Chapter 2
First day at Andhar-ana-mana Mountains
Harshit didn’t wait for a moment, but straight away, he made the necessary preparations for his departure.
He grabbed his old satchel, into which he put his binoculars and the magnifying glass. He also put a sharp carpenter’s knife with a steel blade which he had found lying on the road a few days before with the owner nowhere to be found. Before putting the knife into the satchel he twisted an old clothe around its blade so as to avoid the risk of the knife cutting through the satchel.
He also raided the larder, so as to be able to eat “civilized food” though the “civilized food” wasn’t going to last long.
And so and so and so, he took all the things he considered necessary, and soon the old satchel contained a really queer sort of collection. There were a lot more things necessary than he had thought.
Now as the all the preparations were made, Harshit was ready to go. He went out through the back door and looked back at the house in which his tormentors were snoring loudly, and then set out for Andhar-ana-mana Mountains.
Harshit came to the main road, where the street lights gave a little too much light for Harshit. Harshit was afraid somebody might spot him when he walked under those street lights. A boy with an old satchel, which was bursting with odd things, walking alone on the main road at midnight! Surely that would be unusual!
So Harshit walked along or rather crawled along, hiding in the shadows as well as he could. He hoped nobody would see him, when he came directly under the street lights, as then it was difficult to stay hidden. ‘Course, there wasn’t much chance of anybody being on the road at midnight. But he wanted to be on the safe side.
No mishap happened on the main road, and he soon turned down a lane that led to the Andhar-ana-mana Mountains. The lane was full of holes and stones, and all he could do was stumble along till he fell over a stone or a hole; then he would get up, half dizzy, and stumble along or rather he would try to stumble along till another stone or hole would lay him flat on the ground again.
At last that difficult “stumbling” piece of road was over and Harshit found himself at the foot of one of the Andhar-ana-mana Mountains.
Harshit decided to rest before tackling the steep slope of the mountains. He was tired. Why, with working all day long and then a one kilometer walk, not to say of the heavy satchel swinging on his back, how could he help being tired?
So he lay down to rest, and then promptly went off to sleep for as mentioned before, he was really tired. Fortunately, for Harshit, no one came by, or I guess Harshit’s story would’ve (probably) got quite a different ending. Whatever, nothing disturbed Harshit's sleep, and Harshit slept like a log. The hours slipped by. Some owls came out of their homes for a night hunt, and maybe caught a few mice. A nightingale produced its sweet melody, which seemed to be a lullaby intended for Harshit to make him sleep more soundly than ever. A sudden owl hoot interrupted the sweet lullaby, but the nightingale resumed its singing soon after.
Two hours went by and the third hour found the sun rising but Harshit was still sleeping. And it was nearly nine o’ clock in the morning when Harshit awoke.
As soon as he awoke, Harshit sat up hurriedly, expecting to hear Mrs. Kumar’s angry voice calling him to do his usual morning chores. He tried to see what time it was, but, of course, instead of seeing the clock on the white wall, he saw the clear blue sky with some white clouds hanging onto the sky, here and there. He was confused.
“Where am I?” he said half aloud.
He rubbed his eyes in bewilderment and looked around. He looked behind him and was startled when he saw the mountain towering over him. Then, he recalled the night’s proceedings. He smiled, because of the happiness he felt. “Hurrah!!! I’ve gained freedom!!!” he shouted.
But to continue in this freedom, Harshit had to work, first, as he found to his cost. He had to find a comfortable place to sleep that night.
However, Harshit felt very hungry, so before getting to work, he ate his breakfast, which consisted of a raw vegetable salad, some bread with dried grapes, and some lemon juice to wash it down.
“What a queer breakfast,” thought Harshit, as he got up after breakfast. “I wonder if anyone had any breakfast like this; but still, though it was a queer combination of food, it was really delicious.” (If you have any doubt, try it, and you’ll see that Harshit was right.)
Having finished breakfast, Harshit pondered over what should be his next job.
“Finding lodgings, I guess,” Harshit concluded. “I suppose, I wouldn’t find first-class accommodations, but I’ll have to be contend with many things when I live this sort of life; so I may as well begin now as any other time.”
He set out to find his “lodgings”, with his “luggage” on his back.
The weather was fine and the day was sunny. And the healthy mountain air was sweet and fresh. With all these features in his surroundings, Harshit couldn’t help being excited and happy. He skipped along with a light heart. He jumped over stones and brooks, with his “luggage” swinging on his back all the while. The sparrows chirped cheerfully. The squirrels bounded here and there joyfully. Two beautiful peacocks looked around at the happy boy who skipped by at sixty miles per hour.
Harshit went on, enjoying everything, but suddenly stopped. What was that rumbling sound? He looked around half expecting a roaring lion preparing to fly at his throat. But of course there was no lion. But what is that rumbling-roaring sound? The sound could be heard very clearly.
Harshit started investigating. He looked into every nook and corner, but found nothing. He looked over again and again. And suddenly came upon a cave. It was quite an ordinary cave, but somehow, the strange rumbling-roaring sound was louder and clearer in the cave than outside. Harshit searched the cave thoroughly, but in vain.
It was noon by now, and Harshit gave up the search, and took out the lunch and ate it quietly, sitting in the cave.
All this time, the strange noise never stopped, and would go on, I’m sure, till the end of the world. It still goes on to this day.
After lunch he continued his search for the source of the rumbling noise. It somehow had fascinated him and he wanted to learn its secret above everything else. He searched all afternoon and evening couldn’t unlock the secret of the strange noise (the noise somehow felt familiar to Harshit not exactly strange).
Harshit gave up the search and began to feel hungry. Night was coming. And it was already rather dark.
Harshit ate his supper in total darkness, I’m sorry to say, for Harshit hadn’t thought of bringing candles or a torch. He went out of the cave (he had left his satchel behind in the cave), and gathered some moss and heather. With this, he went inside the cave and spread them on the floor, to make a soft bed. And then Harshit lay down to sleep.
And so ended the first day at Andhar-ana-mana Mountains.