I usually don't get excited very easily (unless there is a James Bond movie playing nearby), but today I was. Yoda Singh had invited me to the next morning amrit vela naam simran session. I told my holier-than-thou-by-at-least-2-sukhmani-sahibs-sister, "Yoda Singh must have seen some really spiritual deep inside me."

She just rolled her eyes and muttered, "Yes, very, very, very deep inside you."  n pinched my cheek (oww ) that waz some kinda love squeeze! If she keeps that up I’m gonna get permanent dimples…I might end up looking like one of dem cheeky film stars…hmm…I could play a crusty Caribbean pirate with scars… Arrr! - Awww She was just jealous - you know girls. YOU DO???!!!! Please give me their phone numbers.

Anyways, now all I had to do was wake up; or as in my case, just stay awake long enuf so I can be at the Gurudwara tomorrow at 2 am in the morning. My mysterious Auntie Jee had promised to drive me there. As it happened, she was driving me home this evening too - on the way she told me this story:

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“Once upon a time, a traveling fair came to a village. All the village children went running to see it. The village simpleton too was highly excited.

But the village simpleton had been told that it is easy to get lost at fairs, so he was quite scared to go to one. But he desperately wanted to go. So he decided to consult one of the village elders.

The elder knew that there was no chance for the simpleton to get lost - it was a small fair. So he pretended to think for a while and said, "I will show a way of not getting lost."

The elder then put a short rope around the village simpleton's neck (not much unlike a necktie) and said, "Whenever you feel lost, just pull at the rope. You will always be at the end of the rope."

The village simpleton tried it a few times and sure enough, he was always at the end of the rope. So he joyfully clapped his hands and joyfully went to the fair. The simpleton walked around the fair feeling good. Whenever he felt that he was getting lost in the crowds, he would pull at the rope around his neck and say, "Aha, here I am." And would continue feeling  good.

A village joker was also at the fair and was, as usual, on alert to play jokes. When he saw the village simpleton, his heart leapt in joy and an anhad vaja of "BINGO!" came from within him.

He asked the simpleton about the rope. The village simpleton joyfully told him. The village joker joyfully listened. Then he joyfully planned.

It was afternoon by that time. And everybody in India takes a short nap in the afternoon. So the village simpleton found a nice shady spot and dozed off. Of course, the village joker did not - this was work time for him!!! The village joker quietly stole up the to the village simpleton and carefully removed the rope. Then he went to a nearby sleeping man and carefully put the rope around his neck. Quite satisfied with his work, he retired to a corner.

As soon as the village simpleton woke up, he felt for his rope and, of course, it was gone. The village simpleton started running around in quite a panic, shouting, "I am lost! I am lost!"

Then he came up to the still dozing man. The village simpleton gave a cry of joy and pulled at the rope. The rudely awakened village sleeper was naturally quite cross and said, "##@@@###" (if you want to know what "##@@@###" is, send a note stating that you are over 21 years of age).

The village simpleton explained, "The village elder told me that I will be always at the end of the rope. Therefore, I am you! I am you!"

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My mysterious Auntie jee went quiet for a while til I was just about ready to poke her to see if she was still awake. You know how it is with people who stay up all night. They seem to be falling asleep all the time, n that’s fine with me as long as they’re not driving when I’m in the car - I got a life time of James Bond movies ahead of me ya know. Just as I made my move to pinch her tho, she spoke up (or woke up) n asked me. "So what does this story have to do with Naam?"

I would have replied, but just thought -I'll let readers think of what the answer is - while I retrieve my rope - this would be a great place for a cliff hanger.! (; n da ropes just ‘bout long enuf for me to hang maself if I’m not careful ;)