Episode 18
"It's just 15'. But, there is a condition. The condition is that you can't run. You have to walk your normal steps. That means you have to take around 15 steps. If you walk quickly you can complete the things in less than 5 seconds. Ain't that easy?" Again, there was a hint of exuberance in the Joker's voice.
Archana tried to visualize the situation, and she didn't utter a single word. So, the Joker continued,
"So, only 5 second of pain. I assure you it's nothing. You can do it without any trouble."
Archana remained silent. The Joker continued,
"The sensation of pain is nothing but a malfunction of your brain. If you control your brain, you can defeat it."
"I don't get it." Archana blurted.
"Okay, I will explain in simpler terms. You have nerves in your body. They send various kind of sensations when your skin touches something. For example, when you touch an ice cube, your nerves send a signal to your brain. Your brain is trained in such a manner that it interprets it is very cold. This interpretation is completely man made. You are trained from your early childhood that this sensation was cold and it was bad. So, you immediately withdraw your hand from the ice cube. But suppose, if you were trained that this sensation was good, you wouldn't have removed your hand. Similarly, you have to think that the sensation of burning is good. You can even think that it's even heavenly.
Haven't you read the Ramayana? Haven't you read about Sita's "Agnipariksha"? You are a devout Hindu. I am sure you have read about that, and you believe that. Don't You?"
The Joker asked Archana, and it appeared that he would not take no for an answer. As a matter of fact, Archana was a firm believer, and she believed every word written in the Ramayana. So, she nodded her head affirmatively.
"Good", the Joker seemed to have been pleased with the answer. He continued,
"So, how do you think how Sita could overcome the sense of pain? Do you think it was some kind of blessings from the God? No it was not. She had trained her mind in such a way that she could control her brain, or should I say how to interpret the sensation of so-called pain? She could programme her brain in such a way that pain was interpreted in a positive way. That was the one and only one secret behind her success to pass the Agnipariksha."
Archana was awestruck. She had never thought in this way. No doubt, she thought many times about the Agnipariksha. How could a living person stay inside fire without being burnt into ashes was the question that came to her mind several times. But, Archana knew Sita was not an ordinary woman. Her extraordinary piety gave her extraordinary powers.
The flow of thought traversing in Archana's mind was cut short, as the lady standing beside the Joker piped up,
"There was no extraordinary power in Sita except for the fact that she trained her mind to overcome pain. She was in the fire for only 5 seconds. She was standing on a platform, but the people didn't see that. Within 5 seconds, the platform was pulled down, and she landed in the safe underground room. But, the people thought that she had vanished inside the earth."
"So, they are reading my mind again! How come?" Though this question occurred in her mind, she put it aside, as the situation was to grave to ponder over that issue.
"So, what have I to do?" She asked the most important question for her survival. The Joker seemed to have been content with Archana's reaction. He calmly said,
"You don't have the luxury of training your mind like Sita, as you have to appear at the test right now. All I can do for your help is to tell you the thumb rule of winning pain for this test. Think something else when you walk on the singeing coal. Your untrained nerves will disturb you enormously, but you have to turn a deaf ear to them. Can you do It? Please remember you have no other option but to pass the test. Otherwise, you know what? Ha Ha!" This time the Joker's words sounded really cruel.
As soon as the Joker signalled, 4 masked men came down from the lift with a big drum. Very quickly, they put down singeing coals on the raised ceramic platform. Everything happened so quickly that Archana didn't find much time to compose herself.
"2 minutes! You have only 2 minutes to start the job. Your time starts now." The Joker announced sternly.
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"Sixteen days have passed, and you are saying you couldn't trace him. What are you doing?" Suresh fumed at the officer in the local police station.
"Sir, we are trying our best. We have alerted all the states. The moment some positive inputs arrive, we shall act swiftly." The young, handsome policeman wrung his hands as he explained. Suresh was a very successful businessman who was known to have a lot of hobnobbing with influential politicians in the state. Rajan was his college friend. He was awaiting Rajan's arrival in India. They had a big plan to start a joint venture. When he knew about Rajan's abduction, he became mad in rage. He left no stones unturned to find Rajan. Both Rajan and Archana's families totally depended on Suresh to find the two missing persons.
"What are reports from the airports?"
"Sir, we have received inputs from both airports and railway stations across the country. Neither Rajan nor Archana could be seen to go anywhere. I am sure Sir, the kidnapper had taken them by car."
"Hmm! What do you think where could they have kept them for so long?"
"That's the million dollar question Sir. We are having inputs from our sources. So, far no one could throw any light on this mystery."
The next episode will be published on Saturday night 9PM IST
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