The Pyramids of Rohama

8/12/2019 The Pyramids of Rohama

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The PyramidsofRohama

by

Kumar Ravi

I n memory of my beloved mother


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About the Story

This is a story of two youngsters in modern India. Abandoned by their parents at a tender age,

both managed to survive after a period of struggle. Circumstances forced them to come

together and they became inseparable thereafter. They embarked on a journey to several

unknown, fascinating and even weird places in a bid to help when one of their benefactors

unexpectedly ran into trouble.

On their way they met and lived with strange people, adapting to their cultures and ways of

living. They had to make use of their wits, courage and inner strength to overcome several

obstacles which threatened to hinder their progress. In the end, they successfully completed

their mission, reaping several rewards. But it happened in a manner unimaginable to them,

even in the wildest of their dreams. To know everything, please read on.

Copyright 2014, Imasol

All rights reserved


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Afterwards, packed dinners were consumed and lights dimmed as the passengers lay down on

their berths for a nap amidst the incessant rocking and swaying of the compartment and the

thunderous sound emanating from the wheels of the train while it sped away into the darkness.

Soon, on top of that racket, Jay could hear sounds of snoring all around. But try as he might, he

could not sleep. Many thoughts came crowding in his mind..

3. Jays recollections:

Jay had a clear recollection of the days when he was barely ten. He used to get beaten up by his

father whenever he failed to bring some money home at the end of the day. His mother would

wake him up and feed him whenever he went to sleep after the beatings. But what else she

could have done? She had two other young children to care for. Nor could he blame his father,a poor fisherman, barely able to make a living on the beaches of Puri a coastal town in the

Eastern Indian state of Orissa.

He could also remember that one of those days, a family of three from Calcutta visited Puri.

They were Mr. Sunil Kumar Basu, Mrs. Basu and their teenage daughter Rupa. They stayed

for a month while he earned some money helping Rupa take a bath in the sea of Bay of Bengal

and bringing her mementos like exotic conch and scallop shells and miniature replicas of the

deities in the temple of Puri.

By the time she was ready to go back to Calcutta, Rupa had developed a soft corner for him.

On day, when Rupa and her parents found him being beaten up by his father, they interfered.

Then, lamenting his inability to make ends meet, his father begged Mr. Sunil to take his son to

Calcutta to work as a domestic helper in their household. As Rupa was very keen, Mr. Sunil

agreed.

Thereafter, his life changed for the better. The Basu family was kind to him while he was

hardworking, trustworthy and absolutely devoted to them. Rupa regarded him more like a

younger brother. He never got a chance to attend school but as he was very smart and keen to

learn, Rupa taught him at home. Soon afterwards, he was on his own, acquiring knowledge


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from Rupas books. Rupa named him Jay, meaning victory, as he enjoyed accepting

challenges and winning over difficulties.

Since then, he never went back to Puri. He knew his father was happy receiving his wages

every month and would not want any disruption in that. After the passage of about four years,

someone from Puri brought news from home. His mother was no more and his father had tied

the knot with a rich widow, soon afterwards. There was also a message for Mr. Sunil from his

father conveying that he n o longer needed his sons wages and, henceforth, would like his son

to be on his own.

Rupa got married in January 1997. In accordance to an ancient custom practiced amongst

orthodox-minded Indians, Mr. Sunil had to pay a hefty sum of money to the grooms family asdowry. To make the matter worse, he had just retired from work and did not have much

savings. Consequently, he was forced to mortgage his house to the bank for a loan. The bank

gave him five years for repayment. But that too was a near impossible task, as he had no other

source of income.

Rupa was distressed beyond measure when she finally learnt that her father had gone up to his

neck in debt to have her married off. After frantically racking her brains, she thought she could

see a possible way to help him out. One day, while visiting her parents, she confided one of her

family secrets to Jay. He could remember her words quite clearly:

My father inherited from his father, one page of a three - page document. Each of my fathers

two cousins, living in the cities of Allahabad and Jabalpur, inherited one of the other two pages

from their respective fathers. The fathers of the three cousins were three sons of a renowned

herbal medicine specialist and the author of that document. It is known in our family that this

specialist had cured a visitor the ruler of an unknown estate of a rare disease, sometime

around 1900. The grateful visitor had then invited the specialist to visit his estate and collect

his remuneration in generous amounts of gold and silver. The visitor also promised to pay his

remuneration to any of his successors, if he could not or did not come to collect it himself.


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But the specialist my great-grandfather never found time to collect his remuneration.

However, he put down all the necessary information for that purpose in three written pages.

But he coded the information, probably because he wanted only the most diligent and

motivated of his descendants to inherit the riches due to him. He gave one page to each of his

three sons before his death in 1921. But his sons too never found time to collect the

remuneration. Or, may be, they found the code too difficult to crack.

Partition of British India into India and Pakistan took place in 1947 as the two countries

gained freedom from British rule. The three sons then migrated from Dhaka which went to

East Pakistan to cities in India. In the process they got separated, finally setting down in

Calcutta, Allahabad and Jabalpur. They had a son each and those are the three Basu cousins.

They are not in touch with each other but I am quite sure that, between them, they have preserved the three pages of the document, bei ng well aware of the family secret.

Upo n hearing Rupas story, Jay immediately volunteered himself to try and collect her great-

grandfath ers remuneration , in a bid to put an end to her fathers financial crisis. The

uncertainties and challenges in the task seemed to drive him more than his desire to help. To

begin with, he made a copy of the page with Mr. Sunil in his notebook. He then decided to find

the other two cousins in Allahabad and Jabalpur and make copies of the pages in their

possession. He did not have any address but that did not deter him. He collected his dues from

Mr. Sunil and prepared himself for a journey to Allahabad.

4. No early luck in Allahabad:

Jay did not know when he had fallen asleep. He woke up around 6:30 in the morning and

found the train waiting at a large junction station. He bought some food and tea from the train

window and finished his breakfast. The train resumed its journey after a while and arrived at

Allahabad a city in the Northern Indian state of Uttarpradesh at around 9:15 AM and he

alighted there.


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The first priority for Jay in Allahabad was to find some work and a place to sleep. He enquired

at various shops and finally was able to get a helpers job in one near the railway station that

sold snacks, sweets and tea. He was allowed to spend the night in the shop itself. Jay, being

used to a simple life, was not particularly fussy about where he slept and what he ate.

After settling down in his new job, he started looking for a Basu family living in Allahabad. It

should not be difficult to find, he thought, because they were settlers from outside and there

could not be many of them in Allahabad. He got hold of a telephone directory. In the directory

he found addresses and telephone numbers of nine Basu families.

One of those days when he had some time to spare, Jay found a pay phone booth and called the

nine numbers up, one after the other. But none of the Basus he called had a father who came tosettle in Allahabad around 1947 and none of them had cousins in Calcutta and Jabalpur. Jay

was disappointed. How was he supposed to find the right Basu family when they did not have

a telephone connection? He decided to wait till he could hit upon some other idea.

5. Jays life and acquaintances in Allahabad:

Jay quickly learnt to do all sorts of jobs at the shop. He learnt how to make tea, snacks and

sweets and to sell the items. The shop also made some limited quantity of wine from fruit juice

and sold them to customers in the evening. Jay learnt that art too.

A man in his mid- twenties named Daka literally meaning robbery frequented the shop to

have tea, snacks and wine. He had a mean and sly look on his face and Jay had an inkling that

he was somehow connected with the meaning of his name. But Jay kept the thought to himself

and was as friendly with him as with anyone else.

Some of the customers could not come to the shop to have tea. Jay carried tea in small

earthenware pots and snacks in disposable paper packets on a large mobile tray and went all

around the nearby area to deliver every morning and evening. One such customer was police


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gate? He was grinning widely. That makes it easy. You will pa ss my truck and n ow! Then

he walked down the road leading to the bridge whistling and waving. Soon, Jay could hear a

truck engine coming to life at a distance.

Jay thought fast. It was immediately clear to him what Daka had done to disable Jhaji and why.

He must not let the let his truck pass, he decided. But he knew he would have to comply if

Daka forced him to. Suddenly, his eyes fell on a heavy hammer kept at one corner of the room.

He picked it up, used it to smash the control panel into unrecognizable bits and ran out of the

control room for all he was worth.

7. A breakthrough for Allahabad Police!

Jay ran all the way to the nearest police station to report the matter. The commanding officer

was surprised that Jay knew that smashing the control panel was a sure way of disabling the

gate it would never open, unless repaired. He immediately sent a small company of

policemen to investigate the matter.

The policemen found a very long queue of stationary trucks, cars and buses on the one-way

road leading to the gate of the bridge. The driver of the first truck was missing and the drivers

of the other vehicles were shouting and honking at each other in a futile attempt to get across

the bridge. The policemen then instructed the drivers to back off one by one and enter the city

through some other route.

After some investigation, the policemen found the first truck was carrying contraband items,

which are not allowed in the city. Clearly, the driver panicked and escaped abandoning his

truck when he became aware of several vehicles queuing behind.

Some of the policemen went back to report the matter to the commanding officer Mr. Tiwari. It

was late in the evening, but Jay was still at the police station. Mr. Tiwari praised Jay for his

quick thinking and act ion. It was because of you, Mr. Tiwari told Jay, we could make a

breakthrough in the mystery of supply of contraband items into the city. We had an eye on


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Daka, but never knew he was behind such things. Mr. Jha, could not be bribed, so he tried

other me thods.

Mr. Tiwari then asked Jay what he could do for him in return. Firstly, Jay asked for police

protection to counter possible retaliation from Daka. Mr. Tiwari readily agreed to send him

home under police escort and alert the policeman patrolling the area where he worked. Jay then

asked if Mr. Tiwari could help him locate a Basu family without a telephone connection in the

city. Mr. Tiwari promised to do his best in that regard.

8. Success at last!

A couple of months passed without any major happening. Since the day he tried to pass histruck across the bridge, Daka was not visible anywhere. He seemed to have vanished without a

trace. One of those days a policeman came down to inform Jay that Mr. Tiwari wanted to see

him.

When Jay arrived at the police station, Mr. Tiwari handed him addresses of two Basu families

without a telephone connection. He said his friend in the Census department retrieved the

addresses from Census data collected just a year ago. Jay was pleased beyond measure and

thanked Mr. Tiwari profusely before leaving.

The very first address happened to belong to the right Basu family. Jay met Mr. Arun Kumar

Basu, one of the cousins of Mr. Sunil Kumar Basu. Mr. Arun was a nice and helpful person.

He was not rich and had two daughters to marry off. Jay had no difficulty in explaining him

the purpose of his visit. He believed Jay entirely and let him make a copy of the page in his

possession.

Jay went back feeling a lot lighter in the heart. But he could not inform Rupa or Mr. Sunil of

his success as neither of them had a telephone at home. He decided to write them a letter each

when he had some time to spare. But he could never do so as, soon afterwards, events changed

rather rapidly in his life.


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9. Jay finds a companion:

Having met his objective at Allahabad, Jay decided to look for the other cousin of Mr. Sunil

without any further delay. It was October 1997. Nearly four months had gone by and he

remembered having promised Mr. Sunil and Rupa to be back by the end of the year. The owner

of the tea and snacks stall was disappointed when Jay told him of his decision. Jay used to

carry out his job responsibilities very sincerely and diligently. All his customers were happy

and Jay had grown the business too. All he could tell Jay is to stay back as long as he could.

In course of his stay in Allahabad, Jay made an acquaintance at the railway station. It was a

beggar girl who he estimated to be anywhere between nine and eleven. He found her begging

alone at the windows of trains halting at the station. Moved by her plight, he brought herunsold food from his shop during his daily mobile service rounds at the railway station.

Jay told the girl of his decision to leave Allahabad and her sad eyes grew sadder. Elder, please

take me along with yo u. She managed to say in a voice that was barely above a whisper.

Winter is coming and Ill die if I have to stay here. Where are your parents? Jay asked her,

his eyes widening in surprise. Wont they take care of you? My parents? The girl managed

to smile wryly. They abandoned me at this station a few months ago. I do not know where

they are now. They are beggars themselves and have younger kids. So they probably wanted

me to fend for myself. I have been surviving mostly on the food you got me every day. It is

difficult to earn enough with so many beggars around. I sleep in this station. But now it is

getting colder in the night and Im not sure if Ill survive the winter.

Jay remained speechless for a while. Several thoughts crossed his mind. This girl, he mused, is

in the same or probably worse situation he was in some five years ago. He understood very

well why parents sometimes abandon heir children. But then, he reasoned, someone must take

care of the abandoned child as he was by the Basu family. Now that he was more than capable

of taking care of himself, why does he not help someone else? Okay, girl, youll come with

me, Jay found him self saying as tears of gratitude welled up in the girls eyes.


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A day before leaving Allahabad Jay bought the girl some simple toiletry items, a towel, a pair

of new dresses and a backpack. Go, clean yourself up, be properly dressed and get ready to

travel, he told her. I do not want anybody take you to be a beggar.

10. Goodbye Allahabad!

When Jay met the girl at Allahabad station shortly before the journey, he could not believe his

eyes. The girl looked absolutely spick and span nobody would ever guess about her past. The

girl told Jay that her parents called her Mina, meaning decoration, whi le she addressed Jay

as Elder. Jay and Mina boarded an express train bound for the city of Jabalpur. It was

scheduled to depart from Allahabad at 7:45 AM. They carried a backpack each and easily

passed off as brother and sister. We shall, therefore, refer to them as adopted siblings or a-siblings from now on.

As it was early in the morning, the coaches were rather empty. The a-siblings settled down on

two window seats facing each other and waited for the train to depart. Suddenly, a beaming

Daka appeared at Jays window. Hey Jay, where are you bound and who is that with you? he

asked, not really expecting an answer. Never mind, Ill find that out sooner or later. I have an

old score to settle with you, remember? Ill do that when time is ripe. His exp ression changed

to a menacing one towards the end. Then he vanished as suddenly as he had had appeared.

Soon afterwards, the train started moving. Jay told Mina all about Daka and tried to assure her

saying he would not be able to cause much harm. By then the train had gathered speed and

nothing other than vast areas of flat agricultural land were visible through the windows. The a-

siblings finished breakfast with some food Jay had brought along. The fellow passengers in the

compartment busied themselves with something or the other. Four friends, seated in pairs

facing each other, played cards with a cloth spread out across their knees.

The train continued its journey as the sun went further up in the sky, bathing everything

outside in bright sunshine. Gradually, the landscape outside changed as small hills covered

with vegetation became visible. Sometimes, the train crossed over rivers and went through


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forested areas. Mina sat motionless on her seat with her eyes riveted to the open window and

her long hair tossing about in the wind that blew in.

11. The a-siblings in good hands!

It was about five and a half hours journey to Jabalpur, some 360 km away. Getting tired of

looking out of the window, Jay got up and took a stroll around. He met a big group of people

travelling together near the other end of the compartment. They were not local people. Most of

them were young men and girls but there were some older people too who seemed to be their

managers.

Jay, as it was usual for him to do, chatted away casually with them, especially with theirmanagers. He found out that they were a group of circus people travelling to Jabalpur to

conduct shows in the city. Jay thought it would be a good idea to join them, if possible, since

finding out Mr. Sunils other cousin might take some time. The circus would provide them

with some income as well as protection during their stay in Jabalpur.

The managers did not want to commit anything when Jay enquired about a possible job

opportunity at the circus. But with Jays smooth talking and his humble, sincere attitude they

gave in and agreed to take him in as an apprentice. Jay brought Mina from her seat to meet

them, introducing her as his sister. The circus girls took a fancy to the soft-spoken girl and

soon, she too was accepted in the circus family.

The train arrived at Jabalpur, a city in the Central Indian state of Madyapradesh, at around 1:30

PM. The sun was high up in the sky and the weather rather warm. While alighting there with

the circus troupe, Jay spotted Daka from a distance. Mina too spotted him almost at the same

time and alerted Jay. He is really following us then, Jay observed. But dont you mind him

Mina, we are in good hands now!


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12. Circus comes to Jabalpur:

The circus troupe camped in a large open space somewhere on the outskirts of the city. Tents

were pitched and luggage unpacked throughout the rest of the day and evening with Jay

helping the men and Mina the girls. The a-siblings were given a small tent to share and they

settled down nicely in it. Goods trains carrying the rest of the troupes gear and animals arrived

in the next couple of days and then the members got really busy.

It took a fortnight more before the circus troupe could open their shows to the public. As the a-

siblings did not have the necessary skills to perform, they helped out doing odd jobs while

training to acquire acrobatic skills. Jay minded the ticket counter and Mina helped out with the

girls make -up and costume in addition to attending training schedules.

Being apprentices, the a-siblings were paid rather poorly but Jay found a solution. Making use

of his skills in winemaking, he and Mina brewed wine from fruits picked from nearby jungles.

They used their spare time to do that and sold the wine to interested male circus staff and made

some extra money. Not in possession of a license to make and sell wine, they did that as

secretly as possible.

The circus was a tremendous success with the people of Jabalpur. During the first month,

tickets got sold out in all the three daily shows. Trapeze shows, various acrobatics and

jugglery, motorcycle riders inside a hollow globe, cycling on single and multiple wheels,

walking and cycling on tight-rope and animal shows were the main highlights of the shows.

The a-siblings got so busy in their work and training that they just could not go out anywhere.

But it was always at the back of Jays mind that he had to find the other cousin of Mr. Sunil at

the first opportunity.

13. The other cousin of Mr. Sunil:

Opportunity finally came sometime around the middle of November 1997 when the circus

announced a temporary closure for a week for maintenance work. The a-siblings went on a


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tour of the city of Jabalpur. They bought warm clothing for themselves as peak winter was

approaching. Jay found telephone numbers of a few Mr. Basus in the local telephone directory.

He called them one by one and, to his surprise, one of them acknowledged that his father had

indeed settled in Jabalpur around 1947 and he did have a cousin each living in Calcutta and

Allahabad.

Jay set up an appointment and visited the person Mr. Rajan Kumar Basu the next day. Jay

took Mina along and soon found that he was a successful businessman with a ten-year-old son.

While waiting for Mr. Rajan in his drawing room, the a-siblings met his son Raju. He was very

excited to hear that they were from the circus. Raju said he had already witnessed the circus

shows once, thanks to his school, but he wanted to be at there once more on his own.

Shortly afterwards, Mr. Rajan arrived. He was a man of generous proportions and seemed to be

the youngest of the three cousins. He listened to Jay patiently but his reaction was quite

different from that of his cousin in Allahabad. Yes, of course , I have a page of the old family

document wit h me, he spoke in a rather rude and haughty manner . But , my dear young man,

why should I show it to you? My cousins seem to have trusted you completely but you are

nothing but a stranger to me. Nearly a century has gone by since the remuneration was due to

be collected. Even if I show you the page, it is very unlikely that you will be able to claim it.

But will you come back to us again if you happen to be successful?

Jay tried his best to convince Mr. Rajan that he would definitely come back as he was a

member of Mr. Sunils family, but his efforts held no water. You can say all that to my

cousins, Mr. Rajan sounded impatient. But you must convince me that you have good

intentions by your deeds, not by your speech alone. Only then you will get to see the page.

As they left Mr. Rajans residence, Mina tried to cheer a dejected Jay up. She had already

learnt all about the ob jective of Jays travel. Elder, she spoke in her usual quite voice. Think

hard and have faith in the almighty, you will d efinitely find a way.


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glimpse through its windscreen. There was Daka on the drivers seat and a gagged, blindfolded

and tied up Raju on the back seat of the car. Before she could decide what to do, Mina saw the

car move away, take the road leading to the outskirts of the city and quickly go out of sight,

accelerating wildly.

15. A search for Raju:

Mina ran, for all she was worth, back to the circus to inform Jay of all what she had seen. Jay

had just completed his duty at the counter . He took his supervisors permission and went out

with Mina to look for Raju. He took along a sniffer dog he was training with in the circus.

When they arrived at the spot where Mina last saw Raju, Jay spotted a shirtless, bound andgagged man lying amongst the bushes some distance away from the tree. They helped untie

the man who said he was Mr. Rajans driver and was attacked by a man while waiting for

Raju. He added that the attacker had take n away his drivers uniform as well as the cap . Jay

asked him to go back home and inform Mr. Rajan of the kidnapping.

The a- siblings then hailed a taxi and retraced the path of Mr. Rajans c ar. It was a straight road

and they arrived at the spot where it ended after a while. Beyond that only hills, covered with

jungles, could be seen. Mr. Rajans car was parked some distance away from the road. They

rushed over to the car but found nobody inside. But they found Rajus bag on the back seat and

let the dog have a good sniff at it. Jay paid the taxi off and they took the narrow track leading

to the jungle-covered hills with the dog leading the way.

The dog took them deep into the jungles growing on the valley. Suddenly it grew uneasy and

growled softly. They felt somebody coming their way and hid amongst the thick foliage. Jay

quickly muzzled the dog to prevent it from barking out. They kept absolutely quiet and soon

saw Daka, in drivers uniform and cap, walk past them heading towards the road.

After everything was normal again, the a-siblings started moving and, after a while, came to a

clearing with a single-storied house at the center. They kept spying on the house, hiding


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amongst the trees for a while. They could see an open window on the side of the house. But

nothing was visible through its bars, apart from darkness. All of a sudden, they saw a woman

drag somebody into the room and close the window shutters but not before they got a

glimpse of Raju behind the woman.

Jay decided that he needed some time to think before acting. So far so good, he mused. He

already knew the whereabouts of Raju and deduced that the house belonged to Dakas

accomplices. The a-siblings went back with the dog, walking all the way to the circus.

16. A conversation by unusual means:

After a few days, Jay went back to the house in the jungles while Mina remained at the circus.This time he brought along another animal that he was training with at the circus. It was a

small monkey, perched on his shoulders. He also carried something else with him. It was a

cord telephone, the type small children play with. But this cord was extra long.

The place where the house stood was deserted, just as it was on the previous day. He climbed

up a tree growing near the window through which he had seen Raju. As he had observed

earlier, there was a ventilation opening closer to the roof above the window. He climbed up

higher till the opening lay right in front of him. He wrapped one of the telephone mouthpieces

along with some of the cord around the monkey while he held the other one in his hand. Then

he threw a small piece of dried monkey food into the room right through the ventilator

opening.

The monkey leaped from Jays shoulders and went after the bit of food. That was exactly th e

way Jay was training the monkey to retrieve objects overcoming various obstacles. It jumped

from the tree to the roof, climbed down a bit and went into the room through the ventilator

opening with the telephone mouthpiece and cord still wrapped around it.

Raju was lying on the bed when he saw something being thrown in through the ventilator hole.

As he found it and was examining it, the monkey jumped in. Raju then noticed the telephone


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mouthpiece wrapped around the monkey with a long cord hanging from the ventilator opening.

He undid the mouthpiece from the monkey and soon noticed that the cord became taught as if

somebody was pulling it from the other side.

Raju put the mouthpiece to his ears and, to his surprise, found himself conversing with Jay. Jay

told him that the monkey should have the food only after they had finished conversing. Raju

told Jay quickly and briefly that he was being kept locked in that room and his captors would

be demanding ransom from his father. He was otherwise free and well taken care of on

condition that he would not be making any noise. During the day, he said, only the woman

stayed in the house. Her husband goes out early in the morning and returns after sunset. When

Jay asked if he could open the window shutters, Raju replied that those were secured with a

small padlock.

The monkey waited patiently all the while, eyeing the food. After they were done, Raju

wrapped the mouthpiece back around the monkey, handed it the food and saw it vanish trough

the ventilator hole.

17. Jay proves himself:

Jay went back with the monkey and made a telephone call to a distraught Mr. Rajan who told

him that the kidnappers had demanded a huge sum of money for R ajus release. Sounding

disgusted, Mr. Rajan added that he has lost faith in the Jabalpur police as they could not even

retrieve the stolen car. Jay told Mr. Rajan what he had found and done. He had Mr. Rajan

agree to buy some more time from the kidnappers while he tried to secure Rajus release.

Late in the morning next day, a band of colorfully dressed young girls traveled to the lone

house in the jungle. They carried all types of merchandise for ladies like garments, imitation

ornaments, make-up items and the like. Mina was among the girls. Later, Jay took a taxi there.

The girls went to the front of the house and some of them started up a huge commotion,

singing and dancing in groups, while the others arranged the merchandise on a large piece of


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cloth spread on the ground. Jay went to the side of the house where the window was located

and that was not at all visible from the front.

The lone woman in charge of the house came out and the girls told her they were nomads

moving from town to town and pleaded her to buy a few things from them. The woman was

absolutely fascinated to see the merchandise and gleefully chatted with the girls as she

examined one item after the other. Being spoilt for choice, she took a long time indeed.

Jay let the monkey in trough the ventilator hole again. This time it carried a master key for

padlocks and a note for Raju instructing him to open the shutters using it. Once Raju was able

to open the shutters, Jay filed away at the iron bars of the window and the noise was well

masked by what the girls created in the front.

After a few bars were filed trough, Jay used all his strength to bend them to create enough

room for Raju to squeeze through. Once Raju was out, he and Jay, with monkey on shoulder,

ran for all they were worth to the road. Jay had kept the taxi waiting there and, soon, Raju was

back at home.

18. The next hurdle to overcome:

Mr. Rajan was the happiest person on earth that day. The police had recovered his car, left

abandoned somewhere in the city. His son was back too. He handed Jay the precious page

without another word. Jay made a copy of it in his notebook, returned it and left after bidding

Raju and Mr. Rajan goodbye.

Back at the circus, Jay thanked the girls and the managers for helping him free Raju. They all

had a good laugh together recounting how they had fooled the lady in the house. Then it was

time to get ready for the next show.

After th e days work and dinner , Jay opened his notebook. He had neatly consolidated the

information in the three pages of the document on a single chart. Mina, though she could not


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read, kept awake trying to understand what Jay was doing. Jay read aloud the entries in his

notebook to Mina. It seemed to be a meaningless collection of names of places and numbers.

Here is a snapshot of Jays notebook:

Puzzle ChartMr. Sunil Kumar Basu Mr. Arun Kumar Basu Mr. Rajan Kumar Basu

7 Amritpur 45 Bombay 52 Gautam Buddha

73 Baharampur 13 Bangalore 33 Orion Sirius

15 Charakpur 32 Lucknow 59 Maha Dev

55 Barrackpur 12 Hyderabad 2 Maha Chandi

6 Mameripur 52 Madras 70 Jesus Christ

39 Tulapur 19 Calcutta 42 Maha Kali

51 Rampur 29 Jabalpur 6 Jeovah Jah77 Somenathpur 9 Gwalior 67 Sri Krishna

26 Rajapur 45 Simla 88 Allah Malik

86 Kharagpur 1 Varanasi 93 Yah Weh

Jay looked at the chart and thought hard but could not figure out much. All he could

understand was that the numbers and words were somehow connected. But the days hard

work had taken a toll on the a-siblings. They were too exhausted to keep their eyes open anylonger and the problem was left for the next night to be sorted out.

19. Two brains are better than one!

The following night, Jay made another chart in his notebook. It looked like this:

Help Chart (first)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

A B C D E F G H I J K L M

14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z


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With the chart, Jay attempted to connect numbers with letters first. Then he hoped that it would

lead to the connection with words later on. He patiently explained the help chart to Mina and

she got her first lesson in reading. She was already familiar with letters, numbers and counting

and, so, did not have much difficulty in grasping the concept.

They looked at the two charts together the next night. Mina, look at the numbers in all the

three sections of the puzzle chart, Jay spoke enthusiastically. What do you see? Some of

them match the numbers in the help chart, though most do not. This is not surprising because

the correct words the numbers connect to should only be a few most likely one word from

each section of the puzzle c hart. Then he created another table like the one below picking

only those numbers in the puzzle chart that could be found in the help chart.

Solution Chart (first)

Mr. Sunil Kumar Basu Mr. Rajan Kumar Basu Mr. Arun Kumar Basu

7 G 13 M 2 B

15 O 12 L 6 F

6 F 19 S

26 Z 9 I

1 A

Even before he had finished the chart, Jay was jumping with joy. Mina, look at the solution

chart and the puzzle chart, he was almost shouting. Focus only on the middle sections of the

two charts. Do you see anything? Mina shook her head with a lost expression on her face.

Oh! I see why you dont get it, Jay tried to help her. Its only because what we have in the

solution chart is not in the right order. It should read S-I-M-L-A. Does that not match the last

but one word in the puzzle chart?

Mina agreed. But the results in other two sections in the solution chart did not match any word

from the corresponding sections of the puzzle chart. So their efforts carried over to the next

night. Mina, Jay said while opening his notebook after dinner. We need to change the


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order of the numbers and letters in the help chart this time. He then proceeded to make two

new charts. Here is what he drew.

Help Chart (second)

26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14


13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1


Then he applied the second help chart to the unsolved sections and formed the new chart:

Solution Chart (second)


7 T 13 M 2 Y

15 L 12 L 6 U

6 U 19 S

26 A 9 I

1 A

Mina! Jay was ecstatic. Do you see that we have solved the first section of the puzzle chart

now? But Mina obviously did not. You see, Jay tried to be patient. The word we have now

in the first section of the second solution chart matches the sixth word in the first section of the

puzzle chart. The solution should read T-U-L-A. Obviously it is TULAPUR because PUR

means place and all the other words in that section has it in the end too.

The last section still remained unsolved. The next night Jay tried to find out anotherarrangement of the help chart but none of his efforts bore fr uit. Nothing is working, he

scratched his head furiously. Do you want to give it a try Mina? Mina seemed to play tick -

tack- toe in her mind for sometime. Okay, she finally broke silence. Why not move the

bottom numbers up and top numbers down this time ? Jay looked at her intently but said

nothing. Then he proceeded to draw the new charts and the moment it was done, he was


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dancing around their tent with Mina in tow. Other members of the circus thought they have

gone out of their minds. Here is what Jay came up with:

Help Chart (final)

14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13


Solution Chart (final)


7 T 13 M 2 O

15 L 12 L 6 S

6 U 19 S

26 A 9 I

1 A

Mina, you are a genius. Jay commented panting as he sat down after a while, totally drained

out. How could you think of that? The result now matches the two capital letters of the second

word in the third section of the puzzle chart. So, the puzzle completely solved. But I cou ldnt

have done that without your help. Mina just smiled.

20. Time to move on:

The a-siblings rested for a few nights after having broken the code. They looked at the final

solution in the notebook again another night. Simla is a city in Northern India, Jay lecturedMina without taking his eyes off the notebook. The modern name is Shimla. It is located

somewhere near the Western end of the great Himalayan Mountains. Tulapur is an ancient

village nearby Shimla. And that is where we need to go.


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Minas eyes grew big and round. How do you know all that, Elder? she asked in her soft

voice. Well, that was not too difficult. Jay replied looking up at her. While you were bus y

with your chores, I took time off and visited the city library. I found out all those by asking the

librarian. Elder, Mina still had questions . What about the other word, the last one? I do

not know what Orion Sirius has to do with the puzzle , Jay shrugged and shook his head. I

only know those are the names of a constellation and a star seen in the night sky. Nor could the

librarian say anything much different. Probably well know more of it when we get there.

The circus stayed in Jabalpur till the end of April 1998. The managers had decided to move to

another city after that date. Jay took that opportunity to humbly request them to release him

and his sister so that they could move on . The managers were taken aback at Jays decision to

quit the circus with only six months of training. But Jay smooth talked his way out again and,finally, they accepted his plea. Soon, the a-siblings hit the road again after bidding the circus

troupe goodbye.

They boarded another long-distance train and traveled to New Delhi, the capital city of India,

some 900 km towards North. The train left Jabalpur at 3:00 PM and arrived at New Delhi

station at about 6:00 AM next morning. Shimla was another 500 km further up North. Instead

of proceeding directly to Shimla from there, they decided to make a stopover on the way at the

modern city of Chandigarh the capital of the Northern Indian state of Punjab for a few

days. So they took a five and half hour bus journey to Chandigarh, some 250 km from New

Delhi, and checked in a cheap hotel there.

21. Sightseeing in a clean city:

The a-siblings got up early next morning and decided to see the three main attractions of the

city Sukhna Lake, Rose Garden and Rock Garden. They hired a three-wheeler cab to take

them to those places, one after the other. By noontime they had seen a beautiful man-made

lake and a very well maintained garden in which of various types of roses were grown.


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After having lunch at a restaurant, they went to see Rock Garden. It was built while the city of

Chandigarh was being built. Nek Chand Saini, a road inspector working in the project built it

in his spare time collecting rejected items from city waste.

The a-siblings walked along a single pathway winding through the entire garden. They saw

figures of humans, animals and birds (especially peacocks) made out of broken earthenware

pottery and discarded glass and ceramic household items cemented with pebbles and stone

chips standing in a curious but regular formation. There were several variations of these

together with displays of creative architecture like artificial streams, waterfalls and caves at

various locations along the pathway.

Though there were a number of visitors that day, they were spread thinly over the vast area ofthe garden and some of the exhibits, enclosed in walls, were deserted. Mina was awestruck at

what she saw and soon got separated from Jay in her eagerness to see everything to her

satisfaction. And before she was aware of it, she entered one such lonely spot.

Suddenly, Mina felt somebody tugging her roughly by the hand. She turned around and froze.

It was Daka. How fortunate its for me! He was grinning ear to ear as usual. Now I can take

my sweet revenge on Jay. Come along with me you beggar girl! Daka held both Minas hand s

in one of his while he took out a piece of cloth from his pocket to use it as a gag with the other.

Mina struggled to break loose but Daka was too strong. But she kept her cool and when he

brought his hand close to her mouth, she bit him with all her might. Daka let out a hoarse cry

and a torrent of expletives while his hold slackened. Mina then wrenched herself free and ran

like the wind.

22. Close encounters with danger:

Mina ran till she reached the enclosed exhibit at the very end of the pathway. It was also

deserted. Daka was no longer visible but, she knew, he could be coming in any moment. She

looked around and saw girls in colourful dresses standing in rows balancing an earthenware

pot each on their heads. She quickly picked up a discarded pot lying aside and lined up with


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the figures in the back row so that she wont be visible directly from the front. Daka came in

soon afterwards. But with the sun at the back of the figures, he was unable to spot Mina and

went elsewhere to search.

Trying out poses from the movies are you? A voice seemed to come from nowhere. Well, I

have to admit that I am really impressed. Mina was so startled that she almost let the pot fall.

Then she saw a man in his late teens jump down from his hiding place amongst the thick

leaves on the upper branches of a tree, growing somewhere near the corner of the enclosed

exhibition area.

It was soon clear to Mina that the young man was an employee of the garden and his job was

to keep a watch on the exhibits in order to guard against possible vandalism by the visitors.She briefly explained him her problem and begged him to escort her to the main entrance of

the garden so that she could wait for her brother over there.

The young man listened sympathetically but shook his head in the end. He said he could

neither leave his station nor ask someone to replace him as they were short of people. But, he

said, there was one way out she could take an underground passage leading right to the main

entrance. Normally, only the employees and workmen used the passage, he added.

The young man led Mina to a locked door near the tree. He unlocked and threw the door open

and Mina could see stairs going down into the darkness. It is dark down there and youll need

this, he told Mina, hand ing her a battery powered torch. Ill use my walkie -talkie to inform

the guard at the other end that you are coming. There is another locked door at the other end.

Bang on it when you reach there, he will open it for you. Well also have your brother page d

over the PA instructing him to come and meet you there.

Mina mustered all the courage she could and went down the stairs walking briskly along the

narrow passage below. It was totally dark and eerie the only light came from the torch in her

hand and the only sounds from her footsteps and the echoes. The ground below was jagged and


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uneven with pieces of stone chips jutting out here and there. After a while, her nerves gave

way and she started running down the passage.

Inevitably, she tripped on a piece of stone or something and came down on the ground with a

resounding thud. The torch flew out from her hand and switched off. While lying stunned in

the dark she slowly became aware of terrible a pain shooting up at the ankle. The pain quickly

grew in intensity to unbearable levels and she passed out.

23. The journey to be resumed:

When Mina opened her eyes, she found she was no longer lying amongst darkness on the hard,

painfully prickling ground. She was lying on a soft bed with a spotlessly clean white bed-sheet,instead. A soft glow of light was coming from somewhere at the back of her head. Her right

foot was suspended from a sling attached to the bedposts. There were bandages on many

places of her body the injured foot, the head, the knees and the right upper arm.

The door opened and a pleasant looking nurse entered the room. Awake already! Good. How

are you doing my dear? Mina replied she felt better and that the pain was almost gone and

then she asked about Jay. Your brother is waiting for you outside, the nurse spoke in an

assuring manner. You will be going back with your brother if the doctor says so.

The doctor did allow Mina to go back with Jay to the hotel that night as she had only sprained

her ankle badly but no bones were broken. She was given medicines and detailed instructions

on how to take care of herself. Jay hailed a cab and helped Mina get in and soon they were

back at their hotel room.

After Mina had recounted her ordeal, Jay told her that he rushed to the main entrance of the

garden once he heard the paging. But when she did not emerge after half an hour of waiting, he

and a guard went down the passage. They found her lying on the ground some distance away

and carried her out from there straight to the doctors min i hospital. Jay then made Mina


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promise never to stray away again, the way she did, with Daka tailing them, intent on taking

revenge.

The a-siblings had to extend their stay in Chandigarh for a few more days. Once Minas foot

healed sufficiently, they bade goodbye to the neat and clean city one fine morning and boarded

a bus bound for Kalka a town in the Northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It was only

about an hours journey and they reached Kalka at about 10:30 AM.

24. Up, up the mountains:

Located on the South-Western side of the great Himalayan mountain ranges, Shimla is some

2000 meters above the sea level while Kalka, the gateway to Shimla, lies on the plains. Buses ply between Kalka and Shimla at regular intervals by a two-lane highway winding up the

mountains. But the a-siblings wanted to make their journey a memorable one. So they chose to

take the railroad instead. Miniature trains about half the size of the normal ones in each

dimension connect Kalka and Shimla too but there are only a handful of those in a day.

The a-siblings boarded the 11.40 AM mini train and occupied window seats in the first

compartment. There were other passengers in their compartment but a few seats were left

empty too. As the train chugged off, both of them sat riveted to their seats, devouring the

breathtaking scenery outside with their eyes. The train wound its path around the densely

vegetated hills as it slowly gained in altitude. The last few compartments popped into their

view whenever the train executed a loop. It went over bridge after bridge and, sometimes,

through tunnels cutting across hills. The tunnel numbers, starting from 1, could be read from a

distance and Jay wondered what the number of the last tunnel would be.

The train halted at several stations on the way but very few passengers alighted or boarded the

train at any station. The a-siblings had their lunch at the Barog station. The train continued its

journey late into the afternoon as it arrived at Solan. Thereafter, the view down below looked

like a map of the landscape from the window. Finally, after more than 5 hours into the journey

and having passed through tunnel number 103, the train arrived at Shimla at around 5:00 PM.


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26. On the way to Tulapur:

Jay removed some of the vegetation growing on the fence to expose three rows of barbed

wires. He twisted them together to create a hole large enough for them to go through. Totally

disregarding the notice, he then gestured to Mina to go ahead first.

After crossing over to the other side of the fence, the a-siblings found no roads, not even tracks

on the slope. The sun felt warmer and they were warm from the walking too. So they took off

their jackets and stuffed those in their backpacks. Then they cautiously descended the

vegetation covered rocky slope, moving towards the valley.

After about an hours walk, they sat down to rest and to have some food and water they had brought along. Afterwards, they continued on their way and, before long, the outline of

Tulapur became visible and gradually clearer.

From there, they could make out Tulapur was a densely forested area spread over vast

distances on the flat valley. They could also spot a road going around the periphery. It took

them another hour to reach the road down below. They rested for a while and then took a

narrower branch of the main road leading towards the interior of the forest.

27. An unexpected reception at Tulapur!

After about a quarter of an hours walk, the a -siblings were startled by a loud, resounding

report. Jay took it to be the sound of thunder for a moment but dismissed the idea almost

immediately as he saw the birds in the trees flying off in fright. He wheeled around and saw

Daka standing some distance behind them holding a smoking revolver pointed upwards.

Come here both of you, he ordered. Right over here and now! He was no longer grinning

and had a murderously vile look on his face. The a-siblings complied without a word. Good,

A villainous smirk arose on his face. Jay, hand me over your precious notebook. Reluctantly,


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Jay unzipped his backpack, fished out the notebook and handed it over to Daka. Excellent!

barked Daka. Now stand against that tree, both of you.

As the a- siblings lined up against the tree facing Daka, he pointed the revolver at them. Its

high time to take revenge, the smirk was back on his face. Jay, you troubled me no end and

now youll pay for it with your life and the beggar girls too. I am sorry, you both are so

young, but I am left with no option. He took careful aim and gradually increased pressure on

the trigger. The a-siblings hugged each other in fright and waited for the inevitable to happen.

28. The border guards of Tulapur:

Suddenly, Daka cried out like a wounded animal. His knees bent forwards and his body backwards as he fell flat on his back with a thud. The gun and the notebook flew in different

directions and landed amongst the bushes. A skillfully thrown wooden staff had struck Daka

plumb on the back of his knees with considerable force.

Almost immediately, four tall well-built men, sporting beards and moustaches, appeared as if

from nowhere. Dressed in a single piece of cloth wrapped tightly around the body and armed

with a wooden staff each, they did not seem to belong to the known world. They pointed at a

stunned Daka on the ground and laughed amongst themselves.

While the men were busy attending to Daka, the a-siblings quickly retrieved the notebook and

the revolver. Jay opened the revolver, took out all the cartridges and cast them back into the

bushes. Then he hid both the items in his backpack.

Aided by the men, Daka soon came back to his senses and sat up with a dazed look on his face.

Why are you here? demanded one of the men who seemed to be in charge. There was no

answer from Daka. Why are you here? the man raised his voice as well as his staff

menacingly. I -I f- followed them, Daka stammered pointing at the a -siblings.


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The man beckoned the a-siblings over . Why are you here? He repeated his question. I and

my sister come in peace Sir, Jay answered confidently with a polite bow. We came to know

of this place from an old document written by our great-grandfather. Nearly a century ago, one

of your rulers had invited him or any of his descendants to visit Tulapur. My great-grandfather

could not come, so we are here.

The man stared at Jay for a while as if he was trying to decide whether to believe him or not.

Who is the greatest God on Earth? The man asked with his eyes narrowing. That reminded

Jay of the list of Gods in the third column of the Puzzle Chart. Suddenly it dawned upon him

what the man wanted to hear was actually the solution he has not used so far the password to

enter Tulapur. Orion Sirius, he answered promptly.

The mans frowning face broke into a smile, Welcome to Tulapur! he seemed to be cordial

enough. But you must appear before our King first. Then he asked, pointing at Daka, He

doesnt seem to be your friend, so why did he follow you ? Hes our enemy, Jay tried to be

brief. He tried to kill us just now. Yes we saw that, the man stoked his beard tho ughtfully.

Then, he too must come along.

29. Meeting the King of Tulapur:

King Ramir stared at the a-siblings from his half-a-storey high throne. It was difficult to

ascertain his age. But he certainly did not look old. Leader of the guards Panan apprised the

King of the purpose of their visit.

Yes, the King spoke in a deep, resonating voice. T hat was my great-grandfather. He

contacted a disease while visiting places in British India. Your great-grandfather cured him of

it. Then my great-grandfather invited him to visit Tulapur. Unfortunately, he was not able not

make it but I am glad that you have come. By the way, have you had a chance to learn the art

of herbal cure that your great- grandfather had mastered? Jay replied as far as he knew, none

of his descendants learnt the art from him.


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Daka was ushered in next. The King frowned he listened to Panan. But before he had finished

speaking, Daka went down on his knees and blurted out beseechingly, O Almighty King, I

just tried play a prank and frighten them, it was never my intention to shoot. In fact, I never

pulled the trigger! Believe me, O Ki ng of Kings, I swear by Lord Orion Sirius!

Alright, The King spoke after brooding for a while. I accept what you say for the time

being at least. You will have the permission to stay here, just as the kids will have. But, your

Highness! Jay was completely taken aback. This man is evil, he tried to ., he broke off as

the King raised his hand gesturing at him to stop. It is me and only me who passes a judgment

here, the King spoke in a stern voice. I have no evidence that this man has done an ything

wrong. Therefore, he goes free till I have reasons to decide otherwise.

30. Settling down in Tulapur:

The three visitors were given vacant huts to live in one for the a-siblings and the other for

Daka. For obvious reasons, the a-siblings chose to live quite some distance away from Daka s

hut. Amongst other necessary items, they were provided with locally made single-cloth dresses

worn by every man and woman in Tulapur. They happily changed into the new clothes, tightly

wrapping those around their bodies. If they felt chilly, they simply had to wrap another piece

of cloth around them.

Tulapur was actually a large jungle village with thousands of huts each one separated from

the other by at least 10 meters of jungle vegetation. Narrow pathways ran all around the village

connecting huts with wider main roads. The Kings mansion was the lar gest building in

Tulapur. It served as the Kings residence as well as his court.

After about a weeks stay in Tulapur, the a -siblings received summons to appear before King

Ramir. When they arrived at his mansion, they found him waiting all alone. Hello Jay and

Mina, he greeted them with a warm smile. I want to ask if you have settled down nicely and

is there anything you have not been provided with? Jay t hanked the King and replied that they

were enjoying their stay in Tulapur and all their needs have been taken care of. As the King


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appeared to be quite friendly that day, Jay asked him if he could tell them more about Tulapur.

Right then, the King seemed to be quite wil ling. Ill tell you about the history, culture and

religion of Tulapur now . Listen carefully!

31. History of Tulapur:

Tulapur is an ancient settlement established as far back as in 1000 BCE, the King spoke as

the a-siblings listened w ith rapt attention. What you see today is modern Tulapur, re -built

several times upon the ruins of the older settlements. We are star worshippers originating from

Egypt.

In the olden times, each person in Egypt was a star worshipper. Later, some of the Pharaohschanged the age-old practice and introduced worshipping of animal idols. Around that time the

Pharaohs also started the practice of having themselves mummified after death, in a bid to be

immortal.

Our ancestors, the elite priest class of Egypt, refused to accept the changes. They neither

worshipped any idol nor believed in preserving bodies after death. On the contrary, they

believed that a dead body should be destroyed so that the soul can be free to be reborn in a new

body.

As a result of th is difference in religious beliefs, the elite priests got into conflict with the

Pharaohs and finally left Egypt around 1200 BCE. They traveled across Jordan, Iraq, Iran and

Afghanistan to arrive in North-Western India. They met the Aryans, a group of nomads from

Europe who had migrated there about a few centuries ago.

The Egyptian priests found their ideology to be broadly compatible with that of the Aryans.

The Aryans did not worship idols. They worshipped the nature. They too believed in

destroying the body after death. So the priests decided to live with the Aryans for a while.


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But with the passage of time, Aryan Kings started taking non -Aryan brides from other parts

of India where idolatry was widespread. Aryan culture became adulterated and they too started

worshipping idols, in human form though. Conflict of ideology between the Aryans and the

Egyptian priest community caused the latter to be on the move again.

They journeyed further North till they arrived at Tulapur at around 1000 BCE. They decided

to settle down there, as the place seemed to suit their liking. Since then, we, the descendants of

the elite Egyptian priests, have been living here. This settlement was at the brink of extinction

many times because of weather calamities, famine, epidemic and so on. But we are a resilient

race and, so, we are still surviving.

32. Culture and Religion of Tulapur:

That was all about the history of Tulapur, the King paused for a while as he glanced at his

listeners, and found them absolutely dumbfoun ded. I have already told you that we are star

worshippers. We worship all stars and heavenly bodies including the Sun and the Moon. But

the Orion constellation and the Siruis binary star system are the most important to us. I dont

have time now to tell you all about the intricacies and secrets of our religious system, but dont

worry; you will learn everything in time.

Ever since our ancestors founded Tulapur, we have maintained all aspects of the beliefs and

practices of our society intact. Throughout the centuries, Tulapur was never invaded by a

foreign nation. During the ancient Indian rule, the Muslim rule and the British rule, we were

independent. Even now, the Government of India does not disturb us. This might have been so

partially because of the remoteness of our location and partially because we are viewed as

bunch of petty aborigines by the world outside.

However, we do not take any attempts by the people outside to disturb us lightly. Our

premises are protected by an army of fighters hiding amongst every bush and every tree in the

jungles surrounding us. Any trespassers would have their motives assessed and would be


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appropriately dealt with. But we are kind people. If they do not have bad intentions, we let

them be a part of our society. As o f now, whoever came into Tulapur, never went back again.

33. Life for the a-siblings at Tulapur:

The a-siblings soon came to know that money in the form of notes or coins were not in use in

Tulapur. One had to produce something or help out in something in exchange of what one

needed. They offered to help a farmer family in harvesting and threshing in exchange of some

wheat they grew.

The farmer had a son named Yaman who was about Jays age . He led the a-siblings to the

cultivation grounds one morning to get them started on the work. The cultivation grounds werelocated on the outskirts of Tulapur. They had to take several pathways though the jungles and

finally a road to get there.

When they reached their destination, the a-siblings were captivated at the sight of a large patch

of land full of ready-to-be-harvested wheat crop. The golden-brown ears of wheat, bent under

their weight, swayed to and fro in the gentle morning breeze. Just beyond the crops, a fast-

flowing stream gurgled away. The stream seemed to emerge from somewhere between the

several mountainous peaks that encircled Tulapur. Other crops, belonging to other farmers,

were being grown in adjacent patches of land along the stream.

Yaman had brought two other women and a mule-driven cart with him. Soon, the five of them

busied themselves harvesting the grain. By noon they had completed harvesting about a quarter

of the crop. Thereafter they took a bath in the stream and some food they had brought along.

They resumed work by threshing the harvested gains in the afternoon and by the end of the day

brought back the grains home in the mule-cart.

On the second day, Jay brought along Dakas revolver and threw it into the waters of the

flowing steam so that it would never be used again. The job was completed on the fourth day.

The a-siblings received a generous share of the grains as payment. They kept some of the gains


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to prepare bread and traded the rest with another farmer for vegetables. In the course of the

work, Yaman became a friend. They talked about many things while playing together.

34. Secrets of Tulapur:

After a few months of their stay, the a-siblings noticed a few unusual features in the Tulapur

society. It seemed to be far behind in time, yet beneficial to everybody. Each inhabitant had to

do something useful to earn his or her livelihood. This system was balanced so well that the

notion of being rich and poor was almost non-existent.

But what puzzled the a-siblings most was the structure of a Tulapur family. It consisted of just

the parents and no more than two children. They could not find a single elderly person. Whenthey asked Yaman he replied, In Tulapur, there would not be anybody living beyond a certain

age and each parent would have no more than a boy and a girl.

Look about you, Yaman said observing the puzzling look on the a -siblings faces. Four

mountain peaks guard the four sides of Tulapur. Those are not ordinary mountains. Having

spacious chambers inside, those are actually pyramids serving as the cornerstones of our

religion and society. The one on the East is for birth, the one on the West for death, the one on

the South for sustenance and the one on the North is for worship, cosmic observation and

communication.

I learnt from our priest Hamra that our ancestors i n Egypt had a cluster of three pyramids built

for them using stones. One was for worship, another for sustenance and the third for cosmic

observation and communication. When they came to Tulapur, they found this naturally made

cluster of four pyramids and chose to settle down there. They had to get the constructions

inside done for them, of course.

Now, Yaman spoke in a quieter tone, Ill tell you the secrets of the pyramids. Actually, all

these are common knowledge amongst residents of Tulapur. Before marriage, every girl is

made to stay overnight inside the pyramid of birth. Invisible rays from the top of the pyramid


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35. Hamra explains:

When Yaman brought the a- siblings to Hamras hut, he received them hospitably and agreed to

enlighten them with the secret of Orion Sirius. Long, long time ago the land of Egypt was

ruled b y gods, Hamra began in style. That is a t ime much before the Pharohs came in. The

first pair of gods was Osiris and his wife Isis.

Egypt was a prosperous and peaceful country during their rule. But that did not continue for

long. Osiris had a wicked brother Seth who wanted to be the ruler himself. In an opportune

moment, Seth murdered Osiris and threw his body into the Nile after cutting it into pieces.

Osiris had no children by that time. His wife Isis recovered his body parts and put them

together. Using a spell that she knew, she revived Osiris for a few days only. But that wasenough for her to have a son by him. This son, Horus, eventually avenged his Fathers murder

by killing Seth and, thereby, restoring peace in Egypt.

Osiris was reborn in the constellation Orion and has been living th ere ever since as its ruler.

The constellation can be seen clearly in the Egypts night sky and its outline resembles Osiris

in hunting gear as if he is keeping a watch over the land. Isis was reborn and is living in the

binary star system Sirius located very ne ar the right foot of Orions outline . And rightly so; as

she is very fond of her husband.

You will note that neither Osiris nor Isis was mummified after death, and so, could be reborn

somewhere else. Our ancestors worshipped Osiris and Isis when they were in Egypt. Now, we

worship Orion and Sirius as they represent Osiris and Isis in visible form. And I hope that

answers your question. You also know now why do we not preserve our bodies after death.

36. The a-siblings summoned again:

Six months passed and in came November 1998. The weather grew colder in Tulapur. Around

the middle of the month, the a-siblings received another summon from King Ramir. Jay took

that opportunity to ask the King politely if they could return home. Being away from home for


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The environment of Rohama is very similar to that of Earth and another race of humans inhabit

the planet. They are friendly to us and we had known them since ancient times. But I cant get

Tumas to come here, as he is so busy. So I need you to go to Rohama and find him, get him to

make incense candles for me and bring those over so that I can be cured of my disease in the

pyramid of sustenance here.

Wed be glad to help, Jays attentive face broke into a smile. But there seems to be a

problem. How are we going to travel to Rohama in the first place? Oh! That is not a

problem, The King dismissed Jays doubt with just one wave of his hand. Of cours e, you

wont be able t o go there all by yourself. Ill get somebody to escort you there. Now here is a

description of the symptoms of my disease .

37. The a-siblings prepare for a visit to Rohama:

In the afternoon of the appointed day in November 1998 , the Kings men escorted the a -

siblings to the pyramid of worship. As they approached it, they were amazed by the sight of

the enormous mountain towering in front. The entrance of the mountain-pyramid was equally

huge. The guards positioned there let them in without a word.

When their eyes got adjusted to the semi-darkness inside, the a-siblings realized that they were

standing inside a semi-circular dome of enormous proportions. A gigantic cylindrical structure,

several meters in diameter, rose from the ground at the center of the dome and passed right

through its center at the top. Altars were set up on the ground all along the circular periphery of

the dome. All the light in the dome came from fire torches and small ceremonial fires on the

altars each of which was attended by at least one priest.

A priest and a priestess came forward and made the a-siblings perform several rituals to

worship Orion Sirius and various other stars and constellations. The rituals continued till late

evening after which they got a break.


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glimpse of the chamber going down with the priest. A metal sheet moved in and covered the

hole through which the chamber went down.

Jay realized they were now inside the spaceship that would take them to Rohama and it had

just landed on summit of the pyramid of worship. When they reached the end of the corridor,

they turned right to enter a large circular room. The room had wide windows made of

transparent material almost all around so that one can have a nearly 360-degree view of the

outside. There was a control panel with many buttons and dials bordering the windows for

nearly three quarters of a circle.

A man was standing in front of the control panel and staring at the night sky through the

windows with his back towards them. The a-siblings froze in their tracks and waited. After awhile, the man turned around and faced them. He had larger than usual, elongated, deep-set

eyes, a sharper nose, a strange reddish-pink complexion and absolutely no facial hair. But his

dress was of the same type as theirs. Apart from the differences in features, he looked just like

any other young man from Tulapur.

39. Journey to Rohama begins:

Hello, I am Ratam, the young man spoke in a cheerful voice. Glad to meet you. I am a

native of Rohama and hav e come to take you there. Gla d to meet you too. The a -siblings

returned Ratams greetings. How long will it take to get there? Jay asked. This spaceship is

nuclear fuel powered, explained Ratam. Once in the s pace, it can move close to the speed of

light. Rohama is about 4.4 light years away. So, normally, it would take at least 4.4 years to

reach there.

But there are tunnels in space through which we can reach there in about a weeks time.

These tunnels are not visible, even with a powerful telescope. But I know how to find tho se.

Then it is not all that bad, remarked Jay. But well still get bored. No, you wont, Ratam

assured them. Ill see to that for sure. Now, let me show you your cabins.


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After spending some time in their individual cabins equipped with a bed, a dressing table, a

reading table and toilet each, the a-siblings came back to the control room. They found Ratam

busy adjusting the controls for take off. Now, off we go! Ratam spoke excitedly when he

was done. Hold on to these handrails here, or you may be thrown off!

Ratam then pressed a button and the spacecraft started to vibrate. The vibration quickly

changed into a sound that kept on increasing in pitch and the craft gradually lifted off the

mountain pyramid of worship. It hovered mid-air for some time, rotating slowly about its axis.

As Ratam pressed some other buttons, it stopped rotating and then climbed almost vertically

up the night sky. The high pitched sound gradually became less in intensity and inaudible after

a while.

Looking out though the transparent panels Jay could make out, in the dim light outside, that the

craft was shaped like a cone with a concave side. Several equal-spaced flat sail-like projections

came out at right angles from all around the sides. We are still in the Earths atmosphere,

Ratam informed the a- siblings. When we go into space, it will be very unpleasant for you as

you have never been there. Nor have you traveled at such high speeds before. Ill have you go

into an induced sleep lasting for a week in your cabins . Dont worry; you will be artificially

fed during that time so that you remain healthy. Ill wake you up when we have reached

Rohamas atmosphere and you will neither feel a thing nor get bored.

40. Ratam prepares the a-siblings for arrival at Rohama:

Ratam took the a-siblings on a brief tour of the spacecraft and, afterwards, to their respective

cabins. He had them lie down on their beds and attached several probes from some instruments

to their heads and other parts of their bodies. After adjusting some settings on the instruments,

he turned those on. In a few minutes, the a-siblings were sleeping soundly. Ratam then closed

the cabin doors and went back to the control room.

Later, Ratam woke the a-siblings up and took them to the control room. Looking outside, they

felt it was early morning. The spacecraft was hovering far above the clouds while rotating


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slowly. Havent we left Earth? asked Jay. Yes we did, a week ago, Ratam replied smiling.

We are now in the atmosphere of Rohama. But before we descend further, I need to give you

some information about this planet, its people and how you can start searching for Tumas.

It is about midnight now at Rohm. Yet, there is plenty of light outside. You dont see this on

Earth because it receives light from only one Sun. But Rohama does so from two Suns. Alpha

Centauri is actually a triple-star system having two big stars A and B and one tiny star C.

Rohama orbits B the smaller of the two big stars.

Just as it happens on Earth, day and night are caus ed by rotation of Rohama about its axis. As

it is close to B and far away from A, Rohama receives light mostly from B during the day and

mostly from A during night. Note that Rohama has no moon of its own. Nights in Rohama arevery bright many times brighter than full-moon nights on Earth. This lasts for half a year

when Rohama is between A and B. During the other half of the year, Rohama moves to the

other side of B and the nights are rather dark like nights on Earth. The star C is only visible

as a tiny speck in the night sky from Rohama.

The distance of Rohama from star B is about the same as the distance of Venus from Sun.

The duration of a day on Rohama is almost the same as that on Earth but a year on Rohama is

about 240 days only. Rohama is a small planet, its diameter being only about half of that of

Earth. But its atmosphere, natural and geographical characteristics are very much Earth-like.

People in Rohama are a highly segregated lot. They belong either to the upper class or to the

lower class. The people in the upper class are very bright people. They are technologically very

advanced and are in control of all the important affairs of the planet. This spacecraft is just one

example of their capability.

The lower class people are mostly farmers, producing food for the upper class people. Some

of them also provide various services for the upper class. The farmers here live in the forested

areas of the planet where there are rivers and streams and a lot of light and rainfall. The upper

clas s people live in areas where there is little vegetation and only artificial construction.


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But why people on Earth, except those in Tulapur, know nothing about Rohama? Jay asked

when Ratam paused for a while . Rohama is not visible at all from earth, eve n with a powerful

telescope, Replied Ratam. It happens so because the planet is blotted out by the combined

brightness of the stars A and B which is many times more than that of your Sun.

We have been in touch with the people in Tulapur since ancient times when their ancestors,

the priest class, lived in Egypt. The ancestors of todays upper class built the pyramids in

Egypt for them. When they migrated to Tulapur, the then upper class built the mountain

pyramids for them there. Tulapurs cultural and religious practices are modeled on those in

Rohama except that all their peop le belong to the lower class.

Which class do you belong Ratam? Jay asked again. I belong to the lower class for sure andTumas too, answered Ratam. I have been trained by t he upper class to operate this

spacecraft. And that is the job I do for them. They sent me to fetch you here at the request of

King Ramir of Tulapur. Do people of Rohama have a King? Mina asked . Yes, of course,

Ratam replied . He hails from the upper class, as you can well imagine.

Ratam then handed the a-siblings two card-like objects fitted with lanyards for hanging from

the neck. Wear this when you want to converse with the Rohaman people, he instructed.

These are language translators. When you speak in your language, it will be translated

instantaneously to Rohaman language. When you speak, you will hear your own voice but the

listener will only hear the translated version. Any one person, either the listener or the speaker

need to have it. I cannot speak your language but I am managing to converse with you because

of this, he bared his chest a bit to show one of those hanging from his neck. We use these

when we need to speak to people of Tulapur either face to face or via the cosmic

communica tor.

Ill introduce you to one of my friends here. He is the leader of o ne of several tribes living in

the largest forested areas of Rohama. He can tell you how to find Tumas since Tumas

frequents the forests in search of herbs. Now go to your cabins an d get ready, well be landing

in a short while.


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41. On Rohama finally!

When the a-siblings came back to the control room carrying their backpacks, they found the

spacecraft descending steadily with Ratam busy at the controls. Soon, they could see a huge

forested area down below and the craft kept descending towards that. When they went further

down, they could see the trees clearly. While Mina was wondering whether they were going to

land on tree-tops, a clear piece of grassy land came into view.

The high-pitched sound became audible again and while the pitch kept on reducing, the

skillfully navigated craft settled down gradually and gracefully on the grassy patch with the

pointed ends of its leg-like extensions digging firmly into the ground. The force of air

emanating from the craft caused it to be engulfed in a cloud of dust while nearby bushes andshrubs got flattened to the ground. The sound gradually changed into a vibration before

stopping altogether.

Welcome to Rohama! Ratam greeted the a -siblings while adjusting the controls to open the

sliding door at the bottom of the craft. Have a look outside. The level of the control room

was actually above the tree-tops. When the dust outside had settled, an absolutely amazing

sight through the windows had the a-siblings totally dumbstruck. All above the horizon, the

pale blue sky and the white clouds were smeared with patches of red. A bright red Sun was

rising while a comparatively paler, reddish-yellow Moon was setting on opposite side of the

horizon. Below the horizon there seemed to be an endless expanse of dense foliage all around.

The Sun you see is the star B which we call Sama in our native tongue, Ratam explained.

The Moon -like object is the star A and we call it Jama. The star C or Irama is only visible in

the darkest of night skies.

The three of them then left the control room and entered an elevator chamber that brought

them down to the ground through the sliding door. You wont find the landscape and

environment here much different, Ratam explained while opening the door of the elevator

chamber. But you can move about much easily and rapidly here as the gravitational force in


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Rohama is only about half of that in Earth. For the same reason, carrying heavy items is twice

as easy here.

42. A trek trough Rohaman jungles:

Having set their feet on Rohaman soil, the a-siblings found the air to be cool and sweet

smelling. They immediately realized they could move quite fast without much effort and

practiced moving about in the new environment. Meanwhile Ratam had the elevator chamber

retracted inside the craft and then the sliding door closed using a remote control. The three of

them then followed a track leading into the jungles.

They walked, setting up a brisk pace. In the dim light that filtered down through the foliage,the a-siblings took a good look at the surroundings. The jungles were not very dense, so they

did not have to force their way through. The big trees were not very tall too, just of medium

height. But they could not recognize any of the trees or plants. They were all of unknown

species. The air was heavy with aroma from the flowers and ripe fruits.

You dont have to carry food while traveling through these jungles, Ratam went on

explaining . The jungle air is full of nutrients and that provides a good amount of nourishment

without actually having to eat. You wont feel hungry very often. In case you do, you have

plenty of fruits at your disposal.

The trees, as the a-siblings observed, were homes for birds and primates while deer-like

animals roamed around on the ground. The birds and animals were of unknown species too and

seemed to have little fear for humans. We do not harm our animals, Ratam continued. Like

our animals, we at Rohama are vegetarians. Human and animals native to Rohama have short

lifespans and limited birthrates due to their genetic make-up. That keeps our population under

control. There are no predators here, not even snakes.


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The Pyramids of Rohama

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