Arun outwits the sadhu, reclaiming his stolen youth with modern ingenuity.

Arun, feeling decades older after his fateful encounter with the sadhu, couldn’t shake the story of the ancient King Yayati from his mind. According to the Mahabharata's *Adi Parva*, the *Bhagavata Purana*, and the *Matsya Purana*, Yayati had once been cursed with old age by Shukra, the powerful sage, after taking Sharmishtha as his mistress. Devayani, Shukra’s daughter, had been furious at Yayati’s betrayal, and her father’s curse made him old in the prime of his life. However, the story didn’t end there. Yayati, unwilling to accept his fate, was later allowed to exchange his old age with one of his sons, Puru, thus regaining his youth and vitality. 

Arun, well-versed in these ancient scriptures, found inspiration in Yayati’s story. If Yayati could find a way to reverse his ageing, why couldn't he? The hope of regaining his youth flickered in Arun’s heart as he decided to take action. It wasn’t just a myth—it was a strategy. Arun knew that the sadhu had stolen his youth in some modern, twisted way, but if he could uncover how, he could reverse it, just like Yayati had done ages ago.

With this ancient wisdom in mind, Arun sought out Samaranand for help. They both knew that in today's world, cunning and strategy were as essential as divine intervention had been for Yayati. And just like Yayati had relied on his son Puru, Arun would need allies—Samaranand’s street-smart Babulal and the tech-savvy Soumya—to get back what was stolen from him. 

Fueled by the conviction that his youth could be restored, Arun set out on a mission that was less about fate and more about modern-day smarts, all while carrying the legacy of Yayati’s redemption deep in his heart.

With the story of King Yayati echoing in his mind, Arun embarked on his mission to reclaim his stolen youth. He knew the road ahead was perilous, but the ancient tale had given him both hope and direction. If Yayati could overcome his curse, Arun could outsmart the devious sadhu who had drained him of his vitality. His first step was to reconnect with Samaranand, who wasted no time assembling his team—Babulal, the wily street operator who could navigate through the underworld of fake ashrams, and Soumya, the tech genius who could break into any system with just a few keystrokes.

Samaranand laid out the plan. The sadhu’s ashram in Rishikesh was flourishing—an empire built on the deception of young, desperate souls who unknowingly exchanged their youth for fleeting moments of luxury. The sadhu, disguised as a young man himself, was known to offer "miracle" treatments to the super-rich, extracting the life force from his unsuspecting victims to keep his high-paying clients youthful and radiant. Arun’s only chance to reverse his condition was to steal back what the sadhu had taken from him, and that required uncovering the secret behind the sadhu’s alchemical trickery.

Under Samaranand’s orders, Babulal went undercover as a potential customer, a man willing to pay any price for eternal youth. While he distracted the sadhu, Soumya infiltrated the ashram’s security systems and discovered that the sadhu wasn’t relying on spirituality alone. In a hidden laboratory, Soumya found files detailing a chemical formula that, when mixed with the victim’s blood, could reverse the aging process. This was the secret behind the sadhu’s youth—he had been using his victims as living reservoirs of vitality, draining their life force and bottling it for his wealthy clients.

Soumya hacked into the system, retrieving all the necessary data, including the chemical formula. It wasn’t easy—the lab was heavily guarded, and Soumya had to evade multiple layers of security, but he finally cracked it. The next step was equally crucial. They needed to reverse-engineer the formula so Arun could reclaim his youth. Samaranand coordinated with a trusted chemist who recreated the potion but altered it to work in Arun’s favor.

In a tense final move, Arun confronted the sadhu, injecting himself with the modified formula. For a moment, nothing happened, but then, just like in Yayati's story, the years began to melt away. His wrinkled skin smoothed, his muscles regained their strength, and the energy of his youth returned. The sadhu, realizing what had happened, tried to flee, but it was too late. Arun, now younger and stronger, had already called in the authorities, exposing the sadhu’s fraudulent empire.

The operation was a success. Arun, like King Yayati before him, had reclaimed his youth, not through magic, but through modern ingenuity and clever strategy. The sadhu’s empire was dismantled, and Arun stood as a living testament to the power of persistence, proving that even when all seems lost, there's always a way to fight back.

Arun looked in the mirror, the youthful reflection that greeted him a stark contrast to the weary man who had first approached Jogen with his problem. He had outwitted the charlatan and reclaimed his life, leaving behind not only the marks of aging but also the fear that had once consumed him. The lessons of King Yayati lived on, but this time, the victory was not just mythical—it was real.

As Arun gazed at his youthful reflection, a thought crossed his mind—the prediction that had once haunted him, that he wouldn’t live past 50. It seemed almost laughable now. He had spent years chasing miracles, believing his fate was sealed, only to discover that life had its own unpredictable twists. In that moment, Arun realized that no prophecy, no horoscope, could dictate a man’s destiny. It wasn’t some mystical force that shaped his future—it was his own choices, his will to fight back. The future wasn't written in the stars; it was forged by his own hands.

Ten heads

Ten heads.

He looked down from the top at the massive hall full of rakhshas of various sizes but the one he was interested in was the king who was sitting on a throne which looked like a hood of a cobra. It had to be wide enough to accommodate all of his ten heads. He was amused at the sight of the king. Many questions were racing through his mind about the ten heads. He was wondering,”How does he sleep with ten heads?Certainly he can’t sleep on his sides. Which mouth exactly used for feeding and which one for speaking. He observed that all ten heads were glaring at him from the lower position of the throne.

“How dare you sit in front of me?”

Yes, the rakhshas around also wondered how someone dared their king by sitting and not standing before him with bowed head.

He spoke tauntingly from the top, “You call yourself a Brahmin but you did not have the decency to offer a seat to your guest. You are yet to learn the etiquettes.”

The king growled at his words. He heard the growl as echo as all ten heads were together growling at him. He noticed that all the heads moved in synchronous with each other. He rubbed his eyes thinking that he was hallucinating because of the Brahmashtra which had hit him. Indrajeet was not amused at the discomfiture of his father Ravan. On his order he had brought the monkey after a fierce fight when the monkey rose to the sky, he had to hit Brahmashtra to bring him down. Then he tied down the usual size monkey by a rope and brought him to his father who was the king of Lanka.

He actually brought manasputra of Shiva the great Hanuman. Who willingly allowed him to get captured as the arrow had Lord Shiva’s blessing. In reverence to Lord Shiva he surrendered.

When tied by rope he came with Indrajeet then all courtiers were amused thinking that small monkey had destroyed the loved Ashok Vatika of Ravana where Sita was kept  captive.

But Vayuputra Hanuman was not amused because he had a mission and the mission was to locate Sita. Having located her he wanted to have fun so after tasting the delicious fruits of the garden he went on rampage and destroyed Ashok Vatika. When he found that he was not offered a seat in the court he expanded himself ,  his tail which went on growing with his body until he was looking down at Ravana by sitting on his coiled tail.

Again ten heads bellowed at him for his audacity to laugh at them. The ten heads with 20 eyes were looking at Hanuman at the top.Hanuman could not make out how ten heads were joined with the body, he was getting the top view.When he came in as a small monkey then he had to look up at Ravan so never got the chance to have a look at the neck. He thought probably a side view would clarify his curiosity . He was wondering whether all the heads sneeze together, he was tempted to tickle the nose of one of the heads to find out about sneezing but then he thought why not humor Ravana by asking how he assigns duty to each head. Hewas about to ask Ravana when the ten heads growled again at him.

“What are you doing sitting there?" this time I heard the sound and with a start I got up in my sofa and found my wife yelling at me. I had fallen asleep while reading Sita by Devdutt Pattanaik and just finished Lanka Kand and then the posto which I had taken for lunch took over my senses and I fell asleep with the book Sita on my chest. I was wondering about the ten heads of Ravan when I dosed off. The explanation of ten heads is pretty contentious , it’s more of a symbolic in nature but on the Dashera day we burn effigy of Ravana with ten heads.My fertile mind was busy with the riddle of ten heads when i fell asleep. I thanked the book for giving me a first hand glimpse of the Ramayana's Lanka Kand.

Dadhichi's bone

Dadhichi’s bone

……………………..

                           My magic

Bhuban often visits my house, knows about my latest hobby of performing magic and posting those in YouTube. He is one of my side kicks who arranges knick knack for magic tricks.

The other day he narrated his experience with magic.

 You know that day from your house I straight went to Howrah station to catch a local train to Guskara. I got a train after waiting for half an hour, the train started and all kind of hawkers started selling their wares. After a few stations a boy got up and started showing magic, I remembered about you. He showed a vanishing trick, the passengers happily gave him money for providing entertainment; I too gave him a rupee. I stuck friendship with him; his name was Dilip .I started enquiring.

“Who taught you the magic?”

“My guruji , he lives in my village.”

“Where is your village?”

“Next station is my stop, my village is about 3 kms from the station.”

It was afternoon time and I had time to spare so I thought why not go with that boy and meet his Guru. I was thinking about you and your hobby of magic. Thought can get some magic related idea from that Guru of his.

“Can I come with you to meet your Guru? Will he be there?”

Dilip said,” Yes, you can come but be ready to travel by cycle van. There is no bus service.”

We got down at the next station, walked out. It is a small town, we took a van rickshaw for his village . After a kilometer the rickshaw came down from the metaled road to a muddy road leading to his village. It took us about 40 minutes to reach the village.

I paid for the rickshaw, taking the dirt road we walked in the quint village. There were thatched roof houses, trees and ponds. I did not see any people or animals in the village. It looked like a picture post card village without any life, it was eerie.  Within five minutes we reached a brick house with a small garden in the front. Dilip opened the wicket gate and invited to come with him. I followed him to the back of the house. A gentleman in white dhoti and kurta was reclining on an easy chair with a book. Dilip coughed to indicate his presence; the gentleman smiled at him and looked questioningly towards me.

“Guruji, here is Bhubanda ,he wants to meet you. He is from Guskara.”

“Please come and sit here.” He gestured towards a vacant space on the running verandah. Smilingly he produced a guava from the air and offered me to eat.

“Why do you want to meet me?”

I was impressed by the guava trick and so enthusiastically told him “Dilip’s magic attracted me to you. I am quite impressed that you could train him so well that he can confidently show magic at this tender age. That too bang in the midst of passengers, without any stage to prepare for the tricks.”

Guruji smiled and said, “Not only Dilip I have trained some more boys of the village. A few are performing regularly in functions.”

“That’s impressive!” admiringly I said.

“Guruji, show him the magical power of that bone of some rishi.” Dilip requested.

Guru raised his hand and started levitating, then produced a bone from the thin air, aimed it to a tree in the courtyard. I saw a flash and small explosion on the trunk of the tree. I was nonplussed by his levitation and the power of the bone.

“This is Dadhichi’s bone.” He said.

“You mean Dadhichi whose mention is there in Puran.”

“Yes the same Dadhichi. You may know his story but let me repeat it for the sake of Dilip. When Lord Indra was driven out of heaven by Vrutrasur then he went to Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwar for help. He was advised by Vishnu to make Vajrashtra with the bones of Dadhichi. So Indra went with devas to Dadhichi on earth and requested him to donate his bones to make Vajrashtra so that the same can be used against Asura. Incidentally this Asura was a Brahmin who turned against Devas. Dadhichi did the ultimate sacrifice by dying and donating his bones for making weapons. Indra and devas won the war by using the Vajrashtra made by Dadhichi’s bone. ” He held up the bone lovingly.

I was skeptical; I did not believe the story but had watched the power.

“This sounds a bit far fetched.” I said.

“This bone has great power, I got it from a Rishi. It has destructive power. I generally don’t show this to anyone but you came with my favorite disciple so showed you. "Guru went on outwardly unflapped by my remark.

Then I thought if I can get that bone for you then you will have one more trick in your bag.

“Is this the only one you have or you have some more, may be a small piece?”

“I may have a small one but have to perform some puja to activate it.”

I requested him to keep one ready for me.

“Ok,you come next full moon day, I will keep one ready for you ,of course for a price.”

Bhuban looked at me for my approval for that venture of getting the bone of Dadhichi from that Guru in some unknown village.

I said, “Ok”

After a fortnight Bhuban came to me with a crestfallen face. I immediately knew that he has failed in his mission but allowed him to say.

Yesterday I took a train to that station, as Dilip was not there so I went alone by taking a cycle van like last time. I took the same dirt road but could not find the village. Surprisingly the villages I came across were all having small brick and mortar houses made by the government. That quaint village with trees and ponds has just vanished.

I consoled him, “Don’t worry. Next time when you come across Dilip then go with him.”

Bhuban couldn’t meet Dilip so far though he took almost all the local trains going towards that direction, the other hawker boys too could not recall Dilip. But Bhuban still sometimes gets down at that station and goes by cycle van in search of that illusive village.

                                    Magic by Dilip in the train