CHAPTER 20 :ARYAMAN MEETS CHANDRASHEKAR

Aryaman continued to come to the aid of people in the rain. He saved more lives from being crushed under falling trees and even took the injured to dispensaries by taking guidance from other passerby’s. In one instance, he even flew back to Pallava to see if the climate had changed for the worse even there. To his relief although it was still cloudy and windy – which were way below in intensity than in Sumegha – there were no traces of rain. He flew back to Sumegha in a matter of moments!

On one occasion, he flew past a hill where from afar he could see a rectangular shaped huge boulder that naturally stood on its hinges at the edge of the hill, falling! The rains had loosened the soil underneath it that caused its fall. Aryaman saw several clusters of houses beneath and the extent of the looming tragedy became clear to him. He flew towards the falling boulder in remarkable speed and reached it just as it was a few inches from the houses below! He held it with his bare bands and heaved a sigh of relief! Not having the heart to destroy a natural formation, he placed the gigantic rock near a river shore and flew away.

Later he happened to pass by the sea where he found a boat filled to its capacity by people swirling out of control in the rough waters. He quickly reached the boat and spoke with the terrified men inside, “Do not get startled to see me! I am here to help!” So saying, he lifted the boat and flew across with it to the shore! The people inside were fishermen who had ventured into the sea to get their daily catch of fish and were trapped in the worsening weather conditions. Aryaman asked them to move out quickly and stay indoors until the inclement weather subsided. The men thanked him and scurried away with their boat.

The weather remained unfavourable for the next couple of hours and Aryaman was there to help the people in whatever way he could.

News reached the palace about his arrival. King Chandrashekar, who was tall, lanky, had thin eyebrows and moustache with dark eyes and a fair complexion, instantly send a message through his drummer requesting Aryaman to come to the palace for meeting him. Aryaman heard the drummer and reached the palace only after the rains and the winds had abated. He observed that the palace gates were strikingly similar to what he had seen in Ravichandran’s palace. The only difference lay in the fact that this gate was even taller at 32 meters, thereby making it the tallest of its kind during that period! Ravichandran had plans to surpass this record by replacing his with a 40-meter high gate! Aryaman could not resist a smile on his face as he had a reminiscence of this factor. He found it quite amusing to see the means people adopted to show off their preeminence over others! Just then, King Chandrashekar himself came over to escort him inside. Aryaman observed that the palace appeared splendid with its red sandstone floors, ornate sandstone pillars and the floral motifs that adorned the walls. Before their meeting took place, the King directed Aryaman to the resting chamber where the latter dried himself, as he had got wet in the rain.

Soon they met in the King’s chamber and after they were comfortably seated, Aryaman enquired about Chandrashekar’s health. The King replied that he was now feeling much better after nearly a week of indisposition. He thanked Aryaman for his commendable efforts to come to the rescue of the people in this inclement weather conditions. Aryaman returned the compliments by appreciating his move of intermittently warning his subjects through the drummer against venturing outside in this hostile weather. He, then gradually shifted the conversation to the core topic, which was the purpose of his visit to Sumegha.