◀ Prev
The night was cold, and there were unfamiliar noises everywhere. Sacchit felt something bizarre touching his leg! He woke up with a jolt! Rats! And,... water! Where was he? The place looked damp. He was sleeping on a jagged slab of stone! Then he stared. A gun! A big frigging assault rifle! There were more of them scattered here and there! A satchel, some mechanical-looking parts, and a strange, strange thing!
Sacchit picked it up and immediately shrank back. It was an eye! It looked almost normal! It looked straight at him! He dropped the eye and it rolled for some time until stopping at someone's feet!
“Sacchit!”
Sacchit looked up. What is she?
“Sacchit!” a voice called out. “Sacchit!”
Sacchit woke up with a start! He saw Bhrigu! Someone else was also there dressed up. It was Keishing anxiously looking up!
It was a dream!
“Come on! We’ve to go!”
“Where?” Sacchit was still trying to figure out where he was. The last time he remembered he was in the jungle, and Keishing was carrying him on his shoulders!
“They’re almost here!” Keishing said.
“Who? What?”
“You tell me! First drones. Now armed men! Lucky that Bhrigu was alert and saw them coming, from a long way off! Wonder how!”
Sacchit tried to get up. He was feeling better.
The old lady came inside carrying some bananas. Was there time for breakfast? Sacchit was doubtful.
“Don’t leave anything!” she said.
Keishing thanked her.
As they were leaving, the lady said. “Please take care of him.” She pointed her finger straight at Bhrigu.
They left the regular trail and made their way through the bushes.
Sacchit saw some drones zeroing in on where they just left.
“The one that came before had almost caught up with us,” Bhrigu said in a voice very still.
“Did it see us in the hut?”
“I made sure that it didn’t”.
"I hope he knows where he’s leading us!" Sacchit pointed at their companion.
They walked for quite some time. Sometimes uphill, sometimes downhill. They avoided open areas, valleys, and clearings. They were lush green and seemed almost untouched by the presence of humans. In some places, the mountains were simply crushed and reduced into stones. Relics of old wooden structures were now consumed by nature.
Keishing talked about this family and how they had been a group of wandering workmen. His forefathers came from the Kashi region to their east. They used to be called ‘Vilum’.
‘Hill men,’ Bhrigu explained to Sacchit.
Many groups would roam and live in temporary shelters they made with their own hands, Keishing continued to reminisce a past he had heard often. Somehow his grandfather had flourished economically and he wanted to settle down. But the others in the group stayed away. They said that his grandfather had exchanged his soul with the Devil for his prosperity!
“Devil?” Bhrigu asked.
“You don’t believe?”
Bhrigu did not answer.
“My grandfather was shunned. Then one day the Devil struck!”
The entire group was decimated! His mother had died that day.
Keishing paused. “My grandfather escaped with my father and me. They say a Goddess saved them.”
“Goddess?”
“She came straight walking through the fire!”
Sacchit knew that the local myths could be modified with many people’s perceptions. But a fresh myth! This seemed intriguing!
“So then my grandfather and my father came and settled in Jaintia”.
“What killed the others?” Bhrigu asked.
Some of the remaining groups had supposedly returned after a week to find out what had happened. They found nothing!
“No bodies, no houses…. except…”.
Bhrigu looked up.
“...patches of burnt soil. And after a month….,” even Sacchit’s interest was piqued.
“You won't believe it! There was an entire jungle in that place!
Sacchit laughed!
“You do not believe me?” Keishing is defiant!
“I want to believe it. It is possible. But here? And so many years back!”.He wondered.
“You know who our Goddess is?”
“Jayanteshwari,” Bhrigu answered.
“She is, but our clan worships Her!” He showed directly at his face.
They did not understand.
“What happened to your face?”
“Nobody talks about it! I feel I have had it since the time I was born. Maybe I was born with this.”
“Then why did you show your face when you talked about your Goddess?”
“Because they say that I was saved by her and in return she gave me these marks”
It was time for food. They were beside a small stream. Small hills covered both sides. Keishing took out a knife from his sack and tied it to a broken branch. He then put his feet inside the stream to hunt fish.
Soon they found themselves savouring half-raw, half cooked fish, garnished with some herbs. Sacchit just hoped that the wind of the stream would dissipate the smoke of the fire they had lit to prepare food. There was a sudden mechanical noise. Sacchit was alert. Bhrigu took out a bottle of water from his back.
“Nothing to worry about.” He calmly said.
“How far is your home from here?” Sacchit asked.
“Just on the other side of this hill.” Keishing said, “We should get rid of any left-behinds. Bhrigu helped Keishing clean up the area. He managed to peek inside Keishing’s satchel. Below the bread, he found a bunch of sealed batteries.
They started walking. The path was less treacherous. Keishing offered Sacchit a lift on his shoulders but Sacchit politely refused. Keishing continued talking. Bhrigu realized that Keishing was trying to keep up the mood of Sacchit.
“How many people are there in your village?”
“10-15 families. Some of the earlier groups joined us later.”
“What about schools?”
“No schools. No hospitals.”
What kind of life is that? Bhrigu wondered.
“Do not worry, we have God with us!”
“Jayanteshwari, is Goddess Durga, isn’t she? What about the othe….?
Keishing started telling a story.
At the beginning of creation, Ramew who we also call Mother Earth, and her husband Basa felt lonely in an empty world. So Mother Earth prayed to God to give her children. God blessed her with children. The Sun. The Moon, Fire, Wind, and Water. But stil,l she was not happy. God asked, what happened?
Ramew said, that even though the contribution of her children is essential to nurturing Earth, she still felt that the gardens of the Earth are empty and she felt that she needed someone to nurture them. So God sent seven clans from heaven to the earth with their duty to take care of the earth. They were called Ki Hynniewtrep – ‘The people of Seven Huts’, the early ancestors.
They were free to roam between heaven and earth. God had planted an Oak Tree that would be the bridge. They were to stay virtuous and follow the guidelines, “Know Man, know God, and earn Righteousness,” or else it would be their downfall. God warned!
The seven clans led a prosperous and happy life in the plain land of Ri Hynniewtrep, early Meghalaya.
But soon they forgot about the guidelines and succumbed to earthly temptations. God became angry and The Oak Tree grew taller and bigger, till the time it covered the entire earth.
The seven clans decided to cut it down. They took out their axes and cut the tree’s trunk. It took an entire day. They went back home in the evening thinking they would finish the work the next day. But to their surprise in the morning, they found that the tree was unharmed. Baffled they again cut a part of the tree’s trunk and went back to rest in the evening. The next morning, the tree was unharmed! This continued for many times.
Then a little bird told them that there was a tiger that came in the night and licked the wounds of the tree. The bird suggested they leave their axes hinged to the trunk with the blades facing outward.
The clans agreed and followed the bird’s instructions. The next day they found blood on the blades and the tree was how they had left it the previous day, half cut. With joy, they cut down the entire tree. The branches fell in what we now call Bangladesh and it became a land of green vegetation. While the trunk thumped on Ri Hynniewtrep and gave rise to the mountains of Meghalaya.
The bridge was gone and God severed all relations with the clans. The clans were now stranded on earth!
Bhrigu was listening with a mesmerized look on his face. His internet readings didn’t tell the story in such detail.
“Not bad though, I would say,” Keishing finished. “We have reached.”
Inside the lush green vegetation was a circle, there were few huts. Cows rested in shades. Children were playing and trying to catch hens. Men and women were working in the farms, A few were cooking in a single big oven. A woman saw them and got up. She started walking towards them
“Home,” Keishing said.
Next ▶
Co-written with @DC