Agastya : The War

1 : The Damage Is Irreparable

1 : Damage Is Irreparable

"Asatoma Sadgamaya. Tamasoma Jyotirgamaya. Mrityur Amritam Gamaya." The verses from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, were being chanted.

"From the unreal, lead us to the Real.
From the dark, lead us into light.
From death, lead us to Immortality.
Reach us through and through ourselves.
And evermore protect us,
O thou terrible!
From ignorance, by thou sweet compassionate face."

The Sacrosanct prayed, along the words of Swami Vivekananda, and the rest had stood, arranged in rows, surrendering themselves to the Ishvara.

The hallowed conches and the tranquilizing flutes, after having prepared for days, had created a paradisiacal amalgamation on the final day, signifying glory and gratitude to the Leaders. The open grounds behind the dilapidated yet mighty temple of the forests, was enchanted with people, born to bring revolutions.

A few moments of silence had prevailed, until the Sacrosanct announced, "A few more minutes...."

--

March 1915, Monday at 8:00 am, the most prestigious radio news channel, The British-Indian News declared: "The much-coveted malefactor, Agastya, has again succeeded in bamboozling the government and police forces, having enabled the elopement of thirty imprisoned Indians sentenced to death by the Court. It was speculated before that Monday would be the day of execution of the imprisoned Indians, but the clever malefactor has again played his cards on the Monday morning. Mr. George Thomas again throws an open challenge, compelling Agastya to be a man, and not play like a coward. It would be interesting to find what Agastya does ahead. Will he be able to turn the tables of the government? Or will the British government succeed this time? For more regular updates, stay tuned with the British-Indian News."

The whole of Bengal had been keen to know the destiny of their Swadeshi brothers. Much speculation existed about the advent of the mighty Agastya. His involvement in this case was oblivious even until last night. Everyone had presumed, owing to the threats of Mr. Thomas on the day of 'Swadeshi Capturing Incident', Agastya might have been flustered. Perhaps, he had turned into a coward, in reality!

The British officials had tried to degrade the authority of the Sacrosanct, mocking the Indians for having a 'Sacrosanct' who got ruffled by mere verbal threats. However, this heroic comeback was a concrete punch of the proud faces of the Officers.

The excited Bengalis were now merry-making. Until Monday they had just praised Agastya, but now they were all his devotees. They knew that this man was the key to their independent future.

After a fifteen-minute break, the transistor channel further announced, "The unseen, unheard Agastya continues to authenticate his power while the government officials are falling prey to failure. Each time, as they set a trap to tangle the malefactor, he happens to entangle the officers in their mesh. Adding to this ruckus, Agastya has apparently written his second love-letter to Mr. Thomas. However, we have not yet succeeded in deciphering the contents of the same."

The prestige of the British government at Churagarh had been exploited once again. Fuel was added to fire when a local vernacular newspaper company, handled by the young revolutionaries, had managed to get hold of the actual type-written letter, sent by Agastya to Thomas. The next day, they had printed its contents on their vernacular column along with a long note highlighting the evils of the government.

The letter read -

Dear Thomas & Company,

It has been a long time since you have heard from me. I know you would be absolutely delighted to hear that I am in the pink of my health. I am a little worried. I have heard that there has been a little fall through in your profession. But ups and downs make up life. It is normal. It is fine. You need not be afraid of that. You need not be enraged by that. You know, bonus strain on the brain is vicious. Wish my good luck to all your officials. Take care of your health. And yes, the next time you plan to give me something witty, a wittier return gift would be on its way, back to your home.