3

Keerthi took the window seat and I sat beside her. The bus started at about 4 pm. We hardly spoke to each other since leaving Namboodiri’s home. As I shifted in my seat, I noticed that the top button of her blouse was undone and I could see her cleavage. God! One more look at it and I knew I would get turned on. It was Keerthi after all. I began to think of something else to distract myself. Okay…..how many seats did the bus have? How many lights did it have?

“Shyam…..when are your results going to be out?” I was taken by surprise.

“Later this month. Did you know I was trying for the medical entrance?”

Avoiding eye contact at first, she remained silent for a few minutes before answering: “Jayashree, Pavithra and Maryann are my friends.”

I began to wonder who these people were. And then it dawned on me. They were classmates at each institute where I had studies. What? Did Keerthana have up-to-date information on what I was doing during these three years?

“I was in touch with them,” she continued, “especially during the time you had been at those institutes. They used to tell me what you were up to.”

Good grief! She had been literally stalking me for the last three years and till now I didn’t have a clue about it. I suddenly recalled that I had spoken about Keerthi to Pavithra. Did she come to know that? Bullshit!

“Pavithra used to tell me about what you told about me. And…..about us.” Aargh!

“Uh…..Ajay told me you were in the US but I didn’t know anything else what you were doing there.”

“To do a post graduation in the USA, you need to have at least four years of college or university education as a pre-requisite. Our Zoology degree was a three-year course. So I opted to do my graduation. My parents moved to Chicago. So I’m with them. And Shyam…..I’m the one who called you on your cell.”

Okay, so she was the one…..

“Why do you want to go to Sahasrapuram? I heard Raman Namboodiri asking you about a sword and a chakra.”

“The people of Sahasrapuram worship Narsimha as their deity. In fact that’s the only one they adore. There’s a shrine dedicated to the Lord there. The idol of the themple is in the form of Narasimha having ten hands. There’s an object placed in each of them to symbolize a weapon. Among them were a sword and a sudarsana chakra. We don’t know what exactly happened. But we presume that many years ago, someone must have stolen a gold-plated sword and chakra from the chamber. And a goldsmith somehow gained possession of it from them. He sold them to my maternal uncle who was oblivious to the preceding events. Since then, his health and wealth deteriorated and he even lost his family in a freak road accident. From the status of a super-rich man, he’s now almost bankrupt. Some of his friends suggested that these could have been stolen from a temple and recommended to meet the famed Raman Namboodiri who could possibly give some clue about the items.

“It turned out that years ago, Namboodiri had been to this shrine and had noticed two hands of the idol remaining empty. The priest of the temple believed that the missing items would eventually be recovered and returned. Namboodiri is quite sure that these are the items. He said something about…..some insight which he got…..I don’t know. Since uncle is ill, I decided to go in his place. Besides…..you’re with me. So there’s no reason to feel afraid. Right?”

I just nodded. Phew! Two people visiting the shrine for totally different reasons---the girl, for returning stolen miniature weapons to its rightful place and the boy, to get a pooja done to finally pass his medical entrance exam. But the boy has a more pertinent reason to go there---the girl is going there and he wants to go with her.

I woke up at night to see that had she leaned a bit towards me. And I too inclined in her direction. I tried to take a look at her cleavage but her buttons were done and revealed nothing. I felt stupid and opportunistic. And then from a sudden gush of wind her hair ruffled and kissed my face. It was one of the best feelings I ever had. It took away my guilt and my heart pounded. But I didn’t try to touch her. She was as pure as she could be.