Shaktiman and Ramanujam

29-11-2020 - Shaktiman and Ramanujam on a Treasure Hunt

   One day, Shaktiman’s alter-ego, Pandit Gangadhar Vidyadhar Mayadhar Omkarnath Shastri was sitting in the newspaper office working on his latest set of photos when his boss called him into his office. One of the boss’s old friends wanted someone to come and solve a case for her and so the boss thought that Gangadhar was the best person to do so. Gangadhar took the address from his boss and went to the location given.

   The boss’s friend was an old lady who lived alone in a very big house. She had been going through all the old stuff in her attic when she had found a box locked with a number lock and a sheet of old parchment paper taped to it. She showed it to Gangadhar. There was a complex mathematical equation written on it. It was mentioned that the answer to the equation would be the key to the number lock. The old lady told him that her great-great-great-grandfather was a renowned scientist and he may have written the equation as a clue. Gangadhar was confused as the maths question was very complex. Suddenly he remembered his friend, Ramanujam who taught mathematics at the university. He was a brilliant mathematician and would find it easy to solve this problem.

Gangadhar took the parchment paper and went to the university to meet Ramanujan. They sat in the canteen and over a cup of tea, Gangadhar told him about the locked box and showed him the maths equation. Ramanujan took a pencil and set to work on the problem. Within a few seconds, he had the answer as number 608. By now, he was curious to know what was inside the locked box and requested Shaktiman that he would accompany him to unlock the box. Shaktiman agreed and both of them went back to the old lady’s house. They keyed in the number and pop, the lock opened. They looked inside and saw that there were many documents placed inside, each of them containing the notes for solutions to different mathematical problems.

Ramanujam was excited and asked the old lady permission to take them with him to study them and she readily agreed. At the very bottom of the box, there was a map of the world, with various geometric figures drawn on it. Behind the map it was mentioned that a great treasure was hidden on an island and solving the geometric theorems would help them find the exact location. Ramanujam immediately got to work on it. After a few minutes, he had pinpointed the location of the island in the Arabian Sea. Suddenly, an odd smelling purple gas entered the room. The three of them started choking and gasping and fell to the floor in a faint. After a few hours when they regained consciousness, they found that the map was missing from the table. “That evil Tamraj Kilvish must have taken it. He must be making his way to the island, to find the treasure. What do we do now ?” asked Gangadhar. Ramanujam assured him that because of his excellent memory, he remembered the exact location and would take Gangadhar there. 

They went outside the house and Gangadhar turned around very fast in a red cloud and changed into Shaktimaan. He held Ramanujam’s hand, they both raised their hands and took off into the sky. As they flew towards the island, the sky darkened and it started raining heavily. There was heavy thunder and lightning almost struck them. Shaktiman understood that this was done by Kilvish to prevent them from reaching the island. He pushed Ramanujam behind him and the lightning struck the star at the centre of his chest. Shaktiman absorbed all the lightning, till the sky cleared up. They then continued on their way. After a few minutes as they flew over the ocean, Kilvish created a whirlpool in the water which developed into a tornado. Soon, Shaktiman and Ramanujam were surrounded by a wall of water which was spinning very fast around them. Shaktimaan raised his arm and sent out a powerful burst of air towards the water. The strong current of air parted the wall of water and Shaktiman and Ramanujam passed through. 

Finally they sighted the island in the middle of the sea. When they came closer, they could see Tilvish digging in the sand, looking for the treasure. As they landed on the beach, Tilvish sent a group of snakes towards them. But Shaktiman had the unique ability to control minds, even that of animals. He concentrated and sent mental signals to the snakes. The snakes stopped coming towards them and instead wrapped themselves around Tilvish like ropes. Tilvish struggled, but his hands were tightly bound by the snakes and he could not do anything. Shaktiman created a whirlpool in the sea next to them and threw Tilvish into it. Unable to free himself, Tilvish was sucked to the bottom of the whirlpool and he drowned.

Ramanujam then pointed out the right location where they should dig and Shaktiman quickly dug the sand with his superior strength. They found a treasure chest filled with gold and diamonds which Shaktiman carried on his back to the old lady’s house. She was very happy and said she would donate all of it to charity. 

Shaktiman thanked Ramanujam for his help, but Ramanujam said that it had been a very exciting day for him and he was more than happy to join Shaktiman on his adventures.