The Lost Fragrance Read online

  Having given what he considered were extremely clear directions, Crow returned to his sandwich. ‘Great stuff, this is,’ he said, ‘ham, lettuce and mayonnaise. Wonderful!’ He munched away in silent satisfaction.

  Balloon had kept quiet all this time because she was enjoying sailing in the sky. It was what she had always wanted to do and the experience was invigorating. She found that she could manage to navigate herself quite well. She did a little tilt and went eastwards. Then, she saw a mountain to the north and turned towards it. Once in a while, she would float into a cluster of clouds. It was all so amusing.

  She heard Crow tell Little Girl about some mysterious place and wondered if it was far. ‘Look for a neither-here-northere sort of place that is difficult to find,’ Crow had said.

  I wonder, thought Balloon, how I should know what to look for, if it’s neither here nor there. And worse, if it’s all a closely guarded secret!

  ‘Crow,’ said Balloon, ‘do give me a clue.’

  Crow was ever so startled. He almost fell off Little Girl’s shoulder, where he was comfortably perched. He had never heard a balloon talk before.

  ‘A talking balloon,’ he said. ‘Well! Well! What’s next, I wonder. Are you sure, Little Girl, that this balloon is not from that secret place? I mean, whoever heard of a balloon that talks?’

  Balloon smiled and said, ‘Don’t be silly, Crow. Whoever heard of a talking crow? Now, do tell me what I am supposed to look for.’

  Crow sighed, ‘Never too late to see the world,’ he muttered. ‘No one will ever believe me back home when I tell them that I flew around on a little girl’s shoulder in a talking balloon.’ He kept silent for a while and then said, ‘Look for blue grass.’

  ‘Blue grass!’ both Little Girl and Balloon exclaimed. ‘But how on earth can grass be blue?’

  ‘Precisely,’ said Crow triumphantly, as if he had clinched an argument, ‘that is why, my dears, it is called the Land of the Blue Jasmine. The jasmine flowers, the grass, the leaves—they are all blue. And that’s not the only thing mysterious about the place.’

  ‘I remember,’ said Little Girl clapping her hands, ‘my father told me that in this place, funny things happen.’

  ‘That’s right, dear girl!’ said Crow, agreeing wholeheartedly, though he too had never been to the place before.

  Balloon decided not to say anything. As she floated through the blue cloud-filled sky, she wondered what she was supposed to actually look for. She had hoped for some sensible clues from Crow to help her find her way. But blue grass where funny things happen was indeed most unhelpful. ‘Could such a place really exist,’ she wondered. ‘But what if it did? It could be such fun. Little Girl had said that there would be danger.’ Balloon shuddered, but it was all part of the excitement.

  Twelve

  Lost in thought, the three of them never saw the approaching storm. The skies had darkened and before long, the silence was shattered by the sound of thunder. Strong winds hissed like a legion of serpents as they tossed Balloon around like a little toy.

  ‘Hang on tight,’ shouted Balloon as she tried desperately not to lose control. ‘I’ll see what I can do.’ She then used all her strength to prevent being turned upside down. Little Girl could have fallen off and the thought of what might happen then was too terrible to even think of.

  Crow shivered and hid inside Little Girl’s shirt. Huge drops of rain fell, thoroughly soaking them. They were surrounded by darkness. Lightning zigzagged, leaving behind smoke and searing heat and then came the deafening sound of thunder. It was all too close for comfort. They knew then that they were in the heart of the storm clouds.

  ‘Hurry up, Balloon!’ Little Girl shouted over the howling wind. ‘Go sharply to your left. I see a clearing.’

  Balloon pushed hard, knowing fully well that their lives depended on it. She felt a surge of strength fill her as she held her breath and pushed to the left. For a second, it seemed like she was not moving and then, all of a sudden, she floated out of the cloud and bang into a cluster of even darker clouds. Balloon was tossed and churned and thrown about like a feather, but she gritted her teeth, as she put every ounce of the courage she had in her, and pushed into the bright rays of the sun that she could glimpse from the corner of her eyes. And as she did so, she floated out of the storm clouds and into the bright, hot sun. Soon, they were all completely dry.

  It was a lovely clear sky, all blue, with bits of white cloud. The dark patch was left behind. The land below was pretty and they could see the river flowing gently.

  ‘Never liked storms,’ said Crow. ‘Too noisy. Too dark. Too wet.’ He blew his nose. ‘Must be getting a cold,’ he said in a voice that was most upset.

  ‘Look,’ said Little Girl, excitedly pointing below. ‘The grass! It’s blue!’

  And, so indeed it was. The strangest sight they had ever seen. In hushed silence, they circled around for a while, mesmerised by the blue colour. On every side, dark and hostile mountains that reached almost to the sky stood as silent sentinels, cutting the place off from the rest of the world and hiding its secrets. No wonder, people never knew of its precise location.

  The mountains looked so sinister and angry that they would have been a deterrent to the most intrepid explorer. Little Girl had heard that the villagers had spoken of enormous and ugly creatures that filled the mountainsides, ready to pounce on those who dared to cross this land. The old man had told her that it was a place swathed in shadows and in evil. But, from the sky, Little Girl could see that these were only vicious-looking rocks that were jagged and hidden by shadows that gave them their sinister appearance.

  The mountains were only one part of the deterrent. Indeed, if it wasn’t for the storm that had cleared the sky, Little Girl realised that they would never have seen the place, for it would have been hidden in a shroud of thick white clouds that swirled from somewhere like a legion of angry, hissing serpents. The eerie sight of the jagged rocks would have petrified any explorer, as the entire land lay half hidden in the misty clouds, surrounded by howling winds.

  There was yet another protection.

  During the daytime, as the sun moved behind the mountains, first on the east face and then, as it disappeared along the west face, the rugged contours of the enormous mountains would cast hideous claw-like shadows that would slowly creep with serpentine ease and envelop the land below. The entire land would then lie covered in darkness, hidden from the gaze of the outside world, daring anyone to pry open its secrets.

  Greyish-white clouds had quickly started forming near the mountainside, swirling and swirling and catching flakes of more clouds. Little Girl pulled the white string to let the air out slowly, so that Balloon could descend and land on the blue field.

  ‘We need to hurry before the clouds come, but please be careful,’ she told Balloon, ‘and try not to touch the rocks on the mountainside or you may burst, and then we won’t know what to do. It’s important to find a proper landing strip since this is the first time you’ll be doing this sort of a thing.’

  Balloon nodded at what Little Girl had said and slowly guided herself, turning left and then right, avoiding the jagged mountain edge, as she decided on a flat, blue meadow that looked soft as a cushion.

  ‘You are doing very well, Balloon,’ Little Girl said encouragingly, ‘but keep a watch on the mountain shadows, for they are lengthening.’

  Balloon closed her eyes shut so she wouldn’t see what was going on. It did seem to be the most sensible thing to do under the circumstances. And then, with a gentle bump, bump, bump, she found that she had, in fact, made the most perfect landing!

  Crow and Little Girl also had their eyes closed and Little Girl could have sworn that she heard Crow hum a bird prayer of sorts. ‘Must ask him to recite it to me sometime,’ Balloon said to herself as she came to a rest.

  They heaved an immense sigh of relief and applauded for Balloon, for she had truly flown like a skilled and experienced pilot. Balloon smiled weakly. Seeing her pictu
re-perfect landing, no one would have ever believed that this was, in fact, her first flight!

  The sight of the blue grass and all this flying around had made Balloon awfully tired. The episode with the storm had unnerved her. Yet, she did not want to miss out on the fun and the danger. She wondered what sort of adventures lay ahead in this very strange and extremely blue place.

  Little Girl seemed to sense what Balloon was thinking. ‘Tell you what,’ she told Balloon, ‘I’ll fold you up and carry you in my bag. That way, you’ll be a part of everything. Who knows, if this place is indeed fraught with danger, we may need to make a hasty retreat! Of course, a bit of you ought to stick out, so that you can see what is happening!’

  Balloon nodded gratefully in agreement. And so, Little Girl let out all the air and neatly folded Balloon up. She then put her in the bag beside the sandwiches, the water bottle and the bicycle pump and gently adjusted Balloon’s head so that she could comfortably sit in the bag’s pocket and survey the scene. Little Girl then fixed the bag to the folding chair and it fitted snugly like a rucksack.

  ‘Come,’ said Little Girl, ‘let us discover the place.’ She dipped into her bag and took out a flute. ‘This is our weapon,’ she said.

  Little Girl then sniffed the air once before she took her first step. ‘Be cautious,’ she remembered her father had once said, ‘and beware of the stench. If you can smell the awful smell, stay calm. If you smell it, it is because you are untarnished. Learn to recognise it, for it is the signature of evil! He is not far behind!’

  Little Girl thought about what her father had taught her. She closed her eyes and said, ‘The journey has begun. The battle is about to begin.’

  She walked with a spring in her feet.

  Balloon could have sworn that her voice sounded different.

  Alert and mature.

  As if she was expecting something.

  Or someone.

  And that, she was not in the least bit scared.

  ‘Something bothering you?’ asked Crow.

  ‘Beware,’ said Little Girl, ‘of The Serpent!’

  Thirteen

  Crow was lost in thought with a blade of blue grass in his beak. ‘Strange, very strange,’ he whispered, ‘Tastes just like grass. And very good grass too. But what a silly colour!’

  ‘We’ve just got used to grass being green, that’s all,’ said Little Girl trying to be helpful.

  ‘Ah! Finally, help.’ A strange voice sighed with great relief from somewhere behind them.

  Startled, Crow and Little Girl turned around and saw a thin, tall man with a white goatee. ‘Hello,’ he said, extending his hand out gratefully to them, ‘Hello, hello, I’m Lost.’

  Little Girl nodded warmly in his direction. ‘So pleased to meet you, sir,’ she said in her polite best. ‘We are totally new to this place, and you could say, in a way, that we too are lost.’

  ‘You’re Lost too?’ said the thin man. ‘Strange. Now, we’ll never know who’s being spoken to.’ He sniffed in despair.

  ‘Do you mean to say that you are called Lost?’ Little Girl asked somewhat incredulously. ‘That is a rather odd sort of name to give someone.’

  ‘Yes, yes,’ the thin man said somewhat sadly, ‘and sometimes I am Found. But usually, I am Lost. You see, when I am Found, I can’t possibly be Lost, and I am Lost when I am not Found. It’s quite simple really, but sometimes it can get quite confusing because I rarely know that I am Lost, till, of course, I am Found and then, I am no longer Lost. Right now, it would appear, I must be Lost, since I cannot seem to remember the way back to the village.’

  ‘Amazing!’ said Crow wryly.

  ‘Good heavens,’ said Lost, very startled, for he had never heard a crow talk before. ‘What’s that?’ he asked, pointing at Crow.

  ‘A crow,’ said Crow, flapping his wings.

  ‘Hmm, so indeed it is,’ Lost said, stroking his beard as if in great thought. ‘A talking crow. My! My! I wonder if it is at all possible…?’ he muttered somewhat mysteriously to himself. Then, he shrugged his shoulders and said, ‘Even if it is not, you still would be quite a sensation in the village.’

  Meanwhile, feeling left out, Balloon tried to struggle out of the bag but kept getting stuck because of the bicycle pump, the water bottle and the sandwiches. ‘Oof,’ she said with exhaustion and frustration.

  The bag had been taking such funny shapes with Balloon doing all that moving about and stretching, that Lost was at first somewhat taken aback and a wee bit inquisitive.

  ‘And what do we have here?’ he asked as he frowned and stroked his beard. ‘Mind if I take a look?’

  Little Girl excitedly opened her bag. She took Balloon out and introduced her. ‘This is Balloon,’ she said. ‘She’s the greatest, biggest and most fantastically beautiful balloon in the whole wide world. She’s the one who brought us all here. We flew miles and miles.’ You could sense the joy and the pride as she spoke of Balloon.

  Balloon gave a big smile because she loved receiving compliments. ‘My name, sir, is Balloon,’ she said solemnly, ‘and I am so pleased to meet you.’ She would have curtsied if Little Girl weren’t holding her so tightly.

  ‘A talking balloon?’ Lost was genuinely astonished. ‘My word!’ he said and then, somewhat diffidently, since he had never spoken to a balloon before, he thought it best to enquire about Balloon’s health.

  ‘Oh I am alright, I guess,’ replied Balloon with an exhausted sigh, ‘just a little tired with all this flying around.’

  Quite understandably, Lost was rather confused by now and in a sense, somewhat lost. A talking crow? Worse, a tired balloon! He wondered if he was dreaming.

  ‘Where have you all come from?’ he asked Little Girl.

  ‘You see, sir,’ said Little Girl, ‘we have come from a distant land and have been flying since the early hours of the morning. We wanted very much to visit this place but happened to reach here only by accident, thanks to a terrible storm. All of us, as you can very well imagine, are terribly exhausted and what we now need is to get to the village and have a good night’s rest.’

  ‘Naturally, a good dinner before that,’ added Crow. ‘It’s the tum-tum type of thingie,’ he said, rubbing his tummy matter-of-factly. Crow thought everyone understood crow language but then Crow was that sort of crow.

  ‘It is so terribly sad that I am Lost,’ the thin man sighed unhappily. ‘If only,’ he sniffed and said, ‘one of us were Found, we could all have been found. Now, it might even be years that we wo…wo…would re…re…remain lost!’ He stammered as he wailed uncontrollably and was genuinely disturbed at the very prospect of not being Found again.

  This sort of conversation is leading us nowhere, thought Little Girl. She looked around and saw a tall tree that seemed to tower above the others. This should do it, Little Girl thought to herself, if Crow flies up to the tallest branch and looks for where community life might be, they would know the location of the village and head straight towards it.

  It was almost as if Crow seemed to sense her thoughts for he nodded in her direction and flew up to the tallest branch. Craning his neck, he looked around. Then he pointed excitedly and said, ‘I see a cluster of homes not far from here.’

  The news brought such relief that even Balloon sighed in contentment! Lost’s face lit up. ‘Oh, thank you so much!’ he cried ecstatically, ‘That is our village. Come, let us go, for my brothers must be anxious. I can only imagine how surprised and happy they would be to see you, especially when they know that you fell from the sky.’ He paused as he spoke and said, ‘Our legends talk of one such visitor who would need to make a difficult choice. Could it be you, we will ask ourselves, for whom we have waited!’

  So saying, he started walking in the direction Crow had pointed towards.

  Crow was also pleased, first because he had proved to be useful in locating where the village was and second, because a village meant people and people meant homes and homes meant food and well, food meant good news for his stom
ach.

  He flew down from the tree and perched himself on Lost’s shoulder.

  But, a very strange thing happened. Crow simply sank like a stone, as if he had sat on air! The shoulder just did not seem to be there!

  Crow was ever so startled. He quickly flapped his wings to regain his balance and to prevent himself from falling. He looked at Lost suspiciously. It was extremely odd, for he could see Lost clearly and yet when he had tried to sit on his shoulder, he could have sworn that he could neither feel nor touch him. It was as if the thin man did not actually exist and that his form was nothing but an illusion. Lost didn’t seem to have noticed a thing!

  ‘This is quite strange and most upsetting,’ Crow muttered to himself. ‘I can’t understand it,’ he said as he sat on Little Girl’s shoulders, casting furtive glances at Lost. Is he real, Crow wondered, or was he just imagining things.

  Little Girl and Balloon were blissfully unaware of the incident, for they were walking quickly and purposefully in the direction of the village, and were much ahead of Lost.

  Fourteen

  The grass was soft and it felt as though they were walking on the finest carpet. The leaves were wondrous shades of blue, some light and some dark.

  They passed by a meadow of brilliant blue flowers with yellow stems. These were the blue jasmines. Incredible colours, soft to the touch, but they were devoid of their heady fragrance. There were no other varieties of flowers around but the blue jasmine, and understandably so, because this was the unseen and secret Land of the Blue Jasmine.

  In the village where the little girl lived, there used to be a few bushes, which looked fairly ordinary, till one day, they just sprang to life. They burst into colour, a wondrous blue colour, and gave out the most divine and alluring scent. There was something very magical about the scent—it made you happy! It was as if all of life’s troubles had just faded away.