Vimana

He had been wronged, but he would not debase himself by begging.

By the time he got to his room, word had reached Tanya and she just hugged him tight, not saying anything, knowing both how hard Aaditya would have taken it, and also realizing that she had something to do with it.

Aaditya sat down, not saying anything, just looking blankly at the floor. After a few minutes, Tanya tried to get him to open up.

'Aadi, it wasn't your fault. I'm sure they will let you fly in a day or two when everyone has cooled down.'

Aaditya turned on her angrily. 'Of course, your precious Devas can do no wrong! I just have to sit and wait for their mercy.'

When Tanya recoiled back, Aaditya instantly regretted his words and reached out to hold her hand. 'I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. But do you know what really happened?' And he told her everything. When Tanya heard about Kartik's scheming, she was shocked. 'You should have told Brahma.'

'Come on, why would he believe me over Kartik? Who am I after all to them?'

'Maybe I should talk to them.'

'No, please Tanya, don't. I don't want you to get into any more trouble. It was my fault to start with, and even if I can't fly, I have you, and I hope I made your birthday special. That counts for more than flying a stupid vimana.'

Tanya smiled, and the two of them sat together, wondering what the new day would bring.

Aaditya had already resolved not to make things any worse, especially after Narada came calling and told him that Brahma was a softy at heart and would very soon realize he had been too harsh. He had also decided not to seek out any confrontation with Kartik. He realized till he was in trouble, bringing any more attention to himself would not help his cause.

For the first time in weeks, perhaps months, without the constant thrill of flying, Aaditya got a chance to reflect on what exactly he was doing. He loved flying, and he loved Tanya, but beyond that, he had no idea of where his life was headed. What was the end point of all this? He realized that even in what he had considered his 'regular' life, he had gone through his daily routine not because he was certain of, or even aspiring to, some defined destination. It was just something he had accepted as a matter of routine. Now life was far more ill defined, but at least every day was a chance to do something he loved and was passionate about. And if he did get a chance to uncover the truth about his father, or to avenge his death, that was certainly something worth hanging in there for.

So he stayed out of trouble, and put on his best behaviour. Two days after Tanya's birthday, he was in the club, when he saw Kartik walk in. But Kartik did not come near him, choosing instead to sit in a corner of the room, avoiding eye contact with Aaditya.

That suited Aaditya just fine, because he was afraid he'd get into a fight if Kartik said anything. He got up, and was about to leave the room, when Kartik whispered to him as he passed him, 'I'm sorry.'

Aaditya stopped. 'All you have to say is that you're sorry? You screwed me after I trusted you. What the hell do you want now?'

'For you to forgive me and to have a drink with me.'

Aaditya was about to leave when Kartik got up and stood in his way. For a moment, Aaditya thought he wanted a confrontation, but Kartik seemed somehow shrunken, almost a shadow of the cocky self he had been.

'Sit please.'

Aaditya sat down as Kartik ordered two Somas and downed them in quick succession.

'When we first came here and men started thinking of us as gods, we were surprised and a bit embarrassed, and we tried telling them we were not gods. But it was of no use so we went about our work.'

'Do you believe in God?'

Kartik smiled at the question.

'We may have seemed godlike to them, but we certainly are not all powerful or all knowing. There is a power out there beyond all of us, and it's best that we respect it, even if we cannot always understand it. As you may have gathered, though we are from another world, our egos, our politics are not that different from yours.'

Aaditya thought back to what Kartik had recently done and snorted, 'You could have fooled me.'

Kartik continued without responding, as if he was keen to get something off his chest.

'While early man may not have been as technologically sophisticated as us, he certainly was an astute observer, and our squabbles, politics and internal struggles were recorded down in many of your texts through snippets of gossip and information leaked by humans we had kept as helpers or students to nudge them along on the path to progress. I can still remember some of the early scribes exclaiming in glee when they recorded just how screwed up the so-called gods were.'

Aaditya had no idea where this was leading or what it had to do with him, so he began to fidget. Kartik continued, as if not noticing Aaditya's lack of interest.

'In the Hindu Puranas, there's a fascinating story. My younger brother Ganesha and I are competing for the mango of wisdom that Narada has on offer, and we are supposed to race around the world. I do just that, but Ganesha just circles our parents, saying they are his world, and he wins. Do you know what that means?'

Aaditya had no idea, and just wished Kartik would get to the point.

'It means that despite me being the elder brother, he was always the favoured one, the smart one, the beloved of our parents. I was a grunt who had a talent for killing Asuras, nothing more. You see it in how humans remember us-Ganesha's statues are in hundreds of millions of homes in Asia, regarded as a source of luck and fortune; I am remembered as a god of war.'

Aaditya began to see what was troubling Kartik.

'All my life, I have lived in his shadow, but at least had the consolation of being seen as the best pilot, of being the one my father would count on to march next to him in war. When you beat me with everyone watching on their displays, I just took all that rage out on you. I am sorry. I've already confessed to Brahma and you can fly now. As for me, I got an earful and am now grounded for a month.'

Aaditya didn't know what to say. As he looked at Kartik's face, he realized immortal demi-god or not, Kartik was also in many ways a young man with issues that he could understand and empathize with. He had no fancy words to offer, but thought back to how he would have handled the situation with any of his friends.

'Look, we all screw up some time or the other. You are the closest thing to a friend I have here, and I don't want to lose that. I can't help you with all your issues, but if you ever need someone to talk to, I'll be your wingman.'

That broke the ice. Kartik smiled and then roared in laughter. 'Four more Somas for us.'

They would have kept drinking more had Tanya not rushed into the club. She was surprised to see Aaditya and Kartik drinking together after all that had happened, but something else was on her mind.

'Tanya, what's wrong?'

'Another huge quake has struck. This time just off Hawaii.'

TEN

Aaditya, Tanya and the Devas sat huddled before a giant screen in the conference room. The screen was broken up into several portions, all but three of them showing news feeds from major TV stations. The remaining sections, arranged vertically along the right hand edge of the holographic display, showed real-time satellite imagery of various areas of the Earth, overlayed with coloured dots representing air traffic. There was a frenzy of green dots near the United States' west coast as rescue and evacuation efforts went into full swing.

The earthquake had struck just a hundred kilometres to the west of the island of Oahu, and while all the news reports said that rescue efforts had been launched, everyone knew that they would not reach before the tsunamis did. Aaditya heard Brahma mutter to himself.

'Nearly 900,000 souls live on Oahu.'

Reports were now coming in that the first tsunami waves would hit the coast in less than fifteen minutes.