Note
to readers:
The
following story was written as a series of blog posts by me a few
years ago. I had decided then to serialize the story into various
parts, primarily as an experiment, to understand how serialized
stories and novels were written by writers in magazines in the days
gone by! This story was deeply satisfying to me and many of my close
friends were happy to read the weekly posts and encouraged me every
week.
You
can find the series of blogs here
- the First Chapter.
However, I am putting out the entire story here. Some grammatical
errors that had creeped in have been corrected here; otherwise the
story is the same.
The
reason for putting out the full story here is that now I am working
on the sequel to this and would like to take the readers along to
know what happened to the protagonist afterwards. The sequel will
appear in another blog, or series of blog 'episodes'!
CHAPTER
-
1
Ramu
decided that he would restart his morning walk on the first of the
month and well, that day had arrived. He woke up at 5, as promised to
himself, prepared coffee for himself, his wife, and the maid, and
finished his morning ablutions and rituals. While sipping his coffee
and admiring the view from his 15th floor balcony, he wondered
whether he could delay resuming his walk by one more day. Such
thoughts assailed Ramu often enough - not only in such mundane tasks,
but also in important project activities and that had created quite a
few problems for him in recent times. During project review meetings,
he would get questioned about this; but his explanation that those
activities couldn't be taken up on the planned day because of
resource non-availability or some other constraints, would be
accepted. Not without any reason, for Ramu was a diligent manager and
projects under his watch would always get delivered on time and
within budget and customers were always happy with Ramu and his
management style.
Today
was one of those days when Ramu felt lethargic and wanted to delay
restarting his walk. Was it hot? Absolutely not. He lived in
Bangalore and it was the first week of August, when the weather was
balmy, the sun, though up in the sky, was being prevented by a
blanket of clouds from peeping out and bathing the city in its warm
glow. It was one of those mornings when even a conscientious person
would be tempted to let go and relax, probably read a book, or do
crossword, or attempt the Wordle of the day.
With
some effort, Ramu conquered all the temptations and set out. Prema,
his wife of 27 years, was still asleep. His two children were away –
employed in different geographies, and the mornings weren't any
longer the 'peak hour' in terms of 'traffic' at home. Things happened
at a leisurely pace and the rest was well earned by Prema. Ramu
remembered the hectic buzz at home when his two children - a boy and
a girl - were young and in school. The morning hour from 5 am to 7.30
am, when the school bus arrived at the gate, were called 'peak hour'
by Ramu and many of his friends took that term and referred to the
time similarly in their family circles. The preparation of snacks and
packing their lunch boxes was the task specially delegated to Ramu by
Prema and not without any reason. Ramu was good and accomplished the
tasks with patience and sometimes inventiveness. If the vegetables to
go with the roti were not ready that day, he would apply jam on one
roti, and a bit of tomato ketchup on another; roll the roti and cut
them into bite sized pieces and arrange them neatly in the tiffin
boxes. The children, while having their breakfast, would observe
these and Ramu would hope that they imbibed some of these qualities
later in their life. Now his mornings were more relaxed and most days
since he worked from home, the commute to workspot and back missing,
the 'peak hour' had become a 'relaxed hour'.
But
back to the present.... Ramu had a habit of walking alone and
detested company. He preferred to listen to podcasts or songs on
YouTube or Spotify and generally keep his mouth shut. That is why
Prema and Ramu hardly ever went for their walks together. Suited both
of them. Prema was gregarious and preferred chatting with friends and
if there were no friends in sight, she had the capacity to make
friends. In the society where Ramu and Prema lived, having moved here
5 years ago, Prema had made at least about 30 friends and Ramu by
himself had 0. The only friends Ramu had were the husbands of Prema's
friends.
He
got a call from an unknown number. Generally Ramu disliked picking up
calls from unknown numbers since most of the times they were
marketing calls from some bank or insurance company trying to sell
their products. However, on occasion, he needed to pick calls from
unknown numbers since they could be from the client company by
someone who had a problem to report. Should he pick the call or let
it be? Wasn't the holiday well earned by him, he thought? If the
person had a problem, he could call the office and someone would
respond and redirect the call or let the concerned person know about
the problem, whatever that problem was. But Ramu being Ramu, he took
the call. Maybe he shouldn't have. That call was to change his life
forever. What was the call about? Who was calling him on a holiday?
Why?
CHAPTER
- 2
Prema
rose from her sleep with a start. This was getting to be a usual
occurrence of late, much to her growing consternation. She had been
getting dreams of her college exam days or school monthly tests. She
would awaken with a cold sweat; but feel relieved when she woke up to
realize that now she is rid of those exam days.
Coffee
was ready and she never forgot to silently thank Ramu for that
morning ritual that he had taken upon himself many years ago. Today
was a relaxed day and while sipping her coffee she turned on the TV
to catch the latest business news. As a senior manager in a
multinational company managing the finances and accounts, she took
time to understand the economy and the way the policies were
announced by various governments in the region. The weekly round-up
was her favourite show since she did not find enough time to catch
the news on a daily basis.
Prema
took the newspaper from the magazine rack and started reading the
news. She had her views on America, Russia, China, and India's
foreign affairs with the Western powers, and engaged in a heated
debate with her colleagues on how the Ministry should engage with
those powers. Discussing with Ramu was futile, since he kept his
views to himself on political matters - she suspected that it was
because she was passionate in her views and rarely, if ever, acceded
to contrary opinions. Ramu was more interested in tennis and cricket
and watched the telecast of matches involving India and he had his
strong views and opinions on team selection. Prema did not engage in
those trivial matters. The world was her playground.
She
was expecting a call from her son or daughter since they called up
every weekend; but they hadn't called yet. Even if there was no call
on any weekend, this did not cause any anxiety to her since it was
quite possible that Akshay and Deepa were away to their friend's
place. Even during their growing up years, Prema did not interfere in
their studies, check their progress in class, supervise if they had
done their homework or not, or signed their progress reports. Ramu
took care of those matters and being very patient with their
children, Prema realized that grooming their children was best left
to the most competent person in the house! As a career oriented
person, Prema routinely requested her parents or her parents-in-law
to come over to take care of their grandchildren when they were
young.
Akshay
was three years older than Deepa and had a keen interest in chess and
debating. On both he was active and had won prizes within their
school and in inter-school competitions. Deepa was an extrovert and
played badminton and cricket. To help with their passion in their
hobbies, the grandparents came in handy since they would take the
children to the training centres without fail.
Prema
was extremely conscious of her health and did not miss the yoga
classes every weekend that were held in the terrace of her yoga guru.
But before going there, she needed to take care of Ramu's breakfast.
Today would be dosa and she quickly prepared a few; ate a couple
while other dosas were getting ready and changed into her yoga gear.
She then picked up her car keys, locked the door, and took the
elevator to the basement.
Prema
opened the car door with her remote and glanced around to see Ramu
walk towards the lift rather unsteadily. When he came nearer she
thought she saw Ramu was not his usual self. Probably the long walk
had tired him, who knows. Generally he would walk for about an hour
on weekends, but today his walk was quite a long one. She thought she
would inform him about his breakfast and approached him before he
neared the elevator. It was then that she saw his ashen face.
"Ramu!
What is wrong? Are you OK?"
CHAPTER
- 3
A
few days earlier.....
"Akshay,
what are you planning to do during the weekend?", asked Pro
(Pronnoy), Akshay's roommate.
"Not
decided man. I may opt to just relax, if I do not have any backlog to
be completed at work!" said Akshay with a sigh.
Over
the last couple of years that Akshay had been with DataLogix in
Gurugram, he was always being swamped with work. He resented that
overload during the weekends, since he seemed to be among the few
who, like his father, completed his part of the project on time and
with the quality that was expected of him. This resentment didn't
appear on his face or demeanor when he was allotted that 'extra' work
by his manager during office hours, since his nature was never to
refuse work. Among the values inculcated in him by his parents - both
mother and father always mentioned that 'hard work never killed
anyone; hence accept the work and do your best' - this was something
of a golden rule. Other values that they instilled in him were
curiosity, respect for everyone, and honouring the commitment.
Somehow, Akshay never questioned these aspects; though on quite a few
other issues he could argue with his father till kingdom come.
It
was raining in Gurugram and the city was a mess due to the traffic,
water-logging, and general indiscipline on the roads. He made his way
to the office, just a block away from his apartment and got into his
cubicle.
Just
then Amy (Amrutha) came up to his cubicle and said, "Hey Aks, we
three are planning a camping trip to Kumaon hills. Are you
interested?"
"Yes,
sure. I don't have a bike though."
"Not
an issue. Vicky (Vikrant) is coming on his bike and Gan (Ganesh) is
always ready to take any road trip. So there will be four of us on
two bikes."
"Ok.
Looks good. Let's do it. When do you leave?"
"We
are leaving on Thursday morning. Take one day off and Friday is
anyway a holiday. That makes it a three day camp. Hope you have your
hiking boots and camping gear. Not given to anyone na?"
"No.
I have that."
"Where
are we going? Have you guys decided yet?"
"Gan
was mentioning a camp site near a place called Kanatal, about 4 hours
from Dehradun. We should be reaching there by late afternoon, if we
leave this place early morning on Thursday."
Akshay
decided that this trip would be 'off the radar' of his parents. His
mother was of the worrying type and if he were to mention that he was
planning a road trip, that too on a bike, to a hilly place, probably
his mother would take the next flight from Bangalore and land up in
Gurugram to prevent him from going. Better to talk to mom and dad
after returning from the trip.
---------------
Saturday
morning at Kanatal camp site
Akshay
was thankful that the past two days were largely uneventful in terms
of adverse weather. It was sunny and since the place was at an
altitude, the weather was cool and nippy in the morning; but
progressively warmer as the day progressed. It was a new experience
to make tea or coffee and breakfast (mostly maggi noodles) before
heading out for a trek. The sights were awe inspiring and since they
were the only four campers in that area, they were largely left to
themselves to enjoy the place. The site was a grassy land on a rise
and even if it were to rain, the rainwater was not likely to cause
any harm within the tent. Gan was anyway a pro in these matters and
chose the place wisely.
The
sun had just risen and Akshay saw that the others were also just
getting up. But when they looked eastward, they found a building that
resembled a small house that hadn't existed even yesterday evening.
It was impossible that this building had been completed overnight.
The
four of them decided to walk about a kilometer to check that out. Was
it a shop? Or was it a cafe? Seemed to be a small restaurant. Could
they escape the obligatory maggi noodles and instead get poori or
aloo paratha? Akshay was the first one to enter the cafe, with the
others maintaining a safe distance behind him. Amy was busy taking
photos of the morning sunrise, the building that had come up last
night and a video of the three folks ahead of her. She was a
'photo-nerd' and had already taken a lot of photos over the last two
days. In between she also took some selfies with Gan and Vicky with
the building as a backdrop.
Akshay
didn't find anyone inside the cafe. He looked around for a few
seconds and then called, "Anyone here?"
Suddenly,
the other three almost lost their balance. They were a good hundred
yards behind Akshay. The cafe vanished in front of their eyes and
with it Akshay too!
CHAPTER
- 4
The
sudden appearance and subsequent disappearance of the restaurant like
structure shook the three friends to the core. It was something so
unexpected that it is no surprise that even technology savvy people
were left dumbstruck. Vikrant was the first to recover from the shock
of seeing the 'restaurant' disappear as if into thin air. It had also
swallowed Akshay. Swallowed may be a wrong word to describe the
events, but for Ganesh, Vikrant, and Amrutha it did feel that that is
what had happened. All three were engineers and had a backing in
science, but this phenomenon defied all known (at least known as of
now to mankind) theories in science. How could a building vanish in
front of their eyes? What had happened to it and where did Akshay go?
With
some trepidation (fear of the unknown causes even the most scientific
minds to be wary) the three of them walked gingerly, holding hands,
to the exact spot where the building stood. Were there any signs of a
building there from today morning? Any foundations? Any marks of the
pillars? Was the grass bent? They could detect the places on the
grass where Akshay's shoes made an impression. But suddenly there
were no more impressions of Akshay's shoes.
Amrutha
did a smart thing then. She took some photographs of the footprints
and also shot a video of the footprints till the spot where the
prints vanished. She took some photos of their camp location from the
place where the building was seen.
Ganesh
was the first to say something. He posed a question uppermost in
others' mind. "What shall we do next?"
Amrutha
said the most practical thing. "We should report to the police."
Ganesh
posed, "What shall we tell them? That Aks vanished into thin
air! Will the police believe us? Won't they detain us and question
us; probably use third degree methods on us thinking that we are the
cause of his disappearance?"
Vikrant
agreed with Ganesh on this, but being a bit more astute, he said, "If
we do not go to the police and report Aks' disappearance, we will be
under greater suspicion. The police will not have to go far to locate
us since all our information would be with our employer."
Amrutha,
ever the more practical, said, "I have shared the photos that we
have taken over the three days, including today's, in a common album
with you. You will be able to show the photos and video to the police
inspector so that the police doesn't suspect you. You both go to the
police station, whereas I will remain here, just in case the building
and Aks appear again."
Amrutha
further said, "I will also try and google to find out if
something similar has happened anywhere else in India or the world.
Surely, this must not be a one-off affair. What do you think happened
just now? What are your first impressions?"
Ganesh
and Vikrant shook their head and realized that they hadn't thought of
any explanation as to what had happened. Surely the police would ask
them their suspicions based on what they had seen first hand. They
should be prepared with some logical explanation. Better to discuss
this together so that they do not give contrary and confusing
responses to the questions by the police.
Vikrant
said, "I think the most logical explanation is that we have been
hypnotized. It will be no surprise if a magician like P. C. Sorcar
with a film crew were to appear now and bring Aks over and have a
laugh at our expense."
Ganesh
thought about this for a moment before asking, "Do you see any
evidence of anyone in the vicinity? I don't see anyone for miles
together. This is not a forested or a wooded area. It is a grassland,
though among hills."
Amrutha
thought for a while and said, "I think we should discount the
magic mumbo-jumbo when talking to the police. This will not wash with
them, even though I suspect they may also think along the same lines
given what we see in Discovery and History Channels on TV."
Vikrant
asked, "So Amy, what do you think happened? What is your most
logical explanation?"
Amrutha
said, "I think we should all only say that the building
disappeared in front of our eyes. That is a factual information. If
asked by any authority, not only police, but any other authority of
the government, we should express our ignorance of the matter."
Ganesh
said, "I think people will ask our suspicions as to what
happened. They will want us to describe how the weather was, whether
it was a clear sky? Whether we saw any 'machine' in the sky or not?
Did we hear any noise? If there was a noise, how clearly can we
describe the noise to them. I think before leaving we should pool our
information and speak as of one voice in these matters, else the
authorities will likely suspect us first."
Both
Amrutha and Vikrant thought that was a good suggestion by Ganesh.
They went back to their camp and sat separately. As per Vikrant's
suggestion, it was decided that each of them would write their
experience starting from the previous evening till the disappearance
of Akshay, in as detailed a fashion as possible, and then compare
notes. The next thirty minutes were spent in silence, broken only by
the sound of birds in the sky that were going about their daily
routine, blissfully unaware of the crisis developing below them.
Having
completed their notes, they compared what each had written. But for a
few minor changes in perception, each of them had the same experience
as the other one had. So with more confidence in their ability to
confront any charges that may be thrown at them by the police, Ganesh
and Vikrant decided that they would leave in Ganesh's bike and leave
Vikrant's bike near the camp site, just in case Amrutha needed any
transport. Thankfully, each of them was careful not to go near
Akshay's camp so that everything was left the same way as Akshay had
left it in the morning. They were sure that it would be first thing
the police would check when they came here to investigate.
Before
leaving, Ganesh asked, "Does anyone among us have Aks' contact
information? His home telephone, or his father's or mother's mobile
number, so that we can inform them at least? We don't want the police
to be first to inform."
Amrutha
thought over this and said, "No, I don't think any of us has
that information, but I will immediately call our HR and get that
information from them and call either his mom or dad. You better get
going. It is going to take some time to reach the nearest police
station. The earlier we report this, the better it would be for all."
After
Ganesh and Vikrant had left, Amrutha did google for information on
the disappearance of people in similar fashion; but she wasn't
successful. Many were YouTube links where some dubious people were
peddling fake information. She didn't believe any of these, but
continued to look for credible sources. She didn't get any. Without
wasting too much time on this endeavour, she decided to get the
contact information of Akshay's parents. Instead of calling the HR
department and getting questioned as to the need for her to call the
company, when she could as well get it from Akshay himself, she
called up Pronnoy, Akshay's roommate. Without checking why, Pronnoy
gave that information to Amrutha.
Amrutha
decided to call up Akshay's father Ramu, to tell him what had just
happened. She decided it would be better to be truthful, rather than
beat around the bush.
CHAPTER
- 5
Ganesh
and Vikrant discussed between themselves regarding which police
station to go to for registering their complaint. The nearest police
station may not have the necessary expertise for registering or
investigating such 'disappearances', they felt. Hence they called up
Amrutha to voice their concerns and involve her also in the final
decision regarding which police station would be appropriate to meet
with and register their complaint regarding the disappearance of
Akshay.
It
was finally decided that they would go to Dehradun and all three
people were unanimous in their final choice since that was the
capital city of Uttarakhand. There was a great mystery associated
with Akshay's disappearance and they all felt that speaking to any
other police officer in a smaller town may not get the attention that
this event deserved.
Amrutha
realized that the one-way journey for Ganesh and Vikrant would take
about 4 hours at the least and she may have to stay back in the
campsite for the full day and possibly spend the night alone too.
Ganesh and Vikrant too realized this as soon as they had left; so
they decided to return to the campsite. Now another quandary
presented itself. If all three had to leave by vacating and clearing
the campsite, they would have to remove Akshay's belongings and pack
up the tent too. This would disturb Akshay's tent and may have a
problem with the investigation. So they realized that they were back
to square one on the next course of action.
Ganesh
asked around if any among the three had any relative in the police
department anywhere in India and whether contacting that relative
would be helpful. Vikrant said that his uncle was a senior officer in
the police in Rajasthan and he could contact him to inform him of the
situation and get the contact details of the senior officer in
Dehradun.
Ganesh
asked, "Do you think your uncle will believe us?"
Vikrant
replied, "I am not sure. But do we have any choice? This is a
unique situation and inspite of carrying out an internet search, Amy
hasn't been able to get any information on similar occurrences in
these parts, or anywhere else in India. We have to start trusting
someone. I think this option is our best bet to make the authorities
believe us."
Ganesh
asked with a hint of sarcasm, "As if there would be news about
such an occurrence! Even the most liberal and transparent country
like US doesn't reveal any existence of such paranormal phenomena. Do
you think Indian government would do so?"
Both
Vikrant and Amrutha did not have any way to counter this argument of
Ganesh.
Amrutha
was pensive for a while basically thinking of her next step, which
was to contact Akshay's father Ramu, or his mother, Prema, to inform
them of the sudden disappearance of their son. She was struggling
with how to explain. But she had to call and Vikrant and Ganesh
realized that calling Akshay's parents should be their first
priority.
"Hello!"
"Hello!
Is that Mr. Ramakrishnan?"
"Yes.
May I know who is speaking?"
"I
am Amrutha, Akshay's friend and colleague in DataLogix at Gurugram. I
am here in Uttarakhand in a camping site near a place called Kanatal.
I am here with two more of my colleagues, Ganesh and Vikrant."
"Ok.
So why are you telling me all this? Is Akshay with you? Is anything
the matter?"
"Sir,
I am sorry to inform you, but today early morning when we woke up, we
saw a structure had suddenly appeared near our campsite, which was
not there till yesterday evening, and when Akshay went ahead of us to
investigate what it was, the structure and Akshay both disappeared.
Sir, please believe me when I say this, the structure and Akshay who
had just entered the building, both disappeared instantaneously in
front of our eyes! We are still unable to wrap our heads around this
event. We do not know how to make anyone believe us."
Ramu
felt all this was some sort of prank by scammers and they were after
some extortion. That was his first impression and he didn't take this
seriously. Amrutha, Ganesh, and Vikrant explained to Ramu in detail
about their work in DataLogix, their individual contact numbers, and
also mentioned that he could disconnect the call so that Ramu could
call Amrutha back.
As
he was speaking Ramu realized that he needed to involve Prema in any
further conversation and both of them could think of their next move.
He started towards his apartment and met Prema near the lift. He told
her of the phone call and immediately saw that Prema gestured to him
to return to their apartment to discuss further and investigate this
call.
Prema
and Ramu went back home and Ramu called up Amrutha, who picked up the
call immediately. Prema wanted to hear from them directly and so
Amrutha, Ganesh, and Vikrant told her what had happened that day.
Prema said that both he and Ramu would take the next available flight
to Dehradun and would plan to be there by the same day afternoon.
Prema suggested to Ganesh that he should stay back at the campsite
and Vikrant could take Amrutha to Dehradun after speaking with his
uncle and contacting the senior police officer in Dehradun.
Things
started moving speedily. Ganesh was mildly surprised that Ramu and
Prema did not say anything that could suggest that they suspected any
foul play by the three.
Prema
contacted her office, informed them of a family emergency and said
she would be travelling to Uttarakhand and may return after a week.
Ramu did the same with his organisation. Prema had contacts with a
travel agent who could organise flight tickets for them, which he did
by the mid afternoon flight.
While
they continued with their plans to travel, the 'loss' of their son in
mysterious circumstances took a backseat. Though the concern was
there, they were busy in organising themselves for the next phase of
their task. That was to determine what happened in Kanatal and take
the help of anyone who could help solve this riddle.
There
was a call, again from an unknown number, to Ramu.
"Hello!"
"Hello!
Is this Mr. Ramakrishnan?"
"Yes."
"Sir,
I am Pramod Gupta from Delhi. We have heard of the news that your
son, Akshay has disappeared suddenly today from a place called
umm....Kanatal in Uttarakhand. Have you heard the news?"
"Mr.
Gupta, who are you?"
"Please
do not worry, Mr. Ramu. I am from the Government. I would like to
discuss with you regarding this."
CHAPTER
- 6
The
call to Ramu had eased the tension somewhat of the three persons in
Kanatal. At least they felt that Ramu and Prema had not suspected the
three friends of any foul play. That was a relief. Now they needed to
tackle the authorities. They presumed that they would have to contend
with the police since this was a case of disappearance of a person!
How wrong they were.
Vikrant
and Amrutha cleared their camp and were about to leave for Dehradun
when Amrutha received a call from an unknown number. Again with great
trepidation, she answered the call.
"Hello!"
"Hello!
Is this Amrutha from DataLogix?"
"Yes.
May I know who is calling please?"
"I
am Pramod Gupta from the Government of India. I would like to speak
with you. Where are you now?"
"Which
department of the government do you represent?" asked Amrutha in
a tremulous voice.
"That
I will tell you when we meet. Where are you now? Please answer me
honestly."
"I
am in Kanatal. But why do you ask?"
"This
is in regard to the disappearance of Akshay. We would like to talk to
you about it."
"Are
we in trouble?"
"That
depends. I will be able to know more only when I meet you three -
Ganesh, Vikrant, and you Amrutha. Just stay where you are and do not
move away from your campsite. A team is coming over to you now to
talk to you. We want all of you to be there. Do not leave the place.
I repeat, do not leave the place under any circumstances."
"Ok
sir!" Amrutha looked at Ganesh and Vikrant and all three of them
realized that the situation is grave if some government agency is
involved. Who knows what they may ask!
Within
about fifteen minutes a police vehicle came to a halt near the
campsite and a senior police officer got down with an Inspector in
tow. He looked around and checked the tents of the three campers,
turned around towards Amrutha and asked, "Amrutha?"
"Yes."
"Mr.
Pramod Gupta spoke to me about an hour ago and asked me to come up
here and be with you and ask a few questions. Do you mind if I ask
each of you individually what you experienced today?"
Ganesh
and Vikrant felt a bit relieved that they need not have to go
anywhere since the police was here. But was that a good news or bad?
They went a few feet away, but the Inspector took them about a
hundred yards away from where the senior police officer was speaking
to Amrutha. Probably they wanted to query each of them individually
to ensure that there was uniformity in what they saw today morning.
Already the disappearance of Akshay seemed to be so distant. Things
were happening real fast.
"Amrutha,
don't be scared of us. We are here at the instruction of Guptaji. My
name is Shailendra and I am the Additional SP of Tehri Garhwal
district. The Inspector there is Mr. Vikas Singh from the police
station at Tehri. So we would like to ask a few questions before Mr.
Gupta reaches here. He is already on his way and would be joining
here within about 2 hours."
Amrutha
explained in detail what they saw that day in the morning. Shailendra
asked a few questions to clarify things that he didn't understand.
Amrutha also showed him the pictures that she had taken. Shailendra
looked at the pictures intently and complimented Amrutha for her
foresight. Not for a moment did Amrutha feel that she was under any
suspicion; but Ganesh and Vikrant, standing so far away that they
couldn't hear what was being discussed, had some apprehensions.
Shailendra
then called Vikrant over and checked with him about his impressions
and later spoke to Ganesh as well. He soon realized that the three of
them had prepared well what to say when questioned since their
responses were, for the most part, identical. All five of them then
went to the place where the 'structure' appeared and then suddenly
disappeared. As they were about to reach there, a car pulled up near
the campsite and they saw a gentleman in a formal suit gesture to
them to return to the campsite.
"I
am Pramod Gupta and this gentleman here with me is Mr. Somanathan. As
I mentioned to all of you over phone, I am from the Government of
India and am here to investigate this.....well... this issue. By the
way did any of you three call Mr. Ramakrishnan, Akshay's father, to
inform him of this event?"
Amrutha
said, "Yes sir. I called up Mr. Ramakrishnan and informed him.
He was shocked. Later I spoke to his wife also. They said that they
would be coming here to meet us."
Pramod
said, "Yes, I spoke to them afterwards too. But later they
called me to inform that they may not be coming today."
Meanwhile
in Bangalore, Ramu and Prema had finished their packing and were
getting ready to leave for the airport, when there was another call
for Prema.
"Hello!"
"Hello
amma!"
"Akshay?"
CHAPTER
-7
THE
CONVERSATION
A
few hours earlier
Akshay
found himself in an unfamiliar surrounding. He thought he was in the
cafe like structure one moment, and the next moment he found himself
alone in a 'room'. There was light, but he couldn't place the source
of the light. It was definitely not natural sunlight; though it
seemed like that. He looked around and didn't find any windows or
apertures through which he could look out and determine where he was.
Given that he was naturally a curious person, he was not overcome
with fear; though anxiety was there. Yes, certainly some anxiety.
Akshay
checked himself and found that he was dressed in the same dress that
he woke up in. He hadn't carried his mobile phone, which was under
the pillow of his bed in the camp. Hopefully his friends would be
taking care of it and answering any calls that his parents may make.
There was a chair and he sat down. These actions and thoughts may
have taken about a minute. Akshay called out to no one in particular,
since he couldn't spot anyone, "Hello!"
"Hello!"
"Who
is this? Where am I?"
"You
will get an answer to these questions and anything else that you may
have by and by. First tell us why did you enter that structure
without any permission?"
"I
did call out 'Hello!' when I entered through the open door. I thought
it was a cafe and we could grab a cup of coffee."
"Do
you want anything to drink or eat?"
"Yes,
some water, a cup of coffee, and something to eat would be great".
Akshay didn't in the least feel that he was in any kind of danger
since the 'person' speaking to him was very polite.
All
that Akshay asked for appeared almost instantaneously and was placed
on a stool in front of him. He was taken aback by this. How did these
food items suddenly appear out of nowhere? He drank the water, ate
the slices of bread and sipped on the hot coffee. Are these items for
real? Where did they come from? Looking around he found everything
almost the same. But where was the other person who was speaking to
him?
Suddenly
he heard a voice, "We are 'beings' from very far off and visit
your planet once every few years of your time. We have been visiting
your planet off and on and whether you believe it or not, we have a
decent knowledge of your planet."
"You
are surely joking. What nonsense! We haven't been visited by any life
form outside our planet till now."
"How
can you say so? Aren't you surprised that we are able to converse in
a language familiar to you?"
That
is when Akshay realized that he had taken the language for granted.
But still there were many possibilities that the 'beings' were from
some part of our Earth. Why should Akshay believe that he was
'captured' by aliens? It could be Chinese too with some advanced
technology or a secret project of the Indian government and he may
have inadvertently stepped on to something that was being tested.
Yes, that seemed to him to be the most plausible explanation.
"How
do you know so many terms that we use conversationally like 'hunger',
'coffee', 'water', etc?"
"As
I mentioned, we have been visiting often enough and have a reasonably
good idea of the languages spoken by you humans. We have interacted
with other life forms that live in water, on land, and in the air and
have a decent understanding of their language too. We can converse
with them as well, and have met them in similar surroundings over the
last thousand years."
"What
is the purpose of your visiting us?" Still no sign of any fear
in Akshay.
"We
have helped your civilization in many ways. Do you think you came
about due to evolution? From apes? That was a theory that Darwin
proposed, and yes, we have got that information too. Actually we
helped the creation of sapiens and have watched you evolve, and
nudged you biologically over time to help you reach this stage of
'intelligence'."
This
continuous volley of information was too much for Akshay to process.
He was not fearful of any unknown generally, and took anything that
he didn't know about with a curious mindset. He also looked for
logical explanations when faced with things that he didn't know
about. If this was true, was he some sort of guinea pig or lab rat
for them to experiment on? As if reading his thoughts, he heard the
voice again.
"No.
We do not experiment with any beings from your world. We nudge your
brain a little; but sometimes that little nudge results in a huge
breakthrough in your world. We may do that to you too so that you can
benefit your people."
"Why
should you do that? What do you gain by this?"
"Why
do humans have pets? Why do they 'train' them?"
"We
like to keep pets for our mutual benefit. Pets care for us just like
we care for them. Ignoring some people who may keep wild animals as
pets, generally our pets like dogs or cats are good for both of us."
"Good.
Can you tell me why your scientists have experimented with plants?
Why do marine biologists go under the sea to study marine life? Why
do ornithologists study birds? What purpose does it serve the birds
or humans?"
"We
have learnt many new things from them. In fact we may also have
invented some drugs to benefit us by exploiting what we study in the
forests and in the oceans." Having said that Akshay now had a
tinge of worry whether life forms on Earth are likely to be
'exploited' by these aliens for their purpose. He didn't voice his
suspicion, but realized that his brain was being studied while they
were busy keeping him talking to them. He asked, "Where are you
from?"
"From
a place very far off. Since you do not have any interest in
astronomy, I may not be able to make you understand within the time
that we have."
"What
will you do next? Will I be able to return to Earth, if I am not
there now?"
"Of
course. As I mentioned, we don't take captives. You came to us; we
didn't capture you."
"Ok.
That is a relief. How much time has elapsed since I came here? I do
not know how time moves in this environment relative to ours."
"Maybe
about four hours. To answer your previous question regarding what we
will do to you, we have already done that. As I said, a positive
nudge in your area of specialization for you to achieve some
breakthrough in your life and benefit humans."
"If
I am asked about my experiences here, I may not be able to explain
anything at all. This is just a seemingly vacant room and all I am
hearing is your voice."
"Oh
relax. You will not remember anything that happened here. We take
care of that. We know that many of you folks are distrusting of
anything you do not know and have historically tried to kill it and
kill the messenger too!"
"But
this is really sad. I want us to meet more often; not necessarily
with me, but with many of our more intelligent and smart scientists,
engineers, and technologists. They can really benefit with your
interacting with them."
"Are
you sure?"
That
was what he heard last; though Akshay wouldn't remember these words.
He now found himself at the edge of the woods adjacent to the grassy
lands near the campsite in Kanatal. He wondered how he got there. It
was afternoon, though according to him it was just early morning a
few minutes ago. He remembered walking with his friends towards a
structure that had appeared suddenly the previous night, but now
there was nothing there. When he looked towards the campsite, he
could see the tents fluttering in the afternoon wind. He saw Amrutha,
Ganesh, and Vikrant with some others. He started walking towards
them.
