‘Oh no, my friend! The quarters are more than comfortable. They are beyond anything that we could have imagined. What say Mausi?’ grinned Shiva at Bhadra’s mother, before turning back to Chitraangadh with a frown. ‘But why the quarantine?’

Nandi cut in. ‘Shiva, the quarantine is just a precaution. We don’t have too many diseases in Meluha. Sometimes, immigrants may come in with new diseases. During this seven—day period, the doctors will observe and cure you of any such ailments.’

‘And one of the guidelines that you have to follow to control diseases is to maintain strict hygiene standards,’ said Ayurvati.

Shiva grimaced at Nandi and whispered, ‘Hygiene standards?’

Nandi’s forehead crinkled into an apologetic frown while his hands gently advised acquiescence. He mumbled, ‘Please go along with it, Shiva. It is just one of those things that we have to do in Meluha. Lady Ayurvati is considered to be the best doctor in the land.’

‘If you are free right now, I can give you your instructions,’ said Ayurvati.

‘I am free right now,’ said Shiva with a straight face. ‘But I may have to charge you later.’

Bhadra giggled softly, while Ayurvati stared at Shiva with a blank face, clearly not amused at the pun.

‘I don’t understand what you’re trying to say,’ said Ayurvati frostily. ‘In any case, we will begin at the bathroom.’

Ayurvati walked into the guest house, muttering under her breath, ‘These uncouth immigrants...’

Shiva raised his eyebrows towards Bhadra, grinning impishly.

Late in the evening, after a hearty meal, all the Gunas were served a medicinal drink in their rooms.

‘Yuck!’ grimaced Bhadra, his face contorted. ‘This tastes like Yak’s piss!’

‘How do you know what yak’s piss tastes like?’ laughed Shiva, as he slapped his friend hard on the back. ‘Now go to your room. I need to sleep.’

‘Have you seen the beds? I think this is going to be the best sleep of my life!’

‘I have seen the bed, dammit!’ grinned Shiva. ‘Now I want to experience it. Get out!’

Bhadra left Shiva’s room, laughing loudly. He wasn’t the only one excited by the unnaturally soft beds. Their entire tribe had rushed to their rooms for what they anticipated would be the most comfortable sleep of their lives. They were in for a surprise.

Shiva tossed and turned on his bed constantly. He was wearing an orange coloured dhoti. The tiger skin had been taken away to be washed — for hygienic reasons. His cotton angvastram was lying on a low chair by the wall. A half lit chillum lay forlorn on the side-table.

This cursed bed is too soft. Impossible to sleep on!

Shiva yanked the bed sheet off the mattress, tossed it on the floor and lay down. This was a little better. Sleep was stealthily creeping in on him. But not as strongly as at home. He missed the rough cold floor of his own hut. He missed the shrill winds of Mount Kailash, which broke through the most determined efforts to ignore them. He missed the comforting stench of his tiger skin. No doubt, his current surroundings were excessively comfortable, but they were unfamiliar and alien.

As usual, it was his instincts which brought up the truth:

‘It’s not the room.It’s you.’

It was then that Shiva noticed that he was sweating. Despite the cool breeze, he was sweating profusely. The room appeared to be spinning lightly. He felt as if his body was being drawn out of itself. His frostbitten right toe felt as if it was on fire. His battle scarred left knee seemed to be getting stretched. His tired and aching muscles felt as if a great hand was remoulding them. His shoulder bone, dislocated in days past and never completely healed, appeared to be ripping the muscles aside so as to re-engineer the joint. The muscles in turn seemed to be giving way to the bones to do their job.

Breathing was an effort. He opened his mouth to help his lungs along. But not enough air flowed in. Shiva concentrated with all his might, opened his mouth wide and sucked in as much air as he could. The curtains by the side of the window rustled as a kindly wind rushed in. With the sudden gush of air, Shiva’s body relaxed just a bit. And then the battle began again. He focused and willed giant gasps of air into his hungry body.

Knock! Knock!

The light tapping on the door alerted Shiva. He was disoriented for a moment. Still breathing hard! His shoulder was twitching. The familiar pain was missing. He looked down at his knee. It didn’t hurt anymore. The scar had vanished. Still gasping for breath! He looked down at his toe. Whole and complete now. He bent to check it. A cracking sound reverberated through the room as his toe made its first movement in years. Still breathing hard! There was also an unfamiliar tingling coldness in his neck. Very cold.

Knock! Knock! A little more insistent now.

A bewildered Shiva staggered to his feet, pulled the angvastram around his neck for warmth and opened the door.

The darkness veiled his face, but Shiva could still recognise Bhadra. He whispered in a panic stricken voice, ‘Shiva, I’m sorry to disturb you so late. But my mother has suddenly got a very high fever. What should I do?’

Shiva instinctively touched Bhadra’s forehead. ‘You too have a fever Bhadra. Go to your room. I will get the doctor.’

As Shiva raced down the corridor towards the steps he encountered many more doors opening with the now familiar message. ‘Sudden fever! Help!’

Shiva sprinted down the steps to the attached building where the doctors were housed. He knocked hard on the door. Ayurvati opened it immediately, as if she was expecting him. Shiva spoke calmly. ‘Ayurvati, almost my entire tribe has suddenly fallen ill. Please come fast, they need help.’

Ayurvati touched Shiva’s forehead. You don’t have a fever?’

Shiva shook his head. ‘No.’

Ayurvati frowned, clearly surprised. She turned and ordered her nurses, ‘Come on. It’s begun. Let’s go.’

As Ayurvati and her nurses rushed into the building, Chitraangadh appeared out of nowhere. He asked Shiva, ‘What happened?’

‘I don’t know. Practically everybody in my tribe suddenly fell ill.’

‘You too are sweating heavily’

‘Don’t worry. I don’t have a fever. Look, I’m going back into the building. I want to see how my people are doing’

Chitraangadh nodded, adding, ‘I’ll call Nandi.’

As Chitraangadh sped away in search of Nandi, Shiva ran into the building. He was surprised the moment he entered. All the torches in the building had been lit. The nurses were going from room to room, methodically administering medicines and advising the scared patients on what they should do. A scribe walked along with each nurse meticulously noting the details of each patient on a palm-leaf booklet. The Meluhans were clearly prepared for such an eventuality. Ayurvati stood at the end of the corridor, her hands on her hips. Like a general supervising her superbly trained and efficient troops. Shiva rushed up to her and asked, ‘What about the second and third floor?’

Ayurvati answered without turning to him. ‘Nurses have already reached all over the building. I will go up to supervise once the situation on this floor has stabilised. We’ll cover all the patients in the next half hour.’

‘You people are incredibly efficient but I pray that everyone will be okay,’ said a worried Shiva.