Nainital, Kausani town Uttarakhand. Year - 1980
In the forest of Kausani, some kids were looking for their friend.
" Rohit,,,,,,,,,,,,Where are you! "
There were three boys and four girls, looking for their friend.
" Rohit! Come back home, your mom is waiting for you!. "
" Rohit,,,,,,,,, come back. "
" Maybe we should go back!" Said a fat boy little timidly
" Shut up Raj, if you are not interested in finding him, don't interrupt us in finding him. "
" Come on Nisha, that idiot is trouble itself, he probably got eaten by a wolf or something." a boy beside Raj said. And she gave him a glare.
" Rohit,,,,, come on. " She yelled again, this time a little frustrated.
" We shouldn't have come this deep. " said another girl timidly.
" Maybe we should call, uncle ranger. "
" Yeah! And tell him how we came here through the fence. '' Said another girl.
" And who's idea was it? " Nisha said glaring at everyone.
And inside the forest, just a little further for them, a boy with glasses around fifteen or sixteen was walking through the forest alone, a light torch in his hand, praying to the Gods to help him.
" Where am I? " He said to himself, his voice low and a little frightened.
" Nisha, Monty, Tina." He called his friends.
" Maa told me that alone children in the forest got bitten by the werewolves. I don't wanna get bitten by werewolves" He was mumbling to himself when his foot slipped, he fell into a small ditch, and got his head and knees injured. He saw it,and it was bleeding. Tears started to appear in his eyes, and he started to cry like a kid, his flashlight got little away from him, he fixed his glasses, and wiped his tears. And grabbed his fallen flashlight , and when he picked it up, it was off. He tried turning it on, but took a little time in starting, showing that it's old and needs some batteries.
He straightened up, still crying a bit, not like a boy his age should.
He looked at his bloodied hand , and said those magical words that his mother used before. And he said in his childish voice .
" Pain, Mr pain, go away. Pain Mr pain go away! chuh. " And nothing happens.
" Ma's magic always worked before, what happened? " He asked. Then he heard something move in the forest. And he points his torch in it.
" Who's there, don't come close, I have a magical torch, it'll scare you. '' Said the little boy who was not that little. And he heard a grunt voice. And he went there, hesitatingly. And when he reached there, his torch started to flicker. And he looked at it, and hit it on his hand. But nothing happened, and it went off. And the only source of light was the moon lite, and that weird yellow light coming from inside the forest. He went close to it, and saw a man, no it wasn't a man, he was in color blue, and his head bald, his eyes were too big for a human, and in top of his head, was a shell like structure, and it was gold in color, and it was glowing a yellow glow, matching the color of his suit, which yellow.
" Are you ok Mr?" Rohit asked, seeing the blue man on the ground, breathing heavily. And he turned his eyes toward him. Rohit saw that his stomach was bleeding red, and a wooden splinter had passed his stomach. Seeing this, he went close to home without any hesitation, and looked at it.
" Mr blue, your stomach is bleeding like my head, what's happened to you?" He asked, grabbing his hand, which has six human-like fingers.
The alien looked at him, and then at his stomach.
And he said in a hoarse and heavy voice.
" Crashed,,,, heeear. " And Rohit didn't understand that.
" Don't worry Mr blue, I know a magic that my mother teached me."
And he did the same as he tried to do to himself.
" Mr pain, go away." And the alien looked at him with a smile.
" Nice,,,,,, magiiic." He said in that same raspy and hoarse voice.
And the alien took his hand away from him, and said.
" I'm,,,, misson,,,,, save,,,, them. " And Rohit looked confused.
" I don't understand, what's a mission? "Asked Rohit not understanding the word mission.
And the alien looked at him, and roamed his hand over his bleeding head. And the alien's golden shell of a head starts to glow.
And Rohit's head started to glow as well, and he closed his eyes. And his wound starts to heal.
Forty two years later. Nepal, Himalaya's mountain range - 2022 .
A lone figure was sitting on the edge of a cliff, looking at the soon to be rising sun below, his turquoise eyes sharp, his shoulder length hair waving in the cold breeze. The sun slowly starts to rise. The sunrays hit his eyes and then his face. He closed his eyes for a bit. And felt the warmth that sunlight brings.
The man was feeling the warmth of the sun, his tall body standing there like a mountain itself. He was relaxing when a sudden call of his name brought him back to reality. Someone was calling for him. His name echoed in the mountain.
His name.
" Krishna. " And he replied in that same loud voice.
" I'll come dadi ." And his call echoed as well. He looked back, at the village far from here, and the sunlight was yet to reach that part of the mountains. He looked at the sun, and then at the city, and gave the sun a grin.
" Wanna race? " He asked the sun. And he felt the sun glow a bit.
" It's on. " He got in a running position, and placed his feet on the ground, and with a push, the snow on the top crumbled. And then, like the falling sunshine, he moved . And left behind a cloud of dust and snow.
He was running so fast that his surroundings were blurred to him. And the only thing that was visible by him was the sunlight that he was trying to outrun.
He jumped over the small river that was flowing , went down the snowy mountain, ran in forests like a leopard, and jumped from the steeped cliffs above. Slowly he started to come close to the sunshine, and soon he was winning. And from the corner of his eyes he spotted something. And when he looked in the direction, he saw a small passenger plane flying over. And because of that, loses his control, and falls first on grass, rolling over.
He rolled three or four times, and then stopped at a distance, and made some grass fly over the ground.
He signs for his luck, and stands up, looking at the now glowing town, which was very close now.
He dusted himself and looked behind.
" You won again. But this time it was totally luck, if that airplane hadn't got my attention, you wouldn't have won.'' Said Krishna now completely out of dust, though he was still complaining, and then sighs and looks at the village ahead.
He was a handsome and masculine man, that any woman will blush over, he wore a normal pista color shirt without buttons, which shows and matching loose pants.
He was dusting the last dust when he turned and saw a small boy in kashmiri clothes looking at him, arms crossed. And Krishna liked expecting him to ask.
" What did you see? " And the small boy, who forgot to wear his pants replied.
" Nothing like always, heard nothing like always, saw nothing like always. But I want something like always. "
" You are becoming a greedy chintu. " said Krishna.
" Not at all, I'm just filling my stomach. " And he presented him with some Berry chocolates.
" What's this, this third time in a week, when you race the sun, and almost win, I'll need something more. "
" Something more. Granny was right, children are demons. Let's go home, I'll give bournvita. "
" Bournvita? What's that? "
" You wanna be strong like me?" asked Krishna.
" Of course. "
" So you need to drink bournvita. '' Said Krishna, and they both headed toward Krishna's house .
The house was a small two story house, made of wood and stones, with an open backyard with some stone chairs and a fireplace.
When Krishna enters the home, he announces his presence, and tells her granny that he is here.
He went to kitchen, and took out the bournvita box and tossed it in the air like a juggler, and then rolled a glass on the table, then took out the milk bottle in other hand, and kept on juggling things and open the milk bottle pouring it on the glass and adding some bournvita. He was making another glass, when the little boy chintu came in the house, and ruining all this, he come by jumping and make krishna lose concentration, and drops a stil glass, and makes the noise of dishes falling, and the boy bites his tongue and puts his hand on his head , a sign that you are screwed, and so does he!
The granny came out from that backyard, a leaf sweeping broom in hand, not for beating them, she was cleaning the leaves outside.
" Wh-what happened krishna, did something fall. " She asked in worry. And Krishna put all the blame on Chintu, execrating thing like a like swindler, and Chintu who after hearing all that said.
" Ohh yeah my fault, you are the one juggling the glass like a gymnast. " And then he started to state all of Krishna's miracles doing the same as Krishna did. But his was more imaginative and mostly true.
How he tries to outrun the sunlight many time how he fell face first on the ground more than ten no hundred, and how he once jump over from a cliff to dive in the river, how he was chasing wolves in the night, and how he tries to catch the air planes, and how he looks at the people from the air plane daily. And more specially one time when he tried to fly and fall from the mountain, he thought he was a goner .
And after all that, Krishna told him to get lost from his house and not to show his face here again. Not in a threatening manner. And the dadi grabbed krishna by his ear, and the little boy saw the tall man scorming under the grip of dadi .
" Why you! What did I tell you about wolves and mountains ? And what about you being a goner? You don't want your Dadi (grandmother) to live? Don't you! Don't you remember what I said back then! " And he let out a painful whale like a child which was real.
" Ahh! That doesn't go ahh! Near the wolf, they'll eat me, Ahh ! And the mountains will ahh! Dadi, please spare me!" And she tightened her grip.
" Yeh! The mountains where ghosts and werewolves live ." He said in a hurry and dadi after hearing that loosen her grip, and sat him free. And Krishna rubbed his ear in pain. And just as he was about to ask something, she once again grabbed his ear and asked again, this time his habit of looking at the airplanes and trying to catch them?
" Dadi…..nooo! " He said a little bit of frustration in it, and she saw that.
" What did you say?" She said, holding his ear tighter.
" Dadi… " he said, twisting his whole body , and when she saw his condition she let him go and he stood up rubbing his ear, his eyes reluctance and downcast.
" Nothing. I was just playing, there was no one to play with." And his looked up.
" Everyone I know of my age went to the city for work or anything. Children's parents don't let me play with them, and chintu. Chintu even didn't know how to read. /"
" I can read." Said Chintu from the doors.
" You didn't go yet? " Said Krishna, glaring at him. And he his under his glare, but didn't go.
" So tell me dadi, with whom I play. I had nothing to do. I wanted to go to the city, but you didn't let me. I wanted to work at the airport department, you don't let me do that . Don't go on mountains, don't go to the city, don't go there, don't go where. Where will I go? I'm stuck in this small town with nothing. All of my friends have phones, all the tourists have a phone, and I don't have one. You always said you'll give me one. When I grow up, I'm almost touching the ceiling. How much do I need to grow more dadi ? "
" Are you talking back to me? " She tries to yell but he stops her by showing her broom. Krishna immediately takes a step back, but once again stands up, his eyes a little firm.
" Tell me dadi, why can't I go to the city? Why can't I leave the town? " asked krishna. More like yelling.
" You have grown so much that now you are asking questions to your dadi." And she looked sad. And Krishna, seeing this, walked away from there. And the old granny tried to stop him by calling his name, but he didn't listen, and disappeared into the forests.
Krishna was sitting on a rock tearing some pedals of a flower and grumpy mood. Talking about how unfair his life is.
" You know you said too much to dadi. " And he throws the flower on his face.
" It's all your fault, you're useless, if you had not seen me today nothing would have happened. "said krishna.
" It's not my fault that you are chasing the sun again. No one can win against the sun. " Said the little boy Chintu.
" Because of you I couldn't even have breakfast. Dadi makes momos, you know how well that tastes, now who's gonna eat that? Werewolves ? "He yelled at the boy.
" Well I can. " And he throws another flower at his face.
" Well, if you keep throwing flowers at me, I'm not gonna tell you the super news I just got. " And he turned back. And Krishna immediately looked at him.
" What news Chintu? " He asked.
" Nothing, I'm useless, what can I know? " Said in Chintu in a mick fashion. And Krishna tries to convince him.
" Hay, dear Chintu. " And he turned more.
" Hey dear genius Chintu, what's that brilliant news? Can you please tell me ? " He said, trying to sound nice.
" Okaaay! If you are asking that much I'll tell you. "
And they both walked down Market Street. Krishna was walking on the road and Chintu was walking on a small three foot tall boundary wall beside him, getting close to his height.
" There are some people from the city, and they are taking blood from people, and giving us food and other stuff."
" Taking blood, what are they gonna do with that ? "
" Don't know, probably gonna drink that? " Said Chintu who was walking on the stone boundaries to get eye to eye with Krishna.
" Drink? No one drinks blood? " said Krishna.
" No, city people did. My mother told me that city people drink blood to look cool and beautiful. And they hunt for beautiful kids like me. " And Krishna asked.
" Who else has said you are beautiful rather than your mother. "
" No one. But that's not the question. The question is, will you help me get that free stuff? So that's why I don't tell Dadi about the thing you did yesterday. " And he stops.
" That's why you didn't tell that earlier."
" No man no. I'm not an idiot, I know that it's worth more than my life, I was just worried about you, if she knows about that, I don't know what she's gonna do." Said the little boy Chintu looking at him.
" You know nah, I can just make you disappear in this dense forest somewhere."
" I know, that's why I write this letter. " And he showed him a letter explaining that, if anything happened to him, it's because of Krishna. And he tore that away.
" Now what? "
" I have several copies. " And he showed him ten more.
" Do you make a pamphlet or something? " asked Krishna.
" Can't take risks. " Said Chintu. And he started to walk in front of him.
" Come on, we don't have a whole day. " Said the now running boy.