“Excuse me, is there anyone?” he inquired in soft voice.
There was no reply.
After straining his ear for some time trying to hear the noise, he asked again, “Is anyone home ?”
This time too there was nothing but silence.
Bemused, Osin pushed the door ajar and tip toed around for some time. He saw light coming from upstairs, hence decided to see what was there. Once again, from the bottom of the stair he asked, “Is there anyone upstairs?”
Again there was no reply. So, he made up his mind to go up. The wooden ladder resembled the one back home.
To his utter surprise, the ladder began to move upwards as he put his first step on it. Osin held on to it firmly so that he didn’t lose balance. He was taken to the first floor. It was like a lift. As if this was not enough, on reaching the first floor, he saw that the room was brightly lit. There was a hole in the rooftop through which the moonlight gathered in the room.
A fragile looking old man lay by the fireside reading a book.
“Who are you? How did you come here?” he looked surprised.
“I am Osin, I came from Budgella village. I am on my way to another village, actually I am a tt..traveller,” he stammered.
The old man looked him cautiously, observing him from head to toe. Suddenly he appeared very kind, “Come near my boy and sit here.”
Osin sat reluctantly near the old man and made himself comfortable. The warm fire relaxed Osin’s fatigue.
“Did you eat anything?”
“No” he replied.
“Do you want some food?” the old man asked
He gazed around and said “Yes”
The old man uttered “Soups On!”
Some plates carrying food emerged up from downstairs. Seeing this Osin got frightened and thought of changing his mind. He was famished and his stomach had started rumbling. He looked at the food intently. “Come on have them, they are the cakes that I made yesterday” the old man insisted.
“But…………….” Osin
“Don’t worry, nothing will happen just go on” assured the old man after which Osin stuffed his mouth hastily eating one after another.
“Do you want some more?” he asked.
“No, it’s enough, but I want water”
The old man uttered “Soups on!”
Like the cakes, the soup too came up from nowhere.
Gathering courage, he asked “How are these things happening? Are you a magician?”
Hearing this the old man laughed out loud, “No, I am not a magician. I am a scientist. All these are my discoveries. I gather the light from sun and moon there down and with their energy, I created this. Using the molecules of electrons in the air, I created the light and the lifts. It’s nothing extraordinary but the use of natural power in traditional way. You know nature has enormous power within itself but we are lagging behind because we do not use its power rationally.
“How did food come up here from downstairs? He asked with some curiosity.
“Oh, that’s the force against gravity. You know gravity attracts everything towards the earth. I created a mechanism against gravity and developed a code in it. I created an opposite and equal force against gravity and developed the code for each. So, with my command, they developed and activated forces against gravity. Now, I am into experiment of developing something that would attract light and make it invisible. I am working into it. I however developed it and experimented on a rat and it was successful. I wanted to try on you now. “Who, Me?” he was bewildered.
“Yes, I want to try on human now.” Osin felt there was no escape to this and agreed reluctantly, “Okay, go on.”
The man came near Osin and smeared something over his body. After couple of minute Osin was invisible. “Hurray! It worked” he exclaimed with happiness.
“Now bring me back” Osin requested.
The man slowly erased out all his material and he was visible again.
He looked upon himself to see his wellbeing. He was perfectly fine as he was before.
“Ok forget about this. Where are you going and what is your name my child?” the old man sounded caring all of a sudden.
“I am going for an unknown journey. My father wanted me to be Captain but I wanted to travel and visit several places. So, I left home. My wishes are towering but I’m unsure if they will ever come true,” he replied.
“Desire leads to suffering. However, it is great a feeling and it doesn’t matter how high you reach. What matters is how much time you spend in achieving your dreams. So whatever you do, do with zeal and enthusiasm. Today, everyone is running for the fulfillment of their dreams. But only a few are able to achieve success. Because of this there is so much of unhappiness all around. My best wishes are with you. Okay my dear child you must be tired. Have some sleep.”
He gave a torch and said “Take this light. It runs with power of air. It will help you in darkness.” Osin took that light and put it in his bag safely.
Osin’s eyes were drowsy and tired which soon closed with the warmth of the fire.
The old man continued his reading lying nearby the fire.
Next day, before the sun, Osin opened his eyes to find to his surprise that the old man was still reading and fire was still ablaze. Rubbing his eye Osin got out of his bed and asked permission to leave, “Now, I have to leave sir, I had to go very far.”
“Are you sure?” the man asked.
“Yes” he replied.
“Okay, go carefully. My wishes are with you. Whatever you do, do the best.”
“Thank you,” Osin greeted softly.
He moved downstairs.
“Please close the door” the old man requested from the top.
He closed it firmly and began his walk through darkness. He walked for some miles up until he reached a flat land. He lied down under the bright warm sun for some time. It felt like being in paradise. He could see the sun from near and could feel its warmth like never before. He woke up when the intensity of sun’s warmth grew more. He looked around and began walking down. Walking uphill was much easier than walking down, so he took careful steps. Small error or misbalance would make one fall like crazy. He had no idea where he was heading to but he kept on.
He walked for miles before he reached a petite village. The houses resembled like pebbles from afar. So, he knew he had to walk faster in order to reach there. Finally he reached the village just before sunset.
To his surprise, the thing he had noticed from afar weren’t houses, they were the tents. Few people that were there all wore clothes made up of leaves. Osin wandered around some tents. The place was small and almost covered by hard rocks and stone. It seemed like those of stone era, still undeveloped.
He could hear some animals make noise around. As it had already got dark he took out the torch the old man had given him and searched for a possibly vacant tent.
He slowly opened the curtain of one of the tents.
“Hey! Who are you?” screamed the lady.
Osin ate crow ,“Oops! Sorry, I am here for shelter, its already night, Can I spend my night here?
“We don’t have a large space, you have to adjust here because we regard guest as god”said the man, who was cooking food.
“That is very generous of you” Osin replied.
“Get in” the man said.
It was indeed a small space. There was an old lady and a girl on other side.
“Sit there and let’s have dinner” the man said.
Everyone gathered near fire. They were given meat in leaves.
Osin looked around and felt reluctant again.
“Have them, they are meat of tiger. We hunted yesterday” the man said.
The food was tasty.
The old lady and the girl were eating on their bed. After dinner the man went out.
Osin looked around the narrow place. There were only two small wooden beds and not much space besides.
The man came back saying,“I went to find a b
ed sheet for you but I’m sorry I couldn’t find one. Today, you have to share the bed with my mother.”
“Hmm...” Osin was puzzled. He looked at the old woman. She looked fragile and sick too. “There aren’t any other options available. We have to adjust. I married yesterday and today is our first night, so I can’t share my bed with you,” the man fumbled.
Osin’s heart started throbbing faster. He thought of walking away but it was a chilly night outside. So, he adjusted with the old lady. He could hear the sounds of dreadful animals around. The man and his wife on the other side were busy with something. Probably they were having sex. The woman cried out frequently, must be the pain. The old lady and Osin had their eyes shut but they couldn’t stop their ear.
The sound of the lady and the activity were growing intense, “Ah……………..ah……………….” that echoed in the small space. It was difficult to fancy that the couple was having sex in front of their mother. There weren’t any other options available. They were poor and it was the compulsion of poverty.
Osin spent the whole night wide awake waiting for the morning so that he could leave the place at the earliest.
The following day, Osin expressed his courtesy to the man and walked towards the Ocean with fast pace. He could not get over thinking of what had happened the whole night.
Finally he came near the Ocean once again. He sailed in the ship until its last port.
It was a city full of lofty houses and crowd of people. It was unlike the place that he visited before. As he walked around he saw that people were very busy and everyone seemed rushing for something. There was cacophony around and a