Chapter One Introduction

In his south-facing residence, at an elevation of over 5000 feet in the Eastern Himalayas, Naru was sitting at the reading table with his morning cup of tea. The sky that was visible over the vast valley through the wall-to-wall glass windows assumed an azure blue colour. There were not many tall trees in that valley. During the pre- and post-monsoon months of the year, that valley used to be flooded with golden sunlight in the morning. In his visual frame, a few small clumps of cloud were floating from east to west. Those pieces of cloud were yet to shed the last hue of pink generated by the morning sunlight falling on them. That pristine form of nature was the aftereffect of last night’s inclement weather.

Naru had yet to fully comprehend last evening’s experience. He remembered that ‘Wisp’ somehow managed to take him on a time-trip and show him some events that took place in the Bengal Basin in the past, probably in the very distant past. During that trip, he saw a geographical setting in the middle of that region, which is at present known as the Bengal Basin. That geographical setting in that area was something unthinkable for him. What he saw at that place reminded him of the description of the legendary land of Atlantis as described by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. The recapitulation of that experience, i.e., what he saw as happening in that place, could successfully send a chilling sensation through any mortal’s spine. At the same time, he became extremely excited at the thought that the experience had the ability to take his cerebral journey much deeper into the past than anything that he could have imagined in the wildest of his dreams. He could hardly take a rest last night.

Though he became physically exhausted, Naru’s mind was in an elated state. His mission was successful. Like all the previous travellers to the past of the Bengal Basin, his cerebral journey also became stuck somewhere around 5000 years before the present, and that had made him clueless. Something from the other side of that period sent enough signals through the prehistoric literature to indicate that there must have existed some great human society on that side of the timeline in the geography that is known as the Bengal Basin at present. Many scholars have expressed enough indication of their beliefs in favour of this understanding, but no one has yet gathered enough clues and, thus, the courage to say a word publicly on that issue.

In his effort to break that barrier present around 5000 years BP, Naru tried to shift the role of the ‘Wisp’ from that of a guide to that of an instrument for uncovering the mystery associated with the Bengal Basin. Until that time, ‘Wisp’ had played the role of a guide. That initiative yielded better results than Naru could have imagined.

Through that initiative, he managed to gather inputs that were much more than his capacity to chew in the immediate term. Above all, he received a hint of a line of approach through which he realised that the barrier to reaching the other side of the history of the Bengal Basin could be breached. That path could take a traveller in history beyond the limit of 5000 years set by the present understanding of the geology and geography of the Bengal Basin.

It would take a long time for him to analyse all the new inputs and put them into perspective. To utilise some of the clues, he would need to initiate a new journey on a different course. With his treasure trove of new inputs, he returned to his study.

Long ago in life, he initiated a cerebral journey to find a logically acceptable explanation of the word ‘Bangal’. That journey took him to the words ‘Banga’ and ‘Bangla’. As the word ‘Banga’ finds mention in the prehistoric literature of India, it becomes difficult to relate the understanding of geology and geography with the concept of ‘Banga’. Those works of literature are perceived to have been created more than 5000 years ago. No known historical phases could have been associated with the creation of those works of literature.

The geography that is known as ‘Banga’ should not have existed as an inhabitable land for humans at the time when prehistoric literature like the Rig-Veda was first told. Similar to ‘Banga’, many other references are there in the prehistoric literature that could not be established historically or could not be related to modern understanding of the physical world.

That unsurpassable gap was the greatest challenge to bridge that Naru faced while dealing with the past of the Bengal Basin, like many other travellers in history. When the ‘Wisp’ broke that barrier or bridged that gap, a new, wide horizon became open to him.

Sitting in front of his empty study table, looking out at the wide valley in front, Naru started thinking about the probable new course of his cerebral journey. Suddenly, the English phrase ‘Tabula Rasa’ appeared in his mind. Probably that happened under the influence of his empty study table. In his mind, that phrase was inseparably connected with the image of the ‘Wisp’. His mind raced back in time. It is said that going back in time, i.e., within the time span of one's own lifetime and within the limits of the officially accepted historical accounts, is not considered unscientific. If someone’s mind goes beyond those limits, then it becomes unscientific and probably becomes an act of hallucinating. Naru’s mind raced back about one and a half decades in time. Having been a part of the recapitulation of events in his own life, that journey certainly could be considered a scientific act.

On a leisurely morning in the Himalayas, within the first few days of their becoming known to each other, sitting very close, ‘Wisp’ was murmuring something to Naru’s auditory organ. Naru was immersed in the warm feeling that he was receiving from that closeness. It took time for him to understand that those murmurings were actually part of a string of meaningful words. He could barely make any sense out of those sounds that were reaching his ears. When asked about the meaning of those utterances, the shades of colour that the ‘Wisp’ was assuming started changing in very quick succession. An almost muted and moist utterance reached Naru: 'tabula rasa'. Naru was unaware of the term, which sounded to him like a Latin phrase. Realising that handicap, ‘Wisp’ threw a victorious smile and explained the meaning of that phrase to Naru. He learnt that the phrase ‘tabula rasa’ denoted a wiped, clean slate. The experiences that he gained in the past few days prior to that day in dealing with the ‘Wisp', stretched Naru's limits for becoming startled very wide. He tried his best to hide the astonishment that those two words created in his mind. That term seemed to him to be part of a plan that the ‘wisp’ was contemplating. The faint idea of a probable plan that he could generate in his mind sent a chilling sensation down his spine.

Feeling that he was in no position to match those probable wild imaginations, even by word of mouth, Naru became speechless. ‘Wisp’ also knew Naru’s handicap very well, and Naru believed that it was the very reason behind the selection of those words. During that phase of their interactions, making Naru afraid at every possible opportunity had become a hobby for the ‘Wisp’.

“What prompted you to bring that term into the present scenario?” Naru asked.

“I wish I had the opportunity to write a new story on a clean slate.” ‘Wisp’ replied.

Naru became astonished by the thought that wherefrom that desire could have appeared in Wisp’s mind. At that time, Naru could not realise that one day in the future, ‘Wisp’ would teleport him to give him exposure to the extreme interplay of the elementary forces of nature, which created a ‘tabula rasa’ in the Bengal Basin.

After the passage of more than one and a half decades since that day, for Naru, his cerebral journey had somehow become synonymous with opening a conversation with the ‘Wisp’. In the parlance of economics, that became a ‘necessary condition’.

Naru’s mobile phone rang. On the opposite end, it was ‘Wisp’. “It is a beautiful morning. Let us go for a long walk.” ‘Wisp’ said. “Ok, come to my residence; I think we should go in this direction today. This path has very attractive tree cover and captivating views of distant, snow-covered mountain ranges. Today, chances are high that those points will offer spectacular views." Naru replied.  

‘Wisp’ did not take much time to reach Naru’s residence. Before long, they left the sparse human settlements typical of a remote Himalayan hamlet behind and found themselves in the middle of lush greenery. Many of the scars of yesterday’s storm were certainly visible there, but the freshness emanating from the vegetation that was present all around the winding tracks was very attractive. 

Suddenly, ‘Wisp’ stopped at a bend in the road and sat on the solitary big boulder that was present there on the valley side. The structure of the rock gave the impression that it was an outcrop. In that stretch, the road was constructed by cutting the almost vertical, solid rock formation of the mountain body. That single piece of rock beside the path was left untouched by the construction workers on that sharp bend. Most likely, that had been done purposefully for the safety of the commuters.

From the surrounding environment, it was visibly clear that that section of the road was relatively newly constructed. The relative cleanliness of the continuous jagged outcrops of big pieces of rock visible high above on the sidewall created by the mountain body vouched for that. For a considerable stretch of that road, the signs of blasting of solid rocks on the mountain body were there to a height of around 100 feet. That technology did not reach that part of the world very long ago. Also, after undertaking all those efforts, the road was hardly more than 10 feet wide at places. In earlier times, the people at the other end of the road probably used some alternative, narrower by-pass route. Another very attractive feature of that place was that the mountain body took a straight-line plunge of more than half a kilometre to meet the valley below.

That place had special significance for Naru. When the physical ‘Wisp’ bade adieu to him after appearing on his horizon for a very short period, his life became disarrayed. During that phase of his life, very often he used to go on solo walking for long distances to all the nearby hills. On one such day, at that turning of the road, i.e., where ‘Wisp’ sat on the big boulder, he saw a faint shadowy trail around 20 feet ahead of him. That incident happened while he was coming back from walking from a village that was situated at a distance of about 10 kilometres from his residence. That shadow looked like that of a bird and did not seem big at all to him. The speed at which that bird crossed Naru’s vision was astonishing. Naru was walking with his vision fixed on the road ahead, which had a little upward slope. His visual frame was at least 100 feet wide where that shadow passed by. His visual frame was at least 100 feet wide where that shadow passed him. Even before realising that it was a bird and not any kind of inanimate projectile, the bird disappeared below the road towards the valley. The whole incident happened in a small fraction of a second. Naru became astonished, not only by the speed of that moving body but also by the sound created by that movement.

In an instant, a tale from the Ramayan appeared in his mind. Tirelessly, his grandmother narrated the tales from the Ramayan and Mahabharat to him according to her capability. It was a time, when he hardly learnt to write. Later, he realised that grandma had narrated almost all the major tales of those epics to him. She narrated everything from her memory. In one place in the Ramayan, it has been said that it sounded like a roaring storm when ‘Jatayu’, the deity-like bird, appeared at the place where Rakshas King ‘Raban’ was attempting to kidnap queen Sita.

‘Jatayu’ has been described as very big in size, so big that it could offer a befitting fight to the rakhshash king ‘Raban’ to resist Sita's kidnapping. Raban defeated everyone in the three realms, including the deities. It has been said that ‘Jatayu’ was closely related to the king of all birds, the divine ‘Pakhshiraj’ or ‘Garud’. Conceptually, Pegasus of Greek mythology is similar to ‘Pakhshiraj’ of prehistoric Indian literature.

The sound that Naru experienced at that spot of the winding mountain track in Sikkim was not exactly like a storm but very similar to the sound of a new, idling V12 engine. That has become one of the unique experiences that he brought back from the Himalayas when he returned home for good. Another two such unique experiences involved only sound without any visuals. Those types of experiences are not available anywhere in audiovisual recordings. There were many other mesmerising experiences Naru had in the Himalayas, but similar audio and/or visual recordings for all those experiences are available in the world of media. Mountains play with sound very well.

Naru’s thought process was interrupted when, breaking a long-maintained silence, 'Wisp', still sitting on that rock, suddenly said, "What prompted you to invoke the concept of Atlantis in the past account of the Bengal Basin?"

Naru started his effort to narrate it as simply as he could.

Plato, dialogue and Atlantis

"When you allowed me into your aura for the first time and showed me a virtual reality show, my mouth uttered the word ‘Atlantis’ involuntarily. There were reasons for that. I would like to place my understanding of Atlantis before you so that I can justify my reaction. It all started in Greece around 2500 years before the present.

One of the greatest philosophers of the modern world, Plato, lived in Athens, Greece. Plato was born in Athens, in the second half of the 5th century BCE, i.e., sometime between 450 and 400 BCE. He was born into an aristocratic family and lived mainly in Athens. He claimed to have traced his ancestry to the legendary King Codrus of Athens. That lineage was said to have been linked to Poseidon. According to Greek mythology, Poseidon was the god of the seas. Between Poseidon and the human beings, there were many godly beings: the Titans, the demigods, giants, etc.

Plato is best known for his work titled ‘Republic’. That work elaborated on the idea of an ideal state. Among many other disciplines, philosophy is the one with which people most associate Plato. It can be said with a certain degree of confidence that no one else has influenced the modern-day human social system like Plato.

Apart from many areas of knowledge that are in practice at present, he wrote extensively about something that, in the present day, is considered metaphysical. In that domain, i.e., the metaphysical domain, he wrote about the gods, titans, etc. He wrote a vivid account about

Impressum

Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

Texte: Dibyendu Chakraborty
Cover: Dibyendu Chakraborty
Lektorat: Dibyendu Chakraborty
Korrektorat: Dibyendu Chakraborty
Satz: Dibyendu Chakraborty
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 02.11.2023
ISBN: 978-3-7554-5955-2

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Widmung:
Late Dinesh Chandra Chakraborty, my Grandfather