The Gall of Gammon

Disclaimer: This story is my humble attempt to write a fanfiction of the epic Mahabharata. My intention is not to hurt anyone's sentiment.

Aum Namah Shivay!!

Major Jayant Roy, SM is a fictitious character. Any similarity with any living person is merely a coincidence.

Chapter 1

Major Jayant Roy, SM POV

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was darkness. Being a commando, I have a keen relationship with night. We are trained to fight in darkness, using the four senses except our eyes. In commando training, we have to make a parachute jump in full battle gear, in darkness.

But this darkness is unnatural, abnormal. It felt like the darkness before the creation of universe.

Where am I? Is it a dream?

Then suddenly, like a flash of lightning, a thought crossed in my mind.

The mission...the bullet penetrated my armour and hit straight to my heart. One terrorist have armour piercing rounds in his revolver, which penetrated my armour. I literally felt that bullet piercing my heart.

So, there are only two possibilities now.

The first one is that somehow I was saved by my team, and now I am soundly sleeping and having this mad dream in the base hospital. But I am not so sure about it anyway.

The second one is that the fatal bullet took my life. Now I am standing in my afterlife.

But, is it really the afterlife?

I am standing in between what seems like an ocean of darkness.

"Well, major, you are in a dream or in a limbo. I don't know what to do now. Now I just have one thing to do."

I crossed my hands and closed my eyes. Then I started chanting the five-word mantra of Mahadev.

"AUM NAMAH SHIVAY"

In my life, I was a devotee of Mahadev. In my neck, there was a chain which has a trident as a locket. Every single day morning, I chanted the 'Shiva Tandav' hymns. I memorised it at the age of twelve, and from that day to this day, I chanted it every single morning.

I don't know how much time had been passed. I just chanted the mantra. My mind was totally focused in it.

Then I heard a voice.

"Open your eyes, Jayant."

The language was English, but the voice was....it was not like any human voice I have ever heard. I don't know how to say it, but the voice was non-human....

Slowly, I opened my eyes. As soon as I opened my eyes, I saw white light. The light was so bright, that I have to cover my eyes with my palms. Then, I felt that the light intensity was becoming lower and lower. I again opened my eyes.

There was something, no, actually someone is standing in front of me.

A structure of human body is standing in front of me. There was a big snake in his neck. His right hand held a trishula (trident). On his head, a big jata (dreadlock) with a silvery half moon attached with it. The body was clad with a tiger's skin, with ashes all over the skin.

His face had a peaceful smile in it. There was a third eye on his forehead, which was closed. In his throat, I saw a deep blue mark there.

I know who was standing in front of me.

But my twenty first century's learned, scientific mind was not ready accepting it yet.

I am just a common man from Kali Yuga. I am not a powerful sage like Dadhichi or Viswamitra. I have not done hard penance like those demons or asuras in Puran. How the Devadidev Shivshankar could come to this small human being? I don't have that amount of punya (good deed) in me.

Then the most absurd thing, the voice I heard was speaking in English!

Then I heard the voice again, this time from the mouth of the person standing in front of me.

"The people of Kali Yuga have this problem. Until I show them some impossible feat, they would not believe that Devta is in front of him. But, you are thinking that you don't have that amount of punya in you. Then you are wrong, Jayant. You are also thinking that why I am speaking in the Yavan's language. Well, I know that you don't know the Deva's language very well. So, I decided to speak in the Yavan's language."

Now, the last barrier in my mind broke down. I crossed my hands and bowed down to the Tripurari.

Mahadev gave his blessings," Yashaswi Bhava!"(Be glorious.)

"Prabhu (God or lord), forgive me for my ignorance. I could not imagine that a normal, common man like me would see you ever. But today my happiness is beyond any limits. Today, my life has found its significance."

Neelkantha (the one with blue throat) smiled again.

"Jayant, do you think that to gather punya, one must do penance? There are many ways to gather punya, penance and worship is just one of them. Don't you know the term 'Karma Yoga'? Doing your duties with devotion would give you a lot of punyas. You did it in your whole life. You gave your life to save your friend. Now, are you still thinking that you don't have any punya?"

I was silent now. Who am I to engage in a debate with the Adi Yogi? Now, probably I have to face Chitragupta maharaja, who would calculate all my good and bad deeds and sent me to heaven or hell. But, I met the Pinakpani (Pinak-the bow of Shiva; pani-hands; means who holds the Pinak), I can even go to hell with peace.

"Not so fast, Jayant." Umapati's (Uma-Goddess Parvati, pati-husband; means husband of Uma) voice broke my trance. I looked at Ashutosh (one who instantly fulfils all wishes) again.

"I came here to grant you your last wish."

Now, I was shocked a little bit.

"I have a last wish? What would be that?"

Then suddenly, something flashed in my mind.

My last word spoken in my mortal life...was the answer of the question asked by the captain.

Flashback:

The fatal bullet pierced my armour and went straight to my heart. I killed that terrorist too, but I felt in my gut, that my time had come now.

"Sir, sir, you will be fine. Medic! MEDIC!!" the Captain was shouting. I somehow gathered my strength.

"Captain, I must give you the answer now. I don't have much time. I want to live as....as...Duryodhana."

Then everything went black.

End of the flashback.

I started rubbing my forehead, a gesture from my mortal life. Then I heard the voice of Jagadisha (the master of universe).

"You will wake up as thirteen year old Duryodhana. One week before the arrival of Pandava's in Hastinapur."

I again crossed my hands. Tears were flowing from my eyes.

"But prabhu, if I managed to ....." Kailasnath (the lord of Kailas mountain) gestured me to stop.

"Don't worry. I am sending you in a parallel universe. If you managed to change anything, there would be no effect in the original epic. But remember, you cannot spill any secret in front of anybody. If you try, you find yourself tongue tied. You will also have traits of both you and Duryodhana. So make your way wisely."

I bowed my head again. Then I again heard Mahadev's voice.

"Now tell me, which vardaan (boon) you want from me?"

In a second, I made up my mind.

"Prabhu, I want that diamond like hard body, just like Duryodhana. I want my full body like that. No weapon, normal or celestial, would pierce my body."

"But, Duryodhana had a weakness. When you are living as Duryodhana, you should embrace his strength and weakness too." Mahadev said.

I looked at him. This type of words does not match with Bholenath. No, this type of scheming matched only with that one and only trickster in the epic, whom I both respect and despise at the same time.

Mahadev was smiling. That peaceful smile calmed my head a little bit.

"Ok then, I want that my full body will be diamond hard from sunrise to sunset, and after that, only my thighs would be normal, just like Duryodhana."

Mahadev raises his right hand, after transferring the trident in his left hand.

"Tathastu! Do you want anything else?"

Before I could speak, I was interrupted again.

"No Jayant, I cannot give a weapon to you in this way. If you want the knowledge of celestial weapon, you must obtain it from a teacher, or by doing very hard penance. This is the rule of universe. If you want a normal weapon, you must make it yourself or find someone who can make it for you. But don't worry; I will give you something else."

In a moment, I felt a sensation in my neck. Then I saw my trident necklace floating out from my neck. The necklace was suspending in front of me. Suddenly a golden light totally engulfed it and in a moment, the necklace transferred into a motorcycle.

"It can pass through both land and water. It has the power of seventy four thousand and six hundred horses. It will take the necessary energy from the nature itself. When you want to use it, just take the locket in your palm and think about it."

The motorcycle again changed into the necklace, but this time, the necklace and trident changed from silver to gold. Then the necklace floated into my neck again.

"Now, go and start the journey of your second life. But remember, evil has many faces. Find them and fight them.Sometimes, you can see them by looking in the mirror. Your weapon is knowledge and conscience. The most important thing is that the path of Dharma (righteousness) is not a one way. It has many other ways; just you have to find it. But time and fate is most powerful, don't you ever forget that."

After saying those words, Mahadev vanished. I was a little bit shocked after seeing this, when suddenly, I was falling into a bottomless pit of darkness. In a second, the darkness totally engulfed me.

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