Episode 37
"Two more years! Oh dear! You want two more years? What pious works have you done to seek two more years?
You must have heard the name of Rajiv Gandhi, the youngest, handsome prime minister of India. He was only 47, when I visited him. He was extremely reluctant to come with me. He said that he had lots of dreams to make his country developed. He even shared the dreams with me. I must say that they were indeed great dreams. But, you know what? The timing of every life or death is predestined by Lord Vishnu? So, I was helpless."
Having said that, Yama applied full force on her throat. Just when Archana decided to surrender to her fate, miraculously, she heard the voice of her daughter, Vaishu. She was bawling,
"Mom, wake up. Please wake up. I have an asthma attack. Please bring me the inhaler."
Vaishu had suffered from asthma up to 12 years of age. Sometimes, her suffering was unbearable.
Archana quickly got back to her senses. It didn't take her much time to assess the miserable situation she was in. She looked at her closed fist. There was the giant key. She didn't lose it during the fall.
The door was around 5 feet away from her. There was only 20 seconds left. This time she didn't try to even stand on her feet. Like a reptile, she crawled towards the door. She stopped breathing, as she didn't want to take the poisonous gas any more. She knew that she could afford to do that for 20 seconds.
She didn't know how she did it, as the oxygen level in her body had dipped significantly and her heart rate fell below 60. Perhaps, it was her animal instinct that saved her! She opened the door, dragged herself out, and lost her consciousness.
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At night, Rajan went back to two and half decades back in his IIT campus. Mr Satpathy was concluding his class. He said,
"So, boys! The examinations are just a fortnight away. Work hard. Remember no pain no gain! Unless you shed your tear, sweat and blood, you can't do well."
Raman, who was Rajan's best friend, pushed him mildly, and in a hushed tone said,
"Is this guy bloodthirsty? Why does he say these things again and again?"
Rajan laughed rather loudly, and Mr Satpathy heard that.
"May I know the cause of your laughter, Rajan?"
Rajan was a good boy, so Mr Satpathy could not be harsh. Rajan was confounded. He was not a natural liar, who could conjure up a story at the drop of a hat. So, he was fumbling. But, Raman was man enough to shoulder the responsibility. He stood up and said,
"Sir, I said something which made him laugh."
"And what was that?"
"Don't mind Sir, I understand the shedding of sweat and tear. But, why do we have to shed blood?" As a wouldbe-engineer Raman was clever enough to sway things according to his own convenience.
"Oh, that was it? I must say, that's not a bad question. You know what? God loves sacrifices. When you shed blood, the God is pleased, and he fullfils your wish. So, this is rather metaphorical."
The ego of Mr Satpathy seemed to have been satisfied. But, today Raman seemed to be in a very jocular mood. Unsatisfied with the answer, he asked,
"But Sir, if someone takes the proverb literally, how can he shed his blood? Should he cut his forearm, or should he bang his head on the wall until blood comes out?"
Clearly, there was a tone of jest in his voice. There was an outburst of laughter in the class, and that had upset Mr Satpathy to such an extent that he thumped his table forcefully, and in a thunderous voice said,
"I will show you rascal."
No body at that time could guess what he was trying to do. He darted off towards the door and vanished in a moment. The students looked towards each other in disbelief. They had never seen the strict but friendly professor doing this kind of bizarre act. Rajan looked towards Raman agape. The jocular mood in Raman had vanished in thin air. He seemed to be extremely worried.
Raman was going to say something. But before he could say something, Professor Satpathy entered the class hurriedly. Everybody was surprised to the core to observe that there was a shiny dagger, around 8" long, in his hand.
Without giving any time to anyone, he jumped towards Raman like a prowling tiger. He tried to grab Raman's hand. But, apprehending something untowardly, Raman had already moved away from him. He missed him. But, he was not disappointed. He grabbed Rajan's hand, and in a sarcastic voice said,
"You are the one who laughed. Ain't it? So, you will help me to show the demo of how to shed blood."
Rajan was wanted to flee, but he was surprised to see that Mr Satpathy possessed the power of a gorilla. Without wasting any more time, he shoved the sharp dagger in Rajan's belly.
Rajan got up from bed hastily. He was breathing heavily. His heart was pounding hard. Even in the comfort of 24°C maintained by the central ac, he was sweating. Why had he seen this bizarre dream?
Only the initial part of the dream was true. It was indeed Mr Satpathy used to say the abovementioned proverb often. But, the latter part was completely fictional. Suddenly, Ranjan recalled what Ranjan said him in the morning. He reminded him of what Mr Satpathy used to tell his students. Was there any coded message for him?
Rajan clearly understood that Ranjan was duty bound not to open his mouth. But as his ego of taking revenge on Rajan was satisfied, he wanted to help him. So, he must have said something in coded language.
Now, everything was getting clear to Rajan. He understood that the 4th test would require some kind of blood shed on his part. Rajan tried to compose his veering mind.
To be continued on Monday night
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