Old Men and Ancient Evenings

Both of them were probably in their fifties,so to a child of my age they looked like old men. It was growing dark after sundown when I saw the first standing at the door to his house near the temple gate. He smiled when I passed the temple gate. It was a gay, carefree smile. He asked me something and soon I was talking animatedly with him.

The family was probably there for quite some time when I met him. His youngest daughter, the one with honey eyes and full lips, became my friend.

What is it that often makes children the opposite of their parents? He was a renowned scholar of Sanskrit literature, and known for his wanton ways. His daughter my friend looked quite like him, but she grew into a stern, serious girl. I too became the opposite of my father, the wayward daughter of a stern father.

It was again blue clouded sunset sky when I met the second of the two old men. He was the seniormost of the only Brahmin family in our area, and the priest at the temple owned by the family. I don't remember who in my family took me there, but he greeted me with a laughter filled voice when I was introduced to him. He knew my father and was very fond of him. "Go tell your father I asked of him," he said cheerfully. Though learned, he wasn't known either to be a scholar or an imprudent man, but his eyes shone with glee and his voice rung out in merriment.

When these men laughed, it was way different from my father's thoughful smile. I never doubted my father's wisdom, but strangely I saw wisdom in these old men too.