The village of Aksa chapter 2 - continued

Janaka’s room was on the third floor of Bolch Hall. Bolch hall was a coed dormitory for the sixth, seventh and eighth years who resided in the third, second and first floors respectively. There were two sets of stairs that went up from two ends of the lounge area. The lounge area was always packed during the day. Students loved the ornate decorations in the lounge that consisted of lamp shades with golden bars, chandeliers with diamond studs, huge couches and some excellent gigantic portraits of great tantrics and yogis on the walls. As Janaka ran past the lounge, he noticed Kanth and his gang of five sitting there. Before he could avoid them they jeered at him unnecessarily.

“Guess who is having secrets in school. Our man and his two loyal followers are devising a secret plan to do something. Janaka, why don’t you share with us your spicy seeecrrets? We can seek them out you know.” said Kanth that was followed by silly giggles from his friends.
Janaka had always found Kanth’s humor to be very distasteful and he was in no mood to argue and fight back at the moment. Janaka simply ignored his snide comments and fled up the flight of stairs to the third floor.

As he was walking toward his room, he heard funny sounds coming from one of the rooms as he was passing by. The noise had a constant treble of some inapprehensible clutter of words being uttered by a man who was a lot older than he. The odor that was seeping through the gaps around the doors hinted that might have been burning or smoking. He stood a little closer to the door to try and listen to what exactly was going on inside this room. He heard an old man chanting mantras and a boy repeating them at constant intervals. He thought it to be some kind of a ceremony but he was pretty sure that whatever was going on inside was against the rules of Ashra. No ceremonies were allowed in the rooms and lighting fire was certainly prohibited. It didn’t seem like the ceremony was going to end soon so he decided not to waste his time waiting and instead went to his room to find his schedule calendar.

He was glad that his schedule allowed him to visit Bala. He decided to leave right away for Kulch Hall and knocked on Bala’s door.
“Bala, are you free to talk right now? I have wanted to talk to you all day.”

“We just talked last night. Why can’t you be a little patient? I just got started with the homework on advanced Shearometrics. Make it quick whatever it is.”

Taking a seat next to Bala, Janaka said“I wanted to talk to you about how I can get to Aksa. I really want to see dad and mom. And besides, this village seems to be such a mystery I think it would be really exciting to see someplace that’s talked about so much here. Could you tell me how you managed to travel to Aksa?”

“It’s really complicated than that you know. I would prefer talking about this when the four of us are together. When do you want to do it? I can let Kashi and Kanak know.” said Bala

“I would prefer keeping all this confidential. It’s only you who I want to talk to. I heard Kanak is pretty close to Kanth and so I would rather not let it slip in Kanth’s ears.” said Janaka

Janaka noticed that Bala was being uncomfortable to talk to him in the absence of his siblings. Bala raised his eyebrows and then took a deep breadth and closed his room door.

“Listen, this is something I have never told anybody and I have always wanted to share it with you, Kanak and Kashi. But since it is concerning you, you may have a better right to know than they do. And besides, you did make a valid point about Kanth being in the loop.” said Bala

Janaka felt nervous about all this but the excitement of knowing something mysterious took precedence in his interest to sit down and listen to the story.

“It was right after you were born that I went to Aksa. Dad sent a message through a sage who lives close-by that he wanted me to come to Aksa to bring you here. At that time I didn’t have the presence of mind to question the sage of why and how we were supposed to go since I myself was pretty young. The sage took me to Mr. Khaus, who was then a teacher in Ashra and a real master in the art of astral manipulation. Mr. Khaus mentioned that none of the students from Atipu are allowed to do what I was doing but since I was a special case they had obtained permission from the head master. I didn’t bother asking further questions at that time since I was so excited for the travel. We went outside the school, walked about twenty minutes past the main street in the central village corner. He then took me to a secluded area and was very cautious about being spotted. We had to sit down in padmasana and then he instructed me to hold his left hand while he was holding a chain with beads on his right hand. He then asked me to close my eyes and think of something I liked. I could hear him chanting mantras in the background while I was dreaming about Aksa without ever having seen the village. After that all I could remember is opening my eyes in Aksa. I really don’t know what happened in the interim between closing and opening my eyes. Coming back was the same with the only difference being that you were on my lap. But coming to think of it now, I remember Mr.Khaus first pressing your temple for a while before leaving and then he applied some kind of yellow powder on you face. After that he wrapped you up with his cloth and then he instructed me to hold your left hand with my right hand while you were lying in my lap. That’s how we traveled.”

Janaka was already dreaming about how he could get there. It took him a while before he realized that Bala had stopped talking.

“Why did they send me away just like you were sent? Why are there no children in Aksa?” said Janaka in frustration.

“That’s a question that I have been trying to answer all these years. That’s the first time I saw mom and dad. No one is allowed to discuss this in school and I even wonder if the teachers know as much. Mr. Khaus threatened that if I talked anything about my travel to Aksa to anyone else other than you, Kanak and Kashi then the Katurava curse would act upon me and I would transform into a frog for the rest of my life. He specifically warned me not to tell you anything about the village of Aksa and that he would tell you himself when the right time came. I hope you understand my silence about Aksa all these years.” said Bala.

“What does dad look like? Your mom? Have you ever seen my mom?”asked Janaka curiously

“Dad seemed like a very humble person. Sadly, I couldn’t spend too much time with him. My mom had passed away by then and I didn’t see your mom in the one day that I was in Aksa. Its all very hazy right now. Its been so many years and I was pretty youngs when all this happened. It makes me want to leave Atipu and go to someplace where we can lead normal lives.”

Janaka was not really thinking in those lines. All he could think was how he could to Aksa.

“Is there anyone else I can ask or talk to about this? Can I go to Mr.Khaus?” asked Janaka

“Yes, I think it might be worthwhile for you to talk to Mr.Khaus. You will know if this was the right moment he was waiting for. But I really don’t know where he is now. You might have to do some research. But remember Janaka, don’t tell anyone what I have just told you. Please.” said Bala

“Ofcourse I won’t. I have been trying to keep this so much of a secret that I didn’t even want to involve Kanak.”

Diverting themselves from the serious talk Bala enquired about Janaka’s classes and how he liked them. Janaka was answering patiently until he wanted to go back to his room and mull all this information over.