Kuljeet sighed, ‘This baoli is magical. They say a secret treasure’s map and key was thrown into this well.’ Tightlipped Kuljeet knew all along that Rajjo had chosen love as her penance. The time was here.

Rajjo sat on the warm stone bench and imagined this place with people living in the rooms surrounded by the minaret and the baoli. A guard keeping watch at the entry gateway, in case an intruder entered the baoli and his reflection alerted him. She could smell the women frying curry and mustard leaves, preparing lavish meals in the kitchens back then. Her reverie was broken by Arjan’s calm voice when he said, ‘The water in the well appears green and covered with algae, yet when a coin is dropped it can be seen for quite sometime, going deep into the well and vanishing.’ Rajjo looked at the still water carpeted in a hue of green. ‘You have been drowning ever since you started your path of revenge. You flourished and prospered like the algae.’

‘You think he went because of all that I have done? You think God made me pay for my actions?’ Rajjo wrenched the question out from her gut. Since the accident she was burning with the question – these two were the only ones who could douse her fire. Kuljeet looked at her friend lovingly and whispered in her ear.

‘The wicked shaaktas, the faithless cynics, do not know the Taste of the Lord’s Sublime Essence. The thorn of egotism is embedded deep within them. The more they walk away, the deeper it pierces them, and the more they suffer in pain, until finally, the Messenger of Death smashes his club against their heads.’

‘So he did this to teach me a lesson? Your God?’

Kuljeet looked at her little girl with compassion-filled eyes ‘He is not looking down from the heavens Rajjo, it is within you. You can bring his breath back, you can let him die, you can repent, you can rejoice, it’s all within. It is fathomless, if you slip beyond a point there is no returning back.’ They knew Rajjo had to shed her Godwoman’s robes if she wanted to have a shot at living again.

‘You ll find his breath when you find your faith,’ Arjan sighed

‘I don’t know where to find faith?’ She looked at them, helpless.