part0043

The village council meeting had been held. All the elders were sitting under the peepal tree while the folks were sitting on the ground. Kalki noticed this was the biggest number of people at a meeting. To the heavens, he would never be a part of these boring meetings, but Sarpanch Devadatta had issued a mandatory attendance regarding it, for it was a matter of life and death.

It was a surprise for Kalki when he had reached Devadatta’s hut and found he was rushing for the meeting.

“I need you for a moment. We have something important to tell you…” Kalki had begun, flanked by his two companions, Lakshmi and Arjan, who stood behind him, equally dumbfounded.

“All of it can wait, boy, we have pressing issues to address right now.” Devadatta had shrugged.

Kalki now stood among the many in the crowd, while Arjan stood next to him. Sumati was on Kalki’s side, clutching onto her saree. Kalki scanned the other folks of the village in the crowd. There was Roshan Mitra and his parents. There was Lyla Sarvesh and her twin brothers, Agastya and Andhaka. There was Sagar and his sister Maya. Many of his age, many who Kalki had grown up with, stood like solid figures waiting for the momentous news to be revealed.

“I wonder what it could be,” Arjan spoke quietly.

“Not more important than an army of Tribals ransacking our loving village.”

Kalki shot Lakshmi a glance. “I thought you hated Shambala. What was it you had said? Godforsaken village?” He smiled.

Lakshmi frowned, her face contorting in disgust. “Well, clearly I didn’t mean it. I love Shambala even though it gets on my nerves sometimes.”

“If you both can stop quarrelling, the meeting is about to…”

“Shush, Arjan!” Sumati’s tone furiously.

Arjan just looked at her in surprise. He wasn’t even talking. Kalki chuckled during the serious situation and Lakshmi couldn’t help her smile at the moment.

“What in the heavens are you laughing about? Where is your parrot?” Arjan’s nostrils flared in indignation.

Devadatta, standing up on the pedestal, began his speech, while he held a scroll wrapped with a royal insignia. “Hello there, everyone. Namastey. Before I begin with what is written in this scroll, I would like to tell you that the last few days have been difficult for us and for this village as we lost an important member of our society—Vishnuyath Hari. It was with great admiration that we all joined hands to protect our own. And even though we were able to give them punishment for what they deserved, we were unable to save Vishnu. It was a great loss for us and we mourn with his family in this moment of grief.” Everyone bowed with a sign of respect at Kalki and his mother.

Kalki hadn’t expected this and it hurt to realise how many lives his father had touched. But it also startled him how Devadatta took all the appreciation of the rescue mission for Vishnu, when it was Kalki who had instigated them into action.

“We all had joined to save a brother and today I have called everyone to do the same. This scroll came from Indragarh, the office of Lord Kali, the Commander of Indragarh, who has sent a notice to welcome them in our village but at a grave cost. They want to excavate our temple—the resting place of Lord Indra, Indravan.”

“Excavate?” Everyone gasped at the word.

Kalki knew that meant basically destroying the entire place to get the Soma stones for themselves. But how did the outsiders know about the significance behind it? Kalki looked over, searching for Kripa and found him, leaning with a mug of sura in his hand as he had a dire face as well.

“If we do not support it, we will be termed as ‘rebellious’ and will be attacked,” he read the letter out. It gave people shivers down their spines the mere thought of Tribals ransacking their village. “Any support and love will be rewarded greatly.”

Someone from the crowd said, “I don’t understand. It is our temple. What are they coming to excavate?”

“Perhaps the Soma Stones.”

“Are they even real?” someone else cried. “Has anyone seen them?”

“Yes, many have,” Devadatta said. “But no one dared to touch them for they were sacred. They were supposed to be admired from far and worshipped, as they were the last remnants of Lord Indra.” He paused. “The laws written by our ancestors were clear—those who touched the caves would be met by severe punishment.” And yet Vishnuyath broke all those laws of the village and went inside the cave, for the love and safety of his wife, to save her from pain. “Unfortunately the earthquake led to our temple’s destruction, even though its essence had not vanished. It was still there.”

Everyone was silent.

“I am in great confusion. I do not know what to do. As an elder, it’s my duty to protect the traditions of our village, but at the cost of destroying it?”

No one knew the answer to it. The only place in the entire village which unified the entire community would be gone. Kalki knew this could mean the rise of Adharm, for if the Somas were out in public, perhaps in the hands of the evil Tribals, things would really go out of hand. If he could prevent it from happening, he wouldn’t have to leave Shambala and it would be over. No more the Age of Adharm, no more Dark Age.

Kalki raised his voice. “I have something to say.” The silence had been broken.

With the elders, Devadatta just watched Kalki, astonished. Kalki wondered what thoughts crowded in the old man’s thick brain. But Devadatta simply nodded.

Kalki stepped up. Life had changed so much that he was the speaker now, no more the listener. “Sarpanch ji says it’s our traditions that we need to protect and he’s right. Shambala is a small village, but the most revered for the reason that our traditions are what makes us great. We are not warriors, but we are people who are ready to fight till we die for this place. I would never stand aside while what we pray to is getting destroyed just because we are afraid of a battle. I would rather fight. Now, many would be afraid of this, and they should be, but together, as a unified force, we can stop the band of armies. If we show our will, we can do wonders.”

Some of them nodded, some didn’t.

“How will we stop them without weapons?” Roshan Mitra was the one to ask. His parents were shocked at the question he asked, perhaps thinking of him as having fallen for the words of Kalki.

Kalki didn’t have a good enough reason. He looked at Lakshmi, who just tilted her head down in embarrassment.

“We have a little bit.”

“That would be all right for the Mlecchas,” Lyla Sarvesh interrupted. She was a strongly built female unlike her brothers. “But not for the army from the royal city.”

“Might I add something?” a squeaky voice came from the crowd.

Kalki lowered his brows at the sight of Kripa. “Lass, we can make weapons if we have to. We are in the middle of a jungle with such varieties of trees.”

“Who are you?” Agastya, brother of Lyla, asked.

“Yeah, who are you?” Andhaka repeated.

“Call me Kripa, okay?”

Kalki smiled. Kripa Acharya was getting defensive.

“But Shambalans aren’t warriors, beta,” another village elder prompted. Devadatta seemed to agree, but he didn’t show it verbally. “We are peacemakers. Our ancestors were peacemakers and our progeny will be peacemakers too.”

“Frankly, we don’t live in a time of peace.” Kalki’s eyes blazed, as he spit venom with his words, targeting all those who backed away from the reality of this situation. “What our ancestors did shouldn’t really matter, but what we do is what history will write about us.” He looked at Kripa. “Say what you say, but at least he has an idea. We need heroes and innovators. Not cowards.” He glanced at Devadatta.

And then Kalki took the stand without letting the elders speak again. “I don’t know what the village elders plan to do, but I will be recruiting for this with the help of my friends. And we will be ready, so I plead with the elders, reject this scroll, tell them we are rebellious and let them come. All those who volunteer for my cause can meet me at my place at noon to discuss the arrangements. Let’s prove we aren’t just any village they can bully.”