The priest may have lied about the dream and conned the villagers into building the temple, much like what she had done, but the faith was real. She could touch it, she could feel it, it was as gentle as a lake, it was as deep as an ocean, it was as blue as the sky and it was as salty as the wind. Faith.

A bird whispered in her ear, ‘She had to kill the business but she had to keep the faith alive.’

It had been a couple of months and Rajjo heard Harsh was being shifted to a normal room. He was asking for her. Her followers were asking for her, Rano was pleading for her to come back, but Rajjo knew she was not going to return until she had some answers, until she was ready to finish her journey. She knew there was something more to find in the Tara Devi temple, situated on a hill-top in Himachal, surrounded by lush green devdar trees, green forests and meadows. She searched for the answers; how to keep the faith alive in her devotees while she payed for her sins. She searched for answers on the hilltops of Indrakiladri mountains, on the banks of river Krishna and in front of the the self-manifested deity of Goddess Kanaka Durga in Vijaywada.

Her next stop was Chamundi Hills at Mysore in Karnataka. She finally found the missing link and the answer in the Shiva temple, as Rajjo was tying a thread in the branches of a tree in the Mansa Devi temple in Haridwar. It was a beautiful temple located on the top of a hill, the Bilwa Parbat on the Sivalik hills, the mountain chain of the Himalayas. The temple was said to have emerged from the mind of Lord Shiva. She hoped once her wish was fulfilled she would come back to untie the thread, but she also knew she might never return. On her journey for thanksgiving, she had found her road to freedom, while she offered coconut, fruits, flowers and incense sticks to the goddess.

Having found a ray of hope, Rajjo reached the narrow caves of the Adhar Temple in the Mount Abu region, as she climbed the 365 stairs, she deliberated on each step she was going to take hereafter. Each step had to be measured and counted because this was her last chance.

If she faltered now, there was no second chance.

She stood at sixteen hundred feet on a hilltop at Maa Bamleshwari Temple in Chhattisgarh. By now she was sure how she was going to leave it all behind. As she looked down at the valley, she smiled. The sound of the temple bells echoed around her. The chanting of the priests filled her up. She was ready for her last stop.