Unscripted Adventures

I reached the Ramaswamy Temple in Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu – a place that evokes spirituality and peace. This was the last place I wanted to be, and I had so many other things to finish. My mom and dad ushered my sister and me towards the front of the temple, where my grandmother said she would meet us. We saw her waving her arms, and she started walking towards us. But my sister had other plans – she ran up to paati and hugged her tight. 

“Oh pattu! It’s so nice to see you again! Yes and you too Arushi! How was the trip here?”, she exclaimed. 

“The trip was good here. So, um, why exactly are we here?”, I responded. Paati was talking something about Kumbhabhishekam, but my focus on that went elsewhere. I looked around, and saw a boy around my age, kicking at the grass. I felt like I knew him, but at the same time I didn’t have the faintest idea of who he was. He turned around to look at me and our eyes met. He looked as if he was going to come my way and talk to me, but my sister started shouting to my mom in a sing-song voice: “Amma, look! Akka has a boyfriend!”

I turned around, my cheeks burning. The boy smiled at her, and headed to the temple with his family, and disappeared into the crowd. My family trudged our way to the temple, and tried to push to the front. When we managed to, I turned to my side and I saw him. He turned to my side, and I couldn’t keep my eyes off him – radiating power and grabbing everyone’s attention. 

“Uhh…hey there.”, he said with a deep voice. 

“Hi. I’m assuming you’re here for the Kumbhabhishekam?”

“Yep. I would rather go back home and just binge-watch. So what’s your name? I’m Kritin.”

and 

“I’m Arushi.”

My mom nudged me and said, “Shh. Stop talking! Listen to the devi’s song.”

I turned my ear to the stage, and I was mesmerised by the song – a beautiful melody, enchanting everyone’s hearts. I tried to look for the source of the voice, and then I saw her – sitting down in a lotus position, wearing a Kanchivaram yellow sari, moving her fingers to the talam. The same feeling struck me as it had when I saw Kritin – a feeling of déjà vu. I turned to him, to see his reaction, and he looked as if he knew her too. 

The singer glanced at us with a look of familiarity, and her voice cracked. She looked away, completed the song, and went backstage. Kritin and I went backstage, hoping to meet her – and then we saw her. We ran to her, and she glanced at us. Her eyes darted around, as if somebody was going to take her away, 

“Please stop following me. I don’t want you here.”, she whispered in a fragile, delicate voice. 

I told her frantically, “Look, when we saw you we felt a sort of connection – a feeling of déjà vu. And we know you felt it too.”

She looked stunned, and hesitated for a minute before answering. “Here, take my number. But contact me only once, and NEVER again. Now go away – I don’t want you here.”

She turned away from us and disappeared from the area. Kritin and I looked at each other. We shook the strange encounter from our heads and walked back to our families, who now were talking to themselves. 

“Hi amma…” , I said nervously. 

“Oh! Kanna, this is Lalitha aunty. She was a friend of mine back in my college days.”

I smiled at her and turned to Kritin. “Don’t you think that girl was acting weird?”

He looked pensive as he told me, “Yeah for sure. She looked scared of something.”

And as if on cue, she came into my view, hitching up her sari so it wouldn’t fall on the ground. She stared at us for a long moment and whispered something into her mom’s ear. Her mom’s eyes grew wide and they started walking towards us. 

My mom squinted at the pair, and exclaimed loudly, “Padmini! Eppudi irukke?”

“Kamakshi! Listen! Indha pasanga, they are reincarnations of Brahma, Saraswati and Lakshmi! My daughter, Chandrika, is Saraswati. Kritin is Brahma, and Arushi is Lakshmi!”

All three moms stared at each other. My mom and Kritin’s mom burst out laughing. Padmini aunty just stood there – dead serious. 

“Ayyo! Listen to me. Your son must be creating paintings that are unrealistic or have a special talent that nobody else has. And your daughter must be super smart – luck always seems to be on her side, right? Also, there was a wise sage named Vyasa who came to us and told us that Chandrika was a reincarnation of Saraswati, and she would meet Brahma and Lakshmi soon, at the Kumbhabhishekam, and we did!”

The other parents were in shock. Since when did this happen? We felt utterly shocked and confused, but it made sense – our lives fitted into the description. 

We continued to talk about this, when suddenly, we couldn’t hear anything anymore – no chanting, no crackling of the fire, no bells ringing – just eerie silence. All of us turned to the temple and started running to the stage, where the event was happening. The fire had died, the holy scripts ripped to pieces, no vadhiyars and worst of all – there were no people. Krithin, Chandrika and I ran all around the temple, searching for the culprit. We exited the temple, and it started to get dark. We looked up at the moon, hoping there was nothing serious going on, but then we heard a voice. Turning around to go back to our family, we saw they had disappeared. 

“Well then”, I said, “Looks like we found our first quest.”

Chandrika looked like she was gonna cry. “I don’t want this. I really don’t want this. How are you guys so calm? I feel so scar-”

The voice interrupted her and cut through the air again – louder this time. On top of the temple was a boy, around our age, standing there wearing only a cream dhoti, splattered with blood. He had long hair that whipped against the wind, scar marks on his dark face, and his eyes a pure look of hatred and power – a little too much for a kid our age. His eyes were bloodred, and he thundered with a booming voice, “ I, the Maha Asura King, Tarkasur, have come here to claim the souls of the 3 reincarnations – Lakshmi, Saraswati, and Brahma.”

Krithin looked at me. I looked at Chandrika. Chandrika looked at Tarkasur. 

“Um…isn’t that our cue to go and do some fighting shit or whatever?” Krithin suggested. 

Chandrika and I looked at him. “Are you for real? This kid I swear…”

Tarkasur raised his hand, and a powerful force pulled the three of us closer towards him. Suddenly, I felt a burning sensation in me, and I wanted to scream – but couldn’t. In my head, I could see 3 forms – Lakshmi, Saraswati, and Brahma. 

Lakshmi sat beside Vishnu on shesha, showering the world with prosperity, but also witnessing the destruction caused by greed. 

Saraswati sat on a huge, white lotus in the middle of a lake, holding books and scriptures that had forgotten texts on them; showing it to us.

Brahma was on a majestic swan, its wings gliding through galaxies, worlds, and knowledge itself, only for all of that to be misused by arrogant kings. 

A golden light bursted within us, knocking Tarkasur back, and us from the vision. But we were still too weak to fight.

My clothes started to turn into a gold silk sari, Krithin’s into a sacred dhoti with fire-like embroidery, and Chandrika’s draped in a white and gold sari, all of them illuminating a golden light. 

Tarkasur screamed in fury, sensing our powers awakening. He lunged at us, wielding dark energy, but now we had control of our powers. 

I flicked my wrist, and suddenly, Tarkasur stumbled and fell from the top of the temple, and the ground beneath him cracked as bad luck strained his strength. Kritin summoned a golden spear out of thin air, twirling it effortlessly before throwing it at Tarkasur, who now clenched his hand in pain. Chandrika hummed an ancient Sanskrit mantra, and the sound waves distorted reality, slowing Tarkasur’s movements.

Tarkasur trys to stand, and snarls but smirks. “So you’ve awakened. Good. This will be fun.” With that, he vanishes into the shadows.

I looked at Krithin. “How come you get the golden spear?”

He glanced over at me, muscles rippling (I definitely didn’t pay attention to that), “I’m just cool like that. Want my autograph?”

Chandrika laughed, but it quickly died. “I’m scared. We don’t know how to fight, or do anything with this. We need someone to guide us.”And somewhere in the distance, Vyasa watches, knowing that their journey has just begun.