A Walk Through Time- Cosmisstries #3
From the time I learned about the Indus Valley Civilization in grade 6, I was captivated by their uniqueness and way of life! Hence I did a lot of research and learned so much more about the civilization, outside my textbook. A short summary of the IVC: This ) was a Bronze Age civilization in the northwestern regions of South Asia. One of the greatest civilizations in the world, they were well developed and were pioneers to some of the things we use today. We know somethings about it, but not a lot as, their language still hasn't been deciphered.
Impressed by this part of history, I decided to write a story, about a modern girl who accidentally, travels back into time to the IVC!!
I wrote this story two years ago for a competition called Katha Utsav. I made it to the Nationals which was held in Delhi (Thanks to this story🙃). It fits perfectly into the theme of Cosmisstries, so here it is...
A Walk Through Time
It was a sunny day. Tara walked hazily on the roads of a newly excavated site at Mohenjo-Daro. She looked sinister and irritated since this was not her plan for a frolic summer! She was only there because of her parents who were archaeologists and were on a project to complete excavating cities of the Indus Valley Civilization.
Her parents had promised her that it was going to help her in history and develop an interest in archeology, but she intended on going to her cousin’s place instead. She was so bored of broken buildings and half dug up antiques that she either sat in the tent reading Nancy Drew or just wandering here and there. Two weeks at Mohenjo-Daro felt like an eternity for Tara.
Tara was walking through the streets without thinking about where she was going. After some time, Tara realized that she had come far away from her parents. Tara was in a deserted place where there weren’t any footprints or any sign of people. She was lost. Tara started panicking. Since there wasn’t any network, she couldn’t use her mobile and her walkie-talkie had run out of batteries.
Tara screamed for help but there wasn’t anyone to rescue her. She started sobbing and sat on a big rock. After sometime Tara wiped her tears and decided that she was going to be brave and find her way back. Then when she was about to walk, Tara saw a beam of light at a distance. She was curious and ran towards the light. The more she went near it, the light was swallowing her in and she started to get scared. Tara wanted to run, but it was too late, the light sucked her in!!!
Tara fell down with a thud. She got up, dusted her clothes, and looked up to see where she was. The place was weird. People wore long flowing robes with strange jewelry. The roads were wide and the place was spotless.
She stared in amazement when a group of people surrounded her. They looked curiously at her red Henley shirt and her torn jeans. They were all muttering in weird language when they all finally went away except for one girl. She was very lean and had beige skin. She wore so many heavy jewels that you could hardly see her neck. She was draped in a silk shawl with unusual designs on it. She was a bit shorter than Tara and was looking all surprised at her.
Then she spoke to Tara in a strange language which sounded like bees buzzing… Tara didn’t understand a thing, so she pointed at herself and turned her palm to ask where she was? The girl looked clueless. After some thought, she pointed at the sculpture which was on a pillar. It looked like a male figure with a horned crown. He was sitting on a bull. Tara recalled the sculpture. She had seen it at the excavated site. It was the figurine of God Pashupati who was an ancient form of Shiva worshipped by the people of the Indus Valley Civilization! Tara was shocked. Was she actually there at the time of the Indus Valley Civilization!!
Tara was hesitant to accept the fact that she had come back in time. She shivered!!! Tara wanted to double-check so she started observing the people around her. Men wore long robes with a lot of jewelry and had long hair. Women wore skirts and draped themselves in shawls and thick ornaments. They all painted their lips and wore Kajal. Tara recalled studying this from her history class. Now Tara was completely sure she was in the Indus Valley Civilization somewhere between 3300-1300 B.C.E and she has indeed become part of the history!
It was a strange feeling that her friends would be reading about her in their history class! Tara was stunned. For a minute she lost her breath. She was trying to collect herself when suddenly the strange girl lifted Tara’s arm and started pulling her.
She hesitated; she was scared. How on Earth was she magically transported to the past? The girl kept pulling her hand. The girl looked so innocent and tender that Tara gave in and started walking with her. They kept on walking and walking for a long time. People just stared at Tara and the girl as they walked away. Tara really wanted to ask where they were going but since she couldn’t communicate with her, she just kept quiet.
After an hour or so, they reached a humongous structure. There were many people inside the place and several rooms were present near it. The girl pulled Tara towards the structure. The place was so huge. She heard splashing sounds and sounds of people laughing. Tara immediately knew where she was… It was the Great Bath one of the most prominent structures of the Indus Valley City!
She had only seen it half excavated and broken but she was amazed to see how it really was. The Bath was made of baked bricks and gravel.
There were changing rooms on the side and a drain inside the pool where all the dirty water went out to the drainage. Now Tara knew where the idea for a swimming pool had come from!
Now they kept on going and going until they reached another part of the city, the residential area. There were many two-storied houses and they were all looking the same! All the houses had a big courtyard with a water well. Tara was amazed by how the houses were kept neatly. Then they stopped at a house. It looked just like the others except it had a different pattern of an animal at the front of the house.
The girl pushed Tara into the house. In the courtyard, two young boys were playing hiding behind trees and shrubs. When Tara came in, they all looked strangely at her muttering in the strange language. The girl then shouted out loud. A tall and thin lady came running towards them. The girl instructed something to her. The lady smiled at Tara and pulled her into a room. She gave her a silk shawl, some thread and showed Tara, how to wear it by putting it on herself. The lady just shoved the shawl and thread in Tara’s hand and left the room. Tara was confused but still decided to wear it as her clothes were wet.
After sometime Tara came out of the room, nicely draped in the silk shawl which had tassels and beads on it. The girl smiled at Tara and pulled her towards a big living room. A woman who looked like the mother of the girl came out of a room. She had the same smile as the girl and was very lean too… Instantly Tara thought of her mother! Everyone who saw Tara told her that she is an exact replica of her mother…
The lady was carrying three pots in her hand. Another woman came out of the room holding two bronze plates. The women indicated Tara to sit down on the floor with the girl. The women gave Tara and the girl each a plate. They opened the pots. In the first one, there were some aromatic dates which had been cooked. In the next one, there was again some cooked beans and in the last one, there was some cooked meat. The women served them on the plate. The girl took some of the food and put it in the mouth to show that it was to be eaten. Tara took some of the food and put it in her mouth, it was the most delicious food in the world. She was also very hungry so she just started gobbling the food. After some time, they were done eating.
The girl took Tara to the courtyard again. They kept the plates near a drain. The girl started drawing water from the well in a copper bucket and poured it on the plates. Tara was surprised to see the usage of a pulley at Mohenjo-Daro! One of the women picked up the plates and started wiping them with an old piece of cloth. Another woman poured water into the girl’s cupped hands. Tara saw her and cupped her hands too. The woman poured water into her hand. The water was cold. Tara sipped the water. It was like having iced tea. The water was tasty, so fresh and pure! She wiped her mouth with her hand. The girl then muttered something back at the women and started pulling Tara again.
The girl came out of the house and stormed off with Tara. They walked through wide roads with a lot of foliage. The lush green trees and plants ignored the extreme heat from the sun and shielded the two girls from getting a bad tan. Tara lived in a city so she had never experienced such shade and coolness other than from the Air Conditioner! They were both walking for a lot of time before reaching a bustling market filled with vendors selling their things.
A lot of people were scurrying around looking for groceries and accessories. Tara was stunned to see how spontaneously the market looked. The girl pulled Tara into it. Now as Tara looked like a local citizen with traditional clothes, no one stared at her.
The girl took Tara to a huge stall in the center of the busy market. The stall was filled with all kinds of jewelry from the tiniest rings to heavy necklaces everything was there in the stall. Tara stared in amazement at how neatly the stall was kept. The girl walked up to the seller and mumbled something to him.
The girl picked the most dazzling one and put it around Tara’s neck. She smiled at Tara. Tara nodded her head and smiled in return to show that she had liked it. Like that Tara had picked up two neckpieces. She saw something like a bangle and attempted to put it on her wrists. The girl chuckled 😊 and shook her head. She then pointed at another customer who was wearing the bangle like things around her ears!
There was a lot of strange jewelry that Tara had never seen before. Finally, she decided to take a neckpiece and a ring. The seller came up to them and muttered something to the girl. The girl reached out to a small bag with some coins. She took out three copper-colored coins and gave them to the seller. They both came out into the main market.
While walking Tara started thinking to herself. Who is this girl and why is she helping her around? She realized how kind and empathetic the place was. Last year when there was a new girl Seema, in Tara’s class, everyone ignored her and made her feel unwelcome. It took all the teachers to convince the class to make her feel comfortable. Whereas here it just took minutes to feel comfortable because of the kindness shown by the girl. Tara was confused about whether people are more evolved here or in the 21st century.
By this time, they had reached a vast land. There were many buildings like structures made out of stones and several tiny windows on them. The girl took her near one of the windows and peeped in. Tara too peeped in with her. Inside there were thousands of cereal crops heaped up.
Tara really struggled to identify those crops. She felt miserable that she hadn’t seen any crop live. For her projects, she had just googled and seen them on the mobile. This was an eye-opener. How important it is to be with nature than with the gadgets. This made her feel dizzy. Thoughts of her father calling Tara, ringing in her mind… She longed for her mother’s warm hug. She felt anxious, worried, and stranded.
Tara looked up at the sky and the sun was about to set. She felt sick and wanted to call her mother and realized that her mobile was not with her, her eyes were filled with tears and she was about to cry. Then she saw the beam of light which started coming closer to her. She looked around and to her surprise, the girl was nowhere to be seen… The stone structure wasn’t there and so were the jewels!
Slowly, the light started engulfing her, surroundings blurred, eyes became so heavy that she had to shut them.
“Taru, Taru, wake up! It is ten in the morning”
Tara slowly rubbed her eyes and was shocked to see her mother again after her long day. She got up in a start and hugged her mother tightly and started sobbing…
Her mother saw Tara in her weird dress with the silk shawl and asked her what she had done to herself? Tara told her that it was a gift from a girl at Mohenjo-Daro. She started telling her mother about her adventure. When her mother giggled praising Tara about her imaginative skill. Saying this her mother went out of the tent to start her work. Tara was confused. How was she still draped in the silk shawl when all the jewelry has disappeared? How was she suddenly back at the tent when she was stuck in a deserted place? Why did it feel so real if she just had been dreaming? Tara came out of her tent and saw a half-excavated site that looked like the great bath. She was confused if it was a dream or if it was real?
Did she belong to the old Mohenjo-Daro or was she in the modern world? This itched her mind a lot. However, the dream or adventure was beyond her comprehension. This had taught her things that she could have never learned by Googling!
The next morning, she walked through the sites smiling and admiring the wonderful history the place held…
It was perhaps the most awesome experience ever! The best summer of Tara’s life…
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