All through the interview her pretty eyes had this sense of awe in them. Her entire evening had simply slipped by as she sat in apt attention listening him. Him, a man whom she hadnt even heard of till about a week ago.
For the seventy year old man, it was somewhat disagreeable to sit and talk on a day as fine as this. After the first few questions he stood up abruptly and said that he would only continue the interview if they could walk down the lake while he answered the questions. The condition was posed in such a charming way that she couldnt find any reason to object.
As dusk approached they watched the birds flying over the lake back to their nests. She was in the home strech of questions and she finally came to a question whose answer she knew would always be innovative. She asked him in his years of adventures in the wild and journeys through beautiful lands, what was the one object he always carried with him and yet used it very little.
A smile came across his face, he turned to her and said “The Compass”. She was a little disappointed by the answer and was about to move on to the next question but his answer was not done yet. He continued “When you are in unknown lands and you just look at your compass momentarily. There is always a hill or tree which you spot in the same direction and you dont need to look at the compass again.”
The sat down on a bench by the lake, “Ironically the compass has taught me the most important lessons of my life. There is something deeply philosophical about this small instrument that when we are lost and dont know where to go, one look at it and we are reassured enough to move on.”
“Some of the most important people in my life were in a way compasses in different journeys. Just the fact that they are always there and ready to clear your clouded mind, they are almost always ignored.”
“If I look back now, at the most challenging moments of my life, its easy to think that I could have probably managed without them. But the fact is they are the true constants of your life and no matter what we tell ourselves, they will always be that important”
It was almost like he was talking to himself, he continued “There will be times when you would want to explain to them how important they are to you and you wont find the words to encapsulate this complex set of emotions. Its probably then that we choose to use the word ‘love’ to describe our feelings.”
He stood up and started walking back towards his house. After a few steps he stopped, turned back and asked “Are we done?” She smiled and said “Yes, that will be all.”