A man and a woman meet at an ashram in Amritsar (Onomatopeia! You like?)
Man feels betrayed when he finds the woman’s only joined the ashram for research so she can complete her Senior Honors Thesis at Stanford. They have a bitter argument, and never see each other again.
Ten years later, they’re at a Druid conference in Las Vegas (don’t ask) and bump into each other, friendly-like. They agree to go for drinks at a bar.
“You said you were going to find another ashram. Somewhere in Himachal Pradesh. Did you?”
“I did. And you?”
“I had to go home. My boyfriend said he missed me.”
“I thought so. A girl as gorgeous as you, 21 years old, if you didn’t have a boyfriend — or girlfriend — I’d begin to wonder. You were always very guarded about your life and I didn’t want to encroach on your privacy. That’s also the reason I decided to lose your e-mail as soon as we separated. I didn’t think I’d be able to resist e-mailing you if I still had it, so I did this little ritual.”
“What kind of ritual?”
“I found a secluded field and lit an incense stick and burned the paper you wrote your email on, trusting that if the universe was working as it should, we would meet again.”
Kanlaon 