by Vasu Velamur
“At last, he won and must have been thrilled, right?” asked Vindhya compassionately.
“Yes, he was happy only on the inside.”
“Why paati?”
“They asked him to talk about how he felt like a winner, which made him very nervous. It was the first time Soundravalli went near him and held his hand to comfort him in public. Then Raghava closed his eyes and told them he was delighted to come as the best amongst this finalist. It is a great feeling and more than that he was happy that his younger sister was there with him now and he left the stage”
“Wow, what a happy ending, paati. You also must have been delighted, right?”
“No, the tricky part comes now only. The next day, the municipal officers came to our house and asked for Raghava’s acceptance of the job. We were all thrilled since only a few are entitled to such an opportunity. I was very thrilled to see that my son had got recognized once by my family members. Yet the bombshell came as a big NO from Raghava. He refused the offer and left home that day and has not come back till now. That’s why I am waiting here daily for him to come back.”
“Oh, so sad to hear that. I don’t know why he did that paati”. She now moved closer to the old lady to comfort her “we are all sure that he will come back soon. Don’t lose your hope”
“I have not and will not lose my hope but my question to you is whether Raghava was a fool in rejecting the offer. Come on, guys, you tell me now. I need to know this before I close my eyes.”
The moment the question got revealed, the device vibrated, and the timer was over. The screen was flashing with the question “Is Raghava a fool or not?” and two options were flashing in RED “YES” and “NO” and a secondary timer for 2 minutes started for the answer.
They all grouped and discussed. At first, none of them agreed. The timer ticked. The disagreement became wider and wider. It looked like they would lose to the device and be stuck here for sure. The seconds ticked by and Pitchamma sat in the swing, relaxed, and waited for their answer. The argument continued and looked like it would never end.
The timer clock was down to the last twenty seconds. Ranga called out, “Enough guys, let’s stop and take a vote and come to a consensus and then do as we all agree”
“OK,” said the others, and they voted. Still, the three of them could not come to a consensus and it was down to the last 5 seconds. Ranga then thought for a few seconds and then pressed “NO” as an answer. Then the screen went blank. Nothing happened.
“Why did you press that, we argued YES was the option, Ranga,” cried Vashist “Look, now we are stuck here for sure. Don’t know how to get back”
“Wait guys, that was the right answer,” said Ranga calmly as always.
“How are you so sure, boy?” asked the old lady “tell me how many times you will get an opportunity like this?”
“Remember Paati, it is not about the opportunity, it will always come to those who go after the results. Your son aimed to get his knowledge and skill levels tested. Once, when his sister also recognized it, his inner desire was fulfilled. He had attained supreme happiness. Then came the decision which he had to make. In life, sometimes we will be presented with such opportunities that most of us would like to grab it. Yet the wise one will think if they have all the skills required to perform the tasks at the designated level. “
“So what are you saying, boy?”
“Your son thought about all the skills required for the job. You also think that he had all the technical skills but there was one thing which he lacked. Your son knows his limitations, and he also knows what boundaries that he could go. There would be some situations later in the job where he could not perform. For example, he would have to look into the eyes of the other person and make firm decisions. This he felt he did not have the courage in him. Hence, he declined it. So I am saying he is not a fool but a wise and mature person”
No sooner had Ranga finished his explanation. A cloud of thick smoke came out of the device. Before they could realize that paati disappeared. All the 3 of them felt very heavy and could not move an inch. They also felt suffocated.
“Guys, are you all safe” cried Vindhya
“I am feeling very heavy Vin, can’t even move my eyelids.” Shouted Vashist.
Exactly at the moment, they all could only see white all over the place. No sound, no motion, and a flash of white light all over their place. Something terrible has happened, is what Vindhya thought. Even when she tried to shout, there was no sound.
It was all over, is what she thought, and then tried to remain calm. Without her notice, her eyelids shut and remained like that. So it did not transform from total white to total black.
∞∞∞
Chapter-7
Where Are We - In Time?
Sunday 11:27 AM
The eyelids struggled to blink at first but soon blinked. There was some kind of consciousness that returned for Vindhya. She intensified her efforts to open her eyes and once done all she perceived was a green color. The landscape was full of leaves and the sun's rays were not noticeable. Yet she felt the warmth of the morning sun. The first reaction was to confirm that she was safe and secured on planet Earth. She radiated with energy, but her muscles weakened. Immobile currently, she turned around to inspect her friends.
She turned left and right and magnified her search, and yet her friends were not located. All she could see till the horizon were big, straight, tall trees with a heavy green cover. Beneath her legs, she felt the soggy land. On one hand, she unearthed the fact that she was back to Earth from an alien environment. But she got perturbed because she could not locate her friends. Where are they now? She wondered, and then gathered her strength and stood up straight. She remained silent for a few seconds to gain stability and also tried to probe the environment.
It was cold but yet the sun shone with no mercy. She could gauge the time to the nearest late mornings. Then she used the standard technique to compute the time. She followed the path of the sun, strode towards the east. She shouted out, “Ranga, Vashist, are you there?” in a frequent cadence. As time went by, a panicked, shrill voice manifested. All that she received back was her echo. She wandered across the forest without aim and the shouts became weird.
After some time, she heard a faint human voice emanating from her left side. She made a frenzied turn and hurried in the noise's direction. Her intent to run was there, but she was not mobile. She then looked down at her legs and found a swamp of snakes over her legs twined. She screamed out loud and shook her legs in frenetic fashion to dislodge herself from the clutches of the snakes. After a brief struggle, she freed and dashed right towards a footpath in front of her at full speed. As she was out of danger and she stopped to catch her breath, she heard a big noise.
Something pulled her down, and she looked down in a lumbered manner. The recognition was a quicksand trap. There was nothing she could do now since she was sinking as time passed by. She cried for help “HELP ME Please, HELP ME”. She screamed with a full-blown throat. The shrill voice amid a dense forest made it hideous. No one could listen to this disdain, but were there any listeners?
Yes, she could hear Ranga’s voice reply “Vindhya, where are you” and then the words became a bit disorganized. It was because she was sinking too fast. The sand drained her much swifter than she expected. Almost three-fourths of her body was immersed when she could look at a faint figure who approached in her direction. Her hands were the only part outside in the sand and she thought it was the end; it’s going to be over soon. At that point, she felt another hand grab her. She knew it was Ranga’s hand because of the roughness.
The hands shook too fast, and she struggled to pull herself up. She heard Ranga’s voice again “Hey Vindhya, wake up, please. Let’s get up and explore where we are”.
Her eyes opened and then realized that all the drama was a flimsy dream. Vindhya still felt the experience of draining inside the quicksand and narrated the entire dream to the boys. They trie
d to calm her down. She scanned the environment, and it looked very magnificent. The bed which she sat on was unique, designs carved in teak wood, and was very upscale. She turned over and put her foot down and felt a wooden stand. A stand with pure Rajasthani silk sheet by the side of her bed. Also, there was by the bedside table a lampshade colored in pink. It looked like an expensive 5-star resort. She could not hide her inquisitiveness, even for a second. And jumped out of the bed in haste and asked, “Hey Vashy, what place is this?”
“Vin, I got up right now from the slumber and am yet to scan the surroundings”
“Ranga, what do you think?” Vindhya asked since she could not control her emotions or curiosity.
“Evaluating the furniture style, I deduce this place as a second-grade resort mimicking Rajasthan grandeur”
“So then why not step out and find it?”
“We cannot. This device has to give us some clues. We can proceed only after we get it. Without that roaming in this place is of no use”.
“So what does the device tell you this time?”
“We are waiting for it”
“What's waiting, the moment you open the device it will show up. What is the wait for?” She reached out for the device. Then she swiped it open and shouted, “Here it is guys, 659 179 6875. Come on, start the work”
The guys sparkled with the revelation that this device did nothing when it was in their hands for a long time. The moment she touched it came to life. Besides, the guys were back to hunting for what this clue was.
“Might be a mobile number, see it has 10 digits,” said Vindhya “and where is my phone?”
“Hey remember you gave it to those kids in Thirukoshtiyur and then we got transported to this place. So I guess we do not have it in our hands now” said Vashist rather sarcastically. “You should have listened to me before giving it to them”
“What should I do? They seemed like nice kids and wanted to make them happy. How am I supposed to know these types of things are going to happen? Leave it; we can always get one in this place”
“Before talking about it, we also should know what period we are in? Still, in 1912 or have we moved on?”
“Before that first figure out whom do we go, listen to that story and find our way back to Madras”
“Why only us, for a change why don’t you figure out the puzzle smart girl”
“Why not, I’m outsourcing it to you guys because I want to do better things in life”
Ranga intervened in the middle and stopped a potential fight once again. “Stop it guys, let us think of ourselves as a team and not fight here”
“Whatever you say, she is going to crack this code for us,” said Vashist, still angry with her
“OK, it’s so easy. If you can do it, why can’t I” snapped Vindhya, the device from Vashist's hand, and looked at the random digits.
Meanwhile Ranga wanted to save time as he noted the numbers in a separate sheet and worked on his own. He could see no connection between the digits or the numbers. They were clueless for more than half an hour. Vashist sulked in the bed's corner and looked outside at the blank sky. Vindhya lost interest and her stomach complained about hunger. Ranga was all over the room walls with numbers and strikeouts.
“Hey, guys, let us take a break from this and explore the place and then come back to the puzzle.” Said Vindhya, breaking the 30 minutes of silence in the room.
“Seems like a good idea, but where do we go if we do not know the place and time,” said Vashist
“As always, trust the instincts of mine. Go east when you’re lost”
“You and your stupid laws”
“OK, let's see where Ranga is and decide after his thoughts. Hey Ranga, where are you on the puzzle?”
“I do not see any rational pattern in these numbers. This time I have to give up”
“See, that’s why you guys need some rest. It’s been a long time since we have gone out for lunch to a place outside of Chennai. As 3 people together”.
Vashist screamed, “what did you say?”
“We have never gone out as three of us together outside of Chennai”
Vashist ran towards her and hugged her and patted her back again. “You did it again Vin, you did it”
“Did what?”
“Look, I found what the device is telling me now”
“What, please elaborate, and do not use your cryptic skills now, please”
“Ranga” said Vashist, “what is the cube root of this number”
Ranga explored the nearest wall and started to work on it. After roughly two-and-a-half minutes, later he shouts it is 1875 perfect value. “See, I told you the year is 1875, the month of October, the date is the 10th”.
“How did you get it?”
“It’s once again because of you; you gave me the clue - 3 of us. I knew that to get a perfect cube root is difficult but wanted to try to get it.”
“How did you get this October thing, there is no clue in those numbers?”
“Look here, see the book The Vampire and has a black rose over it”
“Yes, and the rose is fresh but painted black”
“AK Tolstoy authored this book. He died on 10th October 1875. So am guessing the second part of it”
“I don’t see how you can remember all this useless information. Also, those Schrodinger wave equations both of them are allergic to me”
Ranga, who was not interested in the deciphering part, sneaked around the device and typed. As he typed the numbers 1-8-7-5 nothing but the picture of a fort flashed on the screen. He immediately called to the others and asked, “What picture is this one, dude?”
“This is the Amber Fort in Jaipur” claimed Vindhya “I know it since I was there only 2 years back”
“What are we doing in Jaipur?”
“That I do not know” shouted a sparkling Vindhya, “but my stomach is already calling me, let’s grab some food”
She rushed, and the others were dumbstruck but followed her as usual. This was not a special day, anyway. They both decided that they have some lunch and then chart the course for the remaining day. As soon as they walked out of the room and into the streets, they noticed a vast difference in the city landscape. What they had seen or heard about Jaipur and what was here was the total opposite. Everybody in India knew Jaipur as a pink city. Yet for the first time, these friends saw a non-pink city and got amused. What is this?
They strolled through the narrow, winding streets. She led the way and the other two followed like the Hutch dog. Halfway through the journey Ranga prompted a short query “Vin, do you know where you are going?”
“Sort of” replied a confident Vindhya. “In the olden days, there would be a big commercial street right in the middle of the city. Usually, it’s known as a Connaught place. I have been there when I went last time in 2017 and I am sure it will still be there even in this period”
“If that is so, OK let’s follow the chief”
“I am devastated by hunger and need a full Rajdhani meal now”
“Sure Vindhya Bhai, it’s served soon” Vashist replied in a sarcastic tone.
“Why this tone now?”
“The restaurants will be there, but how do we pay? We don’t have currency with us” he emptied his pockets.
“Know what” started Vindhya in a very surprised mode “let us eat all that we can and then say we do not have money. They will send us to jail and that way we can enter the fort"
“Good job Dumbo,” retorted Vashist. “The jail will any day be the farthest from the palace and guarded more than you guess. So get a workable idea, smartypants”
“At least I am supplying ideas, not like you rejecting with no contributions”
“Stop your fight please” intervened Ranga “we struggle to solve so let’s work as a group”
While Ranga pulled Vindhya away from Vashist, he heard some clattering noise. Both Vindhya and Ranga looked puzzled. Every time Vindhya made a move, the clattering noise reoccu
rred. Then Ranga asked Vindhya, “Please check your pant pockets”
She dug her hands and to everyone’s surprise, there came out a small green cloth bag. At first, she was surprised, but then she knew where it had come from. Before she could explain, Vashist barked, “Hey thief, where did you get this from?”
“I’m no thief and by mistake got it from another period”
“What mistake?”
“Remember when I was in Pitchamma’s kitchen and shouting at seeing a lizard”
“Yes”
“When I jumped on the sacks of rice in fear, I clutched something in that almirah. When Ranga came in and settled the situation, I placed it into my pocket by mistake. I had no intention of taking it”
“That’s good, let us not be guilty here,” said Ranga, “and think it’s like a gift from Pitchamma. Now let’s leave this place and have some food and discuss how to enter the fort by evening today.”
They all settled and went in search of a restaurant. The rest of the way, there was nothing but silence. Their tiredness and the desire to get back to 2020 were their prime motive now.
∞∞∞
Chapter-8
The Entry Ticket
Sunday 01:12 PM