Ashtabhuj - Episode 3

In a dingy room near Manikarnika Ghat in Varanasi a twenty two year old man sat with his laptop. Matth had wasted so much money on getting him admitted in a private medical college for medical education and he had dropped out after two years. His headaches didn't let him live in peace. He had been with the Matth since childhood. Nobody had told him about his past, but someone had told him that he was son of a sadhvi from the matth who committed suicide after he was born. The Matth had named him Vedant. People from Matth had been cajoling him to return to Matth ever since he had returned to Varanasi but he chose to live on his own, writing for money on the internet. His headaches were getting severe and severe as time passed, and over that he had experiences that didn't let him live in peace. A few years ago when he was new in medical college, he had joined an internet platform to make new friends. He had always wanted to make friends outside the matth and he tried for it. But later, he found that the ones who posed as friends only became his friends to gang up and bully him. It was a bad case of cyberbullying that left him scarred and he left that social media website. Ever since he had left that website, he had been feeling odd. He felt that he was the Antichrist, but he didn't tell this to anyone. His days and nights went with severe headaches and one single thought, that he was the Antichrist. He didn't want to trouble the people of the Matth. Most of his childhood friends had already taken deeksha, those who hadn't taken deeksha had married and became priests in the local temples. The head of the Matth had chosen him to become a doctor and serve the Matth and people, and he just couldn't continue with the studies due to severe disillusionment and persistent headaches. 

Ashtabhuj - Episode 2

After Dr. Rajesh leaves, I sit down on the bed looking at the snow capped mountains from the window. It's not even been two days since I've come here and my life has been flipped 360. I was good playing bass for my band. When I had seen Prithvi and Sharanya sitting on a table at the pub I was playing at. Soon after the show I was recieved a parcel that had a phone and a letter that promised to relieve me from the anguish I was feeling especially after my parents death. I sat on my bike and came here, at Kalpa, to the university in search for my answers and now Dr. Rajesh tells me things that aren't really believable. I do not have anything better to except my band so I think I'll play along. 

My phone beeps. 

I pick it up and check the messages. It was Naaz. 

"Glad to have you onboard Jay. Your orientation is my responsibility, and I would tell you everything about what we do and how we do it xx"

I keep the phone down. It's an odd feeling. I do not know these people and yet they act like they have known me for years. I'm curious what it is all about. It's already evening and I get up and pick my laptop up from the table. I check the page of my band, they have hired a bassist from outside, as we do when a band member is absent. I mail them that I had gotten a job and will have to leave the band. Will deal with them on call later. My old phone doesn't work here so I take the sim card from my old phone and put it in the new phone sent by the university. It has a dual sim functionality so it I can be in touch with people in IP City.

It's eight o'clock. The moon is visible and the snow laden peaks still shimmer with its glow. I get up and make myself a coffee. Tomorrow is going to be interesting. 

Ashtabhuj - Episode 1

I am in my room. It is comfortable, just like Naaz had said it would be. I want Naaz to tell me the truth about why am I actually here, and why me? I left my life at IP City and my band and here no one bothers to tell me what are they actually trying to do. 

I hear a knock on the door. I open it. It was Dr. Rajesh. 

"Hello, Jay!"

I nod in return.

He comes in and makes himself comfortable on the chair. "Mind if I sit? You might be wondering of your purpose here. And it is me who had been chosen to tell you your purpose."

"Listen," Dr. Rajesh continues. "You don't seem to be the kind of believe in prophecies. But professor does believe in them and according to him and also our scientific research, you are the missing puzzle piece that makes the puzzle we have been striving to complete, a complete one. 

I listen quietly. 

Dr. Rajesh Continues. "We are a group of people who are searching for ancient artefacts that hold immense power and we are the ones who also prevent them from falling in wrong hands. The University has been working for it since more than past seventy years now. Your coming had been prophesied, and professor believes in you and so you have been chosen to join our team, making it completed. Since the inception of the University, there has been a group called Saptak that dealt with finding and acquisition of artifacts and relics all over the world, and also prevented them from falling in the wrong hands. The seven people you saw while meeting the professor are the Saptak as it is today. You are the eighth new addition to it. We give the choice to you. You can go back to your boring life and playing with your band, unsatisfied searching for the answers or you can search for the answers of your questions with us. The ball is in your court."

"That is not much of a choice, if you know my life as well as you do." I say.

"Very well then Jay, I welcome you to our group. Professor would be immensely happy to hear the news."

Dr. Rajesh gets up and walks towards the door. 

"Naaz will brief you about the details of what we do". She really likes you." He opens the door and walks out.