Vidyut was walking back home from an evening show, the road was not made of tar, rather it was just sand and stones, time was well past 9 pm. Almost 3 weeks of his summer vacation was over, he used to like this village a lot when he was a child. His grand mother used to tell him a lot of stories, he used to play in the big backyard. But not any more, this was not a place for a teen. He missed his friends, the hangouts, the movie talks, the cricket, but his father insisted in taking him to the village down south on every vacation. He made up his mind to talk out of coming back here the next vacation. But he was happy, he was going back to the city tomorrow evening. Lost in the thought of the city, vidyut, didn’t notice the car speeding past him until he heard the brakes being slammed. It was a tourist vehicle,but only driver was on board, vidyut came close to the car to see why it stopped.
The driver rushed out, he was checking the tires, by the time vidyut came up to him.
Vidyut: “Something wrong?”
Driver: “Something was crossing the road, I hit the brakes but I was sure I hit it, but…”
Vidyut bended down to see if there was anything underneath the car, but surprisingly nothing. He checked the roads, no sign of someone or something on the sand either.
Vidyut: “are you sure you saw something? because there is nothing here…!”
Driver: “I am very sure…! why would I be applying breaks so hard if there was nothing! It looked like a black dog or might have been a pig, it wasn’t a very big animal.”
In the mean time another man joined them, driver narrated the same story to him, all three of them started to check the surroundings. Vidyut was checking all the tires to see if they showed signs of running over something, when he was checking the rear tires, he noticed the new guy pocketing something from the front bumper. It looked like a chain. Vidyut started to walk up to him when he heard the driver.
Driver: “I guess what ever it was, must have escaped!”
New guy: “Yes possible!”
Saying this driver got into the car and started driving away.
New guy: “These drivers are never careful, look at the speed at which he is going! he is sure to make an accident!”
Vidyut just nodded his head and started walking slowly towards home. He turned round to see the guy was walking in the other direction. Vidyut couldn’t contain his curiosity, he had to find out what it was he took from the bumper. He turned around and started walking in the guy’s direction, something told him that this is going to be an adventure he would narrate to his friends back at his city. How he single handedly caught a thief! The guy reached the motor room which was used to irrigate the paddy field near-by, vidyut hid well behind a tree, making sure that no one was around the guy entered the motor room. Vidyut was not sure what to do next, should he wait and see what he does next or go back home and bring people. But before doing that he must know what he stole, he didn’t want to make a fool of himself. He decided to get closer to the motor room, but as he was about the make a move. He noticed a black animal approaching the motor room.
“Where the hell did that animal come from? was it the animal which the driver saw?” vidyut wondered.
This could be a setup, the man could be using the animal to setup a road accident. But he knew something was missing in the story which he framed. He saw the animal sneak inside the room, vidyut was undecided, whether to go and see what he took from the bumper or should he go back home forgetting this episode. It was a chance to be village hero!! he decided to wait and see what the man does next. after few minutes he noticed the door of the motor room open and a cloaked figure come out. Vidyut didn’t understand why the man had to wear a cloak, it was night, nobody saw him go into the motor room except him! The Cloak made the man look bulkier than he was before, his face was entirely covered by the cloak. This was getting mysterious than he thought. Vidyut decided to follow where the man was going, after all even if the man notices him he could run fast into the village, he knew many short cuts.
Vidyut heart started beating faster as he started following the cloaked figure, it was eerie feeling to follow man at night. Fear started creeping into him, what if the man had a gun? what if he is meeting other friends of him? what if he gets into a vehicle and starts chasing him? His mind was raising arguments “you don’t have to be the hero, think about your family, they will miss you!” another voice said to him “think about how proud they will be if you caught the thief! you will be a celebrity for rest of your life!” the voices in his head kept arguing, but his legs kept walking the direction of the man. The man seemed to walk faster than he did, vidyut had to trot to keep him in sight. The man lead him to the village outskirts, close the forest near-by. he stopped near a well, looked around, he took something out of the cloak,it looked like a chain, even in the low light he could see the chain sparkling, this was what he took from the front bumper, vidyut guessed. The cloaked figure started descending down the well. “What is he doing?!” vidyut thought, that well was empty as long as he knew and his grand mother had advised him not go near the well because of bad omen, neither did any of the villagers. Seeing many movies did really help, vidyut realized that this was a perfect hide out for thieves, since none of the villagers came here they could use this as a hide out.
Vidyut made up his mind, he will take a look inside the well, to see if he is still there then run to the village and get the people here and be the HERO! he didn’t waste time started slowly walking towards the well, he made sure that there was no sound when he walked, he was about few inches away from the well, he held his breathe but his heart beat was beating at an alarming rate, he took deep breathes, very slowly he looked down at the well. His eyes took time to adjust to the darkness inside the well, there was plants growing inside the well. The well was deep but thanks to the full moon, he could see through, he strained his eyes to see if the guy was still inside, was there more of them? what will they do in the darkness? don’t they use lights? why is he so quiet? is he waiting for someone else to come? strangely there seems to be no activity inside the well, if the guy has just went down then plant which was growing should have been disturbed, they should be moving at least, but everything was still. Vidyut was very sure that he saw the guy go down the well, again the voices insides his head started talking “you should go inside the well and check, what if the man was not there and you make a fool of yourself when you bring people back, you should trap him so that you are not fooled!” another voice spoke in his mind “you don’t have to do this, there is no necessity for being a hero here! this is dangerous!” But Vidyut had already started descending down the well.
Vidyut knew he had to place his legs firmly on the small rocks which lead to the bottom, not only because it had plants growing out of them but also he knew that his knees were shivering with fear, if he doesn’t place his foot firmly he is bound to fall. Even without his knowledge his lips started chanting prayer, he reached the bottom of the well. To his surprise he saw no one there, there was lots of plants to the height of his hips, but there was no sign of the cloaked figure. Vidyut decided to search the walls anyway, there might be a trap door as in movies. As soon as he took a step ahead, he was sucked in, the fear gripped him, he tried to scream for help but his voice failed him!! he was sucked inside by the earth, his entire body was twisted and turned, he started to feel pain, he knew he might be dead soon, he will be deprived of oxygen beneath the earth. Tears ran down his cheeks, not sure if he cried because of the pain or cause of the fear or because of the death which he is going to meet soon. Vidyut’s entire body was swallowed by the earth, his eyes were closed, he was crushed by the weight of earth above him, his body was squeezed by the earth around him, the pain was unbearable, he wished he died sooner! he couldn’t hold his breath anymore, the moment he gives up he knew he might take in sand through his nostrils and fill his lungs with sand and die eventually, he tried to hold on. Suddenly out of nowhere he fell down to flat ground, he was in a circular room he looked up to see earth but the earth didn’t fall down, it held its place, for few minutes he couldn’t make out what was going on! how can the sand not fall down into the circular room? and why is there a circular room beneath the well?!
Vidyut started looking the room to see if there was a way to escape, there was a stairs which lead up to the earth above, he quickly climbed it and try to squeeze back through, but the earth was solid, rock solid! he started crying without making noise, he knew he shouldn’t panic now and try to find a way out but he couldn’t, all he wanted now was to get back home ALIVE! He took deep breaths and started looking around again, he noticed a small door in the room, he ran and opened it, it was a passage, he had no other option but to take it. The passage was lit by fire, he quickened his pace hoping that the passage would take to land above him. The sight at the end of the passage stunned him, it was nothing what he hoped to see. He was many miles below the earth how could this be possible? Am I hallucinating? This was the most beautiful place he had ever seen.
It looked like he was in different world, first thing vidyut noticed was how bright it was, how is possible for sun to reach here, everywhere he looked it seems to glitter! there was river which ran through and there were small trees which grew along the sides of river, vidyut knew he was below the earth and yet the temperature was normal in fact cooler than above, it was a description of paradise, calm and peaceful. There were many monadnock (small rocky hills) around, but he didn’t understand where the sun light came from. he started walking towards a monadnock, he took a closer look at the stones Vidyut jaws fell open he realized it was not sun which caused the light around this place but the place had so many jewels which lightened up the place. Where was this place? how can there be so many jewels in one place? vidyut started inspecting the monadnock closer, he noticed there were carvings in them, in fact three, with labels underneath them he noticed it was written in Sanskrit and read “Vasuki” “Shesha” and “Manasa”
Vidyut remember those names from the stories he heard from his grandmother they were the “Nagas” who ruled the underworld – Patala, the seven lower regions of the universe - which are located under the earth. Vidyut body started to shiver with fear, he thought the stories were myth, these places don’t exist. He heard voices, he hid himself behind the monadnock and looked. It was the cloaked figure, but it didn’t have cloak anymore, the sight alarmed him, he was half man half snake, he didn’t walk he slide across the earth and vidyut cursed himself for not noticing this! he was talking to another cloaked figure.
“Jai Takshaka! General, this human stole my nagamani , I brought him here! he is unconscious”
Vidyut covered his mouth to prevent the scream, it was the man who took the chain from the bumper.
Naga General : “Jai Takshaka! Soldier did you make sure to wait for till the earth solidified in the well before coming?”
Naga Soldier: “General, no one was following me!”
Naga General: “It is full moon we don’t take chances against Garudas you know that! very well, make sure not to lose your nagamani again! any one in possession of nagamani can find their way here! Be careful! and take bath once you kill him as it is full moon today!”
Naga Soldier: “Yes sir, will be careful!”
Saying this the Naga general left. The Naga soldier took the unconscious human body to the river. The Naga soldier closed his eyes and started chanting, he transformed into a huge snake with four heads. Vidyut couldn’t believe what he was seeing, the snake then wrapped the human body in its tail and vidyut could hear the human bone crack and suddenly the man started screaming! it was a bloodcurdling, every cell in vidyut body was terrified wanted to run, but he knew if he make a move now, the Naga would kill him too. Vidyut held his breathe, afraid even the faintest of noise would give him away. Within seconds four heads of Naga feasted on the man, there was no evidence of a man being eaten. Vidyut waited, the Naga again transformed into half human half snake form, started changing again, he removed his nagamani and kept in the river side. The Naga moved deeper into the river to dip himself , ceasing the moment, vidyut ran to pick up the nagamani and ran towards the passage, he ran as fast as his legs could carry him. he knew the minute Naga finds out that his nagamani is missing he would track his scent and kill him. He entered the circular room, climbed the stairs which lead to the earth above, the earth was solid, he plunged the chain into the earth half expecting to his hand to break but it didn’t the earth started sucking him in, but this time he didn’t feel pain or didn’t choke, within minutes he was at the bottom of the well. Vidyut didn’t waste time he climbed the rocks as fast he could, he reached the top wasting no time he threw the nagamani back into the well hoping it could reach the patala before the earth in the well solidifies.
Without looking back vidyut ran hard towards his home, he didn’t stop even to take a breathe, he reached home, his dad was waiting outside, seeing vidyut he asked
Dad: “what happened? are you alright? why do you have scratches all over your body?”
Vidyut: “I… I… I… fell down… saw a snake…afraid… ran…”
Dad sighed a relief, come everyone is waiting for you. vidyut knew if he tells the truth no one would believe him, neither did he have the nagamani to take them back to prove. forget hero he didn’t want to be called lunatic by everyone in village. He held his dad’s hand and went inside. Vidyut was restless during dinner, he couldn’t eat properly. That night he decided to sleep next to his dad that night, he kept glancing at the window, he was afraid Naga might find him, his eyes were heavy and closed. but the sudden noise made him wake up, he glanced at the window he saw the four hooded snake staring at him!
Vidyut woke up with a jump from his sleep, he was sweating and was breathing like he had ran for hours. Ten years after the incident, it still haunted him. Vidyut had moved to city after that and never went back to that village again. But every night he slept he dreamt about same thing,every night he woke up from dream of the four hooded snake. His life was never the same after that, vidyut lived in fear that he might be a victim of the Naga one day or the other.
Image courtesy: Google
