‘Why? I’m sure the gold could have been put to good use by your people,’ exclaimed Shiva.

Kali laughed coldly. ‘That gold was a mere palliative. Not for us, but for the Vayuputras. Its only purpose was to make them feel less guilty for the carnage being wrought upon us by the “great invention” that they protected.’

Shiva nodded, understanding her anger. He turned to Brahaspati. ‘But how exactly is the Somras responsible for this?’

Brahaspati explained, ‘We used to believe the Somras blessed one with a long life by removing poisonous oxidants from one’s body. But that is not the only way it works.’

Shiva and Sati leaned closer.

‘It also operates at a more fundamental level. Our body is made up of millions of tiny living units called cells. These are the building blocks of life.’

‘Yes, I’ve heard of this from one of your scientists in Meluha,’ said Shiva.

‘Then you’d know that these cells are the tiniest living beings. They combine to form organs, limbs, and in fact, the entire body.’

‘Right.’

‘These cells have the ability to divide and grow. And each division is like a fresh birth; one old unhealthy cell magically transforms into two new healthy cells. As long as they keep dividing, they remain healthy. So your journey begins in your mother’s womb as a single cell. That cell keeps dividing and growing till it eventually forms your entire body.’

‘Yes,’ said Sati, who had learnt all of this in the Meluha gurukul.

‘Obviously,’ said Brahaspati, ‘this division and growth has to end sometime. Otherwise one’s body would keep growing continuously with pretty disastrous consequences. So the Almighty put a limit on the number of times a cell can divide. After that, the cell simply stops dividing further and thus, in effect, becomes old and unhealthy.’

‘And do these old cells make one’s body age and thus eventually die?’ asked Shiva.

‘Yes, every cell reaches its limit on the number of divisions at some point or the other. As more and more cells in the body hit that limit, one grows old, and finally dies.’

‘Does the Somras remove this limit on division?’

‘Yes. Therefore, your cells keep dividing while remaining healthy. In most people, this continued division is regulated. But in a few, some cells lose control over their division process and keep growing at an exponential pace.’

‘This is cancer, isn’t it?’ asked Sati.

‘Yes,’ said Brahaspati. ‘This cancer can sometimes lead to a painful death. But there are times when these cells continue to grow and appear as deformities – like extra arms or a very long nose.’

‘How polite and scientific!’ said a livid Kali. ‘But one cannot even begin to imagine the physical pain and torture that we undergo as children when these “outgrowths” occur.’

Sati stretched out and held her sister’s hand.

‘Nagas are born with small outgrowths, which don’t seem like much initially, but are actually harbingers of years of torture,’ continued Kali. ‘It almost feels like a demon has taken over your body. And he’s bursting out from within, slowly, over many years, causing soul-crushing pain that becomes your constant companion. Our bodies get twisted beyond recognition so that by adolescence, when further growth finally stops, we are stuck with what Brahaspati politely calls “deformities”. I call it the wages of sins that we didn’t even commit. We pay for the sins others commit by consuming the Somras.’