The Rise of the Soul Transferors by Aaditya Vardhan - HTML preview

building with a dog in a blanket. The other was that there was a vet just two buildings away.

The clinic had just opened for the day when Robin barged in begging for help. The doctor, an elderly fellow, and the middle-aged nurse were both extremely co-operative. They enquired as to who inflicted Dante wounds, he simply stated the truth that he had found him that way.

The doctor tended to the wounds and gave Dante some tranquilizer for the pain. Dante was to be kept under observation for at least the rest of the day.

Robin thanked the doctor and paid him his fee. The doctor told him he could leave if he wished and come back later in the afternoon to pick Dante up. Robin declined. He waited till the evening when the tranquilizers had worn off.

“Say hello.” said the doctor, as he opened the door and introduced Robin to Dante who was now awake and resting on a cushion on the floor. Robin understood that apart from weakness brought on by the injuries, Dante was also depressed because he had deduced that Mahima was no more. He petted Dante softly. Dante did not react.

“He doesn’t have the energy to walk for now but he will be fine after a few days of rest. Bring him back in two days for just a follow up. Here is a prescription for some painkillers.”

“Thank you. Do you know any pet-friendly hotels nearby where we can stay tonight?”

Robin checked into one of the hotels recommended by the vet and carefully placed Dante on the bed. Once Dante fell asleep, he left.

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***

Robin walked around the gate of Sakina Manzil, waiting for an escaping episode. There was no commotion in the building, meaning that nobody had discovered Mahima’s body yet. Although he had left the door open, nobody else lived on that floor since the only other flat on that floor was Robin’s old house.

After ninety minutes of waiting, he began feeling the tremors. He ran towards Mishra who raised his hand in defense. The moment Robin touched Mishra’s arm, he was flooded with his memories. However, the watchman did not have any relevant memory of anybody suspicious entering the building last night… Once the memories were over, Robin was left watching the confused bus driver in front of him.

“What are you doing here? Get out!” he shouted at the driver.

“Where… where am I?”

“Go get high somewhere else, druggie. Now get out from here!”

The disoriented bus driver left.

Inside the watchman’s cabin was a cheap computer, which had access to the CCTV footage at the gate of the building. He rewinded the footage to last night. After fast forwarding hours of footage, he finally came across a familiar looking man entering the building. He fast forwarded it further to find, to his shock, the same man leaving an hour later with a limp and with his clothes all bloodied.

Robin zoomed in on the face of the man and thought hard where he had seen him before. Then it struck him. He had come across the face of the man when researching on Patil. The man was working under 179

him. ‘But how did he find me? And there was no sign of the door being broken open. Why would Mahima allow him in?’

There were a lot of questions to be answered. But the time for games was over. ‘It’s time I put an end to Patil and his underlings.’

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20. Their Meeting

I was walking along the Tungabadra river at Sringa Giri, when I came across a rare sight. A pregnant frog was delivering her offspring in the scorching heat. A cobra, which was the frog’s natural enemy, had placed its head above the frog and provided shade. I knew that this was a sign.

I set up a temple and monastery at that very spot. I stayed there for several years writing books. A young man called Giri, who was illiterate, devoted himself in service to me and my disciples.

Whenever I delivered my sermons to my disciples on the religious scriptures, Giri would sit near me and listen attentively.

One day, as I was sitting quietly the disciples gathered around me for the sermon. When I continued to be silent, they requested me to commence with the lessons of the day. I replied, “Giri is not here yet. Let us wait for him.” The other disciples were taken aback. They never saw Giri as a person of any significance. They were all learned and Giri could barely even spell his own name.

One of my disciples replied, “O Guruji! Giri is a nice boy. But what is the point in letting him listen to your lessons? Is he capable of understanding the scriptures which we have studied for years? To deliver your sermon to him is the same as delivering it to the walls.” Before I could respond, Giri walked in and so I began my sermon.

One evening, as Giri was returning back, after washing my garments in the nearby river, he started singing a song about me and my teachings. The people around heard this song which was 181

in Sanskrit and filled with deep meaning. Soon, the song spread far and wide, along with the message contained in it. My disciples started respecting Giri.

It was not long before I initiated Giri in Sanyasa.

The security at Patil’s Nagpur villa was tighter than ever. There were over a dozen security guards and only three servants, – a cook, a maid and a nanny. Patil’s wife and daughter – Jharna and Shreya felt that he had gone insane. He had directed his other servants and support staff to remain at his Mumbai house. The drivers were given a leave. In fact, Patil had himself driven his family to Nagpur, despite never having driven in decades.

The staff and security guards were prohibited from coming within fifteen feet of each other, any of Patil’s family members and anyone in the outside world. They were warned that any contravention of this rule would lead to immediate termination of their employment. The only exception was the nanny, Brenda D’souza, who was constantly with Shreya and as a result had her meals with the family.

Vegetables, fruits and other groceries were delivered once a week. The delivery boys would bring the van inside the gate, unload the supplies on the porch and then leave. All payments were made online, so as to avoid contact with the delivery boys.

Each and every person in the house had a walkie-talkie to communicate with each other. The cook would prepare the meal and place them on the dining table. Then he would intimate the family about the same and leave before they could arrive. Serving food to the family was easy. The problem was serving each guard and the maid individually. Since the guards were prevented from coming near each other, he had to place their food at fixed spots around the house and 182

the adjoining garden, from where they would pick it up during their respective meal breaks.

Patil himself refused to meet with any visitors or leave the house and forbade his wife and daughter from doing so as well. If Jharna, Shreya and Brenda did not come out to the garden every evening, the staff and security would not even know if they were living in the house.

Patil on the other hand avoided even going to the garden. The only interactions he had with the outside world was via phone. The staff did not know the reason for the strict rules. The maid assumed that the family had contracted some kind of contagious disease and directed that social distance be maintained to avoid any spread of the disease. Thus, she was more than willing to follow the social distancing rules set out.

One of the guards had a theory that Patil had died and that the family was covering it up for some reason. He believed the voice they heard over the walkie-talkie was not of Patil, but an impostor.

It had been two weeks since they had been functioning in that uncanny manner. Two weeks of them not leaving the premises or talking to any other human being in-person. In order to prevent the staff from opposing the harsh working conditions and quitting their jobs, Jharna arranged for cigarettes and alcohol to be delivered at their door-step along with the weekly deliveries of groceries. While this did pacify the guards and servants to some extent, Jharna herself was thoroughly harrowed as Patil continued to keep her in the dark.

Despite repeated requests, she did not get any explanation for why he was putting the family through that ordeal. In fact, when she asked whether it was because prominent persons like Dharamguru and 183

Daruwala had disappeared, he denied it, which added to her confusion.

“Why won’t you just tell me honestly what’s going on? I’ll do my best to understand.” She pleaded with Patil for the nth time, “You are sleeping in a different room. You aren’t allowing Shreya or me to touch you. What is going on?!”

Patil ignored her and continued to stare out the window of their bedroom, on the third floor of the villa. He very much wanted to tell her the truth. But how could he? How could he tell her about the message that Godbole left him a week back just before his death, or that he genuinely believed in the existence of a man who could possess other bodies and that such a man was out to get him.

“Why are you ignoring me?!” she shouted.

“Why is that child standing there?” he mumbled to himself as he continued to stare out the window.

Jharna walked towards the window and stood beside him. “Which child?”

“The one across the street.”

Her eyes turned to the direction in which Patil pointed and indeed there was a young child, who could not be over seven years old, standing on the sidewalk across the villa. His clothes were torn, old and dusty. He was clearly raised on the street. Jharna grew furious.

“Don’t try to change the topic! I want to know why-”

“I have been watching him for over twenty minutes. He has been studying the villa carefully for some time now.”

“So, what if he has? He’s just a boy. How does it matter?”

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To Patil it mattered greatly. He picked up the walkie-talkie from the lamp table next to him and spoke into it, “Listen, there is this boy outside the villa. Shoo him away.”

“Why are you shooing away the poor boy?” his wife objected. “What has gotten into you?”

Meanwhile the guard at the gate shouted at the boy from inside the cabin next to the gate. He threatened to hit the boy with his stick.

Robin, who was in the boy, didn’t move. He wanted to see whether the guard would actually leave the premises and come towards him.

But for almost two minutes the guard just yelled and didn’t even open his window to do so. Robin understood that the guard would not come out in any circumstance and so he walked away.

He had been keeping an eye on the villa for over a week now, and had come to the conclusion that it was impregnable. The scope of touching anybody inside was itself seemingly impossible. But timing the touch in such a way that it synced with his escaping episode was beyond impossible.

‘Maybe I should just wait it out. He can’t be in there forever. But who knows how long I have either? No, I need to find a way to end this quickly. But I don’t think I can do it by purely relying on my special abilities. I’ll have to sneak in using “normal” and old-fashioned methods.’

***

That evening the grocery van arrived at Patil’s villa at 4.30 p.m. to drop off the week’s supplies. The gate was opened and the van was allowed to back up inside. Once the van was inside the drivers got off, opened the back and unloaded the groceries. Two guards kept a careful watch over the unloading operations from afar. Unbeknownst 185

to them a child had gone underneath the van before it entered the gate and held on to its undercarriage. When the van was allowed inside, the boy was also granted access. While the guards focused on the rear of the van, he crawled out from underneath the front and ran into the bushes adjacent to the gatekeeper’s cabin.

He laid on the ground with his legs curled up. He could hear the sound of the van leaving. Robin did feel guilty about using a young boy for such a risky endeavour but he was left with no choice. If he missed that Monday’s delivery, he would have to wait another week.

There he lied, in broad daylight, just waiting for an episode, which was expected to take place in a couple of hours. It was a stressful situation and every little sound alarmed him.

His plan was simple. Once he began getting an episode he would run towards the gatekeeper’s cabin and touch the guard on duty. Once inside the guard he would pick up the boy and, through the cabin window, would place him back on the road.

After about four hours of hiding in the bushes, he felt the much-awaited tremors building up inside him. Without wasting any time to check his surroundings, he ran straight to the cabin door, but was shocked to find that it had locked from the inside. ‘A miscalculation…

What should I do? Should I knock and hope that they open it? Or should I search for someone else? I don’t have much time. I better knock.’ He knocked on the door, but from within came a voice asking “Who is it?” Robin’s tremors were getting uncontrollable ‘What do I say? How do I get him to open it quickly? Time is running out. I better search for someone instead.’ As he turned, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

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Within seconds, he absorbed the memories of Shreya’s nanny - Brenda D’souza, and then was left looking down at the small boy. And as luck would have it, just at that moment, the gatekeeper opened the door.

“What’s happening here?” he demanded an explanation from the nanny to justify the presence of the unknown boy in the premises.

“I found this boy playing in the bushes.” Robin said.

“How did he get in?”

“I don’t have any idea.”

The gatekeeper held the boy by the shoulders. “How did you come inside?”

The boy was speechless and began crying.

“Listen.” Robin told him, “Just let him go. It doesn’t matter how he got in. But if Patil sir finds out about this we will all be in trouble.”

“Patil sir has given us strict instructions to alert him of any breaches in the security” saying that he pulled out the walkie-talkie which was fastened to his belt.

“And how do you think he will react when you tell him that your team is so incompetent that an infant could bypass all of you? Besides, you know that breach of the distancing rule will lead to termination of employment, and just see how close you and I are standing to each other. Do you want both of us to get fired?” The gatekeeper put down his walkie-talkie. “He’s just a boy.” Robin continued, “He’s no longer a threat. Just drop him outside through your cabin window. If we take him to Patil sir, then who knows what sir will do to him.”

The gatekeeper thought for a second, then he quickly scanned the area to make sure nobody was watching. Once he was certain the coast was 187

clear he opened the window behind him, picked up the crying boy and placed him outside carefully. The boy immediately ran off.

The gatekeeper shut the cabin door without uttering another word to the nanny.

Robin heard a sound coming from inside the pocket of his frock.

“Dinner is served. I repeat, dinner is served.” He pulled out the walkie-talkie and heard other voices that followed.

“Jharna here. Understood.”

“Shreya here. Understood.”

“Patil here. Understood.”

After a pause the first voice came on again. “Brenda, dinner is ready, please respond.”

Robin quickly hit the ‘Talk’ button. “Brenda here. Understood.”

He proceeded inside the house. The three-storied villa was pretty dull and ordinary, unlike Patil’s lavish Mumbai bungalow. Robin believed that it acted more like a pied-à-terre where Patil could conduct his illicit activities away from the prying eyes of his wife.

Once Robin entered the dining room, he found Jharna and Shreya already sitting at the table. Jharna was a loving mother, who was oblivious of her husband’s immoral actions and schemes. Shreya was a joyous seven-year-old girl with two pony-tails. From Brenda’s memories Robin learnt that despite her family’s wealth Jharna took joy in simple activities such as colouring with crayons, plucking flowers and creating soap bubbles.

The plates were already set and the dishes were placed on the centre of the table. The chair at the head of the table was empty.

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“Come Brenda.” Jharna beckoned him to sit next to Shreya who was opposite her. “Sir will be joining us in five minutes.”

Jharna enquired with Shreya on how she spent her morning. Shreya responded that she had done some fingerprinting under Brenda’s supervision. Robin had a flashback, of dipping Astrid’s palms in food colouring and pressing it on a white sheet of paper. The same sheet of paper was stuck to the walls of his bedroom.

“Did you wash your hands properly?”

“Yes, mummy.”

At that moment the door was opened and inside came the man who Robin had loathed most. Patil wore an expression of utmost contempt, as took a seat at the head of the table. The conversation in the room came to a grinding halt. As Robin had already discovered while scanning Brenda’s memories, the family maintained a sombre air whenever Patil was around, especially when persons outside the family were present. Despite Brenda working with them for over eight years, Patil barely spoke or even made eye-contact with her.

Robin felt a burning sensation from within. The man he wanted to kill was merely two feet away from him. If he wanted, he could pick up a knife from the table and finish off Patil then and there. But he couldn’t put Shreya through that, nor could he let Brenda be convicted for murder.

“Give me some daal13.” Patil ordered to no one in particular.

13 A form of lentil soup, prepared with tomatoes, onions and various spices. It is often eaten along with rice.

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The daal bowl was next to Robin. He picked it up, stood from his chair and walked up to Patil’s chair so that he could serve him.

With each spoonful of daal he poured his contempt for Patil rose, as if he was filling his own rage, one spoon at a time. But he restrained himself. ‘Enjoy your last few hours in this world. Your death will not be at the hands of this woman. There is only one person destined to kill you and that is you yourself.’

***

The rest of the dinner was rather uneventful. Robin, still in Brenda’s body, played with Shreya and gossiped with Jharna, a bit. He retired to bed at about 10 pm. The nanny was allotted a 20 feet by 10 feet room in the basement, which contained one cupboard, a bed, a desk and a chair. Robin plopped on the bed having had an exhausting day.

It felt like it had been ages since he last took care of a child.

Despite his physical exhaustion, he was unable to sleep. His mind wandered to thoughts about Patil, Shreya and even about Dante, who was presently living and being looked after by a dog-sitter who he had found online and hired.

As Robin was struggling to sleep, he heard a knock on the door. ‘Who could that be?’

He opened the door to find the cook with a plate of samosas.

“Hi, I just whipped up some samosas. Will you help me finish them?”

Robin went through Brenda’s memories and there was no precedence of the cook doing any gesture remotely similar to this for Brenda. This was also the first time he ever dared to breach the distancing rules in place. He didn’t know how to read the situation. ‘Has he developed a crush on Brenda? Do I dismiss him? Or do I entertain him? One the one 190

hand, if caught with him, Brenda could be fired. On the other hand, I might be able to get some relevant information out of him.’

“Sure. Come in.” Robin made way for the cook. The cook handed him the plate and then bent down to pick up a large red suitcase placed next to him, which Robin had not noticed up till that point. “What’s in the suitcase?”

As the cook entered the room, Robin felt a warmth emitting from him.

He didn’t know how to describe it, but it seemed like positivity was leaking from his body. “Close the door.”

The situation was getting fishier and fishier. But Robin complied. The cook then extended his hand forward for a shake. Robin returned the gesture while still holding the plate of samosas with his other hand.

As he shook hands with Robin, the cook with the calmest of demeanours said “Nice to meet you, Robin.”

Robin’s jaw dropped. He almost dropped the plate he was holding.

“Don’t worry. I come in peace. I’m Aditi Mukherjee. It’s good to finally meet you.”

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21. Their Discourse

As I was meditating under a peepal tree one morning, I felt a sudden tug. I knew that it was my mother who was thinking about me while on her death-bed. I travelled back to Kaladi in haste in order to fulfill the promise I had made to her.

When she saw me, my mother was both happy and disappointed.

She was unable to speak properly, but I was able to read her thoughts in which she told me “You have changed so much! I have been hearing of all the good work that you have been doing. I knew you would come to me if I were to think of you. Therefore, I tried not to think about you. I did not want to disturb you. But alas, I could not put you out of my mind. Why did you leave your work and come?”

I responded to my mother’s thoughts and said, “O Mother! In our scripture’s mothers occupy a position which is higher than the Gods. How could I not come to you? Now that you are breathing your last, please know that I do not regret choosing this path. I tried living the life you wanted me to live for an entire month. I lived as a King! But I could not find peace and tranquility there.

One can only find true happiness when they look inward instead of outward.”

I do not think that my mother was able to comprehend everything I had said, but nonetheless she took pleasure in listening to my voice. She took one final breath and then died with a content expression on her face.

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Aditi, who was still possessing the body of the cook, and Robin, who was still possessing Brenda, were sitting on the floor, chatting over a plate of samosas kept atop her suitcase, which was laying in front of them. They both discussed their respective abilities. They spoke about the time they could both spend in other bodies and about the first body they ever entered. Aditi also explained to him how she entered Patil’s premises by being inside the driver of the grocery van while her own body was inside the van, in a red suitcase. Just when the dickey of the van was opened, she entered the body of the security guard who was unloading it. Once she kept the red suitcase in the kitchen, she re-entered her own body. About half an hour back, the cook, while preparing samosas, decided to see what was in the conspicuous suitcase. As soon as he began unzipping it, Aditi entered the body of the cook and then brought a plate of the samosas for Robin. She also admitted to Robin that it was much easier for her to enter the premises than it was for him, since she is able to switch between bodies at will.

Aditi told Robin that she already knew about his accident and his current motive to bring down Patil, which she inferred from news reports. She also told him about Nura and Cyrus and the kind of missions they carried out. Aditi explained how they reached the building when Mahima’s dead body was discovered, and how like Robin they too analysed the CCTV footage. Nura had deduced that it was Patil’s man Friday, Godole, who killed her. Aditi also informed Robin that it was reported in the local papers that Godbole had died in an accident – a fact which Robin was unaware of.

They both were very casual with each other and felt a certain relief of finally being able to talk to someone else who has shared similar experiences. Aditi confessed to Robin that she had become 193

emotionally numb because she was performing the transferance too frequently. She told him how Cyrus and Nura sat her down and told her to keep longer intervals between each transferance. Their idea had worked and she was beginning to feel a bit less numb.

“So, wait, there is a limit to the distance you can be away from your own body?”

“Yes, the farther away I go from my actual body the less time I have in the vessel I enter.”

“Vessel?”

“We call the bodies I possess ‘vessels’.”

“Transferance?”

Aditi chuckled, “We call the ability to transfer my soul to another body ‘transferance’.”

“It seems you guys spend a lot of time coming up with names for things.”

Aditi shrugged her shoulders.

“Wait. Then where is your actual body right now?”

Aditi patted the suitcase which was before them, which left Robin with his samosa-filled mouth open.

“Don’t believe me?” She set the plate of samosa aside and unzipped the bag. She flung open the lid to reveal her body lying serenely inside with a tiny bottle of water. After that sight Robin found it hard to swallow the bite of samosa he had taken.

Despite being a scientist and having a curious mind, he was never too keen to know about the origin of his abilities. His quest for vengeance 194

had overpowered his faculties. However, after meeting Aditi, his mind began questioning everything about his current state. “Do you have any idea where our abilities come from?” he asked as she shut the suitcase.

“My colleague Nura and I had initially discussed it extensively, but we weren’t able to reach a consensus. We stopped trying to find out the origins of our powers since it’s kind of a moot discussion. Does it matter where they came from or does it matter what we are meant to do with them? My boyfriend Cyrus thinks that our ‘souls’ are possessing other vessels. I didn’t agree until I learnt about you. Your original body is destroyed, including your brain. It seems unlikely that it’s your consciousness or mind that is possessing other people, it’s probably your soul.”

“Mahima believed it was my soul that remained as well. thought that the reason my soul was allowed to remain behind was because I had some ‘unfinished business’.”

“I don’t mean to diminish the significance of your mission but I can with confidence say that your powers weren’t given to you by a higher being just so that you could carry out your revenge. A lot of people die with unfinished business. Some have it much worse than you. Wouldn’t you agree?”

“I agree. Then what do you think makes you and me different from others? And why are your and my abilities so different yet similar?”

“Okay… So, let’s start with your second question. What are the differences in our powers? I need to go into a deep meditative state to enter another vessel. Initially, I could not spend more than a few minutes in a vessel. It took me a lot of training to be able to spend 195

three hours in them. Even then, the farther I took the vessel away from my own body, the less time I had in it… Now let’s contrast that with your powers… You don’t need to meditate; you could spend nine hours in a vessel but after that you get expelled from that vessel by force. Your abilities are so different from mine that they can barely be said to be the same, agree?”

Robin nodded.

“But they are the same, I tell you. The differences in our powers comes from the fact that you don’t have your original body while I do. This is my hypothesis – If I am in a vessel and my original body perishes at that time, my powers would be exactly the same as yours, think about it. I’m limited by time and distance only because my actual body keeps trying to pull my soul back. A body has a bond with its soul. As long as they both exist simultaneously, they will always try to reunite.

If I remove my body from the equation, I can travel any distance in a vessel.”

“Okay… then how do you explain that my soul remained even after I died? If your and my powers are essentially the same, do you think your soul would also remain behind after your body dies?”

“I don’t think your soul was in your body at the moment when you died. Tell me, do you remember running into that tree? What is the last thing you remember when you were in your actual body?”

“The last thing I remember was skidding off the road. I might have seen the tree from afar, but I don’t remember approaching it.”

“Then that confirms my theory. Moments before the collision you were able to perform the transferance. During your near death experience your mind reached the state required to perform it. The 196

state of mind which I myself can only achieve by meditation. It was an absolute fluke, but you pulled it off. Even the first two times I performed the transferance, it was by accident… I mean I was meditating, but I didn’t make a conscious effort to enter another body.

So, to answer your question, I don’t think there is any way that my soul could stay back if it were in my original body at the time of my death. However, if while I was occupying another vessel and at that time my body got damaged to such an extent that it could no longer be considered fit for occupation by a soul, then yes, I think I would continue to live on, hopping from bodies just like you. And like I said, our powers would exactly be the same.”

“Okay… but does that mean that anyone can perform the

‘Transferance’? That there isn’t anything unique about us?”

“Yes and no. I don’t think anybody can perform the transferance. It would be statistically impossible that only you and I were able invoke the powers, when billions of others also had the potential to do so. No, I don’t think everyone is capable of doing it, but I do think it is possible that there are many others who have the potential but haven’t been able to tap into it…”

“Then what is that criteria that differentiates people who have the potential from people who don’t?”

“That’s the question, isn’t it? Even I can’t say about it. Possibly something common in our genes, or maybe something else that we don’t quite understand yet…” Aditi looked Robin in the eyes and understood what he was trying to hint, “No, I don’t think we were chosen by a higher power.”

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“Let’s agree to disagree.” There was a moment of silence during which Aditi waited for Robin to ask any other questions he had. “But if I accept your theory then why do I get escaping episodes? Since my original body is destroyed, shouldn’t that mean that I can spend unlimited time in another body, as there isn’t anybody trying to reunite with my soul?”

“Your escaping episodes aren’t caused by attraction, but by repulsion.

A body cannot sustain two souls at the same time for too long. It will eventually reject, or rather ‘eject’ one, and of course the one it will be the one it is not bonded with.”

“Okay. But why do I need to touch another body to enter it when you don’t have to?”

“Do you? Have you ever tried not touching a body when you have an episode?”

“No… I mean it’s not really a choice, I get tremors and my body involuntarily reaches out to the person closest to me.”

“Precisely. I don’t think you need to touch anybody at all. The body reacts involuntarily at the behest of your soul which cannot exist in this world without a body. But I believe that even if you were unable to touch anybody, as long as somebody is in the vicinity, your soul will enter the body of the person closest to you.” She raised her eyebrows and added a caveat, “Of course, it’s just a theory so don’t try to experiment with it.”

Once again there was silence. Aditi’s eyes filled with hope as she uttered these next words - “You know we can learn a lot more about our powers, if we work together…”

He was mildly surprised by the statement “Together?”

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“Yes, I want you to join us. I already told you about all the good we do and with both of us working together who knows what we can achieve. It would be an honour to work alongside you to make the world a better place.”

Robin thought about the offer for a while, “To be honest I didn’t think about what I would do after killing Patil. But after living like this for the past four weeks, I have decided to leave this world. I can’t continue like this, shifting from one body to another. It takes a toll on me and I desperately need some peace. Once I am done here, the next time I have an escaping episode, I’m not going to touch anybody. I’m going to let my soul depart.”

“Robin, I can help you control your powers. With time my friends and I might also be able to find a way for you to permanently be in another vessel. But I urge you to soldier on. It’s true that I don’t think we were specially chosen to be given these powers, but I do think we need to make the best of them.” Saying this she placed her hand on his arm.

Robin felt the warmth flowing from her hand to his and into his chest.

‘What is this?’ he thought to himself ‘There is something about her because of which I trust her… and I don’t trust people easily… I have barely known her for an hour, and yet I am inclined to believe everything she is saying.

What is it about her? It’s definitely not her appearance or tone of voice since this is not her actual body. Is it something about her personality? Perhaps…

But it is something else as well… She radiates warmth and hope. It’s as if she has this aura around her. Yes… that would be the best way to describe it, she has an aura around her… one which invokes feelings of love and respect. I must pull myself out of this trance I am under.’

“I’m sorry” he said regretfully as he turned his face away, to avoid her gaze. “But I can’t. I wish you and your friends my best.”

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For a second Aditi felt crestfallen, but then immediately recovered with a smile. “No need to be sorry. I understand. In case you change your mind, you can call me on this number ….” She handed him a small piece of paper, “Oh, it’s almost 11.30 p.m. My time in this body is almost up. I better leave. I only came here to meet the only other person with the same powers as mine. And it was a pleasure meeting you. You have given me the opportunity to learn a lot about the nature of my own powers.”

She stood up, picked up the suitcase and turned to leave. As she turned, Robin had the feeling that it was a close family member who he was saying goodbye to forever.

“Wait... Your ‘no killing’ policy which you told me about…”

“Yeah?”

“You aren’t going to stop me from killing Patil?”

Aditi sighed. “You have suffered a great loss. Sometimes I think about people who have faced tragedy such as you, my friend Nura, and even a very young girl I met recently….How do you guys find the strength to overcome it? I have never experienced the kind of loss or pain that you guys have… So I don’t think I am in a position to judge your actions. I am against killing and so is Nura. However, it’s a self-rule. Neither of us have gone through what you have… You follow your code and we will follow ours… Besides I don’t think I could stop you even if I wanted to…” saying this she opened the door and left.

The number of lights that were in the room remained the same, yet it seemed to have gotten just a shade darker, and the paint on the walls seemed to have dulled.

200

22. Their Visit to the Park

The villagers of Kaladi came to pay respects to my mother. In front of all of them I declared that I would be performing my mother’s funeral rites.

“How can you? You are an ascetic. You renounced all ties with others when you took up the life of a Sanyasa. You are no longer the son of that woman. Therefore, you have no right to conduct her last rites. We will not permit this. You will give all Brahmins a bad name.”

I tried to convince the villagers that by performing my mother’s funeral rites, I did not breach the vow that I had taken. But they were not ready to listen to reason. They walked away in fury and refrained from helping me in preparing for the funeral ceremony or participating in it.

I had travelled far and wide and brought even my most ardent opponents to see my way of life as the one true way of life. Yet, when it came to convincing the villagers, I had failed miserably.

This re-affirmed something I already knew – it is easier to bring the staunchest properly educated opponent on your side than to bring an ignorant one on your side.

As my mother’s body was being engulfed in the flames of the funeral pyre, I saw my mother’s soul escaping her body and moving upward. A crow, the carriers of souls to heaven, quickly caught it. I quickly placed some rice on the ground, as an offering to the crow. The crow ate the rice. I requested the crow to safely take my mother’s soul to the other realm. The crow then flew away.

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Meeting with Aditi invigorated Robin. He decided to bump up his plan of executing Patil. As per his estimation, he was going to have an escaping episode at about 3.30 a.m. There was no point entering the body of the other staff members since they weren’t let anywhere close to Patil. And it wasn’t impossible to go to Patil and Jharna’s room in the middle of the night since their room on the third floor was guarded by guards who weren’t allowed to get anywhere close to Patil themselves. There was only one other option…

Robin left the room at about 1 pm and climbed up the stairs to the first floor, where Shreya’s room was. There were no guards on the first floor. He slowly opened the door and peeked inside. Shreya was sound asleep, holding a Peppa Pig soft toy in her arms. Robin entered and closed the door behind him. He tiptoed towards the bed and sat next to Shreya. ‘This is the part I hate the most… the waiting…’

An hour later, Robin felt an all too familiar feeling. He lightly tapped Shreya on the forehead, and as expected he was flooded with Shreya’s memories. What he didn’t expect was that in Shreya’s memories, Patil wasn’t that bad a father. He was strict but there were moments of sacrifices which reflected that he truly loved and cared for her. ‘It seems that even monsters have hearts when it comes to family.’ he thought to himself.

When the memories were done, he was witnessing a flummoxed Brenda.

“Brenda, please let me sleep.”

“How did I get here?”

“I don’t know. I think you were sleep-walking.”

“Really?! I’ve never done that before.”

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“Can we talk tomorrow? I’m very sleepy.”

“Oh yes, of course darling. I’m sorry for waking you up.”

After Brenda left, Robin played another type of waiting game.

***

Next day morning, Robin followed Shreya’s usual morning routine.

The only thing he was looking forward to was lunch-time. ‘I just hope the timing works out fine. If lunch is anything similar to dinner, then Shreya and Patil will be at the lunch table together for only a little over half an hour.

I have to get an episode at that time.’

After doing some math and geography lessons with Brenda, the entire morning, in the afternoon a voice came from both of their walkie-talkies in the afternoon.

“Lunch is served. I repeat, lunch is served.” Both of them confirmed their presence on the walkie-talkies.

Brenda accompanied Shreya to the dining room, where, just like last night, the food was already placed on the table. Jharna arrived shortly after they did. They waited for the patriarch to join, so that they could begin. Patil walked in, and without making eye contact with anyone else at the table, he lifted a chappati14 and began to break it. The rest of them commenced their lunch as well.

Robin looked at the clock. It was 12.45 p.m. and Patil was having his shrikhand 15 dessert. ‘Come on. When is an episode when I need one?’ Robin was getting restless. Patil was wiping his mouth with a napkin and was about to rise.

14 A staple flatbread in India.

15 Indian sweet dish made of yoghurt.

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“Daddy, will you play with me today?”

The others at the table were taken aback by this uncharacteristic question.

“No. You know the rules, my child. You can play with your mother.

Daddy has work to do.”

“Please, Daddy! It’s been so many days you haven't talked to me...”

“I said, no!” saying this Patil rose and made his way slowly towards the door. Robin lost hope. But just then, he felt something. ‘Yes! I have to act now!’ He jumped off the chair and chased after Patil. Brenda and Jharna shouted behind her to stop. Patil had given strict instructions that no one was permitted to touch him. Not even Shreya or Jharna.

Before Patil could react, Shreya tapped his behind.

***

“Hello, sir.” Pramila said as she placed her duffle bag filled with cash on the table. They were in his study which was on the ground floor of the Nashik villa. Godbole was standing next to Patil, chewing on paan.

“Hello!” Patil greeted her. “Godbole, why don’t you take this to the other room and count it. Would you like some wine, dear?”

Pramila agreed. He poured her a glass and one for himself. They moved to the sofa, on his suggestion. Glasses were re-filled numerous times. The two of them cajoled and laughed for over half-an-hour.

There seemed to be an attraction forming, in small increments. Before they both knew it, he leaned in for a kiss. There was no resistance.

“Do you want to go upstairs?”

“Sure.” She said after two seconds of hesitation.

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***

“What did you do?!” Patil fumed at Godbole.

“I had no option. She had to be taken care of.”

“I did not tell you to do that.”

“She came to me insisting to meet you. After I refused repeatedly, she said she was pregnant with your child. What was I supposed to do?”

“You are supposed to come to me! I could have paid her off or calmed her down.”

“She wasn’t interested in money or exposing you. She just wanted to let you know that she decided to keep the child and that she would not tell anyone that it was yours.”

“What?! Then what was the point of killing her?”

“That was clearly a power-play. How could we trust her? She could come out with the truth in future. Till now she had no proof that the kid she was going to give birth to was yours. But after the kid was born, what if she went on the media and insisted on a paternity test?

She would have undeniable proof and your political career would be over.”

“Why did you have to kill off the husband and their daughter?”

“There was no other way. I did it as quickly and cleanly as I could.

And the reason I did it without asking you was because I didn’t want you to worry. I only wanted to come to you after the problem was solved.”

***

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Several other memories passed through. Patil engaging prostitutes, taking bribes, blackmailing his competition and even holding Shreya as a baby. He chose a wife whose family influence and money would uplift his political career. But his love for his daughter was genuine.

‘So, it was consensual.’ Robin thought to himself , ‘That means Pramila lied to Celine. Does it mean that she didn’t love me? And here, I was about to kill this man, thinking he raped my wife and had my family killed. But he didn’t. Yes, he has committed other crimes and deserves to be punished, but he does not deserve to be killed…’

He turned around. Shreya was wondering why she was touching her father. Jharna and Brenda were waiting for Patil to yell in fury. To their surprise, he quietly walks out of the room.

Robin spent the rest of the day contemplating how he had been wasting his time. He began to doubt Pramila’s love and pondered as to what was the purpose for which he was allowed to live. ‘Is this some cruel joke you are playing on me, God?’ He looked upward, and when no answer came, he decided to pack up the entire affair. He pulled out his phone and typed out a detailed confession of all his crimes which he then emailed to members of the CBI and a few journalists. The idea of sending an email confession was one that Aditi had given him. After the email was sent, he declared into his walkie-talkie, “The social distancing protocols have come to an end. I repeat, the protocol of social distancing is over. You may meet with each other.”

After a few seconds, there were sounds of joy and laughter coming from outside. The guards who had not spoken face to face in years were embracing each other fooling around. Jharna barged inside, “Are you serious?”

Robin nodded. She gave him a tight hug.

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***

At 9.15 p.m. Robin left the villa for a walk. He instructed Patil’s security detail to stay behind. He walked for over half-an-hour, until he finally felt a tremor… A fit teenager who had a football under one of his arms, was passing by. He wore an orange jersey and Bermuda shorts. Robin tapped his shoulder.

The boy dropped the football and ran. By the time Patil was able to realize what had just happened, it was too late…

***

Robin, who was still in the football player’s body, travelled back to Mumbai in a bus, after picking up Dante. He decided that he wanted to end his life on his terms and at the place he felt happiest. As he walked from the bus stop to Jogger’s Park, he passed by an electronic store where he saw footage of Patil being arrested based on certain evidence that they found with the help of his own email. Robin felt a bit happy as he watched that footage. But it was not the pleasure that came from exacting revenge, but rather the joy that came from dealing out justice. He finally understood what Aditi was talking about.

He thought about contacting her and thanking her for reaching out and bid her farewell. He reached for his pocket to pull out Aditi’s contact details, but realized that he left the tiny piece of paper she gave him in the pockets of Brenda’s frock. And so he continued his walk, along with Dante.

It was 6 a.m. and Jogger’s Park had just opened to the public. There were people doing Tai chi, jogging and just walking. Robin saw an empty bench in a slightly secluded part of the park, and felt that it was an excellent spot. He sat there as Dante went off to chase after some 207

squirrel. He looked back at all his original memories - painting the house with his wife, holding Astrid in his arms for the first time and learning how to play Mahjong from Mahima. He decided to remember his wife and daughter at their best. He repressed the resentment that he bore towards his wife. Robin told himself that just because Pramila had an impulsive moment in which she lost her self-control and gave in to a physical desire, that did not make her a bad person or a bad wife. And for the first time since his body was destroyed, Robin felt at peace. There was no longer any hatred within him. He said a small prayer that the souls of his family and of Mahima were at peace. He closed his eyes, in quiet contemplation, waiting for the inevitable episode, when he heard someone say “Hi”. He opened his eyes. Before him was a pretty girl with brown eyes and sparkling amber hair.

“Hi.” He said back, a bit disappointed by the interruption.

She sat next to him on the bench, “My name is Nura Gafoor. I’m a friend of Aditi’s.”

He was taken aback. “A friend of Aditi’s? How did you find me?”

“I’ve been following you since Nashik. I was watching Patil as he left the house. Obviously, it had to be you, the real Patil wouldn’t have just broken the protocols he set himself. Then, I caught the moment when you first made contact with another person. Good choice picking someone so fit, by the way. Made it easier to run away from Patil as soon as you made the switch from his body to this one….

Anyways, after that I followed you on the bus till here.”

“But why?”

“I just wanted to see what you were up to. As it is, I was in Bangalore to drop a girl off, so Nashik was kind of on the way.”

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“You followed me for over nine hours just to see what I was up to?”

“Sounds like stalking, I know. But I just needed to understand what your intentions were. Tell me, why didn’t you kill Patil?”

“It’s a long story. Frankly, I don’t want to talk about it.”

“That’s okay…I’m not sure if Aditi influenced your decision, but I like to think that she did… I had a theory that performing the transferance repeatedly was making her. Well, In any case, I’m glad I was proven wrong...” she sighed, “What are you waiting for here?”

“Just waiting for my time to come. I thought I was left behind for a purpose. But I had deluded myself. What happened to me was random, and I tried to make meaning of something that wasn’t there. I should have died in that collision. After that day, I had no real reason to live.”

“We can give you one…”

“Aditi already tried to sell me the idea of joining you guys…But I’m exhausted… Switching bodies every nine hours without being able to have any control over it, it just takes too much out of me…”

“What if we find a way to solve that problem like Aditi suggested?

Aditi, Cyrus and I, we can try to find a way to get you into a body permanently. Would that change your mind?”

Robin thought about it, but as he did so, the tremors began. He had resolved that he would not reach for anyone nearby and let it just happen. “Are you okay?” Nura asked. He gestured to her that he ought to not come near him. Robin was having the longest episode he had ever allowed himself to have. Over ten seconds passed and Robin could feel his soul being pushed out of the body. The next thing he 209

knew, he saw visions of a brown-eyed girl who grew up in Bangalore, going to the local masjid every week, crying as her father beat her mother every day and, ironically, not shedding a single tear during her mother’s funeral. She moved to Gurugram where she did odd jobs and completed. She lived with a friend until she was able to earn enough to live in a working women’s hostel. When her financial situation improved, she took up a place of her own, where she met a girl named Aditi. Together, they exposed a few scams and stopped a few crimes. They even solved a murder mystery.

When the visions ended, Robin was left watching a dumbfounded football player. He was in Nura’s body. ‘So, Aditi was right. Even if I don’t touch someone my soul will go to the nearest body. Touching someone was just a spontaneous reaction, not a necessity. How do I die then? I guess I have no choice but to join Aditi. And now I know first-hand about this ‘Team Transferance’. I thought Aditi was impressive. But this girl Nura has also overcome many hardships. I should feel honoured that they took so many efforts to get me to join them. I only hope that I can be worthy of them.’

Robin stood up, ignoring the Nashik-based football playing teenager.

He beckoned for Dante, who joined him immediately, instinctively knowing that it was Robin who was in Nura’s body. ‘Fortunately, I now know where to go, thanks to this girl’s memories. Guess I’m going to Gurugram.’

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23. Their Training

King Rajashekhar, who had met me when I was about eight years old, came to know that I had returned to Kaladi for my mother’s funeral. He paid me a visit and asked me to prepare a code to bring about social reform in the kingdom. I agreed and drew up a code with sixty-four edicts.

The king was happy with it and even showed it to his ministers for their input. The ministers found that the code was against the Hindu scriptures. I tried to show them how it did not conflict with the scriptures, but it rather supported them. But they were head-strong. They came up with a ploy.

They broke into two groups and each group fixed the same date and time to engage into a debate with me. They informed the King that they would tell him about the result of the debate the next day and that if I defeated them, they would accept my code. The King and I agreed.

The next day both groups informed the King that I had defeated them in the debate. Each group was shocked because despite losing the debate they thought that the other group would have surely won since I could not have shown up to both. When the groups began talking with each other, they realized that I had been at both places at the same time. The code was enacted.

“No! No way!” Nura snapped at Aditi and Robin in the empty banquet hall, as Dante watched from a corner. “I’m tired of being your guinea pigs.”

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Aditi tried to pacify her, “Come on, Nura. Robin and I need to try and enter a body at the same time to know whether three souls can occupy a single body simultaneously. Both, Robin and I, have already entered your body in the past and seen your memories. What’s the harm if we do it again?”

“That’s true. You have both entered my body and seen my memories, and I’m lucky that those memories are fading. I don’t want to refresh them! You have no idea how violated I feel each time one of you does that.” Nura raised her hands in exasperation “Why don’t you try it on a stranger?”

“We can’t experiment like that on a stranger without his or her consent, we need a volunteer.” Aditi was bluffing. Robin and Aditi both didn’t mind performing the experiment on a stranger. In fact, they had no serious intention of performing the experiment at all.

They simply wanted to pull Nura’s leg for a bit. Or rather, Aditi did.

Not just because she enjoyed having a laugh at Nura’s expense but because she wanted to make Robin smile. Ever since Robin joined, what came to be referred to internally as, “Team Transferance” seven months ago, Aditi made it her objective to keep his spirits up. When Robin came to her, while in Nura’s body, she and he had a long talk about their way forward. She promised him that she would try and find a way for Robin to remain in a body permanently without having to constantly switch.

Robin grinned quietly as he watched Nura protesting against being used as a vessel for them. At the time he was in the body of a handsome architect who was in his thirties. The last seven months had been good for him. Not only was he able to help out on the team’s mission and bring about a meaningful change in the world, but after 212

he began training with Aditi, he was able to gain a lot more control over his abilities. The rules that governed his ‘possession’ power, which he had now become accustomed to referring to as ‘transferance’

were now as follows:

(i) Once Robin entered a body, like Aditi, he could leave the body without having to wait for an ‘escaping episode’, through deep meditation and enter the body of anyone else in proximity.

(ii) He could go twenty-four hours without experiencing an

‘escaping episode’.

(iii) Just like Aditi, the maximum number of times he could perform the transferance in a 24- hour period was three.

(iv) Once he entered a body and then each subsequent time he entered the same body, the time he could spend in that body decreased, since the vessel built a resistance against his soul.

Aditi’s own abilities also improved and she was able to be in another vessel for up to ten hours, and this time would shorten when she moved away from the body. She still aimed at being able to be in another vessel for twenty-four hours like Robin could. Although, she knew that the only reason Robin was able to surpass her in this particular feat was because his own body was destroyed. But that didn’t discourage her.

Robin also prepared an anesthetic which he customized himself, back when he was working at NCL. He gave some of it to Aditi whenever she needed it, and also carried around some himself, in a bottle. It basically did what chloroform is represented to do in crime fiction –

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acted as an instantaneous incapacitating agent. It proved to be particularly helpful in missions when someone had to be rendered unconscious.

Cyrus, who was an integral member of the Team Transferance, wanted to quit his legal practice completely so that he could work with them full-time, but Aditi requested him not to. The reason she gave him was that she didn’t want him to leave a successful legal career for her and let his life revolve around her abilities. The real reason was that she didn’t feel that romantic partners would make good work-colleagues. And what they were doing was work. So, Cyrus came over often, but not regularly. It could be argued that Dante was more of a member of Team Transferance than Cyrus since he was there at all the meetings.

The banquet hall that they were standing in, was on the ground floor of the “Sunflower Motel” that Aditi and Nura had acquired. The motel was located at Panvel, which was at the outskirts of Mumbai. It consisted of three floors plus one basement which was actually purchased in the name of Aditi and Nura from the money that they, for a lack of a better word, stole from their targets.

But Aditi and Nura still chose to live in their Gupta Bhavan apartment, while Robin stayed in his Sakina Manzil apartment, apartment C-201, which Aditi purchased from Celine, once again from their classified funds. They replaced the normal lock with a passcode lock so that Robin didn’t need to bother losing his key while switching from one body to another. The primary reason they kept their respective apartments was because of sentimental value, but there were other reasons as well. Aditi would mostly take care of missions which were closer to the national capital and the entire North of India, 214

while Robin was deputed with the task of taking care of Mumbai and everything south of it. But they often met up to work jointly and train.

Half the time Robin and Cyrus were in Gurugram and Aditi and Nura were in Mumbai. Whenever they were in Mumbai, the girls chose to stay at the Sakina Manzil apartment instead of Sunflower Motel. They decided that the motel would be the base for their work and they wanted to keep their place of work separate from where they lived.

Since Cyrus was still working full-time with Kishu Khatri and Robin kept switching bodies and the girls still lived at the Gupta Bhavan apartment at Gurugram – there was no one to look after the motel apart from the staff. The staff that the girls hired consisted of only nine people – two receptionists, three cooks, two room-service staff, one housekeeping lady and one bell-boy. The rent they got from letting-out the banquet hall made a meagre profit. The motel itself was breaking even every month. Not that they cared. The less crowd it attracted, the better it was for them. In the books, of course, the place was making a profit since they were using it to launder money.

Sunflower Motel was meant to serve three purposes. The first was to be a front for Team Transferance’s own operations, which were more active than ever. Second was being able to launder the funds they got from targets and use them for their missions, after paying themselves reasonable amounts. Cyrus took care of laundering the funds as well as opening and maintaining the offshore accounts in which they would park the stolen money. Third was so that the guests in the hotels could be used as vessels for Robin. Instead of entering a body and leaving it off at some place which could be kilometers away, they devised a system for Robin. He would enter the bodies of one of the motel’s guests, who was living alone, and was sleeping, and a few 215

hours later he would drop them off back in their beds. At any given point of time, there was usually at least one lonely guest who was sleeping. This is the reason the motel got bad reviews. The guests Robin possessed felt tired even after they woke up after a long nap.

Since they couldn’t pinpoint the reason, they blamed it on the ambience and quality of the beds.

The tricky part for Robin was to make sure he kept his mobile phone in a common area before he switched bodies so he could pick it up later. He hated carrying around a mobile phone, but because of the nature of the missions he was doing with the rest of the team, carrying a mobile phone around for coordination was a necessity.

Right below the banquet hall was a small room in the basement. The door of the room read ‘Surveillance Room’ and true to its name, there were two computers in the room from which one could access all the CCTVs in the motel. However, the room was also used for Team Transferance to conduct research, hold private discussions, formulate plans for their missions and also for Aditi and Robin to train.

On that particular day, the three of them decided to hold the training session in the banquet hall for a change of pace.

“There is one experiment which you guys haven’t tried yet.” Nura pointed out in the midst of her protesting. “Robin hasn’t entered your body yet, Aditi. Don’t you think you should try that first? After all, you should first see what happens when two of your souls are in one body before trying to involve a third soul belonging to a foreign vessel in the equation.”

This idea irked Aditi, and Nura was well-aware of it. It was not that Aditi was afraid of taking the risk, but the idea of someone scanning 216

her entire memories made her feel uncomfortable. Of course, she couldn’t actually say it out loud that that was her reason for not going ahead with the experiment, since Nura had her memories scanned by Aditi as well as Robin in the past.

“I’m up for it!” Robin exclaimed with his shoulders shrugged.

In Aditi’s head she thought ‘Of course you are ready. You're not the one whose memories are getting scanned.’

As if reading Aditi’s mind Robin responded, “You know because of our abilities there is a good chance we both will end up scanning each other’s memories if our souls possess the same body.”

“Fine. What the hell, let’s do it.” Aditi raised both her hands in submission. “The guy whose body you are possessing might wonder where he is and what he’s doing. Nura, you’ll handle him right, or do you think we need to tie him up and blindfold him till we are done?”

“No, that’s okay, I’ll take care of him.” Nura responded.

Aditi lied on the floor while Robin sat in padmasana. Nura watched. A few seconds later she saw the architect, whose body was possessed by Robin, opening his eyes. She was unsure whether the architect’s body was still possessed by Robin or whether Aditi’s body was possessed by Robin.

“Where am I?” asked the architect. Nura suspected the experiment was a success. She looked at Aditi’s body waiting for some kind of confirmation.

“I feel different.” Aditi said.

“Robin, is that you?” Nura inquired.

“No, it’s me - Aditi.”

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They both stared at the architect who was watching the confusing conversation between the two women.

“Robin?” Aditi asked him softly.

“Robin?” the architect replied, “No. My name is Jignesh. I’m sorry, who are you both? And how did I get here?”

Aditi looked around the room although she didn’t know what she was looking for. Nura panicked. “Is he… Don’t tell me he….” She was unable to complete her sentences.

“I don’t know. He shouldn’t have. That makes no sense… Nura! Go out, check if he is in any of the staff or the patrons.”

Nura left the banquet hall in lightning speed. Jignesh, the architect, grew frustrated and confused. He wasn’t getting answers to any of his questions. He proceeded to stand up. As he was half way up, he paused. A grim expression came over his face as he said, “It’s me….

Robin.”

Aditi gaped at him. “What the hell?!” she yelled uncharacteristically,

“Were you trying to pull some kind of prank by pretending not to be Robin”

Robin remained calm. “I was successful in entering your body. I even saw and heard what Jignesh said.”

“But I was still in control of my body.”

“Yes. I could scan your entire memories, but I couldn’t move your body at all. I was just a spectator. Then I tried to re-enter this body and I was successful.”

“Thank god, Nura and I were simply….” It was at this moment that it dawned on Aditi. She understood the reason for his sobre 218

countenance. Robin had scanned her memories. A long pause followed wshich was broken by Aditi “Robin, I can explain…”

“There is no need. I know the reason why you killed those thugs. I know that you did it at a time when you lost control of your true self. I even know that you have no intention of doing it again. So, we don’t have to talk about it. ”

Aditi bent her head in shame. She knew Robin would never look at her the same way again.

Nura came back in the hall frantically, “Couldn’t find him., anywhere!”

“It’s okay, Nura. I’m right here.”

“What the hell! Robin, don’t scare me like that! What happened?

Where were you?”

“I was inside Aditi’s body was unable to control it. I could only scan her memories and I could just see and hear everything she saw and heard.”

“That’s strange.” Nura said pensively, “Probably because Aditi herself is a soul-transferor, she can’t be controlled. That’s also why you ended up being a spectator sitting on the back seat instead of the driver seat for the change.” She immediately froze, regretting the fact that she used the car analogy on Robin. But Robin seemed unaffected by it. His mind appeared to be elsewhere.

“I presume you couldn’t scan my memories?” Robin asked Aditi, to which Aditi shook her head quietly. “So, you want to try entering my body?”

“No!” Aditi and Nura said in unison.

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“You gave us enough of a fright for today.” Nura continued. “By the way, since you scanned Aditi’s memories, you must have seen intimate moments between her and Cyrus… Including the night they started “dating”.” Robin nodded with a weak smile. “…You have to give me some juicy details… Besides its only fair… Aditi scanned my mind and has seen my private and personal escapades….” Neither Aditi nor Robin respondend to Nura’s jesting, much to her dismay.

“…But enough horseplay. You should try entering the same body Aditi is possessing some time. It will be interesting to know if you are able to scan her memories or the memories of the person whose body she is possessing or both.”

“A mystery we will solve some other day.” Aditi replied as she walked out swiftly.

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24. Their Proposed Date

When King Rajashekhar had come to visit me in my childhood he had also read out three plays to me which he had written. One day I asked the King whether he was still writing. He sighed, “No. It is very unfortunate, but the three plays that I had written and read to you were all destroyed in a fire. Since then, I have never found the spirit to write anything new.”

I consoled him and said, “That is truly unfortunate. The plays were very good and I was very much looking forward to watching them being performed someday. In fact, I liked them so much that they have been etched in my memory. I shall dictate them and your men may take them down.”

The King quickly deputed a man to take down my dictation.

When the King read the dictated plays, he found that they were word-to-word reproductions of the works he had read to me over fifteen years ago.

“Adi, you need to see this.” Nura beckoned. She had seen something of interest on her laptop. The two girls and Robin were in the Gupta Bhavan apartment, going through the details of the mission they named “Project Parliament”, when Nura proposed they take a fifteen-minute break, so that she could check her social media handles.

Aditi walked over to her screen. And saw an article titled ‘Who is Kalki and why is she trending on Twitter?’

“What is this about?” Aditi asked since she had no interest in reading the body of the article. “Is it about the actress?”

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Nura rolled her eyes. “No, it’s not about the actress. It’s the name the internet gave you and Robin.”

This statement caught Robin’s attention, “What do you mean the name the internet gave us?” Robin was possessing the body of a middle-aged Sardar.

“People have noticed the number of positive changes that have been happening. Not only that, the fact that so many people confessed to crimes and later on claimed that they had no recollection of it, hasn’t gone unnoticed either. Initially people attributed it to God’s work. But the public, at least a lot of them who use the internet, have come up with this figure who they named ‘Kalki’, who they believe is responsible for all these positive changes. Of course, nobody has a fool-proof idea as to how Kalki functions, but some people have theorized that Kalki has the ability to possess other people’s bodies.

There are hundreds of theories and tens of thousands of tweets with the hashtag #IndiaWithKalki. There’s a ton of support for this figure.

Some amateur artists, graphic designers and students have put up artwork of what they imagine Kalki would look like. Look, the art includes God-like figures as well as shadow-like ones. Congrats, both of you have a fan-base now, and that too, very huge.”

“Interesting.” Robin commented as he checked out a photo of the artwork Nura had put up on the screen. “I think Patil will soon agree with that theory. The only reason he hasn’t mentioned anything about the existence of someone who can possess bodies is probably because his lawyer Kishu Khatri advised him against it.”

“Okay, guys. Can we focus on the mission in hand?” Aditi interjected.

“Or do you guys want to skip it? Because I’m all for that as well.”

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Nura frowned, “We’ve been through this. We need to make sure the amendment to the Information Technology Act doesn’t get passed in Parliament. The provisions are so wide that the government could use them to restrict free speech and put innocent people critiquing the ruling government behind bars.”

“Still messing with legislation… Anyways, like you said, we have been through this. Since Robin and you are both for it, you have my blessing. I wish I could have helped you guys more.”

“No. It’s important that our names stay away from this. Robin is the only one who can enter covertly, attend the session from the balcony and then use transferance to possess the body of the Member of Parliament Girish Shah, the most vocal proponent of the Amendment Bill. If Girish Shah speaks against it, then at least a dozen others will withdraw their support as well. Of course, the ideal scenario would be if Robin could enter Girish Shah’s body prior to him entering Parliament House, but that just wasn’t logistically possible. So instead we had him possess this current body which belonged to one of the guys who had a pass to attend today.” Nura explained to Aditi, “The only way you and I could enter is with a pass, which we would have to get in our actual names since there is no way you could enter Parliament House in someone else’s body while carrying your own body in a bag. Especially after this concept of Kalki has arisen, it's best that you and I don’t create any record of being anywhere near a place where the transferance is being performed. What about when Girish Shah claims he didn’t have any memory of opposing the bill. What would happen if they checked the names of people who attended the Parliament on that day and began an investigation? No, Robin has to go alone.”

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“Well, that was a lot of exposition.” Aditi muttered under her breath.

“So, ready to go, Robin?” Nura asked.

“Yes, I think it should be a piece of cake.” he said coolly as he stood up to leave.

“You won’t be allowed to have a mobile phone inside, so there won’t be any way for us to communicate. You are on your own for this one.”

“Can do.” Robin opened the door.

“I’ll wait for you at the Caprisa Café at Connaught Place in case you get done early.”

Robin didn’t respond. He didn’t even look back. He just nodded and then closed the door behind him.

Aditi turned to Nura, “So, why do you have to wait at Caprisa for him? Why is that important for the plan?”

“Huh…” Nura fumbled as she pretended to go back to reading the article “Oh, it isn’t that important. Just to be nearby in case something goes wrong. Also to catch up after the mission and check if everything went fine…”

Aditi smiled as Nura continued to stare blankly at the monitor

“Nura….”

“Yeah?”

“Do you have a thing for Robin?”

“What?!” Nura now turned around, “No, of course not. Why would you even think that?”

“Okay. If you say so.” Aditi sneered.

“Don’t you have to get ready for your date with Cyrus?”

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“Yeah. He said he’ll text me once he gets done with his matter in the Supreme Court. I’ll go check on the reception staff till then.” Aditi proceeded towards the door and after opening it continued, “Maybe the four of us could double date some time.” And before Nura could respond Aditi quickly closed the door behind her.

***

It was one of the coldest days of winter in Delhi. Caprisa was a café that was popular yet affordable. It mostly attracted a young crowd. As she sipped her hot chocolate, Nura observed the patrons around her.

She was the only one sitting at a table alone, the rest were either groups or couples. Nura found it amusing and paradoxical how despite the freezing weather, the kids who appeared to come from richer families were actually wearing less clothes than their comrades.

She wondered if a person’s sensitivity to cold weather was inversely proportional to their prosperity.

There was one couple in particular who were sitting at the opposite corner, who had caught her attention. There was nothing about them that stood out. They were a regular young college couple doing the stupid things young lovers do. The boy was alternating between feeding himself and the girl. The girl was enjoying the special treatment as she didn’t have to move her hands at all. She did, however, choose to use her hands to text on her phone. Nura presumed that she was texting another boy simultaneously. But Nura herself was aware that the only reason she wanted her presumption to be true was because she was jealous. She had spent the first-half of her teenage years living her life under her father’s thumb. She would go straight home after attending her all-girls school and barely even spoke to any boy to whom she wasn’t related. The second-half of her 225

teenage years were spent struggling to make ends meet. The little money she had stolen from her father’s cupboard was barely even enough to cover her college tuition fees. She got part-time jobs at fast-food joints, call-centres and book-stores. At these places she got used to becoming a bit social and opened up as a person. She even found herself attracted to a few people. However, for some reason she always feared getting into any kind of romantic relationship.

Since she had never acted on any attractive impulse in her younger days she had no idea how to act on it as an adult. As she sat there thinking about what the protocol was, she heard a familiar voice

“Nura?”

Nura looked up and only to find Dhwani standing in front of her table.

“Oh Dhwani. Hi!”

“Hey, how’s it going? Are you alone here?”

“No. Just waiting for a friend. Not sure if he’ll show up.”

“Ugh. Same here. Got stood up.” This statement did not surprise Nura one bit.

The two women just stared at each other involuntarily nodding their heads. Nura waited for Dhwani to say it was nice that they met and bid farewell. But Dhwani just stood there. Nura understood what she wanted, but was very hesitant to offer it.

“Would you like to join until my friend shows up?”

“Sure. I guess I can.”

Dhwani began asking about Aditi. Because of Aditi’s social media posts she was aware that they had started the motel together, but she 226

never met Aditi in person after the night at The Crimson Dog. After that, without any provocation from Nura, she began complaining about how she was fired from her job at Datasaurus.

As Nura sat there regretting the fact that she offered Dhwani to join her out of politeness, she heard someone screaming. All the patrons were annoyed by the incomprehensible shouting that was going on outside the restaurant. The source of the sound was a middle-aged man with long hair who barged into the cafe “Oye! There’s a bomb in the 2nd floor washroom! Get out.”

If the café were filled with a more mature crowd, then the café would have been cleared out in a matter of five seconds. Ironically, the younger generation who were actually capable of running faster, were far slower in reacting to this statement. Perhaps it’s because the increasing number of candid cameras shows that they are distrustful and are always on guard against being pranked.

The middle-aged man reiterated the statement and once again demanded that everyone get out of the premises, before exiting himself. Nura stood at her spot, while Dhwani shouted “Come on.

Let’s go!” The last time Nura ever ran away from a problem was when she was sixteen. After that she always faced every problem head on.

She wasn’t going to stop now. She accompanied Dhwani till the door of the Café. But when they reached the stairwell, instead of following Dhwani downstairs, she ran upstairs. She passed by another couple who were running down the stairs. The man yelled to her that there was a bomb upstairs thinking that she didn’t know about it. She ignored him and kept climbing up.

When she reached the second floor, there was another restaurant on her left and on her right was the common washroom and the elevator.

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She rushed inside and right there in front of her was an open duffle bag containing a cylindrical metallic object with several different coloured wires.

She paused for a second. Then, she went on her knees and slowly opened the bag further in order to get a better look at the bomb. It was very different from what she had seen in the movies. She was unable to see a timer anywhere on it. There was only one single tiny red LED

bulb that kept blinking. Nura had to think fast. Strategizing plans for Aditi had given her the confidence that she was able to solve any problem. ‘There is a solution. There is always one.’ she thought to herself as she cupped her hands over her mouth and nose. ‘Taking the bomb out of here and on the terrace might minimize the damage but it also carries the risk that I might actually be the one who triggers the bomb by mishandling it. Also, the neighbouring buildings are taller than this one, so there is a greater risk to those if the bomb explodes in the open terrace. I don’t even know what trigger-condition is for this bomb. Is it time-based, sensor-based or something else altogether? I don’t have enough data to make an informed decision here. There isn’t anything strong enough that I can cover it in that would even slightly minimize the impact. Is the best alternative to do nothing and wait for the bomb squad?’

In times of great despair, even an atheist looks to a higher power, if not consciously, then at least subconsciously. Nura was unaware that as her palms were joined before her, she was asking for help in her mind, from nobody in particular. And just like how a drowning man sees hope in a single blade of grass floating in the water, so did Nura get a small glimmer of hope when her mobile phone began buzzing.

She pulled it out of her pocket thinking it could have been Aditi, who could perhaps guide her on what to do. But she was disappointed when it turned out to be a call from an unknown landline number.

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Believing the call to be a sales call she threw her phone on the ground, and went back to thinking about how to solve the problem at hand.

The phone stopped buzzing. Two seconds later again there was a call from the same number. Nura glanced at the number and chose to ignore it again. However, on the sixth ring, it struck Nura that the call from the random mobile number may not be a sales call, but from the only person who could actually get her out of that jam. She grabbed the phone in a rush.

“Hello?!” she answered frantically.

“Hello Nura? Everything okay?” came the unfamiliar voice. Nura was ecstatic. She was hoping to hear an unknown voice speaking in a familiar tone.

“Robin? Is that you?”

“Yeah. Calling from outside the Parliament House. I wasn’t able to -”

“Robin, listen carefully. There is a bomb in the Caprisa Café building.”

“A bomb?!”

“I’m sitting in front of it right now. I need to know how to defuse it.

Have you used the transferance three times in the last 24 hours or not?”

“I haven’t. I can use it one more time.”

“Okay. Outside Parliament House there has to be some members of the bomb squad. They are always there when Parliament is in session.”

“Yeah, I think I saw one police van outside the entry gate with officers who had bomb-defusal suits handy.”

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“Make sure you enter the most senior and well-experienced officer in the squad. Once you enter his body, video-call me from his mobile-phone so that I can show you the bomb.”

“I’m on it!”

Robin hung up. Nura felt a little better, not because she thought that her plan was going to be a success, but just because she got a chance to speak to Robin. As she waited, she thought about calling Aditi to see if it was possible for her to help in a similar manner, but decided against it. What were the chances of Aditi being near someone from a bomb squad? Plus, it was important to keep her phone available for when Robin video called her.

In front of the gate of the Parliament House, a man was running towards a police van. One of the officers found this behaviour suspicious and commanded that the man halt. But Robin was too motivated. He pushed the officer aside and tried to enter the van.

There were two officers inside, one in his 40s and the other in his 50s.

The officer Robin pushed aside pulled him back outside the van. At this point, Robin closed his eyes and began to focus. Next thing he knew he was seeing the memories of the officer who was in his 50s. As soon as the memories went from the foreground to the background, he pulled out the phone of the officer and proceeded to video-call Nura.

He stepped out to get a better connection as two or three police officers were now man-handling the man who tried to force his way into the police van.

Nura was thrilled to get the video call from some unknown number, that too less than half-a-minute after she cut Robin’s call. If she wasn’t in such a pressing position, she would have taken some time to appreciate the speed in which Robin achieved the task. She answered 230

the call and saw the face of a dark-skinned man with a moustache.

“Show it to me.” the man said.

Nura faced her front-camera towards the open bag and moved it around so that he could see it from all angles.

“Okay. This bomb is triggered by a remote control. You need to disconnect the bomb from the receiver, so that it doesn’t receive the detonation signal. Nura, lift the bomb slightly and show me where the blue and yellow wires end.”

She duly complied with his directions. There was a tiny black box at the bottom of the bomb, to which the yellow wire connected. The blue wire was just connected to the red wire. After observing the wires, Robin instructed, “Listen. Do you have some kind of blade or scissors on you?”

“Yes!” she pulled out her pair of pointed tip scissors from her clutch.

“Okay. Now, very carefully cut the yellow wire which is at the bottom of the bomb.”

Nura wondered how ‘cutting’ could be done ‘carefully’, but this was not the time for questions. This was the time for action. She kept the phone on the ground and held the bomb in place with her right hand, while her left hand held the scissors over the yellow wire. She cut it swiftly. The red LED light stopped blinking.

“Robin, it’s done!”

Robin let out a moan of relief, “Oh God.” He panted heavily as his heart was running a mile-a-minute. “Good. Now get out of there, I’ll despatch a bomb disposal unit to-”

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As Robin spoke there was a huge sound and the video call blacked out. “Hello? Hello? Nura?” There was no response. Robin cut the video call and called her again. This time too there was no answer.

Without thinking Robin began running towards Caprisa Café.

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25. Their Visit to the Hospital

I left Kaladi and once again travelled extensively with my disciples. My travels brought me to the holy city of Puri. I visited the famous Jagannath temple there, only to find the altar empty. I was informed by the people that due to Buddhists attacks some of the priests had put the wooden image of Lord Jagannath in a box which they buried at the banks of Chilka lake.

I did not like seeing the empty altar. So I engaged in deep meditation on the banks of Chilka. Using the heightened sensory abilities, I was able to find the exact location of the box. I told the locals where to dig, and once they found the box there was a huge celebration. At an auspicious time, the image was re-installed in the altar.

I set up a monastery in Puri and put Padmapāda in charge of it.

It was pitch black, and the only sound Nura heard was some faint beeping. The beeping got louder and louder. Nura finally opened her eyes to see a white ceiling. She turned her head towards the right to search for the source of the sound. It was a heart monitor. Above the heart monitor hanging from a metal stand was the I.V. bag which was connected to her body by a tube.

While still only half-conscious, Nura tried to get up with her eyes closed. “Nura, don’t.” came a familiar voice. Nura opened her eyes to find Aditi’s face in front of her own. She was gently pushing her torso back to the bed. Nura didn’t resist. Cyrus was standing with the doctor who had salt and pepper hair. They are standing behind Aditi.

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“What happened?” Nura mumbled.

The three of them waited for each other to answer the question.

Finally, the doctor responded hesitantly, “There was a second bomb.”

Nura grew confused as to why the doctor was being more responsive than her own friends.

“The doctor is Robin.” Aditi clarified, “That’s how we got permission to be here right now.”

“Tell me, what exactly happened?”

Robin took over, “You successfully defused one bomb, but there was a second one on the terrace, which caused half of the ceiling of the second and third floor to fall. The ceiling fell on you and they found your body in the debris.”

Nura waited for Robin to continue. She felt that there was something the three of them were hiding from her.

“Casualties?”

Robin hesitated to answer, so Aditi answered “One death. A police officer on duty who was answering the emergency call made for the bomb. He was right outside the second-floor washroom.”

Nura closed her eyes in disappointment.

“You saved several lives.” Robin added immediately, “If both the bombs exploded then the damage and loss of life would have been worse. The entire building would have caved in and fallen on the street on the bystanders and it would also -”

“Enough!” Nura screamed with her eyes closed. A single tear rolled out from the corner of her right eye. She tried to remove her hands 234

from under the sheets in order to wipe her face, when something stopped them. She opened her eyes to find Aditi pressing down on her arms from above the sheets.

“What? What is it?”

Aditi’s eyes watered as she slowly shook her head and loosened her grip. Nura noticed that Cyrus and Robin’s heads were bent down. She slowly lifted her hands towards her face. That’s when she noticed the bandages on her left hand. The bandages were just a little below where her wrists were supposed to be. But there was no wrist. No palm. No fingers. Nothing. She placed her left arm in front of her face and turned it around as if trying to look for the rest of it. She let out a few gasps in horror.

In a soft tone, with tears in her eyes Aditi explained, “When the debris fell on you, your hand was severed.”

At this point everyone in the room expected Nura to scream or wail, including Nura herself. To everyone’s surprise, including her own, Nura calmly said “I’d like to take some rest, please leave me alone.”

This unnatural nature was incomprehensible to Aditi, “Are you sure?”

“Yes.” Came the reply simply. Nura did not make eye contact with any of them and she turned her head aside.

Aditi nodded, “We’ll be right outside in case you need -”

“No. That won’t be necessary. Go home. We’ll meet again tomorrow.”

There was absolutely no frustration or grief in the tenor of her voice.

She still continued to avoid eye-contact.

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The three of them slowly made their way out of the room without saying another word. Nura lay there motionless, continuing to stare at the wall.

***

There was a knock on the door.

“Come in!” Nura shouted. She checked the clock on the wall opposite her bed. It was 8.15 p.m. She didn’t know where the time went. Since the time others left her, she didn’t sleep or get out of the bed. She just stared at the wall and let her mind wander. The only time she was compelled to look away from the wall, which she came to befriend, was when the nurses would come in to take her temperature and generally check on how she was doing.

A female orderly came in with a tray.

“How are you feeling?” From her voice and face Nura presumed that she was hailing from the north-eastern part of India.

“I’m fine. Thank you.”

“If there is anything else you need then please do not hesitate to ask.”

she said as she folded out the tray-table from the side of the bed and placed the tray in her hands on top of it. Nura thanked the orderly as she removed the aluminum foil covering the food.

“If you need anyone to talk to, I’m right here.” offered the orderly with a smile as she opened the plastic cups containing the various food items.

“Now you are pushing it.”

The orderly partially frowned in confusion, “I’m sorry?”

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“I know it’s you, Robin.”

There was a long pause as Nura picked up her spoon. “How did you know?” came the reply finally.

“Firstly, no orderly is that friendly when serving food. They have to serve food to multiple patients and are usually in a hurry. They don’t have time for chit-chat. Secondly, I didn’t see the large trolley outside when you opened the door. They don’t bring the food-trays from the pantry one-by-one. They bring them all in a large trolley which they leave outside the door as they bring each tray. Thirdly, they have a list in their hand with the name of all the patients on it and with the details of their dietary restrictions and meal preferences.”

Robin sighed with a smile on his face.

“Oh and that isn’t all.” Nura continued, “No hospital in the world gives fried rice and chicken Manchurian gravy to its patients.” Saying this she lifted the plastic cups containing the food items that were clearly from some restaurant.

Robin scratched his head in shame. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” she replied as she swallowed a spoon full of the fried rice dipped in Manchurian gravy. “Mm… Indian version of Chinese food is the best!”

“By the way, how did you know it was me and not Aditi?”

“Well, for starters Aditi is a little scared of me, so she wouldn’t dare go against my express request for being alone. Also, she would insist that I eat healthy hospital food and she wouldn’t bring Chinese for me. Come, sit.” Nura patted the right-side of her bed inviting Robin.

He sat facing her.

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“But genuinely. How are you feeling?”

“I don’t know.” she replied as she let out an almost orgasmic sigh after taking another bite of food. “I guess it just hasn’t sunk-in fully yet.”

There was a prolonged silence as Robin watched Nura relish her meal.

“What you did took a lot of courage. I’m extremely proud of you.”

“Courage? Please you and Aditi risk your lives on the field during every one of our missions, while I just sit at home waiting for your calls. I did nothing that you wouldn’t do yourself.”

“There’s a difference… Say a man wants to commit suicide, so he walks to a nearby bridge. On the way, he comes across a building which is on fire. He barges in and saves some of the occupants who were trapped inside. Was him sacrificing his life “courageous” or

“heroic”? Obviously not! He was going to kill himself anyway, so he didn’t really sacrifice anything. Similarly, I consider my life to have ended on the day of the accident. Whenever, I risking my life, I’m not risking anything of value. Even if I devote how many ever days to our missions, its not a sacrifice because I don’t consider my time to be mine anymore. You have devoted your entire life to the causes that you believe in, and today you were ready to sacrifice your life which I know you value. That’s admirable.”

Again, there was long pause during which Nura’s cheeks flushed with embarrasment.

“I’m really sorry, Nura”

“Sorry? Why are you sorry?”

“You were waiting at the café for me. If you hadn’t-”

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“Listen to me.” She placed her hand on his shoulder, “You didn’t put bombs in that building. You didn’t even call me to the café. I did it on my own volition. You had nothing to do with it.”

Robin did not protest. He just looked down helplessly.

“And promise me one thing.” she continued.

“What’s that?”

“That you won’t go on a revenge spree... I can tell by that look in your eyes that you are going to take all of this personally and you are going to go above and beyond to find out who planted those bombs. And we will find that out. You and I, together. But don’t let your emotions guide you. We have to treat this as any of our other missions. I don’t want you to do anything about it on your own without telling me, understand?” saying this Nura gave him a stern stare. It was only after Robin nodded in agreement that she continued eating.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot to offer you any. Here.” She placed a spoon of rice forward.

“No. I’m good.”

“Come on… have a bite. Just taste it.” She insisted while still holding up her spoon.

He leaned forward to take a bite and then leaned back to chew.

“How is it?”

“Good!” He exclaimed as he swallowed the morsel. Again, there was a long pause as the two just looked at each other’s eyes. Then Robin leaned forward steadily and placed his lips on Nura’s. When Nura lifted her right hand he imagined it was to push him away, but instead she placed it on his back and pushed him towards her.

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Unbeknownst to both of them, Roopesh Gala, a male orderly, had opened the door and peeked inside. Roopesh had a huge crush on the orderly whose body Robin was possessing. He had seen her entering the room a while earlier but she didn’t come out for a long time, so he had decided to check on her. In haste, he forgot to knock. He was absolutely shocked and surprised to find the girl he liked kissing a female patient. He closed the door, as hastily as he had opened it, while trying to make minimal sound. Heartbroken to learn that his crush was a lesbian, he decided to take a break and go out for a walk.

He took solace in the fact that he now had an explanation as to why she never reciprocated his flirtatious comments.

Inside the room Nura finally decided to push Robin away.

“What happened? Did you hear that too?” Robin looked behind to make sure the door was still closed.

“No. It’s not that. It’s just…” she paused.

“What is it?”

She sighed, “I think I like you, Robin. I think I have liked you ever since the first moment you and I met at that park at Juhu. You are sensitive and caring and smart and basically everything that I always wanted. But I don’t know how this is going to work…”

“Is it because I’m in a woman’s body right now? Because I can change th-”

“No. It’s not that. It’s that you will always be in a different body every day. And I know you can’t control it and I know that I always knew about your predicament. It never stopped me from liking you before, but it’s only dawned on me how it would feel to be physical with a different person every day…”

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At this point Nura lifted her hands to cover her face and for a second, she forgot that she had lost her left hand. Realizing that only half her face was covered she used her right hand to try and cover her entire face and continued, “And I know it’s very stupid of me because this is exactly what I wanted and now while that it’s happening, I’m pushing you away… But I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to overcome this. I thought I could, I really did. And maybe someday I will. Right now, I just can’t. I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.”

Robin was sitting quietly this entire time. Without any change in his expression, he patiently waited for Nura to be done, “It’s okay. I understand. You know after Pramila… I didn’t think that I would have these kinds of feelings for anybody else. When Aditi met me at Patil’s villa, I didn’t take her offer to join her too seriously. At the time I was under the mistaken belief that I was left in this realm after my death only for the purpose of taking my revenge. How self-centered I was to think that the universe would break its own rules only for me and that too only for something as petty as revenge? When I met you, I was actually ready for death. But what you said to me, or maybe it was how you said it… I don’t know. But it gave me something I had completely lost... Hope. My second life was given a new purpose.

Possibly, its true purpose. I also think a large part I owe to the fact that I possessed your body that night at Jogger’s Park. I felt your pain. I felt your strength. I don’t think there was a single person whose body I have entered who has inspired me more than you did. When we started working together, my feelings for you grew stronger.

However, I had to restrain myself from acting on those feelings. I even tried to tell myself that those feelings weren’t real. I thought that if I acknowledged them then it would cheapen the purpose of my 241

existence and that if I acted on them then I would once again be guilty of being selfish…”

Nura wanted to interject here, but restrained herself and allowed him to continue.

“But you are right. I know where you are coming from. If I were in your place, I don’t think I could love someone with my affliction. In any case the entire idea of you and me was just me being narcissistic.

I’m glad you stopped it before we took it any further.”

At this point Nura held his hand. “Robin, there is nothing wrong for you to want a normal life. I don’t think that the universe conspired to leave you here. I still maintain that it’s a fluke. But you believe otherwise and I respect that. But I don’t think it’s fair for this burden to be put on your head and you spending the rest of your days in pure service without thinking about your own happiness. We don’t even know whether you can die. How long do you plan on doing this? A hundred years? A thousand? If you are planning to be in this realm for long then remember that you are running a marathon, not a sprint.

You need to think about your own mental well-being and live a balanced life. Otherwise, you will burn-out. Fall in love, share a laugh with friends, smell the mud after the first rain, admire the sunset…

Enjoy your life.”

“Fall in love? With my current condition, who do you think would?”

Nura thought about it. She thought of telling him that he would meet a woman one day who did not mind his condition. But that statement would be insincere. Instead, she reassured him, “Aditi will find a way to get you in a body permanently. I know she will. In fact - we will, as Team Transferance.”

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“Yeah. You are right.” Nura’s hand was still on Robin’s. Robin turned his hand upward in order to lightly squeeze her hand. “Thank you.”

He said simply. Nura squeezed her eyes shut for a fraction of a second, as if to say, ‘Anytime’. Robin stood up to leave.

“Oh, and Robin”

“Yeah?”

“Please don’t try to come as a nurse tomorrow to give me a sponge bath.”

Robin and Nura both chuckled. Robin nodded and left with a sorrowful smile on his face.

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26. Their Encounter with a Terrorist

Inside a Saraswati temple in the north, there was a throne known as the ‘Sarvajna Peetham’, the seat of omniscience. The throne was guarded by famous scholars from all over India. Any scholar who proved that he knew everything, would be allowed to ascend the pedestal. He would have to defeat scholars belonging to the different sects and faiths. The right to ascend the pedestal would be based on a unanimous decision of all the scholars. Till I arrived, no one was ever deemed worthy to occupy it.

I went to the temple and expressed my desire to debate with the scholars there. The scholars engaged in debates with me on various subjects.

At the end of the debate, all the scholars unanimously conceded:

“You are a limitless ocean of knowledge and learning. You know all the scriptures and all the branches of learning. We consider ourselves greatly honoured, even to be defeated by you. Please ascend the throne”.

I worshipped the Goddess Saraswati with a rhythmic hymn. I was about to ascend the throne. At this moment, a voice from heaven was heard: “Stop there, my child.” It was the divine voice of Sarada, the mother of the universe, reverberating through the temple. “You may have convinced these scholars that you are worthy to sit on the throne. But you must convince me as well.”

“What time is the flight again?” Cyrus shouted from inside the bathroom as he brushed his teeth.

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“For the nth time, it’s at 10 a.m.” Aditi shouted back as she went through her checklist of items to pack. Cyrus spat his paste and came out to check on Aditi.

“Calm down. It’s only 7.15, we have plenty of time.”

She continued to keep her head down and re-check “Will you please stop wasting time. I don’t want to be late.”

Cyrus walked up to her and stopped her as she was applying her eye-liner. He held her by her shoulders and gave her reassurance, “Don’t be nervous, I’m sure they will love you.”

“Yeah. I’m not nervous at all.” Aditi lied.

Two weeks ago Cyrus’ mother, Yasmin Bookwalla had pinged Aditi on Facebook Messenger. They exchanged pleasantries and started chatting. Mrs. Bookwalla told Aditi how happy she was that Cyrus was dating her. She even asked a lot of questions about Cyrus for some reason. After a long chat, she finally insisted that Aditi should stay at their house in Mumbai for a few days. When she read the message her heart sank. Obviously, Aditi didn’t tell her that she was staying close to Mumbai for a few days every month because she owned the Sunflower Motel. Cyrus’ parents were still her parents’

neighbours and her parents knew nothing of her owning a motel.

A mutually agreeable weekend was fixed and the two ladies exchanged phone numbers so that they could continue to stay in touch. It was also decided that Aditi would stay with her parents’

house and would visit the Bookwallas’ house for meals.

When Aditi informed Cyrus of the development, he initially tried to put it off and told her he had multiple appointments on that day.

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However, Aditi didn’t want to disappoint his mother, and insisted him to make time for it. He reluctantly cleared his schedule.

The flights were booked and the itinerary was finalized. Mrs.

Bookwalla, knowing that Aditi was a vegetarian, had even taken from her a list of her favourite dishes so that she could ask the cook to prepare meals according to her liking.

In normal circumstances, Aditi wouldn’t have been too disturbed by the trip. But for some reason like taking down serial killers, thieves and terrorists, it no longer made her feel nervous. Meeting her potential in-laws on the other hand instilled trepidation in her. She was also certain that the Bookwallas had told her parents about her and Cyrus, something which she had never discussed with her parents. So, there were two sets of parents whom she could potentially disappoint.

Aditi wanted to purchase a decent gift for Cyrus’ parents, but because of the constant missions, she was unable to even get time to pack her bags. So, she just decided to get them two bottles of scotch from the airport.

Parsis were very conservative about marrying outside their community. Aditi was sure that Cyrus’ parents weren’t happy about their relationship but made an exception for Aditi and extended her an olive branch only because they were her neighbours and knew her since her school days.

The fact that she was nervous also made her happy, for it meant that she was no longer the emotionless drone she had turned into.

Once the bags were packed and they both were dressed they opened their bedroom door, only to find Nura watching TV.

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“Bye, Nura.” Aditi shouted as she dragged her bag out of her room.

Nura glared at her, “I don’t think you’ll want to leave just yet.”

Aditi and Cyrus looked at her and then at the TV. A news anchor was talking and there was a video was playing which showed police officers standing outside the St. Augustus High School, which was only a few kilometers away from them.

“As you can see the police have set up a perimeter outside the gate of the school and are trying to make contact with the terrorists.” reported the news anchor. “For those of you who have just joined us, earlier this morning a group of at least four men with rifle guns entered St.

Augustus School at Gurugram during the morning assembly and have now taken the students and the school staff hostage. Three members of the staff managed to flee from inside the school and are currently being debriefed by the police officials. Till now, we have not received any information about the total number of terrorists, which organization they belong to and what are their demands. Our correspondent is at the scene…”

“Oh… my… god...” Aditi involuntarily blurted out in a hushed tone.

She turned to Nura who was still glaring at her, as if trying to non-verbally communicate to her ‘You know what you have to do.’ Aditi nodded at her.

“I have to take care of this. You go ahead.” she told Cyrus.

“What?! I’m not leaving you to handle this on your own.”

She cupped her hands in his “Cyrus, I cannot afford to watch the people I love getting hurt anymore. I need you to stay away from this.”

“It’s too dangerous.”

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“For Nura and you it is. But with my abilities, I’ll be fine, trust me.”

“I’m not saying I’ll go on the field with you, but I can help with the back-end.”

“As long as you are nearby you will be tempted to help me if you think I’m even in the slightest bit of danger. Even if you don’t, I will worry that you will, and that’s going to distract me. I need you to leave. I’ll take another flight as soon as I take care of this.”

“But -”

“I’m not in a state of mind to negotiate on this,” She told him sternly,

“and each minute we waste debating about it, the danger on the lives of children is increasing.”

Cyrus paused and sighed. “Okay. If that’s what you want, just be careful.”

“I will.”

Cyrus picked up his hand bag, kissed Aditi and slowly walked out of the house.

Aditi noticed that Nura had a scowl on her face which she recognized as a look of impatience attempted to be concealed. Aditi understood that Nura did not appreciate Aditi wasting any time when the lives of children were at stake. She had a ‘no nonsense’ policy when it came to cruelty or danger to children. Her rage was further amplified by the loss of her arm, which had turned her a bit bitter.

“What’s the plan?” Aditi asked her.

***

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Six hours had passed since Aditi left for St. Augustus High School.

Nura grew worried. She had formulated the perfect strategy for her to get into the school, take down the terrorists and come back unscathed.

However, it wasn’t supposed to take so long. She contemplated calling Aditi on her phone but decided against it, since there was a chance that calling Aditi would distract her and put her in danger.

Nura watched the news intently, which was no longer even showing live footage of the school. The police forbade the news channels from taking any videos since they apprehended that the terrorists might be watching the channels and could know what the police were up to. So, she had to watch the same video from the morning in loop and listen to the news anchor say the same thing over and over again.

Suddenly, the news anchor paused mid-sentence to listen to some information being given to her on her ear piece, “I’ve just been informed that there were indeed faint sounds of gunshots coming from inside the school. It is still unclear whether there are any casualties. However, the seriousness of the situation has certainly escalated and….” She stopped mid-sentence again to listen to some more information, “and I’ve just been informed that a group of children are now running out of the school towards the gates. It appears that the children have been let to go or managed to escape. It is still uncertain whether all the children are safe, and we will know that only after a headcount is taken by the police. The fate of the terrorists is still unknown. Our correspondent at the scene is trying to get in touch with one of the teachers who has just left the gate along with the children. However, the police have ….”

Nura’s phone rang at this moment. It was Aditi calling.

“Yeah Aditi, everything okay?”

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“Come to our base.” came a man’s voice. Nura assumed that it was merely Aditi in someone else’s body.

“Why? What happened?”

“Just, come now.” saying this the man cut the call.

Nura left for the hotel.

***

Nura punched in the numerical code and entered the security room in the basement. She was stunned to see two men with long beards in the room. The one wearing a red shirt with the sleeves rolled up and jeans was standing and turned towards her. While the other man, in a light green sweater and blood-stained cargo pants, was sitting on the floor with his back against the wall. Because the room was dark Nura couldn’t get a good look of his face, but the way both his hands were behind him, Nura could tell that his hands were tied up.

“It’s me.” the man in the red shirt said to her, “Pumpernickel.”

Pumpernickel was a code word, the use of which was devised by Robin. Robin had inferred that the means by which Godbole was able to enter Mahima’s apartment was by pretending to be him. Hence, if any member of Team Transferance needed to verify if anyone claiming to be Robin or Aditi was genuine, they ought to ask for the code-word.

“Where’s your body?” Nura asked Aditi. Aditi nodded her head towards a brown suitcase on the table next to the entrance. Nura saw it and was satisfied that the man standing before her was Aditi.

“Who is he?” Nura scanned the man sitting on the floor with her eyes.

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“Both these guys were part of the group of five terrorists that had taken over the school. The current body I’m in was the third body I entered. I couldn’t change back to my original body since I didn’t get time to restrain this body first. But the memories of this guy have shocked me. I had to bring these two here after killing the other three men.”

“You killed them?” Nura was furious. But then she saw remorse in the eyes of the man Aditi was possessing.

“There was no other way.” Aditi replied softly. And she bent to pull up her trousers a bit and revealed a revolver tucked in the sock of her left leg. She placed the gun on the table next to Nura, right next to the brown suitcase. She recouped herself and continued, “But that doesn’t matter. This guy on the floor is the leader and he recruited these other guys with an interesting story. I had to keep him alive for questioning.

So, I simply shot him on the leg.” At this moment Aditi bent down in front of the leader of the terrorist group and lifted his face up by his hair. “He said he was recruited by Allah.”

“So? He’s deranged. You brought him here for that?”

“No. It’s how he recounted his interactions with the so-called ‘Allah’.

He told these guys that Allah came to visit him taking the form of different people. This man claimed that ‘Allah’ would come to him time and again and give him small jobs to perform. He was even the one who ordered them to plant the bomb at Caprisa café last month.”

At this moment Aditi turned to Nura, “Do you know what this means?”

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“No. You don’t mean it!” Nura’s eyebrows pressed together in worry.

“There is another person out there with powers like yours and Robin’s?”

“Exactly. Not just that. It seems that this third soul-transferor is after me. All his plans involve me. Think about it, the bombing and now this incident which happened a few blocks away from us.” Aditi paused, “I just don’t understand what his goal is. Does he want to kill us? Is he trying to distract us? I have no idea…. That’s why I brought this guy here. We either have to wait for a day so that I can enter his body and scan his memories, or we can ask Robin to fly back immediately so that he can do it. Maybe if we observe some conversations between him and the third soul-transferor, we’ll be able to get some clues as to who he is. Nura, I need you too…”

At this moment the man sitting on the floor moaned. He sat up-right but still kept his head bent down. He attempted to make a sound. It was barely audible but to both the girls it sounded as if he moaned

“Nura….”

Nura bent a bit in order to get a better view of his face. The man spoke again, this time in a louder, yet feeble, tone. “Nura, didn’t you recognize me, my child?”

There was a silence in the room as the two girls stared at the man with an expression of confusion and surprise. Finally, the silence was broken by Nura, “Father?”

Aditi looked at Nura in shock and then turned to look at the old man sitting on the floor. She knew that Nura’s father abused her in childhood and that he even killed her mother. She could not believe 252

that the man sitting before them was the one person who Nura loathed most.

As she stared at the man, all of a sudden, there was a burst of blood from the man’s chest. Aditi turned behind and saw Nura holding the gun that she had placed on the table, which was pointed towards the old man. There was still rage in her eyes. She placed the gun back on the table and ran out of the room.

“Nura!” Aditi shouted. Instead of following Nura she first went to check on the shot-wound of the man. But there was no point, the breathing had stopped completely. When she came to the conclusion that it was pointless tending to the man’s wounds, she ran out to chase Nura. She climbed up the stairs and saw Nura leaving the banquet hall and walking towards the road.

When Aditi finally caught up to Nura she was standing on the sidewalk. Aditi caught her by the shoulder and turned her around. Nura wore an expression of utter confusion on her face.

“Nura, I know what you must be going through, but you just cost us good lead – “

“Aditi, how did we get here?”

“What do you mean? You just ran here. After you…” Aditi’s eyes darted around. There were a few pedestrians on the sidewalk. Aditi was still in the terrorist’s body. To them it seemed like a rugged middle-aged man was arguing with his one-handed spouse. She continued in a hushed tone, “After you killed your father.”

“My father?”

“Yes, the leader of the four-man terrorist squad…”

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Nura looked at Aditi with shock, “Aditi, I don’t know what... I don’t remember doing that.”

Aditi sighed. “You must have blacked out. It happens when we feel a strong –”

“Aditi, you don’t understand… I have no memory of doing that at all!”

It was at this moment that Aditi understood what may have just happened. She once again looked around at the people on the street, but this time with utmost fear. Nura ran back inside. Aditi continued to stand there examining the faces of the people on the street for a moment before following her.

Back in the basement Nura put her face one foot away from the man’s.

After observing him for a few seconds she confidently proclaimed,

“This man is not my father.”

“Are you sure?”

“I'm 100% certain. That is not Abdul Gafoor.” Nura answered with a worried sigh.

They both stared at the man’s dead body.

“That means…” Aditi left the sentence incomplete.

“It means that the third soul-transferor was inside this man’s body…”

Nura continued.

“And after claiming to be your father-”

“He entered my body and made me shoot this man so he couldn’t give us any further information.”

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“And then he made you run outside so he could leave your body and enter another on the street.”

Aditi turned to Nura, “But there isn’t anybody nearby, so that means he didn’t enter this man’s body just now, he must have been in it from the moment I brought him from the school.”

“The real question is; why did he pretend to be my father?”

Aditi thought for a while, “To create doubt.” she muttered. “And it’s working. How do we know for sure that you didn’t just black out in rage and kill this man? That’s equally plausible.”

“Because he clearly isn’t my father! His features are totally different.”

“You only found that out now, after having a better look at him. What about before you shot him? You didn’t verify it then. You just knew that a man claimed to be your father. It could be-”

“That still doesn’t explain why a random guy would claim to be my father. What purpose would that serve?”

Aditi had no response. Deep-down she knew that Nura’s explanation made logical sense, but that wasn’t enough to keep her from doubting it.

“More so…” Nura continued, “How did this third soul-transferor know about my father even before entering my body? The only other people who know about him are you and Robin.”

Aditi already knew the answer, but hesitated as she blurted out, “He has entered one of our bodies in the past and scanned our memories. ”

As Nura shot Aditi a look of fear mixed with anger, both the girls’

hearts started pacing faster. As if in a hypnotic state, Nura began walking out slowly and climbed up the stairs to the banquet hall.

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Aditi followed her once again. When they reached the hall, Nura fell on her knees and began weeping uncontrollably. Aditi ran towards her and held her by the shoulders.

“What the matter?”

Tears streamed from Nura’s brown eyes as she sobbed profusely, “I can’t… I can’t do this anymore, Aditi. I’m sorry- I can’t…”

Aditi was only waiting for the day when Nura would say those words. She took her head into her bosoms and patted it as Nura continued to wail.

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27. Their Goodbye

Hearing the divine voice, I bowed down to the Goddess Saraswati, although she had not appeared in any visual form. The other scholars wept joys of happiness on hearing proof of the existence of the Goddess at the temple.

“O Holy Mother, I am honoured to hear your voice. But why do you stop me from ascending the throne?”

The disembodied voice replied, “My child, to sit on the throne, one must not only be all-knowing but must also be pure. Despite being a Sanyasa you had sexual relationships. Do you still believe yourself to be pure?”

I replied without hesitation “I have not committed any sin in this body. My present body is ‘pure’. The sexual acts committed by me were in the body of another. Have my intentions always been pure? Yes. I only committed the act in order to gain knowledge.

Does a person who has never seen an elephant but has described an elephant in intricate detail not learn something new when he finally sees one? Same it is with the experience with sex-love which is an integral part of nature. It was impossible for me to get the knowledge of such an important aspect without experiencing it. If I did not do so then I would not have not been all-knowing. If I am impure because of having sexual relations while in the body of another, then it means that being all-knowing as well as pure is a paradoxical state, and there is none who could sit on this throne.”

Saraswati did not reply. Although I could not see her, I felt a warmth inside me and I knew that she was giving me a divine 257

smile. I sat on the throne. The scholars and I recited holy hymns all night.

The deadliest poison in the world is possibly paranoia. It can kill trust, love and even hope. Once it creeps in, it can make even the strongest of beings act in the most uncharacteristic manner. After all, it is nothing more than fear itself in its most concentrated form.

It had been only three days since Nura’s breakdown, and she had already made arrangements to shift to Bangalore permanently. The bags were packed. All documents transferring her share in the motel to Aditi were signed and registered. All loose ends were tied. There was nothing left to do but wait for the cab to arrive, which would take Nura to the airport.

All members of Team Transferance were present in her room at Gupta Bhavan. The room was a tiny and simple one, but gave a homely feel.

Robin, Nura, Aditi, Cyrus and Dante stood there in silence. Robin was in the body of an old stout man wearing a t-shirt and jeans. Nura was caressing Dante. All formalities were done except the final act of saying goodbye. Cyrus was the first to break the silence.

“So, what will you do in Bangalore?”

“Going to restart writing content. I’ve already gotten in touch with some of my older clients. Few are willing to hire me again. There won’t be too much work at the start but I’m sure it will pick up in a couple of months. Till then I can practice using the speech-to-text software. I tried typing with one hand, but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to reach my earlier speeds.” Again, there was silence. This time it was Nura who broke it, “I might visit my old house as well.”

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Nura already had the attention of everyone in the room, but with that last statement she even tickled their curiosity. This was one detail she didn’t even tell Aditi and Robin.

“If my father is alive, I’ll confront him.”

“If you need any help, we are there.” Aditi assured, “Simply call us and we’ll come.”

“Don’t worry about me. I’m more worried about all of you. I’m leaving you at a very inopportune time, I-”

“We’ll manage, Nura.” Aditi reassured her, “Don’t worry.”

Nura checked her phone. She was tracking the cab on her app.

“The cab is reaching in one minute; I should make my way out.”

Cyrus helped Nura with her luggage as they all walked out to the footpath outside the motel. The cab arrived and Aditi and Nura sat at the back. Aditi had earlier insisted that she would drop Nura to the airport. Once the cab left Robin proposed that he and Cyrus get a bite.

Cyrus declined in a slightly impolite tone and left to run some errands, which left Robin puzzled.

***

The two girls reached the airport with plenty of time to spare. They decide to have a coffee at the café near the Delhi airport’s departure gate. “Listen,” Aditi told Nura, “There’s something I have wanted to say for a long time…. I’m really sorry. About all of this.” She pointed towards Nura’s hand.

“Oh God! You and Robin are so similar! It’s not either of your fault. I got myself into this. The last year and a half have brought out the best in me. I lost a hand, but I got something much more valuable – the 259

opportunity to make a difference. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to contribute more to society than the way I did when we were working together. But now I’m burnt out. I want some peace. I didn’t tell anyone this, not even Robin, but…”