After getting married, I took what I called the big trip. Two months. Around the world. It sounded exciting when I said it out loud. And it was. But there was something else under it, too. I had left my job. I didn’t really know what I was doing next. I just knew I wasn’t staying where I was.
India was one of the stops. A place called Rishikesh. People say things about that place, like you go there to find something. I didn’t know if I believed that. I just went.
There’s a bridge there called Laxman Jhula. It hangs over the Ganga and moves a little when you walk across it. There are always people on it. Locals, travelers, bikes squeezing through, even the occasional cow. It’s loud and busy, but somehow still feels quiet at the same time.
I remember stopping in the middle of it. I leaned on the side and looked down at the water. It was moving steadily. It didn’t look rushed. It didn’t look lost. Just going.
In that moment, I felt like the river Ganga.
I stood there longer than I thought I would. Just staring. Thinking, but not really thinking. More like trying to feel something. Or maybe I was waiting for some kind of epiphany.
A man came up next to me. I didn’t notice him at first. He looked out at the water too.
Then he said, like it was nothing and we had known each other for years, “Find what you’re searching for?”
That was it.
I can’t remember now if I answered. I don’t even remember if I looked at him. It didn’t feel like a question I could answer anyway.
He walked off. Just disappeared back into the crowd.
I stayed there a bit longer. I didn’t suddenly figure anything out. No big realization. No plan. Just that question sitting there.
I think about it more now than I did then. Back then, I thought I needed an answer. Now I’m not so sure. Maybe it’s just something you carry with you for a while. Something you never answer.
I look back now, and I don’t think the stranger ever waited for an answer.
And maybe that’s Bromaad.
It isn’t the answer. It’s the running water beneath the bridge. Steady. Always moving.
It isn’t the answer.
Perhaps it’s just the beginning.