The Descent

Authors musing-

Arjun from Mahabharata was a warrior

And faced a dilemma as a barrier

To do or not to do made him weaker

Who else but Krishna stepped in as a preacher

Stages of life were explained deeper

From duty-bound to being a renouncer 

All came in a particular order

5000 years since then have passed in leisure

From seeds to weeds, all are in disorder.

I, an eternal seeker, asked why can’t all this be better?

Why can’t Krishna and Arjun live among us as trendsetters?

I let my thoughts run wilder 

And penned down their descent like a writer.

In case you are a picker for all things good, 

I’m sure you will enjoy this piece, dear reader-

***

Millions of people worldwide were witnessing lightning strikes, flash showers, and overflowing rivers at the same time. In the areas that were spared, wildfires, dust storms, and avalanches caused devastation. Everywhere, a massive run for safe shelters was happening as nature wailed and shrieked. People all around the world yearned for an end to it all. There was suffering, devastation, and people on the streets who could not make it home. Everything under the sun seemed endangered. 

In years to come, who would believe that this was camouflage? 

Like this multibillion-dollar corporation's heir who disappeared amid the chaos. He'd flown in from India with his girlfriend Mini to celebrate his thirty-first birthday in New York a day before, but who would have known he wouldn't live to see it. They'd booked a bed-and-breakfast studio apartment in a posh New York neighborhood. 

They were ready to settle down for breakfast across each other when a thick mist drifted into their room, enveloping his form. Then it vanished as quickly as it had appeared. And she saw nothing but emptiness where he stood. Pinching herself to check if she wasn't dreaming she wondered, “Wasn't he right in front of her one second and then gone the next?” She overturned the table and most of the furniture thinking he was hiding and when she couldn’t find him she went around in circles looking, screaming, and weeping. 

Finally, she sat down to compose a message for the cops to broadcast. 

Last seen: At a high-profile Studio apartment on 5th Avenue, Manhattan, New York.

Name: Ishan Patel

Gender: Male

Height:6’-1”

Complexion: Brown

Hair: Curly brown

Eyes: Dark brown

Nationality: Indian

Please note: He was last seen wearing a white t-shirt and blue denim jeans. He had come to New York to celebrate his birthday with his girlfriend, Mini. If you are reading this and know where he is please please contact at the free contact number set up for this purpose-001-000-800-001. I will be really grateful.

Signing off-This is Mini, his girlfriend from the mystic land of India.

***

But before she could file the missing complaint, she was sucked into a sudden gusty air, as if a tornado was specially sent for her. She bumped against the walls of the room several times before she finally flew out from an open window onto the street outside. The pavement seemed to tip and spin below her as she ducked below a bridge and passed the pub where they had danced the previous night after their arrival. After that, she blacked out. 

***

When Ishaan and Mini were going through strange disappearances, a bird-shaped spacecraft entered the Earth’s atmosphere from the hyperspace route. When non-humans have to make an interstellar voyage, they choose this express route. It’s safe and untraceable, and the vehicle is always destroyed after the traveler disembarks. Therefore, no one witnessed a man ejecting from the spaceship as it exploded and vanished.

This mysterious being fell from infinity in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia's capital city. The white keffiyeh on his head, the gigantic goggles, and a flowing white robe were more than enough to disguise him as human. 

When he asked for the room at the hotel, no one questioned his identification. The tragedy that was unfolding around the earthlings was enough to draw their attention away from him. 

  ***

Nature's howling ended as soon as the man started walking towards his room. His firm, long steps made no sound on the heavily carpeted floor. Softly turning the door open, he walked inside and turned to lock the door behind him, drawing as little attention as he could. He then walked across the vast room towards the enormous window. From his twenty-seventh storey, he glanced down at the street below. It was evening, and the city was flooded with street lights; automobiles raced past one another, and people jostled against each other as they strolled along the roadside. The scene below seemed as normal as any other day as if nothing had occurred only seconds before. The city's ecology was flourishing. He knew that whatever had occurred had already been erased from the memories of the earthlings.

In the dim light of his bedside lamp, he texts while taking a phone-like device from his pocket. The message he writes flashes on the screen of the gadget-” I've arrived and securely checked into the Salah hotel; please assign the next task.” As he presses the send button, he hears a whoosh sound, as if a pigeon took flight, but it was his gadget that was drawn in the thin air and vanished in front of his eyes. It signified that the secret message had been delivered, and the gadget's mission had been fulfilled. Therefore, it met its end.

He comes up to the bed and slumps down on it, waiting for a response. He closes his eyes in anticipation, as he breathes in and out. It had been a couple of thousand years since he had breathed this air. And before he could lose himself in the unending memories, he hears the knock on the door. Jumping out of bed, he almost sprints to answer the door, already knowing who it would be.

***

She stood tall

Wild, beautiful, unpredictable

The one and only one who brought the despicable war

Which is remembered even after many dull earth centuries?

Now, once more back to a respectable task

She is excited to bring together her impeccable clan.

***

She looks at him affectionately as he continues to be lost in thoughts. Her lips curl into a bittersweet smile as she knows how short their time together would be. Snapping out of her trance, she informs him that two human bodies have been arranged for them. That the Supreme had them hidden in the streets of New York. That they'd be moved to New York in minutes and given human identities, Ishaan and Mini. Post that they'll forget they were Arjun and Draupadi, who lived on this earth as man and wife many centuries ago.

But Arjun, who had once been a great warrior, was nervous and worried today. He had to track the whereabouts of Adra, who was somewhere near them: sending her a vision that they had arrived in her neighborhood. Only then they could leave their celestial bodies for human ones! Certain that this would be easily accomplished, he worried about the untold part. The part that once they acquire their human identities, they will be governed by the respective body’s personalities. He will not remember that he was Arjun, once he takes the body form of Ishaan, and similarly, Draupadi as Mini won’t remember her past. All who live on earth never recall their past births. This is the unsaid rule.

Arjun was desperate to wriggle out of this earth rule, fearing he will not remember the purpose of his visit to Earth. He detested the idea that he would simply enact a defined role that the superior had assigned to him. Moreover, he didn’t want to be trapped anywhere for an extended period, especially somewhere as uninteresting as Earth. He raises his eyes to the sky seeking assurance from his beloved Supreme before embarking on a new duty.

***

A brilliant light lit up the starless sky and Arjun easily decipherers the cryptic message sent by Supreme-

“Arjun-The reason for all of this began only a few days ago when your family members living in heaven and hell met after a long time and instead of being cordial with each other, they started having an argument over why can't they achieve liberation? Everyone took sides until I, aware of their egos and desires, made them realize Subhadra had landed on earth of her own choice. Only by living one more earthly life in a good and compassionate manner will they be able to return her to heaven and achieve liberation. You were the first to agree and descended. As and when needed, more of your clan will come and join you, just like Draupadi did. Now don’t be disillusioned and go ahead with the plan! ”

Some hours later:

Finding herself lying in a desolate park. Draupadi now in the body of Mini stands up and thinks. The pub, she thought. Oh dear, the pub. It must be the hangover from the many drinks she had in the pub the previous night that led her to this park. Cursing herself, she walks ahead to find her apartment and hoping Ishaan would be still asleep.  

After another hour:

It was his birthday that day, but Arjun now Ishaan wasn’t in the best of moods early in the morning. Groggy from the previous night's hangover, he walks around the room before heading to the bathroom for a shower. Applying toothpaste on his brush, he scrubs his teeth for a full two minutes before turning his attention towards shaving. Adjusting the shaving mirror, he then shaves, showers, dries, and then stomps out of the bathroom to find Mini. He finds her waiting for him, dressed and fresh, near the table.

Ishaan, like Mini, had no memories of the previous twenty-four hours' bizarre events. He had no recollection of his descent and its extraordinary consequences, nor of his conversations with Supreme, nor even of the fact that he was once Arjun.

 ***

Some helpful notes from the Author-

Arjun is the noble hero of the Indian epic Mahabharata and it was he who received the philosophical-religious dialogue, Bhagavad Gita, from the Supreme- Krishna. 

Draupadi also referred to as Panchali and Yajnaseni, is the heroine of the Indian epic, Mahabharata. She was the common wife of the five Pandava brothers—Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjun, Nakula, and Sahadeva.

Subhadra is the younger sister of the supreme. She is the second wife of Arjun, in the Indian epic Mahabharata.

Some random notes from the Author-

Subhadra reborn as Adra and briefly mentioned in this story is the main protagonist of this unwritten saga. I would have told her story had the two humans, not disappeared and two others celestial beings crossed earth’s atmosphere to take their place.

This is not their story either. But the story of millions of people who live life thinking it has a purpose.

This and many other stories will be intertwined together to form a grand saga—though never really a book, a poem, an epic—But, as we all know, one should NEVER say NEVER! One may never know, but it'll HAPPEN:-)

-And if it does, it will make a wholly remarkable one-AND A WONDERFUL READ!.