KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE--CHAPTER 98

                         KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE—CHAPTER 98

The Super Star raised a hand, and that moment the stick disappeared! Kabaligan was at his feet. He could not believe what had just happened. He stared up at the Super Star. Without trying to rise up, he started to entreat him, “All these years, my good sir, I had been thinking am the master of the art. I have two spirits to do my biddings. But you seem to be a past master of this art. Please teach me the art. Because I have never seen such a spectacle in which my own spirit would do thy biddings. Please, Master, do instruct me in that art. And I would do anything for you. I have vast wealth and gold coins of the king’s treasury well stashed under the subterranean cellar. I would give you, just hand them all over to you to be taught the art by which you used my spirit to beat me up. Please, sir!”

“You keep silent, for a while, man. My art could never be taught to a cannibal like you. Moreover, only persons of impeccable character could be taught such tricks. You are not even a man—a beast. How can I teach you such sidhis?”

As though the matter was over, the Super Star said to Valli and her sister, “Both of you have been freed. You can come away from the post!”

Lo and behold! Both the girls came in a rush to thank him. And Kabaligan started to cry bitterly. “I tell you, sir, I will turn a new green leaf in my life. I won’t even eat the animal flesh hereafter. I would turn completely a decent and normal guy. I would give away all the gold coins to the poor and impoverished. Please take me as your…”

The Super Star behaved as though he did not hear anything. Moreover, he raised his hand over the head of Kabaligan who had still been at his feet. That instant moment he fell deaf and dumb! He started to quake and quiver in fright. The Super Star raised his hand again. This time Kabaligan fell at his feet in a swoon.  

Valli gripped the hands of the Super Star. “O, my good sir. You are a white magician? From what you said to Kabaligan, I can understand it is a siddhi you acquired after long years of Tapas. O, my good sir, don’t leave me in the lurch!” She said in a pitiful voice.

At that moment had come running into the hall none other than Kumanan, the Devil incarnate.

“Hey, Valli! What is this, I see you completely free. And who is this mannnn…mmmhooommm…Haven’t we already met, sir?” He asked and then he answered the question himself. “O yeah. I saw you in the temple this morning. But whoever you are you have no right to set Valli and her sister free. For this, I will punish you after I have dealt with the two sisters.” He spoke with such arrogant confidence.

“You idiot! Congenital idiot!” Valli spat at him venomous words. “Look at you friend, Kabaligan, the cannibal. He has swooned at the feet of my man. Ask of his forgivance. He will forgive you. Or I will beg him to forgive you for the sake of your wife and mother. They are such sweet people. Now, fall at the feet of my man, or else is the situation!”

“What!” Kumanan, for the first time, saw his friend at the feet of the Stranger to that place.

“Now,” Valli said, “It is your turn to ask for forgivance. This minute!”

“What nonsense is all this, and who do you think I am?” Kumanan, with those angry words, Kumanan took some powdery substance from a paper sachet from under his cap and tossed the powdery substance at Valli and her sister. That instant they had started to become concrete statues. Not actually concrete, for at that time it was not available. But they had become grey statues. Kumanan turned and tossed some more at the Super Star.

Super Star simply laughed. “You can’t do that to me, you dirty rascal. I am not belonging to your time. I belong to a different time and world.!”

It was now the turn of Kumanan to get surprised and become awe-imbued. “I have heard of Siddhas come out of their body and go to any world they please. Are you one such person?” he merely mumbled. “But I have tossed some substance at you and it has fallen on my best friend, Kabaligan at your feet. He has become a grey statue too. Alas! Ok, why have you come from your world? And you are a look-alike of that Brahmin, Sivanesan, Aren’t you. Then I can see the reason. You are related. You have come to see your forefather. Sivanesan is your forefather, right!” He laughed. “If only you half know what we have in store for him!” He laughed vulgarly.

“Sir,” Manikkam spoke, “You have done enough damage by giving this bastard all those details. He is nobody’s fool. He has instantly connected you and Sivanesar.”

“To whom are you listening, Sivanesan?” asked Kumanan. Then only the Super Star understood his to what contingency his ordinary words let his forefather, Sivanesar into. So without much of an exertion, he stared at Kumanan fixedly. He started to become a grey man from foot up. Kumanan was not afraid of what was happening to him. Now his waist had been turning a grey statue!

“Such miraculous things are possible to the highly civilized human species, no? I am thankful for your confiding in me.” Now his chest area was turning into a statue. He stared fixedly at the Super Star. “See, if you come here, we could come to your place, no?”

Now his throat was turning grey. “I would like to come to your world!” he managed to mumble before his mouth turned grey.

The Super Star had become so very worried and mesmerized at the long star Kumanan kept throwing his way.

And just before his eyes turned grey Kumanan managed to wink at the Super Star.

The Super Star wanted to test the substance in the sachet. So, before Kumanan’s head had become grey he took off his headgear and took out the substance.

At the very moment, Valli’s parents and grandfather had come rushing in. Manikkam said, “Sir, toss the substance on them. They should not see their daughters having become statues. Their hearts will simply stop to beat!”

So the Super Star tossed the substance in the wind toward them. They too, that instant, became statues!

“Come on, sir. We have little time left for the Time Machine. Come, make haste!”

So the three of them started to go out of that big mansion of Kabaligan!

KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE--CHAPTER 97

                                   KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE—CHAPTER 97

“Ha! Ha! Ha!” Kabaligan laughed and started to speak in a sissy voice, “What’s this, darling. You speak of him as though he were your husband! In a short time, you and your sister will succumb to Kumanan’s sensual hunger. And then you would become the food to quench my bodily hunger. Doesn’t your man know this fact?” With that he laughed in a coarse way.

“What horrendous things you speak of you Man-eating beast!” the Super Star exploded. “Aren’t you ashamed of yourself, you filthy rascal?”

“My good, sir!” Valli exclaimed. “I am a thousand time grateful for your tongue lashing the beast. But he is also a terrible person practicing Black Magic. Please go while there’s time left.”

“O, Valli,” laughed Kabaligan, “while you speak ill of me, it stimulates my palates. Ok, now it’s time your man got a sound beating” and with that, he raised his hand and made a pattern in the air and then said, “shshshooo!” towards the Super Star. Lo and see! Out of nowhere, there appeared a tough and stalwart stick and it came dancing in the air towards the Super Star. And Valli screamed, “Run, run. Make a dash for it!”

But the Super Star simply raised his hand and the stick stood suspended in the air! And then he made another move with his hand. What a splendid sight it was for Valli! For the stick started to dance towards the Black Magic Practioner and gave him a sound beating. “AAh, oooh” the petrified Kabaligan cried in utter amazement and unspeakable pain. “What kind of a rascal are you, beating your own master!” he kept admonishing the stick. But the stick continued to give him a thorough beating! At this, the amazed Kabaligan came running toward the Super Star and fell at his feet. “Please, stop the rascal, sir. I am your slave from this moment!”

KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE--CHAPTER 96

                             KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE—CHAPTER 96

“Hello, sir?!” Valli whimpered from the post to which she was tied. I kept wondering if I couldn’t see your face before I died, sir! You have come right on time! Thank you, sir! Why are you still in a monk’s get up, my dear, sir? It is not as if you are a monk. But on whatever purpose you have come from your country to our country, it is my desire that your desire should be realized. But I have seen you for the last time. Thanks. Don’t tarry here. This is no place for folks like you. You can’t help me even if you wanted to. This is the place of a man who indulges in black magic. He will kill you the way he is going to kill me and my sister. Go! Before Kabaligan comes here, please sir, go! Go away from this place.

“O, I see. Is he a fake monk, my dear?” Kabaligan came there from one of the rooms leading into that big hall. “Thank you for the enlightenment. For, I shouldn’t care to tangle with real monks!”

Valli gave a start. “O, Yee Gods! Now my dear man has become putty in the vile hands of this magician. Save my darling man from his clutches!”

“Ha! Ha! Ha!” the black magician, Kabaligan laughed in a way that froze the flow of blood in Valli’s system. “In a short time, Valli, my darling,” Kabaligan said in a sissy tone of voice. I should like to see your man see you and your sister being raped and then cooked and eaten by me. If he objects to see the scene, he could become my evening meal and I would eat you tomorrow!”

“Hey, stop it, will you?” the Super Star thundered, “Are you a man at all. No, you are  less than a beast. Do you think you could get away from it all? Never, so long as I am alive I won’t let your paw touch my girl and her sister!”

Valli could not believe her ears. “My dear man! Thank you for you manly words. Yes, you are cent percent right, he, this Kabaligan is not a human being. He is a beast. Please make good your escape while there’s still time. That is before he invokes his Evil Spirit!”

KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE--CHAPTER 95

                          KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE—CHAPTER 95

“Thank you, amma” the Super Star said to the old woman. “You have helped the boy very much. That will help you in your last days.”

“Thank you, sir.” The old woman went away after the Super Star lifted the basket on to her head.

Leaving the boy there on the bench they went a few paces away. Then Manikkam said we can travel in time, sir. That way we can be at the ‘mansion’ of Kabaligan without any loss of time.

“Where is the Time Machine?” the Super Star asked.

“Time Machine is not necessary, sir. We have come to Karikalan’s time. Once we are here, we can go anywhere within and out of Chola Country without the Machine. All we have to do is think of the place we want to go and we would be there!”

“Then what are you waiting for? Let’s go,” the Super Star said.

“So be it!” Manikkam said. Immediately they were standing in front of the big house of Kabaligan, Kumanan’s friend.

“Where’s the Mansion?” asked the Super Star.

“That big structure is the Mansion, sir,” said Manikkam, “What did you expect? A huge concrete structure? We are at the beginning of the first century, sir. For them, this is a mansion. Though it is a structure with a thatched roof, the built-up area is more than two thousand square feet. And it is very high. So it is just that it is called a Mansion!”

Around the Mansion there was a fence. The high gates were locked. Within the fence, around the Mansion there were lots of grounds shorn of even grass and weeds.

“Let’s go inside over the gates, sir.”

They went into the Mansion, having crossed over another pair of gates to the Mansion proper.

Inside there was a huge hall and there were two posts to which the two girls had been tied.

“Anbare! (Hello, Mister)” welcomed Valli. “At last have you come to see me for the last time? We are already destined to die a violent death, sir!” she said in a pathetic tone of voice.

KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE--CHAPTER 94

                             KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE—CHAPTER 94

“What are you talking about, Manikkam, my boy!” exclaimed the Super Star. He felt like having been attacked by the thunderbolt.

“What shall I do, Swami? Both my sisters are my very life. My parents and grandfather have gone in search of them. They left me alone in the house. I could not remain there for long. Then I thought of you and the other Swami. I reckoned you might not have gone far away. But I could not find your whereabouts. Now I am very tired. I could not help my sisters. Please, Swami. Do something!”

The Super Star could not tell if it was the doing of Manikkam, the senior, or had come deep from his own self; he behaved like a real ascetic. “My son!” he addressed the small sobbing boy, “This is a small and inconsequential thing. Had you to go through so much in emotion over so little a thing like this? Jei, Bhagavati. May the peace of the Goddess come to you!” The small boy immediately stopped sobbing. There had come on him some miraculous changes. He even started to think of his bodily feelings. For he said to the Super Star, “Sir, I am very hungry. I was so much involved with the loss of my sisters that I didn’t even drink the gruel that I had to give you two and didn’t.”

With that he, having become conscious how tired he had become, sat on the red brick bench beside the Super Star.

“Where’s that butter-milk vender?” the Super Star ruminated. “She was here a minute ago.”

“Milkshake and buttermilk!” the old woman was coming their way with a basket suspended on her head. 

“Amma,” the Super Star spoke to her, “the small boy is very hungry. Have you got any gruel left?”

“O yes, enough to make a horse lose its hunger!” she asked the Super Star to help lower the big basket on her head. The Super Star helped her lower the basket on to the red brick bench.

 She served the gruel in a tumbler asking the boy if he liked the gruel raw or with the country brown sugar. The boy said he wanted lots of brown sugar should be added to the gruel. Then the old woman took from the basket another tumbler and added sugar and mixed it by pouring the gruel from one tumbler into the other. After mixing the gruel thoroughly she gave the tumbler of gruel to the boy.

While the boy was eating the gruel without any spoon greedily native to his age, the old woman started to weep, and said, “This boy reminds me of my own son! He used to eat greedily like this one. And he was a lovely boy! He would never cross the line drawn by me as a boy. But…!”

“Is he no more, Amma?” the Super Star asked.

“No he is very much alive and he is an important man in the King Karkalan’s foot army. But he has teamed up with that fellow, Kabaligan. He has become greedy and wants to influence the King’s mind so that the king would make him a minster for the propagation of Sanskrit.” 

On an instinct, the Super Star asked if Kumanan was her son’s name. The old woman was taken aback. Then she saw the boy who had started to doze off having eaten to his contentment. “He was a well-behaved boy at this boy’s age. But once he grew into a man…phew…I couldn’t control him…”  

Now the boy started to snore, the Super Star got up and make place for him. And the boy stretched out on the bench and started to snore heavily.

“I am a hermit, Amma. I can’t give you any money!”

“Neither had I expected to pay in cash, sir. Instead, please bless me so that I would die in peace!”

“May God bless you, Amma. And by the way, do you know where the Kabaligan’s place is?”

She told. And it translated into fifteen kilometers in metric measurement. She also gave the direction to the big house of Kabaligan. “It’s a mansion, swami!” she said. “It is situated on the outskirts of Uraiyoor city.”

KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE--CHAPTER 93

                          KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE—CHAPTER 93

When they were talking the Super Star said, “There comes Manikkam, the boy. I am sure he hasn’t seen us yet.”

“Sir,” Manikkam, the senior said, “from this moment you are the only person sitting here. The grandfather and I would disappear into thin air. We would be with you, sir, and you can communicate to us and even see us, but nobody else can see or hear us. And that goes for the small boy, Manikkam too. You would tackle the small boy. I think he has a crisis on hand. Let us hear what he’s got to say.”

Now the boy had neared the Super Star. When he had actually seen the Super Star, the boy had broken into a trot and soon was standing in front of the Super Star, “Swami, I have been running from pillar to the post in searching for you! At long last, I have been fortunate in finding you out!”

Manikkam, the Man, saw an old woman selling buttermilk and milk products. He wondered why the old woman seemed to matter to him. Anyhow, dismissing her out of his mind, he started to read the mind of Manikkam, the small boy, which was an open book. He could understand the boy was highly dehydrated. And he was also famished. And the other matters he read had simply thrown him off!  

“What’s the matter, Manikkam? Tell me” the Super Star asked.

“Sir,” the boy addressed the Super Star, “You should forgive me for this interference. You might not have forgotten about the matters we were discussing a little while ago at our house.” The boy spoke in a tired manner.

The boy had a look that made the Super Star regret that he did not have a son like him. “Ok, Manikkm, my boy. I haven’t forgotten anything. Tell me what the matter is” the Super Star encouraged the small boy.

And the small boy, Manikkam, started to cry bitterly. In between the sobs, he uttered, “Swami, I have a sister and a cousin, namely, Valli. Both of them have been kidnapped by Kumanan!” the boy continued to sob.

KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE--CHAPTER 92

                           KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE—CHAPTER 92

“I was in an unenviable position, sir” Manikkam said, “you had to be vetted all about the Time Machine, I had banked on your latest mental condition and that you would want a fresh ari and scene away from Chennai. But you had been tortured by the way grandfather behaved, to start with.”

“That’s the truth, Manikkam,” the Super Star agreed. “The way he had come down from the photo frame was a scarry experience for me. From that moment I wanted to get clear of your flat and go back to my empty flat!”

“You kept accusing me of being a sorcerer and a wicked man, sir!”

“Yeah, Yeah,” agreed the Super Star, “I really thought and afraid you practiced the Black Magic which gave a guy who had been mesmerized by the thought of ending my life the shock of the life! So all that had put a spanner in the wheel, yeah?”

“Yes, sir. And I left you for a time in care of my grandfather to meditate in the dark room. Once inside the dark room, I had the conviction that you had to travel in time, that otherwise, you would commit suicide. So when I emerged from the dark room, I kept encouraging you to speak about your family tradition. You remember, sir.?”

“Yes, and even though I had only made a passing reference to it you caught on to it, Manikkam.”

“Once again, the credit goes to the old man, sir. He had said lighting lamps and offering worship was your family tradition and your wife did not agree with you to the point of deserting you with your girl. And I wanted you to tell all the details if only to distract you. Moreover, I really meant to go to a particular forefather’s time when you came out in the open. But you kept cursing me instead of speaking about your family tradition. So I could not help you more than that. But when we entered the dark room, you kept speaking and asking questions and as a result, I could not meditate. But I kept telling myself that we wanted to go to the Mamallar’s time so my grandfather could be delivered and left there and we, after collecting the housefly and the lizard’s spirits could go to your forefather’s time. But the Machine had obviously an idea of its own. We came to Karikalar cholan’s time. And you picked up friendship with Valli and I found myself as the small Manikkam. It was then I decided that the Time Machine itself was invented for you, sir.”

KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE--CHAPTER 91

                              KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE—CHAPTER 91

“You had better explain everything, Manikkam.” The Super Star was more confused than angry with Manikkam.

“Sir,” Manikkam replied, “You remember the circumstances I met you on that evening before inviting you to my flat?”

“Yes, of course. You were your best in being sweet to me!”

Manikkam laughed. “How true, sir. On that day my grandfather and I had a row, sir.”

“Really, why?”

“He wanted to go back to his time and to his Mamallar’s palace in Kanchi. But I was not prepared to take him through the time as yet.”

“Well, it was your responsibility, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, sir. But traveling by time had its own problem.”

“Problem? Come on man! It was you who discovered the mantras or hymns.”

“Sir, the hymns were heard and recorded by the Vedic saints some four thousand years ago. This is a rough estimate only. Swami Vivekananda puts the time as nine thousand years back! Anyhow, I didn’t discover the hymns. Through a constant process of meditation and prayer and a good scholarship in Vedas I only selected the relevant hymns required for traveling in time. But as it has turned out the machine is its own master, sir.”

“Now what are you talking about, Manikkam?”

“Let me start from the time when we met on that evening and I asked you to be my gues for the night.”

“OK, let’s do just that!”

“You were very much confused. I even thought at one stage you were thinking of committing suicide!”

“How right you are, Manikkam sir,” said the Super Star, “It crossed my mind repeatedly. And it was quite difficult to put the thinking aside.”

“I conjectured that much, sir. For you had just that day put in your papers! Everyone there was talking about it. But no one approached you for everyone knew about the incident that your wife had gone away with your daughter in the early morning!”

“Yes, it was a personal sorrow and no one thought of interfering with it. Yes, I once again agree with you.”

“And I had a crisis of my own, sir.”

“What was that, Manikkam?”

“I had had a row in the morning with my grandfather who wanted to be immediately taken to his time. Any amount of explaining was of no avail. He insisted that I only wanted to incarcerate him inside a photo frame.”

“What was your problem, Manikkam?”

“The real problem was I deeply felt in my heart that the time for the second travel by time had not arrived as yet. And I was sincerely praying to the Vedic saints and sages to guide me. But my grandfather’s case was since I had the machine I was only to decide to travel once more. It was not so. The first travel had taught me certain things. That I couldn’t play with the machine. There must be a specific reason for the second travel. And for that I had been awfully praying to the sages with tears in my eyes. So on the day you resigned he had operated the machine by reciting the relevant mantras in the way I would. So at about eight in the morning the machine had been put on a countdown. Since the countdown had started at about eight in the morning, I had to find a reason for the travel within twelve and a half hours. Which meant I had to be present in the darkroom at about eight-thirty that evening! And I had met you around seven  in the evening, sir!”

“But how did your grandfather know how to put the machine in a countdown mode?”

“It was easy, sir. He had been reading my mind and memorized the initial hymns that would start the countdown!”

“My, goodness! So when you met me around seven in the evening you also read my mind, Manikkam?”

“No, sir. I was an ordinary man in Chennai. So I couldn’t indulge in mind-reading. But I went into the flat while you were standing and staring at the floor like a statue, and asked my grandfather to read your mind. He told me you were being mesmerized by the idea of putting an end to your life! I immediately decided to take you with me to Kanchi of Mamallar King. But the time was around seven and in an hour’s time your permission must be got and we all should be present inside the dark room half an hour before the travel and while you two concentrate, I should meditate cross eyed and cross legged on the floor!”

“O I see, that was why you were selling me the time machine, yeah?” asked the Super Star.  

KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE--CHAPTER 90

                               KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE—CHAPTER 90

“As I studied more and more the four Vedas, sir,” Manikkam explained, “the various mantras began to have an overwhelming influence on me. There are mantras to create and destruct. By chanting the suitable mantras at the time of various sacrifices one can create as well as destruct, sir. You can destruct your enemies’ crops ripe for harvesting and you can do so many things. And you can reserve seats in the Heaven after your death and enjoy for longish years all sorts of sensual pleasures. And I wanted to create something great, sir!”

“This is one thing I can’t understand, Manikkam,” the Super Star stated with feelings. “You are the last person on the earth to have wanted to enjoy something sensual…”

“Ok, sir. I would give that to you. I am the last candidate to have wanted to create something for sensual pleasures. It would seem, sir, that I was goaded against my will. Yes, certainly I wanted to create something stupendous and significant. But I had never had the Time Machine in my mind. One early morning I had a dream in which the Machine came to me!”

“The Time Machine came to you in your dream, Manikkam?”

“Well, it’s hard to believe but that’s how I tumbled over the Time Machine, sir,” ruminated Manikkam in a hushed tone of voice. “For no known reason I had this dream repeatedly for three consecutive times and then I was hooked to it. On the fourth day, I had a very well charted-out plan, sir. And all the machine needed was the selection of various mantras mainly from the Rig Veda. But other mantras from other Vedas also came to me in dreams, sir. By that time I had the best and fool-proof formula for the time machine. The idea was to recite these Mantras one by one continuously. This had taken me all of twelve and half an hours, sir. I used the weekend holidays for that. Since my wife was not with me, I could spend the time as I wished. And I recorded all these Mantras as I recited, sir.”

“So what you have in that dark room of your flat is a tape recorder containing the recitation of these Mantras?” The Super Star asked in a hushed tone of voice. “Once the recitation was over you would be transported to wherever you wanted to, hmmm?”

“Yes, sir,” Manikkam agreed. “You have put it in a rough way, sir. After recording these mantras or hymns mainly from the Rig Veda, I had to go through a cleansing process by meditating on the Vedic saints that I would never commercialize or even try to use it as I will, sir. I had to repeat it for three months, six hours every night. It was an arduous period of time, sir. And at last, I had dreams about the previous births of mine. And when all things were over and the time machine was ready, I really wanted to visit one of my forefathers in the prehistoric period of time and make his life there easy. It was the time when Man had been fast evolving from the Ape and naturally I wanted to precipitate his growth. He was some kind of a crude scientist, sir. He was much given to ruminations. He had very good imaginations and had made various implements from stones of various shapes and kinds. I wanted to help him invent the wheel and other things to make life easy for the then world. But when I went into the dark room, sir, a house fly, and a lizard had come into the dark room. I hadn’t noticed it then as I was in deep meditation.”

“One should meditate to go to a particular place in time-travel?” asked the Super Star.

“Yes, sir,” said Manikkam, “Not just concentration, we should start praying to the Vedic saints and then repeatedly think of the time zone and the place in our mind with eyes closed, seated in a lotus pose. I did all that, but the house fly and the lizard’s presence had put a spanner in the wheel and I got tossed to the King Mamallar’s time and found this grandfather dancing with various beautiful women for the entertainment of the King and the Queen!”

“So that was how you found this grandfather?”

“Yes, sir. And since then the Time Machine has taken things into its own hands. The day you came to my flat I never knew it was for you that the Time Machne was invented by me!”

“What nonsense you are talking about, Manikkam!” the Super Star exclaimed. “You say the machine was created by you for me and me alone?”

“Yes, sir. And I would explain everything, sir!”   

     

     

KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE--CHAPTER 89

KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE—CHAPTER 89

“Ok, Manikkam,” said the Supter Star, “Let’s come to the boy, Manikkam once more. What is the position of his father? You say you read his mind and…”

“I think I have already told you, sir,” Manikkam said, “If not let me tell you now. Manikkam, the boy’s father is in charge of the Royal Kitchen. So he has some influence among the ministers and persons close to them. This also rubs the wound of Kumanan with salt. He wants to establish himself as a minister in charge of the Propagation of Sanskrit. But the King Karikalan is not that much interested in it. While he is a past master of the Language and the Vedas and Vedantas, he does not want to thrust the language on his people. He wants Sanskrit to find a foothold in his country in the natural course of time. He also has to balance the interests of the Samanar monks and the monks belonging to the Buddhism.”

“Ok, let’s come to the Time Machine once again!” the Super Star brought an end to the conversation on Manikkam, the boy.

     

     

KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE--CHAPTER 88

                      KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE—CHAPTER 88

“Every nation in every age,” said the Super Star with some intuition, “seems to have some of its own problems and issues with regard to the languages. If you as the small boy Manikkam has a problem with Sanskrit, the early period of the DMK Political Party in Tamil Nadu of our time had the problem with Hindi.”

“But Manikkam, the boy’s language issue was a real one, sir,” Manikkam came up with some sort of a point of order, “but the anti-Hindi agitation was a social issue. It got politicized by the DMK party and it garnered a rich harvest, politically speaking, I mean.” He attracted the attention of the rather volatile Super Star by this, and went on, “ The Dravidar Kazhaham and the DMK political party made it a great issue and agitated on a large scale. Tamil is a classical language even during Karikalan’s time. But one language’s greatness need not necessarily proved by spreading hatred and fear and concern about other languages. But Karikalan and latter period Cholas, Pandia’s and Chera’s did much for the growth of the Language. But they did not claim any exclusivity. This is how many Sanskrit words entered Tamil and became the household words being used by the common man even during Karikalan’s time. This despite the fact that Karikalan did not try on his own to spread Sanskrit. Though he knew the language and allowed such of the Ariyas coming from the North to take shelter under his umbrage, even as he had allowed the Samana and the Buddha religionists to spread their culture in his land.”

“Sanskrit attracted Tamil scholars as no other language attracted. Because the Sanskrit language was in many ways like the ancient Tamil language as it had beautiful structure and music. Moreover, the Tamil Pandits under Karikalan’s rule loved the well-grown literature, Scriptures and Itihasas and Puranas of the Sanskrit language. Thus it got full support from the king and the scholars. During Karikalan’s period, the Saiva Religion was the religion of the King and the subjects. The linga temple at the back of the King’s palace was a famous temple in Uraioor, the then Capital of Karikalan’s land and the presiding deity was called ‘the Uraiyoor Thevar’. People daily visited the temple and offered prayer. Apart from the capital, in villages, there were Siva temples and all the temples had linga form only to propitiate the Lord Siva. But when the Aryans came to settle down in Karikalan’s land, the Rudra of the Vedas got identified with the Linga and Parameshwaran was born. Then many a Tamil song and poem were written in glorification of the Parameshwaran and He was assigned the role of the Lord of Dissolution of the universe during pralaya or the last days of the Universe. In latter period, rich literature got written in the glorification of Lord Siva and his family. The Ganapathiyam, the cult of worshipping the Lord Vinayaga, got assimilated with Sivaism and Vinayaga and the native God, Subramanian became the sons of Lord Siva. The Devi system of worship in the Dravidiyan land was not very famous. But the Devi became the Spouse of the Lord Siva. This made large-scale literature around the family of the Lord Siva in the latter period.”

When Manikkam stopped, the Super Star commented, “You seem to have a large fund of knowledge, Manikkam unknown to the scholars of our time.”

“Yes, sir. The Sanskrit got a good footing in Karikalan’s time and Karikalan himself was well-versed in the language and the rich literature of Sanskrit language. These are the facts I came to have by reading the minds of several persons like your namesake, Sivanesar and others including the ministers of Karikalan’s court. So there is no wonder that I happen to know many things about Karikalan that our present scholars in India and Chennai do not know! Unlike today, scholars at Karikalan’s court, and in the Debating Societies Sanskrit claimed a high place. There were give and take between the scholars. The Sanskrit scholars also were very much interested in the high Dravidian Culture and its rich Langage, Tamil and its structure and literature. They read avidly the ‘Tholkappiyam’ the expansive Tamil Grammar. The Grammarian, Tholkapiar was considered as great as Panini of the Sanskrit Language by the Sanskrit Scholars. All these made the way for the mingling of the blood between the Tamils and the Ariyas. And a new people evolved with fair colour with Dravidian features. Since the Ariyans worshipped the Brahman, a development from the Vedic period to the period of the Upanishad, these new people were called Brahmanas in Tamil.”

                                                                 A PUBLIC NOTICE

OWING TO UNAVOIDABLE CIRCUMSTANCES, MY NEXT POSTING WILL BE ON THE FOURTEENTH OR FIFTEENTH OF THIS MONTH. THE INCONVENIENCE TO THE READERS IS REGRETTED.

KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE--CHAPTER 87

                             KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE—CHAPTER 87

“Because of his proficiency in a language, the boy is in danger.” The Super Star could not believe in what Manikkam of Chennai said to him. “Do you know what would happen to the boy, Manikkam?”

“His parents would take him to Kanchi, sir”.

“Because of his proficiency, the boy is going out of the country, yeah?” and the Super Star thought of something else. “Even in our period, there was anti-Hindi agitation and because of a dispute relating to Hindi scores of people had to die!”

“Anti-Hindi agitation started as a social problem of a particular people, sir,” Manikkam said, “and soon it got changed into a political agitation. The agitation got politicized. Someone in Pandit Nehru’s government had started the totally unwarranted thing by sending an order that all public servants must sign in the register kept at the public offices in Hindi. Simply because one learnt to sign in Hindi the language could not have flourish in South India. But it is a fact that if that had been allowed more and more force would have been used to spread Hindi. But the boy Manikkam has to go from here to Kanchi is a true problem relating to a language, sir.” Manikkam had an air of being forthright in his viewpoint.

“How do you say that?” asked, “Can you explain it further?”

“The Chera Kings, the Chola kings and the Pandiya kings were great patrons of the Tamil Language. But they did not have a hatred of other languages that had come from North India, namely, Sanskrit. Indeed Karikalan showed a great Interest in the new language. Before that, he had known about the greatness of the Mandarin, Greek, Latin languages. He had commercial contact with all of them. He sent his men to these countries and to Grees also. He welcomed scholars from these countries too. He loved in getting to be informed about the great cultures of these countries. And this was how King Karikalan showed much interest in Sanskrit. There is a Sanscrit Scholar in his Court, apart from the Pandit at the Siva Temple. Kabaligan naturally wanted to propitiate the Devil by sacrificing a boy or girl knowing Sanscrit and get Kumanan a ministerial berth in the ministry of the King Karikalan.”

“So Kumanan is a Sanscrit Scholar?”

“No, but he has a good grounding in the language. And all he wants is a berth in the King’s ministry.”

“What kind of job he expects, Manikkam?”

“Something like a minister for the propagation of Sanskrit!”

“And the king is so much interested in the new language?”

“It’s not a new language to him. He knows the language well enough. He is very much interested in Sanskrit Literature. We will get to know it personally when we see him in person!”

“And Kumanan is angling for the job in his ministry?”

“Yes, sir. But the King is not that much interested that his subjects should learn the language. And that’s why Kumanan is interested in Kabaligan’s sacrifice to influence the mind of the King.”

“I have a basic question, Manikkam.”

“Yes, sir?”

“How do you know all these things personally?”

“I read the mind of the father of the boy, Manikkam, sir. He is in charge of the Royal Kitchen. He gets know juicy tidbits like this.”

KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE--CHAPTER 86

                              KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE—CHAPTER 86

“Ok, Manikkam,” said the Super Star, “the small boy himself told me this. What’s so special about it?”

“You do know only what he said, sir.” Manikkam’s face was wreathed in a bitter smile. “He himself knows not what is in store for him!”

“That’s a most unkind word to say about the boy,” the Super Star was much worried by Manikkam’s words. “You say something is gonna happen to him?”

“Yes, sir, at least there’s a possibility. Not immediately, sir. But in future.”

“Present or past, what do you mean? We are living in the past, ourselves!”

“All the problems started when his Pandit asked him to bring his father, sir,” said Manikkam. 

“How now, tell me everything, Manikkam. If it is possible I am going to help him! He is such a nice boy.”

“Nobody could help him, sir. But his parents will have to go to someplace other than here. That’s for sure!”

“How do you say it all started with his Pandit’s asking his father to see him, Manikkam?”

“As you should know, sir, Kabaligan has for long been searching for a suitable sacrificial object. He or she should be prepubescent and a good scholar in the Sanskrit language!”

“O, my God! And how do you join up the two, Manikkam?”

“The boy’s Pandit got him bring his father, sir. When Manikkam, the boy’s father went to see the Pandit, the latter told the father that Manikkam the boy was a natural for the language. And the pandit asked for his permission to teach him, the boy, exclusively on Sanskrit literature, like the Four Vedas and the Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita and the Brahma Sutra. This, apart from the erudition in Sanskrit Puranas and Itihasas! The pandit was prepared to teach him the whole Sanskrit Literature so that the small boy could take his place when he is old enough! Naturally, the happy father of Manikkam, the small boy, gave the green signal. And even now the boy is given studies in pure Sanskrit Literature only!”

“But this is just some 50 years after the death of Jesus Christ, Manikkam,” the Super Star went on, “and already the Four Vedas and Vedandas were known here in Karikalan’s time?”

“You don’t know about Karikalan, sir. But we will get to know he himself is a scholar. When the time is correct we will see him teach Sanskrit Literature to his own son. But you’ll have to wait for some more time!”

“Gosh, Manikkam! Nobody has written about Karikalan being a scholar in the Sanskrit language!”

“You would come to know so much about him, sir that History of his age does not know!”

“But Karikalan had a son?”

“Yes, of course, sir!”

“Then why did his grandson was crowned a king after Karikalan!”

“That’s putting the cart in front of the horse, sir” Manikkam smiled. “You will have to wait for some more time!”

“And tell me about you, Manikkam. You are the boy here, aren’t you?”

“Yes, sir. And because of the Pandit’s ardour for Manikkam, the small boy, some boys spoke about it at home and the word got around. And Kabaligan got to hear about it. And he has designs on young Manikkam, sir!”

“But that rascal, Kabaligan could have the Pandit for his sacrifice…”

“He is no prepubescent boy, sir!” Manikkam laughed despite the knowledge of the sword hanging over him as the small boy here in Chola’s Country.

KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE --CHAPTER 85

                             KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE—CHAPTER 85

The Super Star waited for some time and expected Manikkam to speak. But while he seemed to be in no mood to speak, the Super Star said generally, “Why, sir” he took a long indrawn breath, “Why did it happen to you.  I mean…sorry, I have  no solution for your prob…”

“That’s quite all right, sir.” Manikkam did not lose his composure.

“No…sir…what I want to say is…why are you not like others, sir. Ha! Ha! Ha!” the Super Star laughed self-consciously. “What I wanted to say was something different!”

“You saw me, sir,” Manikkam asked, “in that house me as a small boy?”

The Super Star gave a start. “Why, what’s wrong with the small chap, your namesake? If you look at him you’d get an idea how nice it would be that if we had such a son. Apart from that…?”

 “There’s something wrong with the boy, sir,” Manikkam said. “You can’t tell it just by looking at him, sir. He’s quite a genius in his own right in Sanskrit. But his written Tamil is awful. The Pandit who is conducting class believes he is born for Sanskrit. Sanskrit comes as easily and normally as swimming to a fishling. That boy is me, you understand, sir.”

“You mean you are born here as Manikkam, the boy some two thousand years ago, Manikkam?”

“Yes, sir. And even two thousand years ago I had had a passion for Sanscrit. Then how could it be said I might have a bit different for the sake of my wife, sir?”

“Manikkam, you have a point,” agreed the Super Star. “But how would you explain away your grandfather. He is no scholar. He is after women even at this ripe old age!”

“I have no categorical answer to that, sir,” said Manikkam with a rueful smile. “He is an aberration. I think the small boy had some latent desire to chase women when he grew older, but his Sanscrit status might not have allowed that. So the desire must have been lain in his subconscious and came to the fore when he was reborn in Mamallar’s Kanchi. And leaving back every other thing my grandfather has taken to women as his mission!”

“Are you sure, Manikkam that after your grandfather you were reborn in Chennai of our time? I mean, in between your grandfather and You, there might have been any number of Manikkams!”

“No, sir. This small boy Manikkam lived a life of a great Sanskrit Pandit and then was born in Mamallan’s Kanchi. That is my grandfather sitting here. And after my grandfather I was born in Chennai as Manikkam, your brother-in-law! If there was any other Manikkams the Time Machine might have gone there especially as it has taken things into its able hands. What should have happened is my grandfather must have lived the life of this small chap Manikkam yearned in his elderly life. And after my grandfather was dead, his Atman or Soul must have been in Heaven enjoying the life there and must have returned back as me in Chennai!”

“But in between so many centuries have passed, Manikkam!”

“Yes, sir. In Bhagavad Gita Sri Krishna says that the soul goes with the mind and other sheaths sans the human body to the world above and live there for a long time before returning back to earth’s plane. And since I have exhausted my carnal desires, the power of this small boy Manikkam alone works out the karma in me. That’s why I find it easy to learn Sanskrit and apply my mind to the Vedas.”

The Super Star thought about what the small boy said a while ago… “Yes, Manikkam, sir. The small Manikkam told me about his proficiency a while back at his home!”

KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE, CHAPTER 84

                               KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE –CHAPTER 84

“Manikkam, you speak so much,” the Super Star said, “From what you say it is understandable that even now you are feeling so much for her. I can also understand that even when your wife’s problems last it was not as if you were completely oblivious of the same. Why didn’t you go the half the way in compromising your maniacal interest in the Vedas and take her to the cinema and parties? In all the parties given by us, the last man and his family stood invited. And you knew the fact. If you asked me, I’d say you were more than a bit selfish. But you seem to be ready to take her back with your child. Why didn’t you try?”

“Because I knew the same thing would be repeated, sir. That’s why I said it would be a blessing if both the spouses had similar interest. Supposing she was a bit more religious than the normal housewives, we could have hit it off nicely.  We were poles apart in our interest, sir.”  

“But the question is if you tried to make amends by going to her mother’s and ask her to come to live with you.” The Super Star insisted.

“I did just that, sir!”

“You don’t say?”

“Yes, I say sir! And she too came with me. But all the parties I attended with her turned disastrous for her!”

“How come, Manikkam?”

“I am not a great conversationalist in the technical sense of the term, sir. Those matters I am interested in I could speak for hours. But on matters, I am not interested in I could only be civil to other people who spoke non-stop about the next raise, the latest movie and things that couldn’t interest me at all. So after coming back home, every time, I mean, sir, my wife would become a Goddess of Destruction and by showing her volatile emotions. “Why couldn’t you talk sweetly about small and interesting things? The other folks could hardly be civil to you. You tested their patience. The conversation does not mean keep saying ‘Yes, yes and yes.’ There are somethings as reciprocation. You never contribute to the conversation, there. This is how you would behave, what’s the point of going to and attending the parties?” And even now, sir, I wouldn’t blame her. We are just having diametrically different interests.”

“So?”

“So, at last, we decided it would be good for her and the daughter to stay at her mother’s. And…” Manikkam fell silent.

“Gosh!” the Super Star internally exploded, “Why did we butt into the personal life of a good and superb guy like Manikkam, the inventor of the Time Machine?”

KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE --CHAPTER 83

                                    KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE 83

The Super Star thought, “Ok, our boy is coming slowly to the Time Machine. Good! Ok, if your wife did not have it in her that would make her understand your greatness, leave it, man. It’s not your mistake. ”

“She could not go to a cinema. And Chennai was new to her. So she could not pluck the courage to go to a cinema with our child. She could not attend a party. In our community, someone would be giving a party often, as you know, sir. But she could not go to any of them. Because I could not go with her. She knew how fanatically I applied myself to the study of the Vedas. She wouldn’t insist on my accompanying her. And when I asked why she shouldn’t go on her own with the daughter, she would say, “others ask why you never give a party. And moreover, they ask about you and ask, ‘Why is your husband an introvert? He doesn’t move with us freely!’ and at such times she would naturally have to cut a sorry figure.”

There was silence for some time. “God!” the Super Star thought, “People like Manikkam should never marry in life! And if at all they married, it should be with a girl who could understand his genius better.”

“For me, there was a tension-filled search. And she hated it. She would scold me often. ‘You around your small world’, she would advise me, sir. ‘See if there is one person like you. Why are you this way?  And why did you marry me? You must have known about you. Why did you marry me? To kill me by not giving your society like this?’ she would ask me, teary-eyed. But however I tried, sir, I couldn’t change myself. Every day I existed only for the study of the Vedas. Slowly and inexorably the Vedic saints and sages started to have an overmastering pull on my psyche. It was as if I could not live away from my books. Though my educational qualifications were enough to become a clerk or something like that, I deliberately opted for the watchman’s post, sir. Because I could write down some hymns and go through them while I was sitting in my chair and ruminate over the hymns!”

KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE--CHAPTER 82

                       KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE—CHAPTER 82

 “Sir, what you asked is correct,” spoke Manikkam, “The frog is always thinking about the snake, and so much so that the snake stats to live a vicarious life!”

Oh, my God, thought the Super Star. This fellow is fit to start a mutt and sit and chat with bigwigs visiting him. But why does he behave like this with us? We did not even ask him about his wife!

“It was me, sir, who left her in the lurch,” Manikkam said all of a sudden.

“You mean you took your wife to a railway station or Airport and left her there all on her own, Manikkam?”

“In a way like that, sir!” Manikkam dropped a bombshell.

 “I don’t know what you mean, Manikkam”.

“I think, sir,” Manikkam said with a remote look in his eyes, “if both the life partners do the same work, nothing of the misunderstanding might creep in like in our case, sir. To my wife, who was a normal and healthy one with a healthy attitude to life expected me to be so. But I couldn’t come up to her expectations, sir. But for me, our forefathers and their scriptures and a scholarship in it were most important than my life, sir. While EVR and others spit on the very idea of God and tried and devoted their entire life to establishing that there is no God, I would think, sir, somebody should come forward to devote their entire life in searching the Vedas and find out just what are the things said in that. And I devoted all my free hours to the deep study of the Vedas, sir,” said Manikkam almost with a guilty feeling.  

KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE

                         KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE –CHAPTER 81

“My wife’s stand is correct, sir,” Manikkam said, “Only I couldn’t come up to her expectations!”

This was something the Super Star hadn’t expected from him!

There was neither any sorrow or anger in Manikkam’s face. Neither did he want to indulge in speaking ill of his wife behind her back and almost two thousand years back in time.

Instead of that, Manikkam spoke in the tone of voice of a different person analyzing his life. There wasn’t any bitterness even.

“God has created women with certain wants, sir,” Manikkam spoke. “It’s completely natural. Man and woman must complement each other and they should also be on equal terms without any compromise. Actually, it happens on a mass scale. Otherwise so many of the pairs would suffer like anything. There is no man in Siva and no woman in Parvati in the Arthanari state, but both are complementary forces. One is a negative charge and the other is a positive charge. Both of them are better forces even individually. But no creation would take place if they are individuals. Our forefathers were not blind. In Lord’s creation, none is superfluous or low in status. If you say the snake is higher than the frog, there is no truth, sir. There is frog in the snake, sir!”   

“How do you say that, Manikkam?” the Super Star asked, somewhat irritated, “There is only snake in the snake. The poor frog is afraid of the snake, and always thinking of the snake!”  The Super Star was rightly dissatisfied and fed up with a philosophical Manikkam. All he wanted was to know the problem between Manikkam and his wife. Gosh! He had not asked about that in the first place. It was Manikkam who had started to speak about his estrangement with his wife. But when he had started he called the Universal pair, Lord Shiva and his Spouse, Parvati and then went on to discuss the relationship between the snake and the frog. Did he ask for that, indeed? If you don’t want to speak about your family life, well you please yourself. But why this philosophical obfuscation? The Super Star had no time for that kind of philosophy.

But Manikkam should have been very much hurt by his estrangement with his wife, philosophied the Super Star. Otherwise, would a man commit himself to see in a snake, lizard, toad, frog and all the creatures in the Zoo? Hmmm… Sensitive fellows think rather in a different way, no?

KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE--CHAPTER 80

KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE –CHAPTER 80

The Super Star thought for a while if it would be a good thing to suddenly change the topic. He took a gaze at Manikkam’s face once more. He wondered about the difference between him and the small boy, Manikkam they had just then left at his house: he was suddenly surprised at the lack of difference between them. That small boy, Manikkam, should put on some hight and weight and he would be this Manikkam. Manikkam was built on the slim side. But he had boyish looks about him, with his eyes full of wonder and sympathy for the suffering world. A great inventor of the Time Machine!

We could say some persons at the sight that they were great gentlemen. Manikkam was like that, a perfect gentleman. There are some people we can leave our babies with in a railway station. That was Manikkam. Completely reliable in an emergency; he would not put self in front of others’ goodness and welfare.  

Ok! What would an ordinary wife look for in her husband? Manikkam had everything. He was on the slim side and good-looking Brahmin. He was fair and handsome too in his own way. He had the eyes of an inventor and the tapering fingers of an artist. He had a pair of very young and lively eyes. What did his wife expect more than that? He had a steady income. What else would a wife expect from such a nice-looking man? And the Super Star had an uneasy feeling. He thought with bitterness as to why he had allowed the matter to come to have such a pass.

KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE

KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE –CHAPTER 79

“Really? Now, Manikkam you’ve poured milk in my stomach.”

“Sorry, sir!”

“Why should you be sorry? You have done me good only”.

“I can pour milk only if you have a stomach, sir!”

“My Goodness! Hey, I was only using a Tamil idiom. But you say I have no stomach. What exactly are you…”

“Sir, you once again start me on that. No sir, please!”

“Hey..! I don’t care about your feelings. What exactly are you trying to tell me? Ok, I have no stomach to drink milk, no mouth to drink buttermilk, and I can’t piss because I have no..!”

“You’ve got everything, sir!”

“You have once again poured milk in my stomach. Otherwise, I would be sweating like anything. O God!”

“I have already told you, sir. All our bodily activities would have a semblance of being carried out. But here we are only Atman. That is why we cannot really eat, really drink and really sweat. But your body is lying safely in Chennai. Once you go back there you would be a normal person. But here you are an extraordinary person, sir. If you wish to fly you can fly in the air. That’s how we have come here without any time lapse. You could do anything you want.

“Manikkam, sir. We are good friends. And I am sorry for whatever I spoke to you in anger and confusion, Ok?”

“Why do you speak, like that, sir? I am always at your disposal, sir!”

“Enough is enough, Manikkam. Supposing my wife and daughter returned back home..?”

“I know everything, sir…!” Manikkam’s face reflected a mysterious smile. Since the Super Star did not and could not understand that he tried to read Manikkam’s mind. Shshshuttt! For all of a sudden Manikkam shut his mind so the Super Star could not read his mind!

Manikkam laughed like anything. “Sir, late, too late!”

“What’s this nonsense, too late and three late!”

Manikkam continued. “Do you think, sir it would be so easy for you to read my mind.?”

The Super Star continued to look at Manikkam. He couldn’t tell any inner feeling was of help to him. “Ok, you have shut up your mind. Ok, Manikkam, have it your way. But you were talking about your problem with the saints and seers of the Vedas. Ok, you were begging them like the beggars at the road signals. Before that, you were talking about your family life. Then, when I came to your flat you were alone. Now don’t speak about the grandfather, Manikkam!” Manikkam wondered about the Super Star’s ability to rise up to the occasion. So we should be very careful with this man, he thought to himself.

“You had your grandfather with you. But you had conveniently incarcerated him in a small photo frame. It’s been three months since the grandfather of yours came with you to Chennai, yeah?”

“My wife didn’t and couldn’t love me sir!” when Manikkam said this his face reflected his inner pain even in this Chola Country.