‘It’s also what the Indian Army wears,’ Fayza said, remembering what Aman had told her about his father earlier.

Rishi Ajan dug his face into his palms, his suspicions now confirmed.

Aman’s head spun as he recalled his father’s photographs. Idhika stared at him, horror-struck.

23

Sarp-poonch

‘That’s what I told you,’ Aman said to Idhika after they’d returned to Vanyasa. ‘If only we’d retrieved the box while it was still at the bridge.’

‘You’re right, Aman . . . I just . . . couldn’t believe it earlier,’ she said. ‘But to be sure, we have to get a look at the photographs.’

‘Well, my father and the others are all dressed like Vanyasis in the photographs. The Kalpavriksha is undoubtedly in the background. And he was in the army. There is no other explanation; you’ll see. The box also has palm leaves with a ton of drawings, but the notes are in Sanskrit,’ he said, biting his fingernails, which were longer than they’d ever been. ‘And now Sanaka has the box hidden in his hut.’ He implored her to assist him in retrieving it. After hearing everything that her father had said, Idhika didn’t need much convincing.

The fear of what Sanaka would do to them if they got caught forced them to wait for a week. Then, on the day that the Sabha and Samiti were scheduled to meet, when it was certain that Sanaka would be at the Assembly, they stole into his hut during Suryast and heaved a sigh of relief when they saw the box was still there. They had decided to quickly search the notes for information and leave the box so as not to raise any suspicion.

‘No. How could this happen? They’re destroyed!’ Aman fell to his knees in front of the open box. The palm leaves had been damaged by rainwater, probably even before Sanaka took the box from the bridge.

Idhika tilted the palm leaves from one side to the other. ‘From the little that I can see, these are very fine marks. I do not know of any pankh that can make such thin lines.’

Aman, looking down at the photographs, said, ‘Yeah. Father probably used a pen from the plains. Can you not make out anything? Here, look at these photographs. See the Kalpavriksha.’

Idhika set the leaves aside and took the three photographs, which were thankfully undamaged. She saw the men with shaved heads standing under the zigzagging trunk of the large tree. ‘So it’s true . . . Which one is he?’

Aman pointed to the man in the middle. He then turned his face to the wall and murmured, ‘We have to take the box!’

‘No!’ Her eyes widened. ‘Sanaka will not spare us.’

‘What if we just borrow it? So we can study its contents and return it. He won’t even know it’s gone. We can bring it back before he realizes.’

She shook her head.

‘Idhika . . . don’t you want to know?’ he said. ‘Don’t you want your father to return to the valley? I’ve already lost mine . . . but you, your father is still alive.’