our species. As much as I tried, I could not guess how these two beliefs would affect life practically, and the use for their arguments or discussions.

They were not done aruging when the jeep came to pick us up at a previously agreed upon spot. We were supposed to be back at the camp before it got dark. En route to the camp, in the middle of the desert, there was a sudden and unexpected sand storm. Driving in it was virtually impossible, and staying put in the desert was also dangerous. We could easily get buried, jeep and all, in the sand. The driver told us that he knew of a village near by where we could take shelter until the storm had passed, and he took us there. We were taken to the village headman's house and introduced as army officers. We wore our uniforms, as regulations required us to do when going out of the camp. We got the typical respectful welcome, and were served a kind of sweet roti with goat's milk. My friends still continued to argue, while the headman looked on in awe, without understanding a word of their English. Anand said he wanted to go to the toilet and was shown into the backyard. I thought he took some time to finish and come back.

And later, when the storm had subsided and we were driving back, I found that my friend's arguments had taken a very different, and I thought, totally crazy turn. Anand was claiming he had found his soulmate, and it was the village headman's daughter he had met in their backyard ! To this day I don't know what exactly happened in the backyard, but Anand was convinced she was his soulmate. He had no logical explanation - he just said he felt it "in the gut, in the heart, in the head, in the d__k, heck, everywhere man!" - those were his exact words.

Continued in Part II...