Mo Yaling

The Blue Underwear

Quentin! The name didn’t rang a bell in my mind. Then all of a sudden I recalled his face. Yes! This is the guy, to whom Steve shared my captive situation that night!

‘You are Steve’s friend! I just recalled. I have seen your picture in the group photo that Steve had send me. But you were supposed to be in his expedition team – isn’t it?’

‘I was. Yes.’ he looked a little sad.

‘Then what are you doing HERE?’ I asked him.

‘I just reached here an hour ago – to find YOU!’

‘WH-WHAT!’ I exclaimed. ‘Quentin – I want to hear everything from the very beginning.’

Quentin was about to start his story, but then my phone rang. It was Nayna. I stopped Quentin and received the phone.

‘Yes sweetheart.’

‘You were supposed to give me a call. Are your flight late?’

‘Honey – I’ve missed the flight!’ I just remembered what has happened with me for Shankar. I gave a secret angry look towards Shankar. He was as usual busy with his phone – as if nothing has happened!

‘What! How!?’ Nayna blurted out.

‘Nayna – I will tell you everything. I’ve got a new situation. How far are you?’

‘Far! I haven’t left the airport yet!’

‘Fantastic! Meet us at the exit gate – when I call you. I have just to make some arrangements regarding our luggages.’

‘Bhaiya!’ Beloved Shankar horned in, ‘I have filled up the form regarding our luggages. We just have to inform verbally to the lost and found department – that’ll all do!’

I was amazed with this promptness!

‘Okay dear,’ I prompted Nayna, ‘come within ten minutes – meet you there – bye.’

I disconnected the phone and turned to Quentin. ‘Sorry Quentin – it was my wife. We will listen to you. We will sit somewhere calm and peaceful at first. Come.’

I proceeded followed by Quentin and Shankar. Then suddenly I stopped and asked Shankar - ‘Lead us to the lost and what-ever department.’ Whatever the misfortune is - it's better to be in front of the eyes!

We were sitting in a roadside café after half 'n hour. It was about nine. Except us there were no one. We ordered some coffee and sandwiches.

‘Now – Quentin – tell us everything from the beginning.’ I said after a sip.

Quentin had some fast bites on his sandwich and washed it down with some coffee. He wiped is face with a tissue and smiled bashfully. ‘Sorry! I was hungry! I never realized that I would find you that easy!’ he said after a pause.

Suddenly Shankar slapped on the table. We all were startled!

‘WHAT!’ I asked.

‘Nothing.’ he replied indifferently.

‘I am a geologist.’ Quentin said. ‘I was having an expedition around the Mouling National park at Arunachal Pradesh nearly six months ago. The park is almost inaccessible due to poor or no roads and-’ Quentin stopped abruptly and started again, ‘there are stories – you know – like local mythological stories happens – associated with the forest - that has kept the core area of the national park relatively untouched by human activities for years.’

‘What kind of stories – sorry I interrupted you.’ Nayna’s eyes gleamed. No doubt – she loves mystery stories!

‘The stories are like – you know – that there are ancient animals-’

‘Jurassic park!’ Shankar almost screamed! Both me and Nayna gave him a cold angry look. Shankar coiled himself immediately like a salt sprinkled leech.

‘No – No – NOT like that! It is something different. See – I am a geologist. My focal point of the expedition was the particular soil type of that place. I was more interested as the land was nearly virgin. You know – it is like an opportunity for a geologist to explore that kind of a land. I never paid attention to those stories. Those kind of stories are scattered all over the world – related to desolated places, forests, mountains, deserts – a scientist should try to find out the truth those are hidden on those stories – NOT that he or she will believe on them. But-’

Quentin stopped. We all leaned towards him as we smelled a mysterious story is about to come!

‘We were camping beside a very small river. From this area – this Mouling – several nameless rivers has came down to join Siang river – you will find it as Brahmaputra in google. We were a few kilometres away from a village named Ramsing. We didn’t have the budget to enter the park.’

‘Why? - sorry for my interruption.’

‘No no no no – its not a big deal.’ Quentin smiled. ‘Its very simple you see – if you enter the park – number one there are no roads – even the local guides and peoples have no pristine idea of that forest – in that case there will be a problem of food and other supplies. We have to have many people in our team to carry so many things with us. More over – if so many people enters a pure vestal place like that – there are chances – that many natural geological evidence might get destroyed. So – what we planned – we were testing the river waters – that were coming out of that forest.’

Quentin stopped. Finished his coffee and started again. ‘One day – it was morning – I was roaming beside the river – alone. Suddenly it caught my eye – floating in the water – a dead bee.’

‘Bee!’ all of us exclaimed at the same time.

‘Yes. A bee. A normal bee – like any other bee’s – NOT worn – but fresh! May be it died a few hours ago. You know – though I am a geologist – we geologists develop a common idea of other natural things. Its very common – you know – the people who spent time near nature – they develops a persuasion about nature. Seeing that bee I had a feeling – kind of a doubt you know. I collected the bee – dried it up and immediately fossilized it with raisin. Here ...’ Quentin unzipped his waist pouch and brought up something wrapped in a piece of paper. He opened it and handed it over to me. A small piece of yellowish block, with a bee inside it. I couldn’t find anything special about it. Nayna and Shankar too had a look and it was given back to Quentin again. He wrapped it and kept it in his waist pouch.

‘Have you any idea – how long a bee lives?’ Quentin asked.

Shankar and Nayna nodded their head to say that they have no idea. I replied, ‘maximum four-five months – for some species – more or less.’

‘Yes. You are right. But – this bee – It ages almost twenty three months. I have tested it in three different labs.’

‘WHAT!’ Our jaw dropped. ‘How’s that possible at all?’ I asked finally.

‘That’s where I met professor Steve Oda.’

‘You knew him previously?’ I asked.

‘No. I just published an article in our paper regarding this matter. And I got a call from him a couple of weeks later. He was interested to meet me. That’s how we met.’

We all remained silent for a while. So many things were floating in my mind like a lump of knotted cord. ‘Why did you wanted to find ME?’ I enquired almost Inadvertently.

‘Well – the answer is I don’t know. The professor mentioned your name several times. He was expecting you every moment and finally became very upset when you couldn’t join us.’

Nayna and I had a very quick exchange of looks. We had so many unspoken conversation in that flash of look.

‘I only had a hunch,’ Quentin continues, ‘I felt that professor and you have a kind of connection – I didn’t know what – it’s just a feeling - that if anybody could help in this situation – it will be you. I just came to Delhi. I had no idea – how and where to find you. And I found you in this airport. It’s just my luck I think.’

Shankar smacked the table once again. His face gleaming.

‘What now!’ I asked him.

‘Oh! I knew that!’ He expressed joyously.

‘You knew WHAT?’ I felt little agitated.

‘You know what happened when bhabi handed me the bag of gun? I was coming towards you. I saw you left your seat from a distant. I followed you. Right at that time I received a call from my mother. Then my elder aunt, then ...’

Shankar started giving the lists of her aunts. I frantically stopped him and said, ‘come to the point Shankar. I’ve realized that why didn’t I get you on phone. But why didn’t YOU get me even as you were following me?’

‘That’s the point bhaiya! I was following a wrong person!’

‘WHAT!’

‘Yes! He was dressed like you – the same colour! And when I realized that I got dumbfounded! I realized that we are going to miss the plane. I couldn’t understood why that happened to me! Then when this man found you – I realized it!’

‘Realized WHAT!’ I was at the last limit of my patience.

‘Oh bhaiya! It HAD to be – this unification – between you and him – that's why we missed the plane! It is nothing except the fortune of my lucky blue underwear!’