Genesis of the Soul

Chapter 3: Hunger for knowledge

'Extra clothes would have definitely been a sensible idea, but who could have predicted that I would end up rolling down the passageway, injuring myself, and ruining my outfit in the process? The thought of my clothes being bloodied and torn filled me with dread. I just hoped Kamla Bai hadn’t realised I was missing.' With a feeling of urgency, Vishwa quietly opened the back door and crept towards his room, trying to be as stealthy as possible. He twisted the doorknob slowly and was met with a sight that made his heart drop—Nanny Kamla stood there, arms crossed and an expression of fury etched across her face. Vishwa froze, feeling like a deer caught in headlights, particularly as the smell of blood wafted around them.

“What…what were you doing to end up like this?” she yelled, her voice a mix of concern and anger.

“Um, well, you see, Kamla Bai, this isn’t my blood, look,” he stammered, hastily removing his tattered white shirt and shorts, leaving himself completely unclothed.

Nanny, clearly unimpressed, grabbed his soiled clothes with a broomstick and flung them out of the window as though they were nothing but rags. “You look fine, but…”

“Alright then, I’m going to take a bath!” Vishwa exclaimed, eager to escape the looming confrontation and dashed for the bathroom.

“Hold on a moment!” Nanny shouted after him, her voice a mix of authority and annoyance.

“Later…” he responded, firmly closing the bathroom door behind him. Inside his mind, he thought, 'Why was she waiting there? At least I’ve dodged her for now. What sort of story could I concoct? Nanny always says lying is wrong, but I certainly can’t admit I went to the King’s Castle.'

Breaking his thoughts, a loud banging on the door interrupted. “Come out now, or do you want to go through that chest pain again?”

In a panic, he realised he had forgotten about his medicine. He swung the door open and held out his hand. “Give it to me.”

Nanny handed him a glass of water along with two tablets, her voice steady despite her earlier anger. “Why do you always make me worry? How will you manage on your own at Gurukul?”

As he quickly swallowed the tablets, Vishwa replied, “Oh yes, how am I supposed to get my monthly medicine at Gurukul?”

“Don’t fret. Her Majesty the Queen has prepared extra medicines for you that will last for years,” she reassured him.

“My mother, huh!” he replied, a hint of irritation in his voice, as he promptly slammed the bathroom door again.

Kamla Bai pondered to herself, 'What was that reaction about? At least he took his sealing medicines. But where was he for the last half an hour? Maybe he was just playing, but the smell of blood seemed far too genuine.' With a sense of worry creeping over her, she left the mansion and instructed the guard to keep an eye out for anything unusual in the vicinity.

A few hours later, while bustling around in the kitchen, Vishwa announced, “Kamla Bai, you always say I’m slacking off with my studies, don’t you? So from today until my departure, I’m going to study hard.”

Nanny looked at him with little enthusiasm, “Oh, how nice. Now stop with the sweet talk and just tell me what you need.”

“Before coming to find you, I went through our collection of books. You know, the ones like ‘Helping Others is the Way of Life’, ‘Always Respect and Listen to Your Parents’, ‘Interesting Artefact Inventions’, ‘The Merciful Prince’, ‘Don’t Hide Your Feelings’, and ‘Always Tell the Truth’. All of them are the kids' bedtime stories which I always heard from you.”