PART - 1
I've reached Kanpur. It's warmer here.
Well sun is about to say good bye in few minutes. Maybe in an hour or two. I had dinner with Papa. It was his "special occasion dish": matar paneer and pudi. It was quite good, so I ate a little extra.
Ahh… My stomach is rumbling. I screamed and ran to the washroom. Ok I lied, I didn't ate a little extra, I ate it all.
Hash!!! Finally..
I dressed up, took out my bike and was all set to go. If there is anything which I truly love, it's my 'Beast'. It has everything: speed, control, technology, style. I can connect my mobile with it. I can see navigation on my damn speedometer screen. It was fun riding it, flying with the wheels, feeling every molecules of air flowing through my helmet, like a sword cutting water, beating time, arriving early at destinations. And that's what happened that day as well. I reached there before time. There were some benches in the garden and a big green screen of grass. I sat down and started scrolling through my phone-"Who is this Binod?". Though waiting has always been a punishment for me, I didn't have much choice there. The person whom I'm meeting here knows about the bag and what's inside it. He may somehow help me in understanding the situation. So, I waited.
If I can manipulate time and move fast or slow, is it me moving fast or slow or the earth. Ahh, don't worry. It's nothing important. Just a random thought. An empty mind is a devil's home. Actually it's just my patience saying no in different ways.
"Wallah" he arrived. "Good morning Mr. Rinaku Shambhu. I hope you didn't have any difficulty reaching here". Mr. Rinaku Shambhu is an old man who belongs to a secret tribe which claims to be the first one to see God. They believe that it was their ancestors who introduced God to the human race.
Mr. Shambhu was a postman in a small village called Onama situated near Panchuli, Uttrakhand, India. I met him two years ago in Hyderabad outside a mall. He was working as a security guard there. Maybe he didn't have any plans for his retirement so he has to work at this age also. I helped him find a job in Kanpur. It's his in-laws city and his wife wanted to settle here in her last days.
"Are nahin, beta" Mr. Shambhu replies. He also sat down. I showed him the bag. He looked at it carefully and refused to even touch it himself. He believes that this thing maybe cursed or something. "Sapathajambana". He kept on murmuring this word until he left the place. I am back home after meeting him and not in a mood to meet anyone right now. What I looked at as blessings has turned out to be curse.
Well it's not actually a curse but it can trigger some really bad curses. Before leaving, Mr. Rinaku Shambhu explained everything to me about this object: what it does, why one should not use it and why it is known as a curse.
I was lost in my thoughts when I felt a vibration on the upper left side of my leg. It was my phone vibrating. "Hello". I was about to ask who is this but before I could, the person on the other side had already started speaking. And damn he speaks too much. It's my best friend Ravi. He lives two blocks away my house.
"Dude, let's smoke" he murmured. I was not in a mood to meet anyone so I said "Why not, le aa". And we met and smoked. Now I was stoned and worried at the same time which is quite a bad situation to be in. I refused to ride back home and so we took a stroll in the park.
Now we both are sitting on two stones staring at each other and smiling. We both know we're fucked up, need a bike and cannot walk home right now.
As if I it was not enough, Ravi saw a snake right next to us. And now he's like: Don't even blink. It'll go if we won't move.
Now the three of us are sitting on different stones, staring at each other, wondering who's gonna make the first move. Finally the snake felt it should be him and came right next to me. Now I'm staring at it, Ravi is staring at me and the snake is high. It doesn't give a fuck about us both and leaves after sitting there for like ten whole minutes. After this experience, we decided to walk back home. Bike isn't necessary, being alive is.
Thankfully there's no one in my house. I go to the kitchen, eat some sweets and come back to my room. Now I'm stoned, worried and eating sweets. I see the bag lying at the corner. I take out the book, hold it in my hands and observe it. "You're very heavy. Why are you so big, you filthy peace of shit. I just wanna tear you apart." I'm not gonna read it. So, instead, I slept with it.
It's already evening. I looked at the clock and it showed 5 pm. My father has arrived home. I made tea for him and we talked for a while. Then he left to play tennis.
The bag still troubles me a lot. According to Mr. Shambhu this thing is made with the soul of a star and is prohibited for human race. The soul of a star comes into existence when a star ten times the size of sun dies giving rise to a black hole. A star which is quite big in size holds the power of creation and destruction of life and planets.
We cannot use a star like we use batteries these days. Or maybe we can. We just not know how to do it.