(DISCLAIMER- This is NOT AN ACCURATE REPRESENTATION OF HINDU MYTHOLOGY and does not mean to disrespect or disrupt any views)
My name is Daksh. I study at Harmony High. This is a story about how I travelled through the underworld with the help of my ancestral deity, ‘Brahma’.
It was a day like any other except it was Prom night. I am not the social type but a classic bookworm. Everybody was getting ready for the ultimate dance night wearing something extremely “FANCY”. Since I knew nothing about dancing I was in the library reading every book that had the word “Dance” in its title. My search was going fine until I stumbled upon a book called “‘Paataal’”. I was intrigued and started reading it. Somehow, I, a bookworm, who has never touched a Sanskrit book, could understand the hieroglyphics thrown on the page.
“Damn,” I said. It described Earth as a contemporary world and how everything ends up in a surreal and ashy world called ‘Paataal’. Upon further reading, I was told about the many creatures in its depths.
As I was reading, I felt a shift in the point of gravity and the view outside took a strange slant. When I ran out to check, I discovered my school had been flipped upside down. When I looked back to go to the library, I could only see paths, streams and rivers bleeding lava. Black sandstone had replaced all the greenery of my school. Ashy smoke filled the air. I could see small portions of land separated, leading to a never-ending darkness.
Even amidst all the chaos, I had the book firmly gripped in my hand. Out of curiosity, I turned it over and saw that the back cover had a three-headed old man on it. I had seen the picture somewhere but I just could not remember it.
“Yes, yes!” I yelled. It was my ancestor Brahma.
I had never believed my family when they used to tell me that we were related to Brahma and how I was a fine example of him. How could it be possible- I always questioned, afterall, I was not a god, nor did I live in a place which could even remotely be described as ‘heave’. My family had even prophesied that Brahma would help me in the most fiery situation of my life.
In that instance, I got what they had meant….Did you get it? FIERY SITUATION? Never mind.
OK, so I opened the book again but this time the first page was completely different. It described (yes, I could still read Sanskrit) how I could summon Brahma myself. It said I had to open my “third eye”. So easy right, right? Except I did not have a third eye. It told me that I had to somehow find the centre of ‘Paataal’, the starting of it. It told me that it would be like a black forest and when I would find a stone well, I would have to jump into it. Luckily for me, I was standing in an ashy place that was similar to the place they described in the book. Unluckily for me, I did not know where the well was and why I had to jump into it, especially when it was a STONE well!
The thick and ashy smog was no different from a thick green forest that blocked any light from entering- IF there was light. I used the book as a machete to wave off the smog and clear a way for myself. What seemed like hours were seconds (according to my watch); time moved slowly there. Just as I was about to take another step, I saw a stone well buried in the ground. Without any second thought, I jumped in. No, it did not open any third eye but it made the book start talking.
“Hello, son!” was the first voice as I slowly opened my eyes.
The voice sounded incredibly close to my 90-year-old grandpa (not accurate, because he is probably older).
“You and your human bones, arre so weak, I told Shiv and Vishnu that we should make their bones out of iron,” them and their Ideals!” Brahma spoke in a mocking tone while acting like Vishnu and Shiv.
“Chalo, son, so why did you summon me? It better be something serious as you woke me from my beauty sleep, a god has to sleep like a god, isn’t it?” the voice seemed to be saying in a hilariously mocking tone.
“I need your help, I have been transported to ‘Paataal’ because I was reading the book “‘Paataal’,” I told him.
“OMG, Ravana wrote that book after we gave him 10 heads. He cursed it so that if any human read it, they would be transported to ‘Paataal’. He wanted Laxman to read it. But as Ravana could not find it on the big day, he kidnapped Sita instead to take revenge on Ram and Laxman,” he said.
The well was a shallow one, it had a depth of around 2 feet. I took my first steps out of the well and felt something was wrong. I could feel a presence, something I had never experienced before. From a distance, I could feel dark, red eyes glaring at me. I thought to tell Brahma but- “Oye, crazy kid, I may be inside the book but if I want I can make you go boom, so stop ignoring me, it makes me feel diminished,” he said in a woeful but enraged voice.
The glaring sensation stopped the moment Brahma uttered those words. I felt the presence go farther and farther until I could not feel that strange malicious presence anymore. As the presence slowly disappeared, I could smell a peculiar fear. I did not know how to describe it. As I followed the smell, I felt uneasy, reminding me of my greatest fear- OSMOPHOBIA.
The book slowly grasped a liking for me talking about his favourite Teletubby, and other such yap. While the book continued in its heroic Ted Talk Journey, I followed the smell leading to a new region in the depths of ‘Paataal’. It was a place where it snowed crushed up bones instead of the normal snow. I could hear the slow crackling of fire, and some hissing as my nose caught on the musk smell that spoke of the presence of a snake.
As I walked the path to a strange castle, I could feel the intensity close to what I felt when those red eyes were staring at me. I slowly walked to a castle in some distance.
On entering the castle, I could feel more than a dozen red eyes staring at me from a peculiar distance. There was a large black throne that was placed on a high pedestal with stairs ascending to it. The throne was lucrative and had a magnetic effect on me. I was about to step on the first step when a guided red laser shot into my eye. I suddenly tumbled down.
Deep hornets could be heard as a purple man walked in. “Oh, dear not this purple crayon again,” said Brahma after a long silence. I suddenly remembered I had a “BRAHMA.” He had been firmly gripped in my hand even though I had forgotten about him. In the meanwhile, the strange purple crayon had started taking on an ominous look. He took some long steps to reach out to me when he stopped all of a sudden.
“Oye kid- he has seen me on your cover- he will not come nearer. You better find a way out,” cried Brahma from the cover of my book.
“But who is this strange purple fellow and how do I get away from here?”
“He is Ahiravana, the God of underworld and he loves dancing. Show him some dance moves and he might let you go.”
“Dancing, and me? I don’t know the ‘D’ of dancing. Why do you think I was killing my time in the library while everyone else was dressing up to go to prom?”
As I was taking to Brahma, the book turned to a random page and showed me a dance called “THE HOLY GRIDDINESS.” I quickly turned over the pages to understand its moves. As I was doing that, I heard Ahiravana whispering to his cook to catch hold of me and fry me to a nice golden brown colour for his dinner.
I quickly sifted the pages and as though possessed- I started dancing. The ‘king’ stopped his whispering and looked at me with mesmerised eyes. After watching me for a few minutes, he instructed the guards to call the other creatures of his “civilization. He then closed his eyes as if in meditation and soon another huge throne appeared in front of him. Ascending the throne, he sat over there and started clapping along the beats of my musical extravaganza. He once again closed his eyes and started chanting something- God knows what he was chanting but that split second of his shut eyes was enough to allow me to escape. As I scrambled through the castle, I could see a miniscule shaft of reality pointing to the library of my school. ‘JUMP!’ said Brahma’s voice and without thinking I heaved the longest jump possible.
And… I landed safely… in my school library!
“So, are you ok kid? How was your journey to ‘Paataal’?” Brahma laughed at me.
“I am still shaken up but I cannot understand how I came back here,” I said to Brahma.
“The Holy Griddiness’ is a very useful dance. Along with the other things that it does, it can also create shafts of reality. That is what saved you. Because you had started dancing with all your might, the energy flow created by your dance moves created a very powerful shaft of reality which was sturdy enough to bring you back,” said Brahma.
I couldn’t believe my ears that Brahma was complementing me for my dance moves.
The book that had accompanied me on my journey to the “Depths Of The Earth” had turned into a guide navigating me through ‘Paataal’. This gesture was a perfect parting gift from my ancestral deity, Brahma.
As I held the book, looking closely at the picture of Brahma, I heard the majestically loud noises of the school anthem originating from the gym. I assumed it was the closing of prom. Thankfully and unthankfully, I had missed the Prom Night, but what I had experienced that day would forever stay with me.
Whether or not I would meet Brahma again, I don’t know but I am now fully convinced that I am indeed related to Brahma and that if I ever find myself in a fiery situation again, he will definitely come to my rescue!
Writer : Jagrav Sharma
Grade : 7 (Year 2025)
Place : Gurugram, India
