Part 31

Part 31

“Sonny..?” Sayajirao peeped in to find Ravi engrossed reading something holding his laptop. The movie X-men running on the screen with full volume.

“Dad..” Ravi looked up. His Dad gave him a puzzled look. Sayajirao turned.

Dad!” Ravi called out. His dad looked back. “Do you know anything about mutants?” he asked.

“What?” Dad looked confused. “What is it sonny? Mutant?” he was surprised.

“Yes Dad!” Ravi got up. Sayajirao came into the room. “You mean Marval Comics?” he had a smile on his face.

“No Dad! Real mutants..!” he said and Sayajirao looked at the movie running...!

“Sonny.. come out of Cartoons and fictions...!” he ruffled his hair. Ravi jerked away.

“I am serious, Dad! I want to know more about Mutants!” he said looking at his dad. Sayajirao gazed piercingly. Ravi looked at his dad.

“I think I saw a mutant, Dad!” he said looking aghast. “Mutants are cartoon characters...!” Sayajirao looked at his 21 year old boy. He still was a boy, though his body was full grown, he still had a kid's mind in his big body. He didn't know what to talk to his big boy. He simply gaped. Since his return from India, Ravi looked lost and very serious. He hardly talked to his father and locked himself up in his room. Sayajirao tried to talk to him in vain. “Dad, please...! I am busy...” he would say.

“Must be some animal...!” he murmured. “No dad! It wasn't an animal...A human being..!” he said looking up from his laptop. “I must find out...!”

“Humm... I don't know, sonny! But ...” his father said sighing. “Are you talking about subnormal abilities?” he asked his son. “Super natural, Dad!” Ravi got up.

“We have a book...” Sayajirao couldn't complete. Ravi flaunted the book and said “Yeah I read it but what I saw and experienced was ….I don't know where to classify … I mean I had read about it.... but Dad... I actually experienced it...!” Ravi was delirious. “Ho..Ho.. !” Sayajirao grinned. But Ravi was serious.

“Dad! I swear... I saw a Mutant...” he said holding his father's hand. “Its alright, sonny! If you want to read about supernatural powers, read on buddhists monks... with their supernatural powers...!” he said seriously. We have some books on Buddhism in our library..” Ravi dashed to the library and Sayajirao came out switching off the LCD display. Next few days, Ravi burried himself in the library reading about Mutants....!

He still looked confused and lost. “What was that he had seen and experienced..?” He couldn't tell. He didn't want to talk about it. He just wanted to know more....

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“So its going to be a break of three days from our trekk to catch up with the work ..!” they had reached Kanker and stationed themselves in heritage hotel. Ravi had withdrawn. He was busy with documentation working with Dr. Ghosh. Others were busy having a tour of the town. Dhatri had never left Dr. Nixon. She had helped in whatever way she could. Soumya had mellowed down and subdued. She remained to herself and busied herself with sampling and documenting. They were to dispatch the packets to the headquarters, i.e. Vidhsha. The three days passed in a jiffy and they were again ready for their trekk.

“We are not moving on the tourists paths to Gadiya mountain.. we will be taking the jungle route from down south...” said one of the forest ranger. “Please be careful and stick to your group...” he warned and everyone nodded. The crag and the valley played their role in horrifying the group.

“One can find some natural and some Buddhist caves in this granite rich mountains...” one of them assumed the duty of a tour guide.

“Do you want to visit the natural Fort?” he asked and all except Ravi and Dhatri nodded in excitement.

“I have visited.... “ Dhatri had no interest in visiting the ruins. Ravi too was not interested and said “No!” without assigning any reason.

“There is a cave down there...” Dhatri said and next moment Ravi and Dhatri changed their route descending into the valley to reach upto the cave. One of the guards followed them hurriedly.

Ravi gaped at the horrifying looks of the cave. The stalactites and stalagmites made it look like a fierce jaw....

They both climbed the crag to reach trying to outrun each other. The guard followed huffing and panting. Ravi had reached and was trying to enter the cave.

“No.. no stop...!” yelled the guard when Dhatri too reached and was making her way inside between the sharp stalactites and stalagmites formed by the dripping water. The guard caught up with them.

“Careful... don't shout in the cave the stalactites might slight you in two...!” he warned them. They both nodded making their way through sharp tooth like formation at the mouth of the cave. The water was still dripping making the cave cooler and damp and smelly. They both entered the cave and looked around, a few bats fluttered out. The insides were creepy, spooky, full of the stalactites and stalactites with clearing in between where the water deposits were making them slip and shiver. “humm calcium carbonate...” Ravi muttered, Dhatri had already picked up one sharp conical mineral. Ravi gazed at her.

“My find!” she hurriedly stuffed it into her bag before he could lay his hands on it. He smirked and showed her another smaller sharp cone crystallized completely. Her eyes widened. She had a stone cone and he had a crystal cone reflecting the light.

“Careful..” The guard warned from outside. He had no interest in getting into that dark damp cave. “The tank above overflows and the stream flows from the top and jumps into the valley during monsoon...!” he informed and Ravi came out of the cave. Dhatri still was inside searching for another crystallized cone.

“What is she doing inside...?” Ravi wondered and went inside after waiting for her for more than fifteen minutes.

Dhatri searched desperately for the crystal. He proved to be smarter than her. She moved weeding through the stalagmites and saving her head ducking. Something big struck her.

 “Baby... we got to spend the night here... those bad men are out everywhere....!” her good boy was telling her climbing the crag to reach the cave. She was crying... “Don't cry... We will go to shivji's mandir..” he said and entered the cave with the engulfing nightfall. She wailed in fright. He was holding her protectively. “Don't worry.. we are safe here...” he said laying her on his laps covering her with the worn out blanket. She shivered. “Look... “ he showed her the crystal Shivling shining and emitting the setting sun rays....!”

“This is Shiv ji!” he showed her the glowing smooth stone ...and she smiled. “He will save us?” she looked at good boy hopefully. He nodded.

“Tomorrow morning we will go out from the other side....” he said and she slept peacefully on his laps. Bright light had woken her up. He carried her into the darkness again moving to the other side.. “See? We are at the other side of the rock...” he had shown her.

Dhatri was wandering deep inside the cave forgetting that she was with the group.

“Hey! Where are you?” his voice reverberated and Dhatri stopped in her tracks. She realized where she was.

“In here!” she said and he echo located her in the darkness. “Let us go!” he looked at her silhouetted figure.

“We can go to the other side of the rock...!” she said in a hypnotic condition. He grew curious. “How?” he asked. She moved ahead, he followed. The darkness engulfed.

“Wait!” he whispered and lit the torch. She was moving into the darkness not bothering.

“Dhatri.. wait!” he called her little loudly and she turned. “Are you sure, this goes to the other side?” he asked skeptically. “Yes..!” she was confident, never wanting to stop for anything... she knew the secret route. She had known it since she was a child.

“Shit! Dhatri wait...!” Ravi held her hand to stop her. “What?” she turned. “That guard...” he said gripping her wrist.

“I will wait here... you go and get him...!” she said. “What? No way...” he argued. “Let us go together..” he pulled her with him. They again weeded back to find the guard panic and searching them frantically.

“Where were you two? We need to hurry back..!” he turned to go out.

“Hey .. wait...!” Ravi held his hand. “We can go to the other side through this cave...!” he said looking at Dhatri. She nodded vigorously.

“What?” the guard was shocked. “Yes...I know..!” Dhatri said. “No way...! I have visited this several times... there is no route to the other side...!” he said pulling them towards him.

“There is.... its like a tunnel...” She said wrenching herself free...

“Look! I have a powerful torch... let us explore...!” Ravi was excited. The guard calculated....!

Look.. only for half an hour. If we do not find the other end, we are turning back. We have to descend the crag before nightfall” he said warning them. Dhatri nodded.

The cave grew narrower. Dhatri had to move on their knees with the help of their hands. “Are you sure?” the guard asked whimpering. “Yes!” Dhatri whispered. 

“You have to crawl baby...!” she heard her good boy saying. She had mounted herself on his back and was riding him like her horse. 

Smile appeared on her face. She had seen the light. The cave became narrower. She flushed her body to the ground and crawled... The other two ensued. Soon they too saw the light and increased their speed.

“See?” she looked back victoriously coming out of that small hole and standing on the little clearing between the crag. They all saw the entrance of the Gadiya Fort.. !

“Let us go...!” the guard led the way through the crag and clearing....! Ravi thought of cease fire with Dhatri.

“Man …. she knows!” he looked at her with unsure admiration...! Dhatri was not looking at him. She was pointing at their group at the foothill of Gadiya mountain, looking up at the trio. 

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NOTE : Thank you for appreciating the pictures... Here are few more of the real caves with stalactite and stalagmites.... with jungle of Bastar and Kanker...!  Click on My page for the pics...

KF