Ishan And The Trusted Secret Circle Of Knowledge

Meet Ishan, a twenty-three-year-old alf Italian alf Indian Oxford student. He found by accident, that's what he thought, a secret room under the institution's library. The room is completely white, Floor to ceiling, wall to wall. A round white table has been carefully placed in the middle of this white, but not blinding, space with a book on it, a fairly old brown leather-covered book. There is no apparent light in the room, but it's lit. In this round room, there are two doors, one to come in and one to get out. The door that Ishan came from doesn't open from the inside, and the door to get out has no handle from the outside. The exit door led into a hallway that led somewhere to the back of the university's woods. In the room, three Gandalfs look like professors standing waiting for Ishan. The old men have grey and white beards and round little glasses holding on the tips of their noses. The three mentors dressed up as almost mages in some ceremonial robes, and they kept their heads warm with sorcerer-looking hats.

"At last!" says the oldest of them. "We have been waiting for you!"

"Professor Charles, what is this Room ?"

"This is the trusted secret room of knowledge!" Says the Professor as the two others stand still without moving.

"Why are you here?" asks Professor Charles.

"Here in the room, or here at Oxford?" asked Ishan with a trembling voice not too sure if he should have asked the question.

"Here in the trusted secret room of knowledge?" Said Charles with a calm and soothing voice.

For Ishan, as far back as he could remember, he always copied his mother's gestures. He wanted to follow in his mother's footsteps. She studied at this reputed university before him and became a doctor. She left India in 1919 because of a shooting by the army in a park known as the Massacre of India. Her father was killed by a bullet, shot by a soldier without warning, the army shot at the protestants in a park, and her father died on site. That's when Shama decided to leave India to pursue her dream of saving people's lives. London to India was far apart, the cheapest way to travel was by train. She took the Orient Express once every two months to go back home to see her mother and the remaining of the family members, aunts, uncles, sisters, and brothers. The Orient Express took her from London to Turkey, and then she took another train to India. It took an eternity to get to her parent's home. She was the first of her family to go to Oxford or any University. The family was so proud they encouraged her the best they could in her effort to become a doctor. Shama was one of the rare women to study at Oxford at that time. She was a grade-A student, and the teachers loved her. A ray of light for other students and ready to help anybody at any time. Ishan really admires his mother for what she has accomplished. 

His father's side was Italian, from an Italian mother and father like the generation before them. Like Ishan's mother, he fled his country in 1919 due to the Italian Revolution. He didn't want to take part in it, pacifist at sixteen-year-old. Egypt was his choice of predestination to find work, but the job opportunities were deficient at this epoch if you weren't a native of the country. Marcello was starving and had no choice but to steal food he had nothing to eat. He stole everything he could put his hand on fruits, bread, and even sometimes a piece of meat. A Man called Sadiki noticed the young men stealing food. Marcello was lucky they usually cut off your hand if you were caught stealing. At first, he offered him a roof, and pity pushed Mr. Sadiki to offer him a job. Gardening at first, then cleaning, and then, a year before Marcello left, was cooking for the old man. Mr. Sadiki was a good man to take care of Marcello as if he were his own blood. Sadiki had a wife, but she had passed away before they could birthed offspring of their own. The man had no problem putting food on the table as he was rolling in the high society of Egypt, and he had some import-export companies. He knew a lot of politicians' faces and was in all the 'soirées' the rich men attended money wasn't a problem. Marcello left the home nest to fly on its own, but when he met Mr. Sadiki, he was still under someone's wing. After being a gardener and a chef, he still wanted to live freely, so he decided to leave Mr. Sadiki. The great man did one last thing for him. One man in the web of Mr. Sadiki's friends had a job for Marcello on the Orient Express. On his first day, he was a ticket clerk on the train, and he moved his way up fast to the driver's seat. He stayed the Orient Express conductor until he died in nineteen fifty-seven. Like all Italians, Ishan father's was passionate about everything he did, particularly his job. This is why he became one of the greatest train conductors of his time. At the end of his journey in Turkey, he had a day before going back to London. After five days of train ride, he needed his favorite meal. He had a routine and sat at the same table facing the same direction. Looking north at the train in the train station. Marcello always took the same, a Turkish sandwich with a little glass of red wine. One day, a green-eyed young woman came into the deli. Marcello was undistractable when looking at her, waiting for the perfect time to get up and introduce himself. Five months had passed since he first met Shama, and Marcello was always waiting for her to show up in the door frame. Marcello was eating his Ayvalik Tostu sandwich when he saw her standing at the door, waiting for him to see her. The smile on Marcello's face every time he saw her was majestic. Shama was there waiting for her train, and Marcello was waiting to get back to work. It was precisely at that moment the love story started.

After forty-five minutes of telling his story, Professor Charles asks the question again.

"why are you here?" formally asks Professor Charles.

"Well, I pulled on a book, and it was stuck, so I pulled harder, and it's at that moment that I heard a 'clicking sound. I look behind - Ishan is repeating the gesture as he's telling the story - I see an opening behind a book panel. Behind that panel was a staircase. I took it, and here I am." says the frightened student.

"we've been here every evening since last week, waiting for you to pull that book!" says the relieved professor when Ishan finally pulled the book. "We have a question for you! Do you want to be part of the trusted secret circle of knowledge?"

"I don't know!" replied Ishan.

"If you accept, you could come here once a week and ask one question to the book of knowledge. The book will always answer you. Do you accept to be a member of the trusted secret circle of knowledge?"

"Yes, I do!" says Ishan loud and clear.

"you will ask your question, and the book will always answer you. We have to leave the room before you open the book to see the answer. Only you could have the answer. May I ask what is your question?"

"My question is, on my tenth birthday, my father said something to my mother's ears. So softly I couldn't hear what he said I was too far away and couldn't read his lips. He made my mother smile and blush that day. I regret that I didn't ask my mother before she passed away what my father said that day."

"We are now leaving the white room, you can open the book when the door is closed!" says Charles with his soothing voice.

Ishan takes a step forward and swallows his saliva before opening the book with his left hand. He's so anxious and febrile to know what he said that day, it has been haunting him since his father died in the Orient Express crash. A ray of light is coming out of the book pages, but Ishan can still read the words written on it. His eyes are flooded with tears until they can't hold more water, and drops slowly find a path to his chin, sliding down his cheeks. he gently takes a step back and is careful not to drip on the book as he closes it.

A little smile shows up in the right corner of his lips as he finally knows what made Shama blush that day.