MYSTERY OF THE BOOK

There was a library almost next door to me which contained books and periodicals. The librarian was a middle-aged widow called Ruth. She was tall but corpulent and had her greying hair in a bun. She wore spectacles with large sized lenses, slung on a chain around her neck. She was a type almost always smiling and so was quite popular. I am a retired male and would go into the library often to read or borrow books. That morning when I went in Ruth was seated alone. She said “We’re early. My staff hasn’t come in yet. Go ahead and pick whatever you want. Or sit down we could chat a while.”

 I knew Ruth had a master’s degree in English was well read and I could talk to her in English. I sat facing her and said “Ruth, I’ve always been interested in mystery behind books. How old manuscripts are found and what they reveal. Recently I remember having read in the newspapers about the finding of an old book in the bottom of the sea probably in a ship in a strange language with equally strange illustrations. Soon however there came the news that the contents of the book had been deciphered.”

“I remember I had read about it too.” She paused and then said “I’ve a book which I haven’t been able to finish reading as it is in some form of code in several places. The last few pages were unreadable as they were completely in code.”

 A bearer now served coffee and she said “I hope there’s no sugar in it.”

The bearer said “The cup I bring for you is always sugar free.”

As we had coffee I said “I’m very eager to hear about the mystery book you spoke about.”

She said “I belong to a rural family and some of my ancestors weren’t probably literate. But somehow the book has survived and has come down to me. It seems to have been written by a woman named Ritu. It is in a very neat hand and the woman appears to have some writing talent. She starts the book writing the normal way but suddenly she has coded the contents at least partially. The book is completely text and hasn’t been divided into chapters. A lengthy last stretch was in code in full. I’ve the original at home but have a xeroxed copy here. I can show it to you.”

She got up and unlocking a steel cabinet pulled out a file. Handing it to me she said “If you’re interested I can give this to you for research.” She laughed.

I eagerly looked into the handwritten work and saw the markings made where there was coding. The library staff now arrived and I said “Thank you Ruth and for the nice coffee. I’m going to try and uncover the mystery of the book.”

Taking the book home I started reading it. I saw it had no title and the text started directly. As I read through I noted that it involved the doings of two tribal chiefs Swag and Tagus. The author Ritu was in the territory ruled by Swag. Ritu hailed from a village midway between the territories of the two chiefs. She was a courtesan and had moved to the town where Swag lived. Swag had a Chief Minister (CM) and the book concerned the doings of the four.

Ritu introduces herself: ‘I’m from a family of courtesans. I’ve been brought up to tag on to the rich and make money. I am good looking and very young and my mother predicted that I would go a long way even snaring the chief.’

Ritu had given a lot of details about her village, its climate, daily life and so on. The book hadn’t been edited and there were lengthy and random passages which were irrelevant.  She continues: ‘I was trained to be a dancer and I excelled in it. I was taken to town to perform at a gathering when the chief was present with his wife. Of course she would be my adversary! I performed dances and chief Swag was drawn towards me. He used CM to contact me and fixed up a liaison. I was discreetly given a spacious house in town to live in by CM and Swag would visit me.’

Ritu has written that there was intense rivalry between Swag and Tagus. Each would have liked to eliminate the other and enjoy the territory which would be annexed.

I read the descriptions of the area controlled by Swag and the way he was administering justice. In between I read “I often used to visit my village which is my ancestral home in my horse cart driven by Buch. And I would travel elsewhere too even to territory which belonged to Tagus.’

Then came portions of the book in code. She writes ‘Swag came to me yesterday and spent the night.’ Then followed a lot of code. I mused: Could she be writing about her doings with Swag? May be she didn’t want to reveal them. Her code was peculiar. I tried understanding it but failed. I had a flash a couple of days later. I remembered having read about Da Vinci using mirror images of script to make writing secret. Accordingly I used a mirror and found I was right. In spite of it the writing seemed splintered. As an example I saw the words ‘he...came . ...me’ which seemed disjointed until I found the missing words in the succeeding line. It made sense. ‘he came and told me’. Ritu had not only used the code but had used continuance in alternate and often in third lines! Her swinging the text made it difficult to read and it took me days to read and understand the matter. However I found most of her writing irrelevant.

I went on to tackle the last chapter written from bottom to top. Ritu writes ‘CM summoned me and said  that what he had to say was very, very confidential. You know there is intense rivalry between Swag and Tagus. Tagus has a bigger army and more territory. If the territories could be merged a larger and more prosperous territory would emerge. Go secretly and meet Tagus. You have been there before. He is old, has no children and so has found no successor. He has heard of how capable I have been as CM and has hinted to someone I know that I was competent to take over from him. You should tell Tagus that I am ready and prepared to take over his responsibilities. Get his reply and return.” As the matter was confidential Ritu had surely recorded it in code.

‘It took two days for Tagus to answer. It was favourable to CM. I returned to my village and moved to the town where Swag and CM lived and administered. CM met me immediately and was very happy to receive Tagus’s answer.’  Ritu’s book ended. I was very disappointed and decided to give it a satisfactory closure:

In a matter of days CM was ready to quit. It was at that moment that the army chief came and took CM into custody. He was lodged in prison and the next day was taken before Swag. Swag said “The game is up. I trusted you so much and gave you adequate support but you betrayed me.”

CM said “I haven’t done anything wrong.”

Swag laughed and said “Working for me and siding with Tagus is criminal.”

“Chief, someone has misinformed you.”

Again Swag laughed and said “I’ve now to reveal that not only you but Ritu are involved. She was your emissary and spoke to Tagus on your behalf.”

“That isn’t possible.”

“It has happened. Ritu’s chariot driver Buch has kept me informed of your moves. What the two of you have done deserves capital punishment. She is also now in custody.”

CM stood with bowed head. Swag said “You’ve served me long and well and so I will pardon you. I pardon Ritu as well. But both of you are banished from my territory with immediate effect.”

After reading the main story I got back to deciphering massive coded portions in between. As expected she had described sexual encounters in great detail and length. I was reminded of author Anais Nin who wrote the erotic DELTA OF VENUS when offered a dollar a page. Ritu had surpassed Nin!

I met Ruth and told her about having deciphered Ritu’s code. I said “I leave it to you to read the extensive descriptions in code which could only be translated in Latin.”

She laughed and said “Remember I was married nearly 30 years and had lived with my husband till the end. Nothing is strange to me. I’ll check if Ritu is speaking the truth!”

“I’ve a suggestion. Why don’t you write a book developing this story?  You could title it LOVES OF RITU.”

“No fear I won’t. I am not Anais Nin. You may do it and give me a copy.”

I said “I’ll remember your suggestion. Many thanks.”

END