Mo Yaling

The Lost

I was so flabbergasted that couldn’t say a word. I just kept looking at him and Nayna. Nayna was astonished firstly, then a smile appeared on the corners of her lips. It made me angry and my anger made Nayna’s smile to grow a little more. Nayna’s extended smile hurt Shankar. That turned her smile to a laughter. And finally when she looked at the foolish face of Quentin she just broke into laughter. This entire thing happened within four seconds!

‘I … I’m sorry! I couldn’t … I mean … what’s wrong?’ Quentin asked fondly.

‘I – I’m sorry Quentin … this man is a kind of wacky … he thinks that you found me out because he is carrying his lucky blue underwear!’

‘It may happen.’ Quentin replied seriously. ‘I have seen things like this. I mean – I am NOT saying that this ‘underwear’ IS lucky … but you know – the belief of a person can create such a vibration – that – that it turns out to be true!’

‘Whatever!’ I wanted to change the topic. I am enough sick of Shankar’s underwear. I don’t want to experience any nightmare regarding that blue coloured piece of stitched cloth. ‘Let us come back to our topic – that bee – what does it mean – what professor said about that long living bee?’

‘Professor was a bit sceptical initially. But when I produced those three lab reports he became thoughtful. Then I mentioned the local story about the ancient animals – that attracted his major attention.’ Quentin said.

‘Oh! I got it!’ Nayna suddenly got excited, ‘by ancient animals the local story means to say that there are long living animals!’

‘My opinions were as same as you.’ Quentin replied.

‘How’s that possible? Does professor gave any theory about this ‘long living’ characteristics of these animals?’ I asked.

‘Yes. But a very vague theory. He said that there may be some kind of thing – probably a kind of a plant – as bee’s only survives usually on nectar – but once again – the local story says about ‘animals’ and a bee is never an animal. So, there may be several kind of sources that helps those animals to live long.’

‘It would be a great discovery!’ I banged the table now.

‘Yes! Of course! May be!’ Quentin become thoughtful, ‘what would be the modus operandi?’

‘How did professor planned his expedition?’ Nayna asked.

‘He wanted to start from the point where I found that bee.’ Quentin seemed thoughtful.

‘He said that you reached there by a chopper.’

‘No no. Not there. The nearest airbase is Aalo. We hired cars from there.’

‘Why chopper? I mean what was the use of using such an expensive mode of conveyance?’

‘Oh – it was just a gift kind of thing. The chopper belongs to one of his student – I’ve forgotten the name – a very rich person of that place. He has a laboratory at the extreme north-east of Arunachal Pradesh – the name of the place is … is … ah! I can’t recall. Something with ‘b’. The chopper was going to that place. It just dropped us at Aalo.’

‘I see.’ I become thoughtful.

‘What happened then?’ Nayna asked.

‘A very mysterious thing.’ Quentin said thoughtfully.

We all kept staring at him.

‘Our flight was – you know – at morning ten past eight. But it was a little late – for some fifteen-twenty minutes due to some technical issues. But it covered the late and dropped us at scheduled time. The chopper was ready there and we reached there – Aalo – by two thirty.’

Well! My calculation and plan on that night was totally wrong! I could never catch them. They would have been a minimum three days in advance. Professor was right!

‘From there – Aalo, we started our journey the next morning.’ Quentin continued, ‘We reached Ramsing by noon and hiked to our camp-site by the sundown. That evening we made our plan to enter the forest. It was decided – that we – a total team of six persons will enter the forest. Then at a certain point – I mean – if we find a proper site for camping – we will set our camp there. Two persons will hold the camp and the rest two will come back to the base camp. And me and Steve will search that area by a radius of two kilometres. The next morning, after the sunrise we entered the forest. We had to cut a lots of trees and bushes and we had climb ups and downs to make our way as there were no roads – you know. By twelve o’clock we found a suitable place for camping. It was a big rock with a huge groove. It was a very good shelter – particularly for this season.’

‘I was also in my mind – why did you people choose to carry this expedition this time. It is chilly as well snowy this time!’ I asked when he stopped for a breath.

‘Actually – professor had an opportunity of a fund for this kind of expedition. We have only three months to make use of it – that was the only reason.’ Quentin said.

‘I see! Please proceed.’

‘Yes. So, when we reached there, we calculated that in those six hours we have covered a maximum of four kilometres. If not less. We were so worn out for that day, we decided to give a break. The next morning at first we send back two of our people the the base camp and then Steve and me started our search according to our plan. Our plan was to move towards west – straight and to come back after two or three hours – according to the situation. But after three hours of strenuous exploration we suddenly saw that we have came back near our camp! We couldn’t understand how that happened! Sometimes it happens in the forest – particularly this kind of dense forest – that you lost your way. The forest behaves like a labyrinth and turns you crazy. We knew that. We were very careful and were following our compass and plotting our path! So, we took some rest in the camp, checked our compass – it was absolutely fine – and started our exploration once again. This time it was a little easy as we have already made-up a road. We carefully measured every step and changed our course – where ever we suspected that it might take us back to our camp - and we plotted our path accordingly. BUT - we find ourselves in the camp nearly after three hours!’

‘What the big F!’ I cried out.

‘Didn’t you see any kind of animals on your way?’ Nayna asked.

‘NOT a single one. Not even we hear any sound of any animals. But there were plenty of birds. Various birds!’

‘How did professor get lost?’ Shankar asked.

‘Yes! I am coming to that part. I haven’t experienced this kind of mystery in my life.’ Quentin remained a little silent and arranged his thought before he speaks out. ‘After we came back to the camp for the second time – we send one of our helper to the base camp for fresh compass. He came back the next day. When I tried to record the time – I saw that my mobile is showing thirteen past two a.m.! I checked Steve’s mobile – It was showing eleven thirty a.m.! I checked our helper’s mobile – all were showing different weird timings!’

‘Strange!’ I couldn’t suppress my astonishment.

‘Yes! Strange it was. But we were ready to move out. So we immediately started with the new set of compass to a new direction. We were moving slowly and carefully. After an hour I felt a need to pee. I was leading. I asked professor to lead for a while and started to pee. Professor crossed me and went forward. After a few seconds I heard his voice – kind of an outcry – very mild and suppressed – as if his legs has slipped or he has missed to chop a branch! I called for him - “What happened professor?” - but he didn’t reply. I finished my business and proceed towards him. The way was clear – a chopped and cleaned fine path was lying ahead. It stopped after merely five meters. I reached the end of that cleared out path. But I couldn’t see professor. I shouted his name for many times. It was all silent. I couldn’t fathom what may have happened! On one side of that place there was a sloping valley. I thought that he might haven fallen there. But the slope was covered with thick bushes and trees. If by any chance any one falls – he will surely get stuck on the bush or tree! I searched around the place minutely and continuously shouted his name. But all was in vein. Suddenly something caught my eyes.’

Quentin stopped to breath. We all stared at him eagerly.