The Village of Aksa - Chapter 4

Janaka and Sampa were pretty let down by Taal. They really expected her to help them out and be supportive in their expedition to Aksa or at least help them out in collecting information about Aksa.

“I don’t believe she did this to us. How could she let us down now after we took all the trouble in exchanging information with her? I just hope she doesn’t tell anyone.” said Sampa.

“That’s alright. We will do as much as we possibly can. Let’s focus our energy on Klacken now. I don’t think we should tell him everything about our plan. Showing too much interest in Aksa might put some doubts in his mind especially since he knows so much about the village. For the moment we should just mention our interests in meeting Mr. Khaus.”said Janaka.

“I hope you understand Klacken is not an average kid. He is one of the smartest people I have seen. He would surely want to know why we are meeting with Mr. Khaus before he gives out any information. What would you say if he asked you that?” said Sampa.

Janaka didn’t really know how to answer that question. He was not anticipating that question from Klacken.

“May be you can say that Mr. Khaus came in your dream and asked you to take Klacken’s help to meet him. That sounds justifiable, doesn’t it? And it’s not completely untrue if you actually combine yours and Taal’s dreams.” said Janaka.

“I really don’t want to mess around too much with Klacken or Mr. Khaus. Even though I haven’t heard any evil incidents that have involved them I have always maintained my distance and frequently avoided discussing about them. But I do like your dream idea. I think I might stick to that one for the moment if Klacken asks anything.” said Sampa.

“Well, the dream is not really an idea. It is true Sampa. So don’t trivialize it in anyway.”

As Sampa and Janaka were discussing they failed to realize that they had just gotten out of the boundaries of Ashra into the main street. They didn’t realize until they saw Params cafeteria which was filled with all the teachers. The main street was a single circular street that connected the four schools of Atipu. Bhama and Camili were situated adjacently on either sides of Ashra while Dota was diametrically opposite Ashra.

During the weekends, the street was bustling with people from the schools. Everyone enjoyed being in this street during the weekends as it gave them a feeling of a community. Most teachers would go to Params cafeteria for breakfast to sit leisurely with a cup of coffee. While some teachers would occupy an entire table for themselves by spreading the newspaper others would gather around discussing the local politics of the village. Most teachers left the cafeteria around noon which was when the students would take over the restaurant for their breakfast.

Janaka and Sampa realized they were walking on Main Street as they smelt the flavors of ghee roasted black pepper pongal, masala vadai, rava dosai and ootappam. As their attention was diverted from their conversation to Params their next destination was obvious. The boys took up a table and had a relaxed hearty breakfast.

“It’s probably late enough in the morning. I guess Klacken wouldn’t mind us coming to his room now.” said janaka

“Yeh, I hope he is awake. Let’s just give it a shot.” said Sampa.

After their breakfast, Sampa and Janaka left the cafeteria towards Camili. They had to pass through a row of shops starting with Ali’s Jewelry shop. Sampa was showing Janaka that he got his left ear pierced and got a diamond stud at Ali’s. Then they walked past Frooties that carried ice-creams, popsicles and sherbets. Janaka badly wanted to get some Popsicle from frooties but Sampa suggested they could take Klacken along after lunch. The adjacent store was famous incense that carried some idols of gods and goddesses that were made out of sandalwood and rosewood, about a thousand flavors of exotic soaps and powders and of course incense sticks. Then they walked past the Bookhouse which was a huge book store meant that carried books for school and leisure, calendars for the four schools, dinky bugs and log slates for easy accounting and a variety of board games.

Once they walked past the book store they encountered a huge gate that was adjoined by walls that looked like an entrance to the school. This was the first time Janaka was entering the campus of Camili. It was very different from Ashra. The scenery was a lot drier in Camili with scanty vegetation. The color of the buildings seemed to match that of the sand in the ground adding that extra dryness to the feel. There weren’t too many students walking inside the campus at this time. Janaka felt a bit nervous inside from entering an unfamiliar campus and hoping to see new people and buildings.

“Have you been here before?” asked Janka

“Yeh. I have been here a couple of times to meet Klacken. You sound a bit nervous. You shouldn’t worry too much. It’s very similar to Ashra. It’s all the more better here since we wouldn’t know anyone so we wouldn’t have to worry about Kanth and his gang.” said Sampa.

“How far is Klacken’s room from here?”

“It’s another five minutes walk. Not that far.” said Sampa.

Janaka felt it took longer than that when they finally reached Klacken’s room. Klacken’s room was in a huge building called Mulayam Hall that was much bigger than any building he has ever seen in Ashra. It was big enough to fit students from the entire school. Mulayam Hall was packed inside and Janaka grew more nervous as he entered the building. They got a whole range of looks from suspicious ones, hostile turnovers to welcoming smiles none of which soothed Janaka’s nerves. Sampa looked like he knew exactly where he was going and knocked at the door of Klacken’s room.

“Hey, how are you? I haven’t seen you in so long. I heard you are preparing very hard for the Shorren championships. It’s still a couple of month’s away right?” asked Sampa.

The Shorren championships were held once a year and the ABCD schools competed against one another in various events ranging from literary to sports. Klacken is a fierce competitor in a lot of those events. Klacken took the events so seriously that there were rumors of him preparing all year round. In the last four years no one has beaten him in the ancient history and debate events yet his school came second to Ashra in the last two championships. Sampa had mentioned that his bitterness for Ashra oozes out very conspicuously each time Klacken talked to Sampa about the championships.

“Are you kidding? I just got up from bed. I was just going to go have some lunch. What brings you here?” asked Klacken.

“Have you met Janaka. Janaka, this is Klacken.”

Janaka and Klacken introduced each other. Neither of them was inclined to start a conversation so Sampa continued to talk.

“We are both here for some favor from you. And don’t worry; it is not for the purpose of winning you over in Shorren or anything of that sort. Why don’t we go for lunch and we can discuss it there. How does the canteen on main street sound to you?” said Sampa.

“That sounds perfect actually. Let me just groom myself a little so I don’t look like I came out directly from bed.” said Klacken.

The three boys walked out of Camili. Klacken was showing them the campus as they walked out explaining the ins and outs. Janaka was right about Mulayam Hall, all the students of Camili stayed there and it was purposefully built that way to encourage communication between the different years. Unlike Ashra, the hostels in Camili were not coed and so the girls were in a separate building. The three boys walked towards the canteen that was situated right outside the Camili campus. They found a quiet spot in the corner after placing their orders at the counter.

“So, what is it that you guys want to talk about?” asked Klacken.

Janaka decided to start talking to get comfortable of the situation.

“We would like to meet Mr. Khaus and Sampa said that you might be able to help us.” said Janka.

“Hmm. So why do you want to meet Mr. Khaus?” asked Klacken.

“I do not want to beat around the bush. We wanted to find out how to get to Aksa and Mr. Khaus is the best person to talk to regarding that unless of course you know how to..” said Sampa.

“Well, I do know certain things about how to get there but I am not allowed to talk it with anyone. But why do you want to go to Aksa?” asked Klacken.

“Don’t we all want go to Aksa? This may sound stupid, but I had a dream last night that Mr. Khaus was guiding Janaka to travel to Aksa especially since Janaka and I had been talking about this for a while. May be we can clarify with Mr. Khaus why I am getting these dreams and may be he will have an answer for us. If he doesn’t think we ought to know how to travel then he will let us know. But it would be really helpful if you could help us get to Mr. Khaus.” said Sampa.

“Yes, it will be very helpful and we assure you we won’t misuse any information you give us.” said Janaka.

Klacken was giving a suspicious look at both Sampa and Janaka. He also didn’t seemed to be surprised by the dream.

“Okay, it looks like the dream is not really a dream. It is a technique that Mr. Khaus uses to communicate what he wants without his presence, as you know he is barred from entering Atipu. I will help you to the best of my ability. I can only tell you how I got there last time. But before I can tell you anything, you both will first have to assure me that no one else can know what I am about to tell.” said Klacken.

“We assure you we won’t tell any one” said Janaka who was now being tested for his patience at this moment.

“Yes” said Sampa.

To be continued..