IMBROGLIO- The Maze.

Restless. Impatient. Confused and Anticipating. Swapna was pacing in her office corridor with a tea cup. The frequency of checking her mail box synced in her mobile was sliding to milli seconds. She was not sure of what she has heard few minutes back. Ananthamma had called her. It was unusual. The last time she heard from Anantha was 7 years back. The call was short. Lasted only few seconds.
Anantha : Swapna
Swapna : Yes?
Anantha : Ananthamma
Swapna : Oh. Amma. How are you? It has been years? How is your health?
Anantha : Listen. You have a task that has to be acted upon. You will get a mail on the details. I shall meet you shortly.
The call went dead. It was unusual.Ananthamma does not call unless it was very very important.

Swapna was a robotic engineer. She dealt with high speed control and automation engineering involving robot. She was an independant woman. She grew in a boarding school in Ooty. Dad was a archelogist who travelled all his life and it has been years since she has met them. They exchanged mails when required. Although swapna never felt lonely. She was very happy and content about her work. New York gave her all the liberty and confidence she required. She lived in her apartment alone as she liked it that way.

Ananthamma was her grandma. Her dad's mother. The lady of power. Swapna visited her grandma in summer holidays. Ananthamma was never a playful grandma. Even during her childhood, Swapna remembered Ananthamma discussing science, politics and the world to little swapna and would ask for her opinions which swapna would answer to the best of her knowledge.

Ananthamma's house was a library . Swapna was encouraged to read by her grandma. The books ranged between science and history and poetry. She still remembers the wvenings where Ananthamma would bring in a plate of cookies or pakoras with a puzzle for her in a paper. The puzzle was full of history and science which Swapana was asked to crack. This was a daily ritual.

Swapna loved the puzzles more than the snacks. She was too good with history, matha and science and hence she cracked all of them easily. Swapna did her B. Tech in Electronics from IIT and went on to MIT for her MS in Robotics. She was recruited in one of the top Industrial Automation company. Work was challenging and demanding. Yet she enjoyed it. She has not met Ananthamma since her final summer vacation in school. It has been 7 long years. In fact she did not even know where she was. The last time she tried calling her mobile and landline, there was no answer. She asked her father who also did not know, though he was busy with work and he usually does not pay enough attention to family.

Ananthamma's call left Swapna curious and puzled bringing back lots of memories. She still has not received the mail from her grandma. She has a strong feel that this was something very important.

Back in Kanchipuram,India Ananthamma was looking at her pooja room . The portrait of Lord Muruga was smiling at her. She spoke looking at the portrait.



The time has come for the world to know.

......to be contn

 

Episode 2
Ananthamma walked silently through the long corridors in her house. She reached her room ehich was built in a royal style. She looked at the king sized bed which was made of rose wood and had elephants carved on the room bore portraits of her family lineage. A wedding photo in black and white which had a her husband looking young and brave with his plush moustache. Beside hum young ananthamma stood in her silk saree looking frightened and happy at the same time. .

She was 16 when she got married and she was thought all the family customs and values by her mother in law who was her mother post marriage. It was in this same room 50 years ago, her mother in law revealed the family secret to her and made her understand the importance. Strangely it was a secret that was carried only by the women in the family.

Now Ananthamma sat in her bedroom checked if the room was locked and bent low to the bottom of her bed. She lifted the bed spread. She removed her ear ring and and inserted it to the minute hole that was completely invisible to others. She removed the small box made of ivory and placed it on the bed. She ran her fingers on the carvings on the lid. There was a surya carved with a lotus below which a small lion and a face of a woman was carved. Each symbol had a meaning. She opened the lid and lifted the contents inside.

Swapna looked at the mail. She was clueless. The mail was a ticket. A ticket to India. But that was not surprising. The flight was from NY- Delhi. From Delhi she was bound to Haridwar. Interesting. She has never been to Haridwar. And she was sure there was something serious about this trip which her grandma has organized.

Madurai:
Arjun was driving his Honda Amaze when he received the call from Shekhar. The messge was simple. It was something that was expected for long. He jammed the brakes and took a minute for the messge and the intensity to sink in. He booked his tickets to Haridwar on the same day.

Arjun rushed home and packed his baggage. When he started he took one look at his grandfathers photo in the living room. He said in a determined tone. The time has come grandpa.