The Treasure Hunt Mystery

Contest Day 29/30

Shaktiman and Ramanujan on Treasure Hunt .................................................

"Just one night and this world will be in my arms." The black shadow, 'Xin' remarked with laughter to his followers who instantly echoed, "Ahndera kayam Rahega".

 Xin revolves his hands around the globe and remarks, " Tomorrow is the epic lunar eclipse, the instant when the earth will completely cast its shadow on the moon, will also be the moment when the black hole will collide with Earth and this entire universe will be in my fist, Ha Ha. I had waited for this time for centuries and now it's just a night away! "

"Lord! Lord!, I have a bad news lord", one of the Xin followers came panting and continued, "The saint who informed us about this astronomical yoga and whom we had killed in his ashram was half alive when Shaktimaan reached there. The saint has informed him everything about tomorrow's eclipse significance, our plans and also regarding the treasure hunt to find the wheel of time which can help in altering the Earth's speed to prevent it from colliding with the black hole".

"Aaah! Argh! Shaktimaan!", Xen got up from his throne in rage, "I won't let you defeat me. You won't be able to solve the maze, Go and find him before he reaches the treasure." commanded Xen.

Shaktimaan knew he just had a single day to find the treasure hunt which is split into five doors. "The first maze will open from the tunnel laid in this ashram and ...." before the saint could complete he breathed his last.

Shaktimaan searched for the tunnel in the entire ashram but couldn't find it when suddenly his eye struck the rudraksha laid on the saint's samadhi, Shaktimaan understood, he tried to move the samadhi which opened doors to a secret tunnel underground.

Shaktimaan dived deep into the tunnel until he landed a place, to identify it as a strange forest.It had colored pathway blocks destined towards a door. Shaktimaan walked towards the door to read what's written.

" To unlock the door choose the correct color key from the basket at left before the sand in hourglass finishes else the sword hanging above the door divides you in half.

The key is of a color which is actually not a color but without which there will be no color "

Shaktimaan carefully read the riddle twice and he realized the answer, it should be a white key.

Pure white is colorless and light is colorless but sunlight is a white light composed of all colors of the spectrum, rainbow is proof.

Shaktimaan used the white key and entered the door which opened to an ocean.His footstep stumbled on a shell which had a note along with the next cue,

" Throw me to the ocean as you utter the correct answer else you will be drowned in this ocean once the hourglass is complete.

I hatch for land and head for the ocean,

I wear a shell instead of a girdle!

Perhaps I will be the one who lives 400 years,

I am ____________ ".

Shaktimaan pondered in dismay as he read it again and again, it was already afternoon and he still had five doors to unlock.He read carefully again and looked up in awareness as he threw the shell back to the ocean and declared, "Sea turtle".

The shell splashed on the ocean and door no 1729 appeared opened, Shaktimaan entered the door and found himself in a busy market.

It looked like visuals of old India, Shaktimaan immediately transformed himself into his alter ego, Gangadhar and strolled in the market to find his third cue but in vain, the only hint was the door opened to no 1729. But what could be its significance? As Gangadhar pondered, a newspaper vendor cycling in the crowded market lost his balance and the papers fell down near Gangadhar when his eye struck on the news article headlined, "If Zero bananas are divided among zero people how many will each get".

Gangadhar helped the vendor with the paper and strolled in the market to find his next cue, but his mind couldn't divert from the newspaper headline, he walked a few steps until he reached a street marked as 1729 with a note,

" I will be your next companion,

Unveil my story,

Just 33 years but I will create history - 1729

And together today we will unveil the mystery"

Shaktimaan finally traced the puzzle, 1729 and the newspaper headline is indicative of Ramanujan. As Gangadhar, he was happy his company with Geeta benefitted him today and he knew about Ramanujan's story connected with this cue.

The story is when Ramanujan was hospitalized in England and Hardy visited him, he had mentioned, " I traveled in a taxi cab with no. plate 1729 which seems a dull no, hope it's not a bad sign"

To which Ramanujan had quipped, "No, its a smallest number expressible as the sum of two cubes in two different ways. Since then 1729 was attributed as Ramanujan number".

And the headline in the newspaper was the famous question posed by Ramanujan in his childhood school days, "Zero divided by Zero".

"It's Ramanujan" saying Shaktimaan turns the street sign and a door opens to his right. He enters the door and lands himself in a room.

As he looks around he finds the same newspaper on the table.

Gangadhar holds the newspaper and glances at the headline, 

" Zero bananas among Zero people, how many will each get?". 

The same moment someone taps on Gangadhar's shoulder, he looks around to find its Ramanujan. 

Gangadhar explains the entire tale to Ramanujan about the treasure hunt to save the world, the cues and how his third door opened to (him) Ramanujan and hinted at his partnership to solve the mystery of hidden treasure. Gangadhar presents himself as Shaktimaan to make Ramanujan believe him and says, "Ramanujan, it's already evening and we need to find the wheel of time, please help".

Ramanujan is convinced and agrees. Shaktimaan quizzes holding the newspaper article, what is the answer for Zero divided by Zero. Ramanujan holds the paper and says its infinity, it cannot be determined.

As Ramanujan utters the answer, a light shines and a door opens. As they enter the door Shaktimaan and Ramanujan find themselves in an old library.

As they look around and cross the bookshelf, a faded paper falls across their path backside. Shaktimaan picks up to look, It's a torn page with,

A sketch of a man with four legs and four arms allowing him to strike 16 poses simultaneously.

The bottom end of the page has a note, 

"Everything connects to everything else

Inscribe the man, In a square In a circle 

To unveil the cosmos open secret 

Man is a microcosm of the universe"

Shaktimaan gazes at the drawing and the cue when Ramanujan calmly exclaims, its Vitruvian Man based on the work of Roman Architect Vitruvius that the human body is proportionate and is geometrical which solves the first line of the cue "Everything connects to everything else".

Also, "If a man be placed flat on his back, with his hands and feet extended, and a pair of compasses centered at his navel, the fingers and toes of his two hands and feet will touch the circumference of a circle described therefrom. And just as the human body yields a circular outline, if arm span and height are related, the person would fit perfectly inside a square" saying Ramanujan drew the circle and square with the man perfectly inscribed and solved the second line of the cue.

Ramanujan looked at the sky and anxiously remarked, "Shaktimaan, the eclipse has begun we need to decode the third and fourth cue before the entire Earth's shadow is cast on the moon and we collide with the black hole, we just have a few minutes more." Shaktimaan repeated loudly to himself the third and fourth cue, " open secret of cosmos and man is a microcosm "

I got it, Shaktimaan exclaimed,  "The circle is a "Caim" an invisible circle around the man, the divine intervention and for protection whereas the square shows the materialistic world. And Shaktimaan drew a pentacle star within the circle and square. The 5 points represent Spirit (at the top), fire and air (upper arms), water and earth (lower arms), thus the Divine in all of nature and the harmony of the elements. Man is a microcosm of the universe".

As Shaktimaan and Ramanujan solve this mystery a door opens to a large wheel of time.

Shaktimaan and Ramanujan look at the sky, only a quarter moon is yet to be shadowed by the earth, they quickly rush to rotate the wheel of time and alter the speed of earth, in a while the sky quickly turns to the brightness of the sun.

Shaktimaan and Ramanujan sigh a relief the eclipse period had gone and the black hole was now not in the same trajectory of Earth's rotation.

Once again Shaktimaan saved the world, this time along with Ramanujan and thanked him for his intelligence.