The mixup

Banerjee babu was happy to get out of the oppressive atmosphere of the government run hospital for Corona patients.

 He was recalling in the taxi how it all happened. He was not feeling well for sometimes, thought that due to change of weather must have caught cold. He has been taking all cares against Corona. Regularly washing hand, seldom had he gone out but whenever he was out of his house, he had the newly acquired Puma brand mask on his face. He was careful to keep safe distance. His only weakness was sweet. That day also he sneaked out of his house and headed for the neighborhood sweet shop. He ordered for Kamala bhog and hot kachori. He removed his mask and started eating his favourite items, he was eating slowly to prolong his good time with food. He was so much engrossed that forgot that he had spent considerable time at one place. Satisfied Banerjee returned home with his mask duly on his face. His wife was worried but she being wife of more than 30 years guessed where he had been. He got a round of verbal lashing for his misdemeanor. He was diabetic as well. By the evening time, he started getting irritating feeling in his throat. By night, he was not getting smell. He got in touch with his house physician next day who referred him to the government hospital by taking help of local thana. 

 Thus, Banerjee babu landed in the government hospital ward meant for corona patients. The bed allotted to him was in a corner by the side of a wall. He was feeling claustrophobic, requested authorities to shift him to another bed with all sides open. After a few days, he was shifted to another bed, which was at the center. As per rule prevailing he left his mobile with his family consisting of wife and his two office going sons. He had no touch with his family during the stay. He was cured within 14 days, he was tested negative. He was released but was surprised to find none has come to receive him. He completed the release formalities and took a taxi for home.

      He was surprised to see a big gathering in front of his two storied house. The gate was decorated with rajanigandha sticks. He wondered whether anybody had died in his absence. May be the tenant who occupies ground floor must have faced with some tragedy. He opened the gate and was surprised to find his own picture with garland and flowers around it. His wife was crying. The atmosphere was somber. “What has happened? Why are you displaying my picture with garlands of flower?” “Oh! You are alive!” saying this his wife collapsed. “But we brought your dead body from the hospital and carried out the cremation of your body in the electric furnace!” One of his sons said with surprise written all over his face.. Banerjee babu was stunned and sat down crestfallen. 

 One of the local leaders came forward to help in solving the ridiculous situation as he only coordinated his hospital admission. Here is what exactly happened 10 days back. When Banerjee babu switched his bed the same was not updated in the register. As such staff with all those PPE ,gloves etc were not in full gear of operation. Another patient let us call him Dutta was admitted and given bed vacated by Mr.Banerjee. Mr Dutta actually died, so as the register was not updated so it was Banerjee as per the record who was dead. The hospital staff wrapped the body head to toe in a white sheet and informed Mr.Banerjee’s family to take the body. His sons and their friends collected the body, as it was a death by corona so they were not allowed to look at the face by removing the sheet. They straightaway took the body for cremation to a designated furnace for corona patient.

 Now 

 Mr.Banerjee was holding his death certificate in hand and was looking at his garlanded picture. He was thanking his star that he was one of those lucky few who could attend his own funeral.He requested one of his sons bring something to eat. It being his funeral as per ritual his favourite items were cooked. …….. The above incident is based on a real happening.

The time warp

 

The time warp

……………………

The crown of Qutub minar

We were running for our life, the ruffian with his two of his henchman was chasing us through the meena bazar of Qutub minar. It was midnight and the oblong moon lighted up the one side of Qutub. The weather was dry in September but it was not hot.

Suddenly a group of pathans appeared on horseback, seeing us being chased by those bandits they gave out a shout and bared their swords; we took this chance to hide behind the half-finished duplicate Qutub Minar.

I was cursing Rana for putting me in this jam; I should not have listened to him that day in Delhi. He knew that I was interested in odd things so he brought this pathan Yusuf to our guest house in Green Park,Delhi. Whenever I was visiting Delhi from Bhopal Rana would visit my room in BHEL guesthouse. He was an interesting character, he did his BTech from IIT,Delhi and was full of life. He knew my hobbies; he knew I was interested in odd events or items.

“You must meet Yusuf. He will tell you a strange story and may invite you to witness the incident!’”

I was intrigued by his preamble but he did not want to tell me about that so called strange experience of Yusuf. I reluctantly agreed to his suggestion. Next day he came with Yusuf, I clearly remember it was sometimes after 15^th August in 2001, I was visiting Delhi for some work.

Yusuf a very tall well-built fair complexioned middle-aged man greeted me; I invited both Rana and him to sit. Asked Adu Ram, the inchrge of our Guest House to organize tea.

‘I have heard about you from Rana. You presented a book “Who moved my cheese to Rana’’ after reading that book he changed his business plan.”

I smiled and said, “ Yes I advised him to expand his customer base, now he added Honda as his customer.”

“He told me that you have interest in paranormal, magic etc.”

“Yes, I have keen interest in those!”

“”Are you in Delhi on 31 st August and 1^st September?”’

“Yes, I am in Delhi on those days”

Yusuf said, “I am inviting you in the evening of 31^st August to my house by the side of Qutub Minar.”

“I have not seen any flat or houses there!”

“No sir, we have an old haveli near Qutub, it was built by my fore fathers around 16^th century. It is a crumbling edifice but I have modified the front portion of it.”

I nodded my head but was curious to know more about the event, which he wanted me to experience. “What will happen on those days?’

“I have not experienced that personally but was told by my Abbu. He had experienced it in 1968 on those dates. Have you heard about sun and moon aligning every 33 years? It means every 33 years on any given day sun and moon are on similar orbital position.”

I have heard about this phenomenon and have read some books on time travel and wormhole.

I nodded my head sand said,”Is it something to do with time travel and wormhole?”

He gave a broad smile and said, “Yes, but I doubt whether such thing really happen so thought why not you, me and Rana go through the experience together. This is 2001 which is exactly 33 years after 1968 when my Abbu had the experience. ”

Rana and him spent some time with me and left after about half an hour. We fixed up 31^st August as the date of meeting Yusuf in his haveli. Rana suggested that he would come and pick me up before that he would arrange some special dress. He asked for my size.

Before they were leaving, I asked Yusuf which year of the past he was targeting and hoped he knew how to reach that year.

He smiled and said, ‘My Abbu left an old diary which has instruction and location of the wormhole for the specific years. I am targeting 1803.”

After they left I googled to find who was ruling Delhi in 1803. It was turbulent year when  Sah Alam was ruling only Red fort under the protection of Marathas against British. Thought that if by chance we come across British soldiers our knowledge of English would come handy.

I got up early on 31^st August and went for my morning walk up to Delhi IIT. It was a wet morning with rainy season steadily receding. Saptaparni or Chatim (in Bengali) or Alstonia Scholaris flowers have started blooming and the aroma of that flower made me nostalgic about my childhood.

I was not sure about what I can carry with me as survival kit. I had my mobile and I carry Swiss knife and a pocket torch. I decided that I should wear a sports shoe in case we have to run due to some unknown reason. Rest I left to Rana and Yusuf to decide.

Rana came at 5 pm in his Innova and picked me up; I was carrying a bag with toiletries and change of cloth. Rana advised me not to take the bag as he in consultation with Yusuf had organized everything.

Within in half an hour we reached Yusuf’s haveli in old area of Qutub Minar. He was waiting outside for us. It was a majestic red brick structure with tall ceilings and running verandah.

We assembled in his drawing room , furniture of bygone days was tastefully placed among modern comfortable sofas, it was classic fusion of two eras.The drawingroom  had two big windows and two doors. I could see that he had retained the old style pankha hanging from the ceiling.

Yusuf noticed me looking at the pankha, he smiled and said, “ I have tried to retain the flavor of the past along with functional furniture of the present.”

“When I entered your drawing room then and there I did a time travel to our ancestral house in Allahabad which had such pankha for my grandfather, I faintly remembered that. Yes, we shouldn’t lose contact with our root.” I nodded in appreciation.

“What is our programme?” I asked after sitting down.

“We will finish our dinner by 8pm and then go to Qutub Minar. Before going to Qutub Minar we have to change our dress. I will just bring the dresses. Rana has helped me to get the dresses from a theatrical setup.”

Yusuf brought a briefcase and took out colourful pathani dresses, long kurtas, half coat and loose pajamas.

“Do we wear some kind of pagdi or fez? Are we to put on some false beard and all?” I asked mischievously.

Yusuf jumped up with excitement and said ,”We did not think about our facial hair, let me check with my friend who stays nearby. I have good collection of pagdis.’

Some false beard set was organized. After dinner, one by one we went inside to his bedroom to put on the Afgani dress. His servant helped us in putting on those, his wife had briefly come out from the sanctum sanctorum to say hello to us. He had already informed that his only son was studying Engineering in Bangalore.

We put on the makeup; we were transformed to a different personality from a different time. He showed us some Moghul time coins or asrafis that he said would be useful.

Pathan

We were carrying a dagger each, in case of any trouble.

We reached near Qutub Minar by 10 pm of 31^st August. I knew that the gates of Qutub Minar area would be locked and there would be CCTV cameras.

As if Yusuf could read my mind, he turned towards me and said,’ Don’t worry there is a way of going in at the back where there is hardly any security. The location of the wormhole for 1803 is near that place; yesterday I have done reconnaissance of the place.

Rana parked his Innova at a proper parking place at the back of Qutub Minar complex and then we walked down. We were the only one walking down with those strange apparels. Yusuf said, “ Don’t you worry there are many pathans in this area who still were dresses like this, all are not Sahrukh Khan!” he laughed out loudly.

He took us to a place where a person in ordinary dress was waiting for us to take us through the barriers. We crossed some shrubs and entered the compound, that person left us there. It was a silent moonlit night with the majestic Qutub Minar, 72.5 m tall standing like a sentinel guarding Delhi against all evils. I was hypnotized by that night view of the minar with crescent moon visible behind the minar , it casted a spell on me, I was lost in my thought when Rana said, “Roysahab wake up, let us go.”

I smiled shyly as I was caught[SNR1]  in my thought.

We walked for about 5 minutes towards a broken wall. I could see that Yusuf had marked the wall with a fluorescent yellow chalk, that wall was hidden in the shrubs. The diffused light of the tower lights of the compound lighted the area. Yusuf asked us to touch the wall and push. Three of us started pushing the wall, nothing happened. Yusuf took out an old notebook and studied that.

“My mistake! Let us go to the other side of the wall so that we can face Qutub Minar.”

I was scared if there was some snake or some other poisonous insect. Yusuf took out carbolic acid powder and sprinkled around the wall.

We went to the other side and started pushing, I felt as though I was floating in the air, I was passing through a  tunnel with the body rotating like a spinning top and was thrown off.. Three of us were lying on a rough ground. The manicured lawn had vanished. There was no light; there were no electrical light at all. At a distance, we could see scattered tents and some oil lamps, faint voices of many people talking simultaneously as though some kind of midnight market was operating. I looked at the moonlit Qutub, the moon was at the same place, I was surprised to find Qutub had it’s crown which in my last visit found on the ground near the minar. The whole atmosphere was eerie, Rana was not his jubilant self, Yusuf was ready, as his Abbu had told him long back what to expect.

Yusuf quickly rearranged the shrubs and broke some twigs near wall as marker so that while returning we do not miss it, I left a matchbox near the shrub. We started walking towards the source of voices. We had crossed the half-finished minar of Alauddin Khilji. Keeping that minar to the right, we started walking towards source of sound, it was around 11 pm then. Yusuf told us we would spend 4 to 5 hours and then return. I was feeling a bit uneasy but the surrounding of Qutub minar of that period was different and it was pretty inviting, I was feeling as though I am in some film set in Istanbul.We could see lanes with brick houses and scattered tents, smell of horse dung was hanging in the air. Practically by the side of all tents, horses were tied. Outside some of the tents there, travelers were relaxing.

Yusuf suggested we locate a saraikhana for taking rest. As we neared the habitat we could hear Sufi song wafting in the air, we crossed the tents to reach the source of Sufi Qwali. On the way people shouted at us and Yusuf replied in Pushto that we were travelers from Mathura.

We entered the courtyard of the shrine where a dervish was sitting on a podium and around him qwalls were sitting with sarangi, harmonium, tabla etc. No one bothered about us, we could see about 50 people were assembled in front the dervish. As such constantly, people were coming and going. It was all male affair.

Yusuf enquired from a passerby about the location of any nearby mussafirkhana. That fellow looked suspiciously at us and showed us the way. I realized that I was the reason of suspicion as I was wearing a modern titanium spectacle like which was yet to be invented.

We crossed the courtyard and walked for about 100 meters and found a place humming with people, horses were tied outside. It looked like a saloon in wild west films. Surprisingly inside was spacious and not many people were around, a dim oil lamp was stuck on the wall.  Yusuf took the lead and found a room was available in the ground floor, the inn keeper would organize water but no food, no toilet. Yusuf paid some asrafi which his Abbu had brought during his travel. The room was spacious, it was like a dormitory with beds spread on the floor, one window, no latches on the door. As per our daily routine it was bed time. We decided to take rest for 2 hours and then take round of the shrine of sufi and the head for Qutub minar for heading back.

As per programme we checked out of the inn and walked back to the shrine of the Sufi. The innkeeper had informed me those Sufis were disciple of Nizamuddin, the sufi saint of 14^th century.

A dervish was quoting Nizamuddin Aulia from the podium, “Reflection is the lamp of the heart,if it departs, the heart will have no light.So friends you must reflect before taking any action. Let the heart guide you.”’

We stood for sometimes to absorb the mystical feel of the night of 19^th century in 1803.

We started walking to wards Qutub Minar, night was progressing towards day when we felt that some people were following us. Sure enough the same fellow who had given direction at the shrine was following us with 3 of his henchmen. That rascal had figured us to be innocent travelers with money. We started running towards the wall when the Afgan horse riders appeared and chased those ruffians. We waited for sometimes then entered the courtyard of Qutub minar. I went and touched the minar, took a picture of the full height Qutub with the crown ,Yusuf and Rana. We were startled by some footsteps, the ruffians have reappeared, we took off and suddenly felt as though the whole earth was shaking, there was rumbling sound. The earth was shaking violently, the Qutub minar was swaying, the crown of the Qutub came down crashing, and those ruffians were buried under that  crown which fell on the ground with a thud.

It lasted for a few minutes or so and suddenly it stopped. The silence was pierced by the screams of people who were running helter skelter. The horses were neighing wildly. it was devastation everywhere. Luckily the Qutub minar lost it’s crown but it was still standing erect. There were debris of structures, uprooted trees. We could see some tents had caught fire from the oil lamps. It was mayhem everywhere.

We were worried whether our wall of wormhole was still there or not. We ran at the back of Qutub complex and found it to be still there.

Yusuf told us that now we have to push from the other side with our back to the Qutub. We did that and had the same experience of spinning, travelling through a tunnel, and finally thrown on the ground. I looked at present Qutub majestically standing erect with eastern sky slowly reflecting the rising sun light.

We quietly went out of the compound of Qutub, the experience of that massive earthquake had shaken us. Probably if I would have known that there would be that earthquake I wouldn’t have ventured.

We went to Yousuf’s house changed to our original dress, thanked him for everything.

Rana dropped me at the guest house. Next day I found from the net in my laptop that early morning of 1^st September,1803 there was a massive earthquake in northern India , there was lot of destruction, Qutub minar lost its crown.

I reached for my cell phone to look for the picture, which I have snapped of Qutub with crown, but it was lost in the turmoil of earth quake. That was the only proof I had of the time travel.

I found 1st September of 2001 is 6x33 +1803=2001.

 

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 [SNR1]