The Krishna Key (31 page)

‘So we’re even,’ yelled Garg. ‘When you were a little girl, I could have arrested you and sent you to a remand home for the murder of your Sarla Auntie’s husband, but I didn’t.
Om Shri Maangalya Daayakaaya Namah,’
he chanted as he shovelled even more earth into the pit.

Deep within the recesses of the hellhole, Mataji and Taarak sat down on the floor and began to recite the names of the Lord. They knew their time had come.

I
sent the Pandavas to seek the blessings of Dhritarastra and Gandhari. Gandhari and Draupadi hugged each other and cried
—
both were mothers who had lost all their children. Vidura had advised Gandhari, ‘Please be careful not to curse the Pandavas, or else this land will have no ruling dynasty left.’ Accordingly, Gandhari kept her anger in check. But once she reached the battlefield where the bodies of her sons lay strewn, her anger returned. Having sat there in dejection for several hours, she eventually felt hungry, and smelt the fragrance of mangoes overhead. Desperate for food, she made a pile of stones to climb on and pluck the fruit from the tree. Having eaten the fruit, she realised in horror that she had not used stones, but the bodies of her dead sons, to get to the fruit. She then recognised that it was I, teaching her about the power of illusion. At that instant, she cursed me. ‘You too shall lose your loved ones,,’ replied Sir Khanuserme R Krishna! You shall watch helplessly as your clan self-destructs by turning on one another, and you shall die like an animal at the hands of a hunter!’

The hospital room in which Saini awoke was bright and airy. He had been unconscious for over two days. Outside his room stood Rathore, intent on ensuring that the likes of Priya and Taarak could not enter. Inside the room, Radhika sat by his bed, praying for
his recovery. When he stirred, she was absolutely ecstatic. Leaving aside all her reserve, she kissed him on his forehead. It seemed the most natural thing to do. ‘They said that had they reached you five minutes later, you would have bled to death,’ she said with tearful eyes while running her fingers through his hair tenderly. Saini smiled weakly. He shifted his body slightly and came alive to the fact that his left foot was tightly bandaged.

‘They’ve put stitches in your foot,’ clarified Radhika. ‘Apparently the gash had cut through your artery.’

Saini laughed weakly. ‘Following the clues of the Krishna Key has placed me in a hospital bed twice and you once. By the time the secret is finally discovered, we shall both have medical qualifications!’

‘I don’t care about the Krishna Key or what it leads to, anymore,’ said Radhika softly. ‘I was pretty certain that I had lost you forever, Ravi. Please, can’t we just give up this quest? They had to pump more than seventy units of blood into you!’

Saini changed the topic. ‘How did I get here after the scalpel was used on me?’ he asked. Radhika told him about how Rathore had been trying to call her phone and how this had led him to the premises of South Delhi Safety Vaults. ‘I shudder to think what would have happened if Rathore had not done what he did,’ explained Radhika.

‘Where is he?’ asked Saini softly. Radhika stepped out of the room and motioned Rathore to join them inside. Rathore was relieved to see that he had been
able to save at least one of the intended five victims. He joked about it with Saini.

‘Why were you trying to get in touch with Radhika?’ asked Saini, struggling to pull himself up. Radhika restrained him. Instead, she pressed the electronic button on the side of the hospital bed to raise him a little.

‘When Kurkude’s secretary was killed, some data was stolen from her terminal. We managed to find out what it was,’ explained Rathore.

‘And what was it?’ asked Saini.

‘It was the data recorded by Geiger counters across the country, regarding the level of radioactivity,’ replied Rathore. ‘The research team converted the data dump into a map and plotted the points for me. This was faxed to me the day that Chhedi and I reached Delhi. I wanted to share this information with my boss but her phone was obviously out of range in the basement of the vault.’

‘Could I see the map, please,’ asked Saini, weakly stretching out his hand. Radhika sighed. He had stood before the very gates of death and had barely returned alive, yet he was incapable of pulling himself away from the search.

Rathore saw Radhika’s reaction and attempted to dodge the request. ‘It is Latin and Greek to us non-technical types. Very little that can help us,’ he began. Saini smiled at him. ‘Humour me. Let me give it a shot,’ he requested.

Rathore shrugged his shoulders helplessly for Radhika’s benefit. He pulled out the fo,’ replied Sir Khan>
message from his pocket and handed it to Saini who immediately got absorbed in studying it.

‘There’s a pattern here,’ said Saini to Rathore. ‘Could I borrow your pen, please?’ Rathore obliged by pulling out his and handing it over.

‘Could you pull that table over here?’ he asked Radhika, pointing to the wheeled dining trolley. Radhika pulled it closer to Saini quite reluctantly. ‘I still don’t understand why we are wasting time on this issue. Can’t you give it up, Ravi?’ she pleaded.

Saini smiled at her. ‘I promise that after I look at this map you shall not hear about the issue anymore. Deal?’

Saini placed the fax containing the map on the table before him and began labelling the locations. Within about ten minutes he had completed the process. He admired the map before him.

‘You obviously were not only good at history but also at geography in school,’ said Rathore with a grin.
‘What information does this add? Anything that can help us?’

‘It’s rather simple, really,’ replied Saini. ‘Look at these twenty-four locations closely. Of these twenty-four, eight are locations where nuclear power plants are located. A Geiger counter recording a high level of radiation is but natural in these eight locations. So let me cancel these from our map.’ Saini struck the eight names and locations off.

‘We have sixteen remaining locations,’ continued Saini. ‘This includes the Jodhpur region, where Kurkude had observed high radiation levels initially. In my opinion, we can cancel out Jodhpur because it is quite possibly the location of a naturally-occurring ancient nuclear reactor within the earth,’ said Saini.

‘Naturally-occurring nuclear reactors?’ asked Radhika.

‘Yes. Professor Kurkude had discussed that option with me,’ answered Saini. ‘It’s based on the findings of Dr Paul Kuroda.’

‘Then what?’ asked Rathore.

‘We can also eliminate Pokhran which was the test site used by the Indian government to carry out a controlled explosion,’ said Saini. ‘Radiation levels are bound to be high there, too. Now, we are left with just fourteen locations.’ Saini looked at the remaining locations once again.

‘See anything strange?’ asked Saini, showing the map to Radhika and Rathore. Both of them looked, and relooked, but they could not see anything of consequence.

‘What is of consequence,’ pointed out Saini, ‘is that with the exception of Agra and Mount Kailash, all remaining twelve locations are the sites of sacred Shiv lingams—in fact the twelve most sacred ones in India!’

Finally, the cremations and mourning ended. It was time to crown Yudhistira as the new king. But Yudhistira was in no mood to be coronated. ‘How can I wear a crown that has been won after killing my own family?’ he asked in tell us anything about the y Balaramai anguish. Just as I had advised Arjuna to fight on the battlefield, I now told Yudhistira, ‘You can certainly become a hermit, but wouldn’t that mean abandoning your people
—
the ones that really need your empathy after this massacre? You have the power to once again establish dharma in this kingdom; do not run away from your duty,’ I said. Yudhistira internalised the truth of what I was telling him and agreed to sit on the ancient Kuru throne of Hastinapur. As Brahmins recited prayers, the people of Hastinapur bowed before their new king and showered flower petals on him.

Radhika stared at the map before her once again. Saini had knocked out the city names and had replaced them with the names of the Shiv lingams… he was absolutely right! Excluding Agra and Mount Kailash, the remaining twelve locations were indeed the dwellings of the most sacred lingams of India.