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| curio shop |
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| Hasmat |
It was time to check out of the hotel, my nephew Monish came and reminded about our next
destination to Fatehpur Sikri. I was sitting with the jewel box in hand with
the lid open. Inside of the cover there is a mirror which was reflecting my
sleepless face. I looked up to him and gave a blank stare.
“What
happened you look devastated as though you have not slept last night? What is
that box?” He looked at me and then at my wife who was getting ready to go out.
“It is a strange
story and lost a valuable asset which was in this box.” I said absentmindedly
clutching the pearl.
He got
interested and pulled the chair and sat in front of me. I was sitting on the
bed with legs dangling.
Here is what
I told him.
“Do you
remember the guide Hasmat at Tajmahal whom our guide introduced?”
“Yes that
old fellow who said that he is the oldest guide of Taj, I have heard you
discussing about Djinns with him.” Monish said.
Yes, he said
he has seen Djinns. He further told me as we are born from earth Djinns are
born from fire. Djinns live in a parallel world to ours. They are also born and
die like us but are not visible in our dimension of world but they do exist
around us. They are active at night and mostly hang around the old ruins. He
informed there are bad Djinns and good Djinns. During the discussion I asked
about the genie in Aladdin’s lamp. He informed me that an evil Emir had
punished that Djinn by putting him in that lamp. I wanted to know more about
Djinns from him. He asked me to come in the evening near the gate of Taj.
I was
curious so after we all returned to the hotel I left for Tajmahal, the sun had
set and it was getting dark.
“Oh,I came
in search of you in the evening and auntie said you had gone out for some
errand, she had no clue about your nocturnal adventure.” Monish said
sarcastically.
I smiled at
him and continued with my narration.
Hasmat was
waiting for me near the curio shop. I had walked down the last one kilometer to
Taj where only non-polluting mode of conveyance is allowed. He took me to a
room inside the curio shop. It was kind of office of Mustaq, the owner of the
shop. Mustaq left us alone. Hasmat asked whether I am interested to go inside
Taj to see Djinn.
“How can you
arrange to go in? It is closed now.”
“Leave that
to me, there are many secret entry points of Moghul time which are not properly
guarded. The main entrance point is only guarded.”
“How long
will it take to sight Djinn?”
“Depends on
them, they have seen me loitering but as you are a new person so they have to
make sure that you are not up to some mischief. They may not appear, it is a
chance you have to take.”
As such
before coming I have Googled about Djinns .I gathered from Google there are
some bad Djinns too, but the curiosity of learning more has pulled me to Hasmat.
I was not in a mood to do experiment with unknown in a desolate place.
Hasmat
watched me hesitating; he got up and went out. He brought this box which I was
holding in my hand in the hotel.
Hasmat said,
“ This box contains a Djinn, not a dangerous one”. He opened the box there was
a small pearl like thing, he pointed to the pearl and said the Djinn is there.
He asked me to hold the pearl in hand and look at the mirror which was embedded
inside the lid.
I was
excited like a school boy, I took the box , picked up the pearl and looked at
the mirror. First it was hazy then a face appeared , the face was of a school
boy and that was me when I was 13 or 14.I looked up at Hasmat with awe , he
smiled and said, “ whatever you are seeing can be seen by you only, it reflects
your mental age at that moment.”
I started
wondering how that was possible and tried to recall if anything like this had
happened to me. Again I looked at the mirror and saw my face of the age of 24
or so when I had met a mystery man in Gauhati during start of my career in
Indian Oil refineries. That time a sadhu in Kamakhya temple had touched my
forehead and transported me to a dream world. I was ecstatic with that box and
asked Hasmat to give that to me at any cost. I was surprised that he did not
bargain and gave the box free with a caution not to keep the box open for more
than 5 minutes otherwise the Djinn would escape.
I came back
before dinner time and had dinner with you all.
‘Yes I remember
you were in a kind of hurry to finish the dinner.” Monish said.
My wife
said, “ I did not know all these about Djinns but I have seen him getting up a
number of times in the night and doing something with that box and a pen torch.”
“ I was so
curious that in the night I would get up check which face the mirror would
show. Mostly it was showing my this face but sometimes it was showing a much
older wrinkled face of mine. I was exhausted by the long walk of Tajmahal and
the second time walk in the night. Eventually I fell asleep and forgot to close
the lid of the box.I had kept the box by the side of my pillow. In the morning I
got up , held this pearl and looked at the mirror, I saw my this face. Then I noticed
there is a micro hole in this pearl, I guess the Djinn has escaped by that. I
heard some kind of rattling sound in the night but did not bother.”
“ Jethu, I don’t
believe in your this story and as usual you made up this yarn, now get ready ,
we have to check out.” Monish got up with a huff.
It is very
difficult to convince someone about my seeing me in that mirror at my different
age depending upon my mental frame then. But I did see and know from various
articles that Djinns create illusion in the mind and whatever I was seeing in
the mirror was nothing but playback of my memory which is cached in the subconscious.
It is a kind of hallucination, what people achieve by consuming drugs like marijuana,
cocaine etc. Next time when I come to Taj will search for Hasmat , I am writing
this article for the benefit of readers to experiment with Djinn when they are
in Agra.
