Devika

This is Devika’s story. Devika was a young girl in her late teenage years. She was extremely adventurous, but not adventurous in terms of challenging people, but challenging the system; especially, nature and its laws. If she ever saw a squirrel climb up and down the tree, she would herself try to do the same. Not because she wanted to climb the tree too, but because she wanted to see how a tiny creature like a squirrel could do it and not an evolved species like herself couldn’t. She suffered from an absurd disorder wherein she felt the urgent necessity to challenge everything and everyone. Especially nature and it's laws. Not because she was adventurous but because she had a feeling that challenging everything and being rebellious might take away the pain of her being abandoned by her parents immediately soon after her birth. I think it was somewhere that pain which made her so invincible and bizarre. 

She went up to an extent of challenging nature so much that she tried practising and learning telekinesis. She wanted to learn the art, of course, but more than that, she wanted to challenge her own consciousness, her own conscious world, her own conscious capacity. 

However, there is a leash for every mad dog in the world. Maya, Devika’s childhood sister-like friend was one such leash. She was a leash not just to Devika, but also her outrunning excessive ambitions too. Devika and Maya were so close to each other and so closely knitted, that they always used to say, “Even death can’t do us part.” And God forbid, everyone used to believe that as well. Their bond was stronger than a hydrogen bond, as if there was no separate Devika and Maya, there was just one entity, Devika-Maya. 

One day, Devika-Maya planned a trip to the Chitrangan Fort. Chitrangan Fort was an infamous fort, built around renaissance, with bleak black walls, austere trees, space-grey sky covering a silent yet thundering breeze which flew proudly through the tall pillars and shallow empty wells. It was located somewhere 100 kms from Devika-Maya, a distance which was clearly not far enough for the destiny to happen. The fort was located in an isolated village. As it becomes obvious from these adjectives, that fort and the village were unholy. Or at least, people perceived them to be so. 

When Devika heard about this place, she saw an opportunity. So even after a thousand refusals, she was able to make Maya agree on accompanying her to the palace. Now, what choice does a leash have but to go in the direction the dog runs? So, Maya went along with Devika – both unaware that it is actually the owner who controls both the leash and the dog. Maybe that was the day when the Almighty was in a mood for a game of chess. Chitrangan Fort was the black and white square footed chess-board, Devika-Maya the blacks and whites and God – the grandmaster. 

As they managed to penetrate the eerie surroundings of the fort, they came across a grand entrance of the fort. There was some kind of silent yet noisy air that covered the whole area. I am not exactly sure what was more unsettling – the breeze, or the silence. They went inside the fort and surprisingly, many artifacts in the fort were almost as good as new and untouched. It seemed as if there was someone who used to take care of all these items, maybe a descendent of the lineage or a caretaker perhaps. At first, they were both happy looking at the tidy and clean state of affairs in the fort, but soon Maya realised something was not right. But what exactly was wrong, was yet to be discovered. And obviously, who other than Devika would discover that ? Afterall, she was the adventurous one holding a wild, challenging spirit inside her. Maya did not even see a point in making her understand anything anymore because she had kind of accepted the fact that she just has to have Devika’s back all the time.

So, Devika came up with an excellent plan to figure all this out. She turned towards Maya and said, “Let us mess all this up? And see who puts them back. This way, we can actually burst this whole myth-bubble of this place being unnatural and unholy. How exciting would that be!” 

Before Maya could even dare interrupt, she disfigured the paintings and statues, changed the place and alignment of personal belongings and even opened the bathroom and disrupted the whole arrangement there. But nothing happened. It was as if nobody was there to be mad at her or say anything to her. This obviously boosted Devika’s confidence and she started laughing in the galleries, pointing at the paintings of the queen and the princesses and the kings and the princes. The Queen. Ahhh!!! Majestic, beautiful, gorgeous Queen Sitara. It was an old urban legend that Queen Sitara has an inquisitive quest for adventures too. This was visible from a painting on the wall with the queen holding a rifle and a dead tiger lying at her feet. This impressed Devika and as she crossed the painting in the alley, she commented, “What a sight it would’ve been to see her hunting in those days! ALive, full of life, shooting like a tigress.” Maya chose to stay silent at this comment at first, but then she looked deeply into the eyes of the queen in the painting and said, “I don’t think she was a kind-hearted queen. What kind of woman chooses to kill innocent creatures?”

To this, Devika scoffed and said, “The brave kind, I guess. So what if she enjoyed hunting or adventures? It is okay for a queen to hunt for pleasure. And perhaps, maybe that creature was a nightmare for the villagers. And perhaps, Queen Sitara hunted it down so that it won’t harm the villagers? Doesn’t this make her kind ? What do you have to say about this deed of public welfare by her, huh ?” Maya nodded her head, but seemed somewhat reluctant. I could easily figure out her reluctance to believe this convenient possibility. To this unsatisfactory reaction of Maya, Devika pleaded with folded hands in front of the painting saying, “Queen Sitara, please come alive so that this silly Maya believes that you were a good person.” 

Both of them scoffed and kept walking. They never turned their backs. They roamed around for a little while and reached a swing near the pond. As Devika was hydrophilic, she jumped into the pool. Maya somehow didn’t like that and asked Devika to behave. This seemed a bit weird to Devika as she never heard Maya complain about her discipline that way. Well, she responded well enough by saying, “Apologies, my Queen!”

They both were walking but after a little while, Maya started limping. Upon inquiry, Devika came to know that Maya hurt her ankles while walking and she would like to go to the queen’s room and take some rest. It was a bit bizarre, but they went anyway and upon reaching there, Devika started massaging Maya’s feet. Maya relaxed back and started humming a tune. Devika looked up at Maya and smiled, it seemed as if she was falling in love with her all over again. Her relaxation relaxed Devika too. All her adventures, all her expeditions, all her quests would come to an end when she used to see Maya happy. It was like they had two bodies, one soul. So, when Maya started humming, Devika massaged her ankles, but accidentally, she pressed her ankle bone. At this, Maya kicked Devika hard. It was such a harsh push, it seemed as if Devika suddenly woke up from a beautiful dream because of a tight slap. Devika was shocked to the core. She said, “Maya, you really think I’d do that deliberately? You are my life Maya. It was an accident and I got frozen in the moment. I am sorry.” Maya said, “Huh! Frozen huh! So what? It is not the first time you froze.” 

Devika couldn’t understand anything. Anything. Maya got up and started walking away from her. Devika sat awestruck. She wiped her teary eyes, and got up to go to Maya. I think at that moment, all she wanted was to go home. But to her amazement, she found Maya in the garden holding the same rifle Queen Sitara had in her hands. Maya aimed the rifle at an owl on the tree. Yes, the same Maya who had sympathies with a tiger who died centuries ago probably. Devika observed this scenario for a while. She observed disastrous transformations in Maya who was perpetually humming a tune and limping. Maya went back to Queen Sitara’s room and started placing all her things in the right place. She also straightened all the paintings in the alley. 

It became clear to Devika that something was definitely wrong with Maya. All her adventures were now on standby mode. She did not want to challenge the grandmaster now, she just wanted to quit the game of chess. But Maya was in another world. She also refused Devika's request to go home. She soon disappeared in the galleries and Devika kept chasing her. While doing that, she came across Lord Gamesha’s temple. But how could she join hands and pray for her friend’s safety and life ? She never believed in God. She kept walking and saw Maya’s shadow in front of her. As she approached the shadow, she heard Maya calling her from behind. Maya asked her to come along as they were planning to leave the palace. While Devika was following Maya’s footsteps, she observed and said to herself, “Why is there just one shadow? Where is Maya’s?”She stopped at once and ran away without letting Maya know. 

I can say, at that point, Devika was just looking for one thing, either a place to hide, or a place to escape. All her adventures began collapsing and rupturing like a deflated balloon. She shrunk in a corner, squinted her eyes and folded her hands and put it over her head. Perhaps, she was thinking about how to ask God for help. But who has ever needed to ask help from him ? God is pervasive. 

Or maybe she was thinking how to practically deal with this ? Should she think about some pragmatic approach for escaping, or should she fold her hands, close her hands, and pour out all her subconscious faith in God at that moment and think about getting Maya back from the clutches of Queen Sitara. Was it the queen who had possessed her or someone else?

“Who else could it be?” wondered Devika. “We were standing there and challenging her to come alive.

Oh wait! It was me who challenged her. It was all me all the time. And Maya became the scapegoat.” 

At that moment, she thought of how her stupid act had put Maya’s life in danger. She pleaded, “Sitara, please give me back my Maya. Please.” She cried her heart out, but soon gathered all her pieces and picked herself up. That palace, its walls and its pillars all held at that moment just two things - Devika’s silent determination, and Maya’s loud laughter. Devika walked past the queen’s painting again and this time, noticed something unusual. Something she didn’t take note of earlier. Maybe that was the time when she realised how ignorant she was as a person. Devika reached where Maya had already reached - the battleground, the Queen’s chamber. Devika’s eyes represented at this moment the same amount of fear as the rage in Maya’s eyes. Two best friends, one scared and one enraged. Devika ran towards the temple and knew in her mind that this was the final run of her life. She reached the classically constructed temple and sat beneath the mighty idol of Lord Ganesha. There was some strange element of safety in there amidst all the horrific episodes. faith flowed out of that idol and managed to reach and penetrate Devika’s heart. She stopped running and escaping and sat with her eyes closed at lord’s feet. 

Obviously, God knew what she couldn't say. She suddenly felt a hand on her head, she was so terrified at this point that she refused to even open her eyes. She closed her eyes so tightly, that she could see stars in space. Somehow, she was able to see a short flashback. She saw 2 teenage girls playing in the palace’s courtyard. One girl’s name was Tejasvi, and the other one’s Sitara. Sitara wanted to go to the jungle to experience what it is like to be amidst the wilderness but Tejasvi was reluctant and timid. Maybe because she used to limp while walking. She somewhere had this fear that if something happened and they were to run, she wouldn’t be able to do so because of her deformed legs. However, somehow they reach the jungle. Sitara says, “There isn't a single wild animal in the jungle ? What is the point ? Huh..” To this, Tejasvi replies, “So now can we go back?”

“No way!” says Sitara, “Let us look at that side.” 

Tejasvi replies, “Princess Sitara enough now. You will have us in trouble if your father realizes we are in the jungle.” 

They were arguing this way when they saw a ferocious tiger coming out of the woods towards them. The tiger seemed to have chosen its target already. It pounded on Tejasvi, the limping child and killed her. Now it turned towards Sitara. Sitara froze to death at this sight. Her friend, her playmate, was dead. Tejasvi kept yelling for help before she died, but Sitara couldn’t even move an inch. She was frozen. 

As the tiger ponded towards its next prey, a bullet shot right through its chest, killing it. It was the king along with his mini-army on the rescue search for his dead daughter. The shot fired was such that as the tiger flung towards Sitara, it instead lay dead on her feet. The king somehow managed to see pride in this whole episode and got it painted. 

Sitara returned to the palace safely, but couldn’t overcome her guilt. She emulated herself years later. 

After seeing this entire flashback, Devika opened her eyes. Within no time, she had understood that it was Tejasvi, not Queen Sitara who was with Maya at this moment. Tejasvi wanted to avenge her death from Queen Sitara and Devika both - seeing their similar characteristics of course. She replicated the situation targeting Devika-Maya. Everything seemed fitting. All the pieces of the puzzle were fitting correctly. But still, the bigger question was, how to save Maya? 

She Stepped out of the temple, loathed in kerosene, holding a flambeau. She called out Maya alias Tejasvi. As she approached, Devika hugged her and said,, “I know you are there, Mayu. Please Mayu, forgive me for all this.” 

Maya laughed and said, “Forgive you ??? Really ? I didn’t forgive my own friend Sitara, how do you expect me to forgive an imbecile like you ?” 

Devika said, “Queen Sitara died out of guilt. She emulated herself. What more did you want from her?” 

To this, Maya replied, “She didn’t burn herself. I did. I burned her. How could she live without me ? How could she live when I couldn’t ? And I will do the same to you. All you adventure-seekers who put others’ lives in danger deserve the same. And look, you have already greased yourself. How easy it would be to set you on fire.”

As she said these words, she ran towards Devika but something stopped her and she couldn’t run further. Devika understood what Maya was implying and she ran. Unfortunately she tripped over the greasiness and lost consciousness. 

When she opened her eyes, she found herself in a room with ceilings surrounded by doctors and family. She was traumatized and her eyes were desperately looking for Maya. She saw Maya standing right beside her and she heaved a sigh of relief. She said to Maya, “Oh Mayu, I thought I lost you forever. Thank God we both could escape. I promise baby, I will never ever ask for any adventurous trip again in my life. You are so precious to me. You a..”

She wanted to express so much more to Maya, but was interrupted by her mother who said, “Who are you talking to, bachha? Maya is not there. Maya is not in this world with you now.” 

Yes, Maya sacrificed herself. Apparently, there was only one way to stop Tejasvi and that was to burn her instead of her burning everyone else. So while Tejasvi was trying to kill Devika, Maya jumped in and got herself killed instead of Devika by emulating herself using the flambeau and the oil. 

Devika understood all this and was expressionless. She suddenly became devoid of any stronger emotion.

The leash broke, the dog free. But who really won the game of chess? 

Devika was never seen after that. She may have left. Where to?? No one knew.