Three Riddles

Introduction

There was once two magical forests named as Kaalvan and Shvetvan. The forests were divided by the magnificent Banyan tree with roots spread far north, east and west creating a T shaped structure. Kaalvan lied to the west of Banyan tree, a place where no one ever dared to go or look into, and on the east side was the Shvetvan where everyone wished to go atleast once in their lifetime

Since the last 5000 years, people used to worship the banyan tree as they had a superstition that it possess the power to decide the destiny of people after death. They also believed that this destiny was decided based on their “Karma” in the real world. Bad “Karma” lead to Kaalvan, where darkness engulfed their soul and gets trapped there for eternity; whereas Good “Karma” paved the way for Shvetvan where they were absorbed with light and sent to the sky as stars.

Well, it was just a superstition at the beginning which slowly turned into culture with the passing of time. Culture then became a matter of pride and that pride sometimes led people into insanity. However, there have always been people who question the insanity, the pride and ultimately lead to a reform.

Ramya, one of the villagers, sat in front of the banyan tree thinking where will she be sent after her death. She was a curious girl who never actually believed that a tree can decide the destiny of human beings. However, she had an eternal admiration and respect for the banyan tree; The Banyan tree was a boundary between the village and the peril that lied beyond it. It was also the largest source of fresh air and shadow for the villagers. There was a well beneath the tree which provided cool water to the people throughout the seasons because of the shadow. Ramya due to her curious nature, had tried to cross the boundary numerous times, to find what lied beyond. But every-time the royal guards caught and stopped her.

There was a line engraved on the platform surrounding the Banyan tree.

“To go beyond, there is a toll, A soul is needed, To get you through”

While everyone understood the line literally, Ramya took it as a complex riddle. She was very determined to discover the world beyond the tree hence, made it her life goal to solve it. She searched through all the books available in her village, found all the ancient history knowledge from the common folks ,yet never got an answer from any of them.

There was a fortune teller who also lived in a corner of the village. She was the oldest woman in whole village and people used to bet on her exact age. Some said she was a hundred years, others said she was at least five hundred. Some even believed that she was a witch whose existence dated back to the beginning of world. Irrespective of what the common folks believed or said, Ramya was very fond of the old lady as she used to give her the books she had in exchange for a small quantity of rice pudding to feed herself. The fortune teller used to answer her curiosity about the forest with this line:

“You can find everything there, yet you can find nothing.”

Now this was another riddle that Ramya didn’t understand. Just to spend more time with old lady, she used to clean up the courtyard, fetch water and do little chores. There was a small door in the hut which intrigued Ramya even more. When she asked what lies in that room, the old woman used to repeat this”

“There is a key to every door and this is a door to every key.”

Now this was the third riddle. Life would have been so easy if Ramya could have solved any of those. She was still struggling to find the meaning behind the riddles. On the other hand, she continued serving the old woman in order to please her, so that she could get some hints to solve the riddles.

One day, during the afternoon when Ramya was coming back from her school she found a key on the ground. It was a rusted long key with banyan tree engraved on it. She got excited and ran as fast as she could to the old woman’s hut. She showed her the key to see if she knew anything about it. But the woman simply smiled, and lead Ramya to the small door in her hut. Ramya knew exactly what she had to do, she put that key in the key hole and the door suddenly started glittering. A green light sparkled thru the door same as blood thru veins. A green lighted banyan shaped figure appeared on the door. Ramya pushed the door wide open and saw a stairs made up of roots going in the downward direction.

She turned back to ask the woman what was going on, but the woman was not there, instead a smoke filled the hut. Ramya collected all courage she had and went inside the door. The door shut closed behind her and soon vanished just like the old woman. She was now on the staircase made of entangled roots and a lot of thick smoke surrounding her. She screamed to see if anyone else was there, but got back no response. It was all cold and silence. She started going downstairs and no sooner than later realized that it was actually cliff of a high mountain she was treading her steps on. From up there, she could see the whole world, the people and everyone’s past and future. Suddenly she had to urge to see her own future to find answers to numerous questions residing in her brain; whether should would be sent to Kaalvan or Shvetvan, whether she would be able to crack the riddle of Banyan tree, but she couldn’t find herself. She could see everyone but herself. Then a realization dawned upon her, it was the answer to the second riddle.

##You can find everything there, yet you can find nothing.

She went further and found a bridge joining the cliff to the forest. Never had she ever seen anything like that in her entire life. As soon as she started crossing the bridge, she started losing herself to the unknown world. Her soul started leaving the body. She was enveloped with a feeling, a feeling that she had to stop thinking about herself and guide people for the better tomorrow. She could see only green around her. The soul of forest was taking over her body. Kaalvan and Shvetvan both resided in her. She had realized that maybe she is the new fortune teller.

She was enlightened with every bit of knowledge of the Nature called as “Prakriti”.

She got to know that Shvetvan and Kaalvan are two Stages of Prakriti where Shvetvan provides life to everyone in the world as this is what Prakriti wishes for and Kaalvan is the destruction in form of natural calamities whenever people tried to exploit the “giving” nature of Prakriti.

Ramya assumed her role as the guide to people, so that they live a judicious life in order to avoid the apocalypse which was being planned by Kaalvan.

Her third riddle was also solved as she possessed the soul of forest now.

To go beyond, there is a toll, A soul is needed, To get you through

Meanwhile, in the village people were worried as they couldn’t find both Ramya and the fortune-teller. Some thought that the fortune-teller had kidnapped Ramya and fled. Ramya’s parent were praying in front of the Banyan tree to get her daughter back.

The sky was dark covered with clouds and wind blew as if it was adamant on taking everything with it. None of the villagers had witnessed such weather ever in their life. Suddenly, the Banyan tree started trembling, its platform got divided in two and a staircase appeared from within. Ramya came out from there. Everyone was amazed and jaw-dropped to see her. They soon assumed her to be the goddess of forests and all heads bowed in front of her.

She smiled as she knew what was going to happen. She said these words and soon vanished in the direction of hut.

##Your deeds decide what you grow, Kaalvan to kill or Shvetvan to live.

It was another riddle to solve for another curious Ramya.

She was now the new fortune-teller at the corner of the village in a small hut where the door to every key lied.

Edited by - Nivi