Alex Tenchoy - Martyn and amusing astrology. We become what we think

While she was walking, suddenly a small thin boy with startled eyes ran up to her and began to plead with her anxiously: “Sister, save me, hide me!” He didn’t look like a thief or a criminal, although he was dressed like a beggar. Being accustomed to feel with her heart whenever people needed help, Ama Chela understood that this boy really did need help. First of all, she tried to console him, but the boy was very frightened and apparently feared that someone was chasing him. She brought the boy into her hotel room, gave him a glass of water to drink and let him come back to himself. His name was Baja. Trying to find out what was the matter with him, she heard this heart-chilling story. Baja was a real child of Bombay slums. He didn’t remember his parents and didn’t have any home. He grew up in the streets of the city together with other homeless beggars and was quite contented with his life because he didn’t know that life could be something different or better. He lived enraptured by his freedom as much as any child would be. Having a mischievous nature, he was carefree, liking impermanence and good food. He enjoyed whistling new movie tunes while tapping his bare feet on the ground and sometimes attracted passers-by with his innocent performances. But those golden times of his childhood were interrupted one day, when he was forced to work for a master. At that time, he was ten years old. Since then, he had been compelled to spend all his days in the street begging and had to give all the money collected during the day to his master, like the other beggars did. In spite of sleeping sometimes in the street and having no food, Baja was very pious and never forgot to worship his gods. He was a vegetarian and nobody could ever force him to eat even a small piece of meat. Passing by numbers of temples every day he always folded his hands and humbly bowed his head in respect to the deity of the temple, whom he considered to be his only protectors in this world. Baja’s master was a very imperious and cruel man. With some money collected by the boy, he provided for him a scanty meal, consisting of a piece of bread with lentil soup and lodging. Each member of this odd family was under the master’s control. Nobody could afford to get sick or to have a day-off.

There were many cripples and lepers among them, which called upon the compassion of passers-by. Baja wasn’t physically handicapped, so getting some money from people wasn’t too easy for him unless he used his clever mind and the inborn gift of his pitiful voice. He was always afraid that one day he wouldn’t be able to get anything and thought of putting some money aside for a day like that, but the master was very perspicacious and the boy couldn’t manage to hide anything. Once when he brought only a pittance, he was brutally beaten up. After that he began to think about escape, but he was convinced that the master had very long arms and hired a gang of young men with the eyes of hungry wolves who, at the slightest world from the master, were ready to tear anyone into pieces. The fact that the master had connections with the police and the government became obvious to Baja, when two other beggars tried to escape to the neighboring state. The police looked for them through the media and quite soon they were caught, handcuffed and brought back to the master. They were given a lesson which was meant for the rest of the beggars as well: these two were tied up and put into a pit full of poisonous snakes, where they died in pain and with curses on their lips. The display of this torture made a strong impact on Baja’s consciousness and his fear grew stranger. And then one day, his worst nightmares came true-he appeared in front of the master empty-handed. On that day Baja’s luck betrayed him. The Master got furious and began to shout at him: “Bastard! You’ve got so completely overfed that nobody wants to give you anything! And that’s because of my kindness! It’s time for me to correct my fault”.

After that, Baja was tied up and taken to be left at the feet of the statue of Kali Durga on the statue of the morning they would cut off his fingers and an ear to offer to the goddess. Undoubtedly, after that Baja would be a cripple and would succeed in begging. Baja was terrified to the core of his being and began to think desperately of a way to get his tied hands out from under his body, bringing them to the front and then gnawing on the rope with his teeth, severing the knots keeping him down. Then he also untied his feet and escaped. Without having any clear idea as to where to go, he was just running away. And while running, he realized that his escape would not last long, unless somebody helped him to hide properly. Thus Baja appeared in the rich area of Bombay where there were many luxury hotels, and wandering the entire place, he was contemplating his destiny and bad luck to be born and live in the inhuman conditions, which had brought him to this terrible situation. He thought that if he was born in a foreign country he would never have had to live this kind of life. At that moment the whistling of a policeman interrupted his thinking and he realized that it was time for him to hide. It seemed that the long arm of the master was stretching out to catch him. Terrified he ran up to the first passer by and began to plead for help. Secretly in his heart calling upon all his gods and protectors, he met with Ama Chela. When some people come across the needs of others, they are ready to devote much more of their energy and make more effort than they do when they have to solve their own problems. Ama Chela was such a person. Without hesitation she decided immediately to get the boy out of the country, but how? The easiest way would be by sea. But Baja didn’t have any documents to identify his person. Thinking over this, she sent Baja to take a shower, then fed him well and put him into bed.

The next day, she first of all cancelled her air-ticket and bought a ticket for a ship. The soonest ship going to America was on Sunday, in three days. Later that day, she went to the super-market and bought new clothes for Baja. After that, she took him to the hairdresser for a haircut. His hair cut and dressed neatly, Baja couldn’t recognize himself when he stood in the hotel room looking in the mirror for a long time. His eyes filled with tears. His heart was full of gratitude. Ama Chela, looking at the boy, felt incredibly sorry for him, who had never known a mother’s love or affection before in his life. At that moment she clearly understood that it was her duty now to take care of him and try to give him that love of which he had been deprived since early childhood. But this was not the only problem she had to solve.

The next day, Baja’s photo appeared on local TV and the police announced that they were looking for a criminal who had stolen some expensive jewelry from the house of some important person. It was a lie made up by Baja’s master to get him back. Ama Chela understood that now they had to be very careful and had to invent a very clever way to bring Baja on board. She bought a trunk, made holes in its sides for Baja to get some air to breathe, then she asked the boy to try to fit himself into the trunk. Rolled up inside the trunk, Baja said that it was comfortable enough for him to stay there all the time, that the trunk was a better home for him then any other he’d had, and that he would rather die than the police find him. Ama Chela realized quite what kind of responsibility she had assumed. She knew also that at the customs they used dogs, trained to smell drugs, and these dogs could smell Baja as well. The only way to ward off the dogs was to use some strong perfume. And Ama Chela knew what she needed for that purpose. She ran to the market and bought some musk. It was pretty expensive as a gram of musk is about the same price as a gram of gold. Then she anointed the trunk with it. Having tied a scarf around his face to protect himself from the strong smell, Baja fitted himself into the trunk and they took off for the port. Approaching the quay, Ama Chela felt her heart pounding violently but she didn’t let any doubt sway her as she confidently came up to the customs check-post.