For the past month she had lived in the hermitage and been provided with clothes and other basic necessities. No one stared at her healing face or asked questions. She liked being here as no one bothered her when she sat for hours, not moving or twitching. It was bliss. This place had its own rhythm.

Unlike Kuljeet and the other people in the ashram, Rajjo did not pray three to four times a day or read the holy books. She just sat endlessly under the guava trees. However, she had been gently reminded a week ago to decide if she wanted to take on the duties of a sewadar (devotee dedicated to working in the commune) or if she wanted to leave. She was still indecisive. A fly buzzed around her and sat on Rajjo’s nose. Rajjo wanted to swat it, but she did not move. Inaction had been her state of being for the last few weeks. Unexpected and sudden anger flared up inside her that she had allowed herself to sit here, her life suspended and trapped between two beautiful guava trees. Having made up her mind, she straightened herself as she shooed the offending fly away from her nose.

She had to look for Kuljeet. She was the one who gave orders around here. People were not too fond of her, but they didn’t hate her either. They were just indifferent.

Rajjo went around the ashram looking for the familiar limping figure wearing her trademark woollen scarf in blue or military green colour over her white sewadar uniform. She could smell the food being cooked in the huge kitchen for the community lunch. It was a familiar, comforting smell.

As Rajjo walked the length and breadth of the ashram looking for Kuljeet, she once again stopped at the big black gate with a board that announced to the outside world, Shradha Swami Foundation! Rajjo walked through the corridors, peeping into the rooms alongside. The beds were occupied with people who were unwell. Rajjo had been on one of the beds till a couple of months ago. Some rooms were allotted to sewadars who stayed in the ashram. There were others, mostly volunteers, who visited from the nearby villages to pray and partake of the community meals.

Rajjo had also seen a few young armed men welcomed in the compound, given food and rest, only to slip out in the middle of the night like phantoms. Rajjo had not given it much thought. One moment she wondered what was happening in the world outside and then she did not want to bother.