Cycle of Time

12.An year since

It was nearly a year since Anjaya had broken his secret to Maya. In the time that had passed, he had given away his priced car the 1972 MINI to her as well. In many ways Maya found it difficult to reconcile herself to the relationship she had with Anjaya. It seemed the ghosts of the past with her own father came to haunt her more frequently when she was with Anjaya. It was not completely his fault, but that was the way it was. The more she got to know Anjaya and the more he responded and behaved in ways different to her father, the more she realised he was a different person. They had come to an unwritten understanding on how to be in each other's presence.

It was one of those days when the blazing sun of the afternoon had kept you indoors and you yearned to be out. The sun was on the wane now, no longer its strongest self. As if sensing this it was not only the two of them who had come out. As they rode the mini on this long abandoned highway, there were other creatures to cheer them on now. The air was fresh, the trees had almost invaded the asphalt, and the shadows of the mountain range far away lay on long lengths of the road, cooling it down. The mini wasn't exactly burning the asphalt either, it was moving at a leisurely pace, reflecting the mood of the day and the people inside it.

"So how do you like my driving "?

"Not bad at all, I must say,"Uben replied with a smile. He had secretly thought the gears could be shifted better, as the car struggled on the 4th when it should have been on the 3rd. But he had quickly suppressed the urge to voice out loud this though. It just felt unnecessary on this day. Besides, the art of changing gears manually was lost a long time ago.

"I've kind of decided, I am going to work on my father's dream" there was a long pause.

"I was convinced a long time ago, but I was struggling with how much Anjaya's behaviour was like my fathers. I think I was reacting to that, more than anything else".

"I guess so" Uben responded.

"But what about your book"?

" I don't know I think I will leave it as it is"

"Without an ending " ?

"People always find their own endings Uben."

"True".

The sun was now in its last throes, but wasn't keen on going out just yet. As it struggled not to sink below the last of the mountains, it threw out a brilliant red. The moon seemed to silently watch this losing battle, it was as if she silently hoped he would win, but the odds were too much even for the sun. As he silently bowed out, he would make a secrete promise to the moon to be back in the morning. Within a few minutes, the moon was the most prominent object in the sky. As if to clear her doubts Maya was to ask Uben the question "do you think all this will turn back?"

The moment was such that there was no answer other than "yes" that he could give.

Tomorrow the sun would be up and the cycle would continue. We know this because we have experienced it all our lives. But for a creature who could live only for a fraction of the night, it would seem that the night was never ending, it would have only heard of the day in legends. Only if it's progeny survived for long enough would it know that that the sun would rise again. As Uben got philosophical he remembered that even Plato from so long ago had talked of "an Apocatastasis" the final restoration of things to the original. He suddenly realised that the odds were really for things to go back to the original, it was the way things were. The sun would have to rise in the morning, every morning, until another bigger cycle would ask it do otherwise. Maybe things as we know would end with this bigger cycle. But it was a cycle none the less. The truth struck him then, there was no end or beginning, only endings and beginnings. They were one and the same thing. The odds were better than a coin flip, better than 50:50.

"Yes I believe it will, and it will get better" as he said this he took out the gold coin still in the coin box.

" What do you say we flip a coin and see what comes up just for fun, if its Franks side it means it will come true." he smiled mischievously.

"Yes let's see what frank says".

As Maya stopped the car and Uben tossed the coin, the sides kept changing, there were many things at work. Angels, wind speed, the force Uben applied, little asymmetries in the coin were all at play in the most complicated of ways. All of these variables and many more still not discovered, interacted on the coin before it landed. All these variables were clumped together as "chance". And, as chance would have it the coin landed with Franks side facing up.