Back to Planet Hoola

by Sudipta Das

  Coming to terms with his emotions, Kit calmly replied, “I hope so.” Then pointing his right index, he added, “You see those violet shrubs over there. Those bear delicious fruits though the fruits may seem a bit strange to you.”

  Thus, we went on to survey the shores. We plucked and collected some fruits. And wow! Those were much more than just ‘a bit strange’ to me. One particular fruit looked truly alien. Its hard outer woody shell was actually the seed. The pulpy fruit was inside the seed. We had to break open the seed to get the pulp. “We call these rok fruits. Perhaps this is an evolutionary adaptation to cope with the harsh conditions of this rugged land,” said Kit. Then he broke open the soft stem of a long grassy plant and handing over the same to me said, “Here, drink this, pure drinking water.”

  I sucked up the fluid from the tubular stem and quenched my thirst. We continued our conversation as we ate the strange but palatable fruits. “Hey Kit, can you please tell me what’s going on? Am I dreaming or what?” I asked.

  “Don’t worry, Doctor. Everything is just the way you perceive it. It’s all true. It’s all okay,” Kit calmly assured.

  Then he pensively said, “According to the Hoo philosophy, we, the Hoos, are like the individual waves of the same infinite universal ocean; each of us trying to manifest a certain force into the external nature. Each of these forces is caused by earlier forces from within the ocean itself. It remains as a distinctive part of the ocean throughout its manifestation and then, after spending a lifetime, un-manifests and disappears in the body of the ocean. The wave disappears but its overtures, essence and spirit continues to remain in a subtle and finer state. For some time, it remains in this subtlety as a potent seed. Then, at the right time and under the right conditions, the seed sprouts and manifests its potency by taking another suitable body and a new wave is thus raised out of the universal ocean. Thus, the eternal and immortal individual Hoo spirit continues the cycle of life and death.

  “Now, Ket’s spirit had left her body after she was struck by an Inthadian arrow. But her unfulfilled love for me prevented her from moving on to take another form into the next life.”

  I interrupted saying, “Let me guess. She followed the call of your unfathomable love wherever you went. Her spirit remained with you even after you miraculously transcended millions of light-years from Hoola and landed on Earth. By dint of your utter sensitiveness and receptivity, only you could perceive Ket’s spirit. Sometimes you even talked to her in your alien native language. Those, who saw you talking like that but could not see whom you were talking to, thought that you had some psychiatric disorder. That is why you were confined to cell number 121 of our asylum under my direct supervision. Twenty years went like this. During this time, I became a friend of yours. Then you mysteriously disappeared from our asylum.”

  Kit nodded and said, “That’s exactly how it is. Only now you have grown sensitive enough to be able to see her spiritual being.”

  “I am awe stricken at the intensity of your mutual love with Ket,” I said soberly. Then, I asked Kit, “But, till today, I have failed to understand how you managed to escape breaking the high gauge steel grid of the window of your cell and then defy the advanced surveillance system of our asylum. You must have used the rainwater pipe that runs along the window to climb down from your second floor cell. Didn’t you? How could you remain under cover for months?”

  Kit shook his head negatively and smilingly said, “No, no, it was not like the way you think. That night Ket came to me to keep her promise to take me out of your home. She just nudged the grid gently with the power of her super-material will. The high gauge steel grid of the window snapped like fine fabric. Then she took my hands in her hands, scooped me out of the window and flew me to the secluded mountains in the dark of the night. We remained there in each other’s loving company.”

  “That’s incredible!” I exclaimed in utter disbelief.

  Kit smiled and then said in a serious mood, “Doctor, the work at hand is going to be physically demanding. The hamlet is at a green patch of land in the southern part of this Violet Land. Finding the green patch in this rugged dry land will not be easy. It will be hard for you to take the toil at this age. You can wait for me here. You have enough food, water and shelter here. I shall get back to you after I find the way to the hamlet.”

  “No way, don’t worry about me,” I opposed. “I can pull it off. I know our progress will be a bit slower if I come along, but we will have the advantage of two minds working together. You said that you know those southern regions.”

  “Yeah, but to reach there, first we have to cross the northern regions. These areas are mostly unknown. Many lost their way and their lives in this bewildering maze,” said Kit.

  “Surely we can do better with a little plan and preparation,” I opined.

  “Sure. We shall have to gather at least two weeks supply of food, water and provisions before we can start,” suggested Kit.

  For the next few days we devoted all our energies in the preparations for the journey. We collected the exotic fruits; caught and smoked the flesh of strange mouse-like small animals, which Kit called rodns. The hard shells of the rok fruits proved to be good containers for carrying water. We even constructed a small trolley with the bushy branches of the bem trees for carrying our provisions. Kit suggested that we should move during the night and rest at daytime. He explained that at night, the white light from either of the two natural satellites of Hoola, Tin and Tar, makes the conditions of the Violet Land more suitable for navigation.

  Thus we set out one evening towards the south to traverse the uncertainty that lay beyond the horizon where the peaks of the barren mountains meet the sky. It was reassuring for me to see that indeed Kit was pretty good at finding the ways through these undulated alien landscapes. With apparent ease he carefully observed the rocky formations of the terrain ahead of us and deftly chose the easiest way forward. Even that easiest way was pretty strenuous for me. From time to time, Kit had to stop and wait for me to catch up with him. Fortunately, Kit’s efforts bore positive results. We stumbled upon a pass through the skyscraping mountains. By daybreak I was pretty tired. We made our first halt in a cave near the pass.

  After resting for the day we recommenced our journey at about dusk. At the end of the pass beyond the mountains we were faced with a rapid descent. Kit would not allow me the risks of trying to go down that steep descent. I was not very confident either. It seemed too formidable. So we changed our direction and moved along the mountain slope towards the east. We had to cover several kilometres before we could find what we were looking for, a gradual descent down to the plateau. After coming down to the plateau, we again changed our direction towards the south. If I was not with him, probably, Kit would have gone straight towards the south down that steep descent. But, this change of the trek would soon lead us to an interesting discovery.

  After covering several kilometres towards the south, we saw something ahead of us that looked like a huge carcass of an ancient beast lying amidst the desert in the soothing light of Tar. As we went nearer, we found it to be the remains of a very old abandoned factory. We picked up a few useful articles including a piece of blunt metal blade from the factory. Kit carefully grinded the metal on a rough rock and attached a handle to it. With this handcrafted sword fastened to his waist he indeed looked like a warrior, just like he had described in his diary.

  Kit remarkably said to me, “This is clear evidence that once, a long time ago; there was a sprawling habitation on the Violet Land. This belies the general belief prevailing on both sides of the Violet Land that there has never been any habitation on this land. It also shows that conditions on at least some parts of the Violet Land must have been hospitable in the past and that there is water somewhere near this place.”

  “Congratulations!” I said.

  “Same to you, we found it together. One day, all of Hoola will know about this,” said Kit. “Now, let us look for that water source. If we find it
then we can replenish our supplies.”

  Thus we went about looking for this source of water. But, after hours of searching, all that we could find on that flat and arid terrain were mostly sand and stones. Dawn approached and we decided to rest for the day. As we ate our breakfast before going to sleep, scattered crystalline stones shone in the violet light of the rising Let. At first Kit did not take much notice. Then suddenly something struck in his mind and apparently he became curious. He stood up, walked a few steps and picked up one of those stones. Holding the stone before his eyes he closely examined it. Then, he hurriedly came back to me. Handing over the stone to me, he exclaimed, “See what I have found!”

  I turned the stone in my fingers and asked, “What’s this?”

  Kit animatedly replied, “Those sands must be the dried up remains of a river bed. These spear shaped crystal stones tell me exactly which river, the Forbidden River.”

  “What!” I exclaimed. I had read about this river in Kit’s diary.

  “Yes Doctor, these are the same kind of crystal stones that I saw in the dried up Forbidden River at the foot of the Forbidden Mountain,” said Kit.

  “That means if we follow the trail of these stones then we will reach the foot of the Forbidden Mountain,” I said.

  “Yes. I know that place. The hamlet is only a few kilometres south-west from there!” exclaimed Kit.

  Within a few days after that we reached the hamlet.

  4

  Resurrection

  The initial days and weeks at the hamlet were difficult. We felt severe resources crunch. We virtually had to scavenge on whatever we could find at the, now deserted, hamlet. We found a few utensils, some soiled agricultural tools and a worn-out chest containing a few household articles and clothes. Luckily for us, in the field, there were uncultivated crops, which had naturally grown and regrown over the passing seasons. Harvesting those scattered crops was a herculean task. There was water in the tanks but we mostly relied on fresh rainwater for drinking. We mended and hatched two of the huts that were in relatively better condition.

  Within a few weeks, we were able to secure a buffer stock of food and provisions though we still led a hard life at the margin of subsistence. All along, Kit exhibited his characteristic activeness and maintained his overt cheerfulness. But, I did not require my long experiences as a psychologist to be able to detect the undercurrent of melancholy that had been tormenting him from inside ever since Ket had disappeared.

  Increasingly, now Kit spent as much of the spare time as possible in alignment and submission to his deity, Istha. Usually he aligned in the solitude of his hut but sometimes, even while at work, I found him absentmindedly looking skywards and murmuring prayers with such acute intensity, which I had not seen in anyone else before that point in time.

  Then one day early in the morning, Kit rushed to my hut and knocked at the door. I got up from my bed, opened the door and I asked him, “What’s the matter?”

  With a childlike excitement and exuberance Kit said in one breath, “Doctor, I had a contact with gracious Istha this dawn. He blessed me. He has given me a hope of getting Ket back.”

  I could hardly believe what he had said but I knew that each of his words came from the depths of truth. So, I said, “Come inside. Tell me in detail.”

  Once inside my hut, we sat down. Kit continued, “After the midnight before this morning, I engaged in a session of alignment and submitted my being to Istha. I remained calm and quiet for a long while. Then, the spirituality of the Deity arouse in my consciousness. My crown was filled with the Divine’s beautiful effulgent light. Overwhelmed by rapturous joy, I humbly conveyed to Istha, ‘Just when darkness seems to engulf my being and I, degraded by my ignorance, tend not to remember Thy glory and thus give way to despair, that Thee, my kindest Lord, manifest Thyself in all Thy greatness and grandeur and dispel with Thy divine light the minutest of doubt from my consciousness.’

  “Then I heard the soothing Divine voice say, ‘My dear Kit, despair not. I am ever with you and I am ever with all; my love is unceasing. I bless you with the bliss of my love.’

  “I humbly maintained my submission, silence and focus. The Divine continued, ‘Now listen carefully. I will convey the death defying verses of resurrection directly into your memory. But you shall not transfer it to anyone else. You can recite and use it only once. After that it will be permanently lost from your memory. You must remain pure. Recover Ket’s body and recite the verses at the next twilight when neither of Tin and Tar will be in the sky. The verses will make the way for Ket’s spirit to re-enter her body.’

  “Within the next split second, I received the stanzas long death defying verses of resurrection. I was about to express my gratefulness but Istha’s spiritual effulgence dispersed into the subtler realms of my consciousness and transcended beyond my perception. But I still vividly remember the long verses.”

  I immediately recalled that Kit had written in his diary that he had buried Ket’s body at the peak of the Forbidden Mountain just before he had gone to Earth. What will be the state of the body now? I wondered. But I suppressed my apprehension and said, “The Mountain is several kilometres away from this hamlet and then there is that arduous climb to the top. Let us start immediately.”

  I wanted to witness the miracle but Kit forbade me saying, “You stay here and wait for me. I shall be faster if I go alone.”

  I saw the reason. I could not run or climb as quickly as Kit. So I said, “Then waste no time, my friend. I shall wait here and pray for both of you. Bring her back to life and bring her back to her future home. Best of luck, Kit.”

  Before I could finish my words, Kit was up from his seat and running. I went up to my doorstep to see him off. Standing at the threshold of my hut, I lost sight of him behind a couple of old bushy bem trees. Soon Let was up in the sky showering its violet light upon the loneliness of the rustic landscapes of the green patch around me. It was difficult for me to focus on the chores. All sorts of thoughts came to my mind. Anxiety gripped me. I could not eat the whole day. Then Let went down at the horizon in the opposite direction to which Kit had gone.

  Past twilight, I knew that whatever had to happen must have happened by now. When Ket’s soul had left her body Kit had almost taken his own life. What would he do if he failed to resurrect her now? I wondered. I should not have let him go alone. I thought.

  Hungry, I took a few sips of self-made grain soup and retired to bed. But sleep would delude me. I kept turning from one side to the other in my bed. I decided that I would go out to look for Kit if he did not return within two hours of the next daybreak. Accordingly, I got up from my bed before the daybreak. I cleaned up the areas around Kit’s hut and decorated it with a few wild flowers that had blossomed during the night. I also kept a couple of flower garlands ready with the hope of their return.

  Then, I walked towards the east to the twin bem trees and sat down below one of those. From there, I could see up to the elevation of the hills at the horizon in the violet aura of the dawn. Soon the upper rim of the violet disc of Let popped up on the horizon; then a quarter, then the upper half and then the full disc was at the horizon. My heartbeats were going up with the rising Let. The scenery was simply breathtaking but the anxiety of the passing moments almost took my breath away.

  After that, it was sheer magic. On the violet disc of Let appeared the dark contours of the two beings that I was, so eagerly, looking for. Unable to hold on to my joy, I waved and ran towards them and they came running down towards me.

  Even today, I sometimes tend to wonder how I could become so emotionally attached to two individuals who are supposed to be aliens to me. What is this agent that brought people from two different distant worlds, me and them, to such close proximity? So much so, that I felt quite at home in this rugged land on this bizarre planet millions of light years away from my home on Earth. That would be clear to me soon afterwards.

  Now, Kit and his beloved were standing before me, hand in hand, w
ith their jubilant smiles and joyful eyes lighting up their faces. Kit said, “Doctor, by the grace of Almighty Istha, we made it.” Then he formally introduced me to his lady saying, “This is Ket, my life-bird.”

  I exchanged greetings with her and said, “Now we have two doctors at the hamlet, madam.”

  I knew that, like me, Ket was a doctor too. She nodded and smiled. I joyously told them, “I feel so relieved. I feel so happy for you. I cannot believe my eyes.”

  Then I asked Kit, “How did you make her alive again?”

  Kit said to me, “Here is a little open secret. She has always been alive in my heart.”

  They smilingly looked at each other’s eyes, stepped closer and put their hands around each other’s waist. Then, turning to me, Kit continued, “I made it to the top of the Forbidden Mountain just before twilight. Wasting no time, I dug up her body from the burial. The conditions at the Mountain peak had perfectly preserved her buried body and so frozen her age at her mid-thirties, as old as she had been when the arrow had stricken her. Then, twilight came. Neither of Tin and Tar was in the sky. As I chanted the death defying verses of resurrection, the wound at her back healed and her body was filled with fresh blood. Now, just as Istha had said, the passage was opened for her soul to re-enter and re-claim her body.”

  Awe-stricken, I exclaimed, “Wow, it’s a miracle!”

  I handed over the flower garlands that I had made for them. They merrily put the garlands around each other’s neck. Then I serenely continued, “I do not know how a marriage is solemnised in your community, if at all. I am also aware that such a marriage between a blue Inthadian female and a red Isthadian male may be unprecedented. In any case, I do not possess any legal authority to declare you husband and wife. But, nevertheless, I wish and pray from the bottom of my heart that may you remain happily ever in union.”