NOVEL WEB A Family Dinner
A Family Dinner
ANANT
“Mom, we are back.”
“You guys sure took your time,” my mother replied from the kitchen.
“Well… something unfortunate happened at the main bazaar,” my dad said.
“What happened?” she asked.
My dad looked at me before answering, hesitant to speak in front of me. He whispered into my mother’s ears about what happened. The news made my mother sad but she immediately changed the subject.
“Dear, can you help me in the kitchen?” she asked my father.
“Of course, honey,” he replied.
The smell of Gajrela already made me hungry as it was my favourite dish. Fighting the urge to eat half-cooked food, I made way to my room. I opened the book I was reading, ‘Basic knowledge of magic.’ This was more of a colouring book than a learning book. But they still sprinkled some basic knowledge here and there.
“Hmm... where was I again… here! I was reading fundamentals of magic.” I read it for a bit and understood nothing at all.
“Why can’t they just write it in a way so that an actual child could understand it by themselves; rather than having to go to an adult to teach them,” I muttered angrily.
“Dinner’s ready Anant,” my mom called me from the kitchen.
“Coming, mom.”
Guess I have to ask dad.
While eating the dinner I asked my father, “Dad, can you tell me about the fundamentals of magic?”
“Weren’t you reading your book earlier?” my dad asked, eating his dinner.
“Yes, but I understood nothing.”
“Hahaha, so that was difficult even for you—and here I thought you were some kind of genius,” my dad sarcastically said with a laugh.
“Dear, stop joking around. Tell the child what he wants to learn,” said my mother.
“Okay, okay tell me. What do you want to know?” my dad asked.
“What is magic? How do we perform magic?”
“Simply put, magic is the art of influencing— not controlling— the flow of five elements of nature” he said. “Many people think we control their flow but we don’t; we just influence their flow.”
“But why? Why can’t we control them?” I asked impatiently.
“As you already know, the five elements of nature are: Prithvi; the authority over earth, Apas; the authority over water, Agni; the authority over fire, Vayu; the authority over air, and lastly Akash; the authority over space.”
“Yes, I know them.”
“These five elements are called ‘Pancha Bhuta’. These are the basis of all cosmic creation. Even our human body is made up of these elements and any disorder or illness in our human body indicates the imbalance of one or more of these elements.”
“If they are the basis of all cosmic creation, does that mean they are always around us?” I asked, curious from what he just said.
He took a sip from his glass of water and continued, “Yes. The particles of these elements are flowing all around us with each particle having their own path. To perform magic, we humans merely alter the direction of these elements. It is not in our ability to change their entire paths at will.
“What would happen if we were to control their flow?”
“Hypothetically, if we were to control the flow of Pancha Bhuta, it would mean changing their paths at will, which is same as controlling the universe itself.”
I understood almost everything what my father explained, but I still had some doubts. Seeing my confused face, my dad spoke again.
“Let me give you an example. Consider a library to be the universe itself, and the books within the library be the particles of Pancha Bhuta. Let us be the one reading these books.
“Okay,” I replied, listening his words with concentration.
“After reading the books, it doesn’t matter where we place them since in the end, the librarian— who has authority over the library itself— will place the books in their original place. Just like how in the real world, it doesn’t matter if we are altering the direction of the particles as in the end, they will return to their original path. But—if someone were to control the paths of these particles, then they will be the librarian itself, why you ask? Because they will have absolute authority over the elements. The same way as how the librarian has authority to place the books in their original place or reassign the placement of books.”
It took me a minute to understand my father’s words.
“Okay, now I understood everything,” I remarked.
My father has always been a good explainer. He answers and explains everything very easily. I am happy to have a father to whom I can turn to with everything.
“Were you a teacher before?” I asked my father.
“Why?”
“It’s just you explain very good.”
“What can I say, I am a genius,” my father said dramatically.
“You guys hurry up and eat. I have finished already. I have to wash the dishes too,” said my mother. After eating my favourite food, we all went to sleep.