B-Sides: Abandonalia

Dirigibles Out of Maya (Chapter 1)

"They were the masters of the world. It was quite wonderful. There was peace and order. Temples full of riches. Happy brahmans full of good rice, good food. And, of course, some of the most magnificent temples ever built. Nothing in that part of the world could compare."

- Bernard-Phillipe Groslier, French Archaelogist (1926 - 1986)

All night long, the king had screamed in his sleep. When morning came, the king's advisor, the Purohita, walked along the corridor that passed one of the many beautiful royal gardens in the palace that led to the royal chambers. As he walked along, the Purohita saw the king's servants whispering among themselves and who suddenly became silent and embarrassed when he approached them.

The Purohita was a wise man, learned in not only the sacred texts of the Vedas but also the other sources of knowledge such as the Brahmanas, Upanishads and the Sutras. It did not take him long to realise that the servants were, in fact, talking about their King.

"Well, what is it you have to say about our sarvabhumi?" the Purohita asked, "Out with it, come on."

The servant who was spoken to carefully chose his words. "Sir, it is truly the king we are worried about," she said a little nervously. "We are concerned that he is being visited by demons in his sleep. He has not slept peacefully these past few days. The screams can be heard throughout the palace, all night long."

"Yes, we are very worried about His Majesty," chimed in another servant.

"Silence! Servants are beneath the matters of kings and warriors. Go back to your duties," the Purohita ordered.

When the servants had walked away, the Purohita stayed in the corridor and looked out into the gardens. The gardens were carefully designed and arranged to showcase all the beauties in the world. As the Purohita looked, he saw two butterflies flying, as if playing, with each other. The butterflies were a riot of bright colours and as they danced in their flight, a lizard, camouflaged among the bushes and grass, flicked its tongue, and in a blink of an eye, both butterflies were eaten.

This distraction was interrupted by the sound of running feet, hastily approaching him. The Purohita turned to see one of the king's guards stop before, saluting, and giving his message.

"Sir, His Majesty demands that His Purohita come quickly," the guard said.

"Of course, I am on my way," the Purohita replied.

In the royal chambers was a large bed with ornately designed poles that reached to the ceiling and covered with silks of red and yellow over the softest and fluffiest pillows imaginable. Sitting on the side of the bed was the king himself, washing his face with water from a gold basin. Standing at attention at the foot of the bed was the Commander of the Royal Army, who looked in the Purohita's direction with a smug satisfaction. The Commander mouth betrayed a tiny, vile smirk forming on his lips. He was obviously feeling proud of reaching the King before the Purohita.

"Purohita, you're here, finally. You certainly took your time," the King said while he dabbed his face with a towel.

Another smug smirk from the commander.

"We had another nightmare last night," the King said.

"I'm sorry to hear that, your Majesty," the Purohita replied.

"It was a terrifying nightmare. We are ashamed to admit it but we are greatly disturbed by it. We want you to call a dream interpreter. We distinctly remember there being a sage of dreams among the Brahmins in one of the temples on the other side of the city. We want you to find him and bring him before us."

The King sat thoughtfully for a few seconds, then added, "This very day."

"Very good, sire. But if I may, just a small reminder, your Majesty also has an audience with the Storyteller today. Should I cancel his audience in lieu of the interpreter of dreams?"

"By Vishnu, no. Allow both the Storyteller and the Interpreter of Dreams to meet us at the same time. Perhaps the Storyteller can give us his take on our nightmare."

"Very good, sire. I shall go at once." The Purohita turned to leave.

As he walked out the Royal Chambers, he heard the King address his Commander.

"Now, Commander, we are eagerly awaiting your status report."

"Your Majesty, your pet project proceeds well and is on schedule. The men too are eager to rush to its completion," the Commander said.

The Commander's voice vaguely reminded the Purohita of the high-pitched whining of a begging dog. The Purohita continued walking; he crossed the garden through the corridor and went out into the city to look for the Interpreter of Dreams.

"Have there been any difficulties?" the king inquired.

"Not many, although we do have some minor issues which our top mathematicians guarantee can be overcome soon."

"I see. What sort of issues?"

"Well, all our test pilots have so far been consumed by madness."

"Madness? What do you mean, commander?"

"After our test runs, the pilots are consumed with an overwhelming sense of fear."

"Well, this does not bode well. We can't have our pilots cringing in fear. It'll defeat the purpose of this project!"

"Not to worry, your highness. As I mentioned earlier, it is but a minor inconvenience. The mathematicians are working to solve this."

"Where are the test pilots now?"

"They are in the infirmary, under strict observation."

"Good. I don't want any word of this to get out."

"That is understood, your Majesty."

"Right. Off you go now, Commander. I will see you in the throne room later."

"Very well, my liege."

The commander bowed, and took several slow steps backwards towards the exit. Once he was outside the king's chambers, he turned around and marched briskly down the corridor.

Ted's Commentary

Dirigibles Out of Maya (alternative title: The Purohita) was my very first attempt of writing a full-blown novel.

In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have started with an epic, then at least I wouldn't have crashed and burned. But it was a good learning process, albeit a painful one. Ambition mixed with lack of experience can be the best teacher, the type who brings you down a few notches and makes you know your place. This was the beginning of my training, the literary equivalent of me hauling a rice sack on my back while running up a mountain.

How I actually began this project is also kind of interesting. Sometime in 2005 or 2006 my former boss from a games company I had worked for had a side project he wanted to work on, and seeing that he liked the writing I did for the games the company published at the time, he asked me to help him out with this project.

It was a cross media project spanning movies, cartoons, comics, books, games, all sorts. He had this fantasy setting inspired by Angkor Wat and it had airships and mathematicians and magic and mythical beasts and he wanted me to write a novel set in that setting. It was wonderful, I was thrilled and like the naive idiot I was, I said yes.

And so I tried. And this is the result. He didn't like it :) On the whole I wrote five short chapters, of which this is the first. Through out the next four weeks, I will be publishing the other chapters as well.