episode 5
PPD and the Guest were snuggly tucked into the Beetle train's bright pink pods. The Guest greedily lapped up some water from a straw. She was parched. So much time travel and no food or drink! She didn't trust the food in all these places, you know, possibly laden with Enterotoxic E coli and the like! Pretty much like the sev puri in one of the city's she had lived in, called Mumbai, which has landed her dear friend Aditya in the ICU! PPD had eaten everywhere, road side stalls in Aligarh, half cooked meats in Darfur, shwarmas in Srinagar, well let's just say, he had a iron lining on his stomach. His lower gut was another story, irritable and grouchy, which often made him repent his inherent gastronomic curiousity and bravado.
They flew through orbitals of different atoms, some of them with 18 electrons, some with 10. The ones with more electrons always looked prettier, like Christmas lights on Oxford Street! "2n squared," said PPD, reading her mind. The Guest gave him a competitive glance through slit eyes. She thought he was a hopeless #flex at times! "Flexing nerdiness is worse than a gym selfie," she remarked caustically.
"Gym selfie? I have never been to a gym. This body is 100 percent natural," he said, running his hands through his hair, his eyes twinkling.
The Guest laughed loudly, startling the passenger next to her.
"I'm so sorry," she apologised to the rotund lady sitting next to her.
"Where you people are headed?" asked the black haired girl.
"Where ever the next stop lies!" said the Guest.
"I'm Mata," said the girl. "Mata Hari."
"I'm Aai, and this is my friend OB," gestured the Guest, pointing to PPD.
"Nice outfit!" complimented PPD.
"Thanks," said Mata Hari, adjusting her anklets and necklaces that criss crossed randomly over her body like the electrical wires at Sopore station.
The Guest was making strange expressions at PPD with her eyes, making her already large eyes even larger, trying to send him silent messages. PPD shrugged his shoulders. This girl was always onto something. She and her crazy ideas! Why on earth did he fall for them, every single time!!
The train halted in a quiet spot. "Can I join?" asked Mata Hari in stilted English.
"Sure, sure," said the Guest enthusiastically. She loved collecting a motley crew. PPD sighed. He now had not only one crazy girl, but two, to escort around on bizarre adventures. A Bard, a frozen embryo, now what next??
The Guest jumped over a mound of sand while the other two hastily followed her. The other side of the mound revealed an entire ancient city nestled in the valley, nestled amongst a mountain range in one side, and a gushing, pounding river on the other.
The houses were meticulously arranged, orderly lines separated them, with open spaces where fields of rice and maize interspersed with slightly taller buildings, broke the monotony of the ochre brick structures.
"Where are we?" asked Mata.
"I think it's maybe, an ancient civilization," said the Guest.
PPD knelt down and picked up a tiny tablet he spotted peeping out of the mud. They peered closely.
On close scrutiny they found a strange creature with multiple arms and several motifs.
"Maybe this is the local celebrity?" asked Mata, quizzically.
"Like Brad Pitt in ancient times?" laughed the Guest.
"Or maybe he's a god, or a leader, or something else? He looks a bit like Rajnikant!" offered PPD. "Lets go find out!"
They walked to the city, and saw the inhabitants roaming around with light cotton sheets draped loosely around their bodies. The women wore their hair up in braids, with iron broaches in their plaits.
The Guest and PPD looked down at themselves. Yes!! They too wore the same ancient garb. Mata Hari had lost all her jewels, and was dressed as simply as the other locals! "Shhh!!" said Mata, "let's make ourselves scarce."
"We have nothing to hide," said the Guest, moving towards the market place, to mingle with the locals.
The shops were teeming with customers bartering maize, rice and vegetables with one other. "I don't think they have any money!" whispered Mata to PPD.
"I think they are using other trade tokens, to keep the trade fair!" replied PPD to her.
The Guest removed the pin from her hair, and offered it to a lady standing at the front of a looming square entrance.
"Hey what are you doing D?" asked PPD frantically.
"Making a fair trade!" said the Guest. "I think we are in the Indus Valley Civilization!" she said excitedly. "I remember seeing pictures of this in History of India: an ICSE comprehensive text book."
"Now whose a flexing nerd!" observed PPD.
The almond skinned lady studied the metal pin with agate embellishments, nodded and let them in. They entered a sprawling bath, where people lounged on either side chatting with one another, some people venturing down the steps into the water, dipping their toes in creating ripples in the still, sparkling water.
The Guest took a lung full of air, it was so fresh, so pure, so perfect! She noticed Mata Hari flirting and laughing with a man with a large headgear. She gestured with a nod of her head in their direction.
PPD smiled. "Trust Mata Hari to get straight to work!"
"Is she trying to seduce the Chief?" asked the Guest incredulously. "You know how she is!" said PPD. "Complex, beautiful, incredibly brave."
The Guest and PPD sat back and soaked in the pace of life in this gorgeous ancient city. They heard musicians singing in an unknown tongue, they saw people chatting and trading, laughing and crying. It seemed remarkable that despite being so advanced with their limited mechanisation, they were still so simple and mindful of the rules and order in which they existed.
"Hey, I've got some fresh information," whispered Mata, suddenly appearing to the right of PPD.
"Yes?" enquired PPD.
"I heard there might be some invaders coming from the North, who might trouble this gorgeous city. You know, the Chief said they might be very babaric and crude!"
"How does he know this?" asked the Guest.
"He has informers in the north. who send messages tied to the feet of ravens."
"I heard something else, from that man in the corner," said PPD.
"What?" they asked in unison.
"They said there is a change that the Indus river might flood and everyone will be wiped out!"
"That's rubbish,",said Mata. "I believe the Chief more!"
Just then they heard a rumble coming from the distance. "Did you feel that?" Asked the Guest.
"I thought I felt the ground shake!" said PPD. They looked around and saw everyone looking stricken. The rumble seemed to grow louder and the trio felt the ground below their feet tremble.
"It's an earthquake!"said PPD.
"Run!" He grabbed the Guest and Mata Hari's hands and they ran as fast as their legs could go. Mata Hari was as lithe as a gazelle, while the Guest huffed and puffed next to them!
The last thing they saw while they boarded with train was the large dome of the central structure begin to cave in, while the civilization was under siege of the natural disaster.
The Guest looked sadly, while Mata Hari clucked her tongue.
"This is awful!" lamented the Guest. "Not as bad as getting shot between the eyes!" said Mata. "Or kissing a German soldier! They have the worst breath, they stink of frankfurters!"
-----------to be continued.