Infinite! - 36

Fantastic!​

Intrigued by that, Siva picked that linga and found that the bottom of the statue had been dented and caved in and a piece of some metal perhaps, had been protruding out. He had done pooja to that idol countless times, yet, did not notice that before. Just then the power came and he had a closer look.

There was a metal piece that was longer enough to fit as the beam to support that heavy linga above, it felt. But as he tried to pull it, it came out clean from the idol and he was quite surprised. He looked at it closely. It had some engravement and the temple seal, which alone he could recognize. He took it to the only other room there in the house and his father was wide awake then. "Do you know what this is? I found this under the idol that we perform pooja daily!". Paramesawran's eyes widened a bit. He tried very hard to say something - "Kee...kee....", he said incoherently and closed his eyes, obviously tired.

The next day, Siva took it while going to the temple, after attending to his father. On his way, he saw Banu, who didn't notice him at all and was lost in deep thought. "Banu!", he shouted. That shook her a bit and she saw him. With a smile, Siva went to her and asked, "How are you?". Banu smiled back and soon, they started talking normally. "What are you reading now?", Siva asked, knowing that she bought all magazines and read most of the books in the local library.

'Chandamama! A bunch of them!", she said and added, "How lovely it would be if only we never grow up!". Siva took the metal piece and showed it to her. "Can you guess what this is? I couldn't!", he said. "Long and strong and heavy too! Seeing these engravements, I feel this could belong to the temple! Is that so?", she asked. Siva explained where he found that.

"Is it not the idol that your grandfather took from the temple with permission, after it was broken?", she asked about the idol. Siva nodded. "I don't know whether your grandfather knows this!", she took that metal object again and inspected closely. "It must be bronze, I'm sure!", she said and ran her fingers over the engravement. "Did you notice the ridge here?", she asked him and tried pressing it. Something gave up. Alarmed, she tried to hold it firm, but it did not fall. Instead, there seemed to be another cylindrical rod that seemed to come out of the outer metal groove along the end. In sheer disbelief, they looked at it. "Is it....?", Siva asked incredulously and whispered, "Yes, it must be!". When he explained that to her, Banu was equally stunned!

"Fantastic!", was all she said.

p.s. Very sorry readers, for a long delay in posting this!