Story so far: Vineet is grounded by his dad and has to clean the house for Deepavali, as part of his punishment.
Vineet stepped into the puja room. Tall marble statues of gods and goddesses clothed in silk stared at him from the altar. Books swamped the shelves on the walls. “I want you to remove all the books. Don’t keep them on the ground, place them on the carpet. Dust the shelves and wipe them with a dry cloth,” dadi instructed.
Vineet spread the red velvet carpet, which the family used during ceremonies, on the floor and put the books on it one by one. Some were so heavy that he nearly dropped them. Sitting on four cushions, her back resting against the wall, his grandmother watched.
After a tiring hour and more, Vineet had cleared the shelves of all the books. “Good. You are a fast learner,” dadi smiled. Picking up book after book, he dusted them and placed them back on shelves. Halfway through his job, he turned to his grandmother. She had gone to sleep. “I had better hurry, or I’ll end up spending the entire day here,” he muttered.
Lifting a fat book, he shook it vigorously. A cloud of dust floated up and a few loose sheets of paper drifted to the floor. Vineet grabbed and shoved them back into the book.
Surprise
A piece of blue paper caught his eye. Bending down, he lifted it. It was not part of the book. It had been neatly folded and tucked inside. Curious, Vineet opened the piece of paper. In a strange writing was a four-word Sanskrit mantra: Sarva Lokah Vasmaye Vasmaye.
Below it was written: When chanted with sincerity, this mantra ensures that people around the chanter do his bidding. But the chanter should always be in a constant physical contact with the mantra. If the paper is lost, stolen, or misplaced, its efficacy ceases.
Vineet rolled his eyes. “Does something like a magic mantra exist? Useless bit of paper.” He crushed it into a ball and shoved it into his jeans pocket. His grandmother would have thrown a fit if her prayer room was littered with paper.
To be continued
