Hina had put her ears to Asrar’s chest. His pounding heartbeat took over Hina and she intertwined herself with his body. She was like a female serpent which was looking forward to an intercourse with the chosen male snake but had become tired after the love-dancing for hours. Overcome by passion, she was like the serpent which wrapped itself around its partner. In the intensity of passion, Hina kissed Asrar’s heart. When Asrar felt the touch of those lips on his chest, a storm arose in the blood vessels that were travelling towards his heart from various corners of his body. The flaming blood drove itself towards his mind and on reaching it, metamorphosed into a thousand fireflies. Every iota of his mind was now lit up. There was a unique brightness and vibrance in that light that boiled the volcano in his soul.

It was at the same moment that a bunch of clouds had burst over Santa Cruz. The waves of the ocean rose five feet high with the winds of the storm and were moving towards the coast monstrously, as if a tsunami had erupted in the seas. But for Asrar and Hina there was no fear of the rising waves or their ferociousness because of the storm in their own hearts. In fact, they had not even given a passing thought to the fact that the rain could churn the ocean into a tsunami, even though the images of destruction caused by the tsunami in southern India a year ago were fresh in Hina’s mind.

Hina and Asrar were lost in the pleasures of intimacy and togetherness. This moment was the zenith of their love. They were alive not in their own selves but in the eyes of each other. Their abode was no longer within themselves, but they had found residence inside each other’s being. Their souls were enlightened but they were oblivious of the world around. Rain, ocean, coast, rocks, nakedness—none of it could find place in their minds. They were no longer aware of their own selves! This moment was also the time when their souls were lost—a moment which is called nirvana by some. Beyond this submission of the soul, another short moment was yet to come. A moment where, with the desire of their souls, they would reach the highest altitude of their being’s pleasure. The moment would be blinding. That moment would be closest to the taste of the death of the self. In such a state the being would experience its presence and absence alternately.