“Imagine a time in the future, when all the things that you see today, all the people you have ever known or heard of, all the places that you frequently visit today… becomes “history”, or to be worse-“mythology”. People digging up your graves to recover signs of your once existence on this planet. The never ending conflict between mythology, faith, belief and unparalleled scientific explorations and research. “
9,000 A.D
“And India shall rise to every challenge and emerge victorious for the centuries to come.”- The prologue of the book read. I could only manage a half-hearted smirk, as I brushed the dust of it. There were other belongings scattered all over the place. It seemed Mr. X was quite fond of reading with most of the stuffs unearthed being bound papyrus writings, historians call them novels and used extensively by the mass before e-paper took over thousands of years ago.
I was especially drawn towards a framed picture of Gandhi- one of those mythological characters from the epic-India’s Struggle written by Mr. Y in the early 55th century. Some extremists still believe him to have lived somewhere in ancient Gujarat of India, centuries before the Arabian Sea swallowed it down. Perhaps Mr. X was a devotee of Lord Gandhi.
Working as a senior scientist and explorer in the International Archeology Department for the past 25 years, has taught me that even a single grain of fossil uncovered has the potential to reveal a long history of events.
I still remember in 8985, how the recovery of a glass bottle with the historic word Kingfisher, written on it from the pacific floor, led to the discovery of the entire Caribbean Islands hundreds of feet under the sea level. As an archeologist, you tend to develop a third eye having a vision even better than the older two.
I looked at the picture once again, it was blur, but the strange circular thing he wore around his eyes, the bushy moustaches and bald head were enough to confirm that it was none other than Lord Gandhi’s portrait.
I carefully unhooked the frame at its back. It was hard to believe that even thousands of years ago people used to frame their Gods like we are into doing these days. Being agnostic throughout my life, it was impossible for me to accept the logic that it’s actually religious and spiritual to cage one’s conviction into a picture frame, spend his life chanting hymns around it and expecting everything to turn in his favor without caring to move even a single muscle.
As I opened the frame, a piece of papyrus popped out of its back and dropped down on the floor. It seemed liked a hand-written note. My curiosity was mounting up. It was very difficult to figure out what it read. But it was surely handwritten, as I could see the ink stains on the papyrus. It was signed by the person who wrote it. But without making it pass through the Plutonium Fossil Treatment Tests, it was impossible to read the name. May be it was written by Mr. X himself. I stacked the piece of papyrus in the VIFO (vital fossil) section as it would make a key evidence for the legitimacy and authenticity of the person who wrote it, Mr. X possibly.
“Jai Hind, saab ji.” My pilot greeted me as I mounted on the back of my Flying Machine. A true patriot with shades of spiritualistic tendencies, he was actually the head preacher at the Gandhi Prayer Station which is named after the Mahatma. His service at the prayer station gave him divine harmony, but was not enough to satisfy his belly cries. So he got himself a fly-cab license to make some extra earning. But he looked more jaded than usual that day.
“hello Ram!, how was your day?” I asked him.
“Saab ji, you better not ask this question.” Ram replied, attaching a deep sigh to the end of it.
“Why? What’s the matter?” I asked, shifting my load to the right as our cab took off.
“You remember I told you about that mob attacking our prayer station last week. They warned us again, not to continue with our rituals. And this time they threatened to do something nastier than just stoning the temple. They are planning to rob the 3000 year old golden statute of Lord Gandhi.”
TO BE CONTONUED… AFTER MIDSEMS. :p
