Part 1
24 the June
Today is the 'Midsummer Day'; I am sitting beside the 'Stonehenge' on the English Salisbury plain and writing my diary.
Stonehenge was build four thousand years back, exactly when the 'Bronze Age' was about to start in this part of the earth. Man had just learnt - how to use metal and was advancing very fast towards the new age civilizations.
Historically Egyptians, Indians, Mesopotamians, Persians walked on the path of civilization far before Europeans. But then again, I really don’t understand - how could one call those people uncivilized, who had built the Stonehenge four thousand years ago.
Huge stone pillars; brought from far away places; made to stand side by side; one pillar kept horizontally on every two consecutive pillars. Going side by side these ‘door like’ structures created a huge circle.
Even a couple of years back people used to think, that Stonehenge was a religious ceremony centre of a tribe called 'The Kelts'. But very recently archeologists have discovered that this was actually an observatory and if that is true, this is surely one of the oldest observatories of the world. Scientists have discovered a relation between these stone pillars and the movement of the sun, which becomes very clear especially on this day -the 'Midsummer Day'.
It's so amazing that without the help of the modern technology, how was it possible for those people to position these pillars so accurately.
Anyway my friend Krole has a different view- he believes ancient people knew some chemical formulae, which could temporarily reduce the weight of stones. And for that reason — building a ‘Pyramid’ or a Stonehenge was much easier in those days than now.
Willhelm Krole had always believed in the supernatural powers of ancient people. He had researched majorly on ancient magic, rituals, spiritualism, and witchcraft. He accompanied me in Tibet for our ‘Unicorn expedition’. a little far on my right, sitting on the grass, Krole is playing a flute. This unique flute is made of a human leg-bone, which he collected from a Tibetan monastery. And we could never imagine that such great German folk tune could be played with this weird instrument.
The other person who accompanied me in my Tibet expedition is now sitting on my left and enjoying a cup of not-so-hot coffee. He is none other than my dear friend - Geologist Jeremy Saunders. Few days' back Saunders invited me to come to London. And Krole and me are now staying with him at his house in Hampstead. We have a plan to stay here for another seven days.
This year summer is truly great here — no rainfall; no drizzle - clear blue sky. Only bright sunrays are dripping through white clouds and spreading energy. Let me stop writing as Krole has stopped playing his flute. Its time - we need to go to a famous auction house in London with him now. He has got this information that a Thirteen-century Spanish manuscript of Alchemy is on auction there. Krole believes that he would get it for a throw away price, as no one takes interest in Alchemy now-a-days. Making gold in the laboratories is though an expensive affair but not impossible in this atomic age.
24 the June 10.30 pm
Peculiar experience in the auctions.
Our 'happy-go-lucky' Bavarian friend Krole is generally a quit guy, we never saw him getting excited, but today he went mad in the auctions. The manuscript - which he thought he would get for fifty pounds, finally cost him one thousand five hundred pounds; which is about twenty five thousand Indian Rupees. And it happened only because of one person; who was bidding hysterically to compete Krole; in the process he pushed the price of this bundle of old parchment paper to this height. It was easy to make out that he was an American from his dress and from the way he was talking. When finally Krole won, we could realize that he was disgusted, as he displayed a major frown on his forehead all the time.
Krole has got submerged in the manuscript since we came back from the auction house. Though the papers were very old but the handwriting was very clear and very easy to read. And of course, Krole knew Spanish very well.
As far as my knowledge is concerned, I know that, in the thirteenth century there was quite a stir in Spain about Alchemy. This was very much influenced by the Arabs; who made it popular in most of the European territories.
Gold is the king of all metals. It looks beautiful and it is also everlasting. Even in our 'Puranas' gold often stood for the sun and silver for moon. Through the centuries there were certain groups who kept on experimenting relentlessly to make gold from the cheaper metals like lead, copper etcetera. These were the people who were called the Alchemists.
In their methods they used to mix 'Mantra-s' and ‘Chanting’ with the scientific processes and for that reason, mainstream scientists never acknowledged them as scientists. Even in our country, people had practiced Alchemy. I know this well because I have an ancient Sanskrit manuscript called 'Dhanadaprakarantantrasara'. Surprisingly this manuscript furnishes many ways of making gold from cheaper metals, most of them mention a long list of ingredients and write about mixing them and heat them on fire. When this is done there are five to ten procedures to follow — upto this level it could have been fine, but after this when the manuscript mentioned that one has to chant a specific mantra for ten thousand times — it became too much for me. And probably that's the reason for which I had never tried Alchemy in my entire career.
But that really doesn't matter whether I have tried it or not — history had mentioned ‘Alchemists’ in almost every century. In Europe there were kings who had hired Alchemists and paid for their laboratories and all other expenses. With the hope that when they would need money those alchemists would make gold and help them with finances. But of course there is no such report available that someone actually did so.
Anyway, the point is — Krole strongly believes in Alchemy, otherwise he would not have spent so much money for the manuscript. When he was bidding, Saunders told me, “Krole believes - the gold he would make, would take care of all these expenses. And if we do not make much fun of him there are chances that we also get our shares."
25th June
Even in London I regularly go for my morning walks at 5 am sharp, as I do in Giridih, my hometown.
In London, during the summers, at 5 am there is a good amount of morning light. But the Englishmen do not get up early, so all the places are mostly empty around this time, especially my favorite walking place — Hampstead Heath. This ocean- like wavy Greenfield highly energizes me, if I walk there for an hour. When I come back Saunders is generally ready with the coffee. Krole gets up a little late — at 9 am, because he reads till late night.
Today I was surprised to see Krole walking in the drawing room anxiously; he had already made his coffee and sipping it in-between his brisk steps.
The moment he saw me, he stopped; stared at me for some time and asked “you are a Scorpio, right?” I said, “Yes”
Before your hair turned gray, were they black?
Yes again.
Do you have garlic in your food?
Yes…. sometimes!
Great!!! That says you got to be there, as Saunders is a Leo and I am a Taurian, his hair colour is pale, mine is golden and none of us eat garlic.
“What do you mean! is this a riddle?” I asked
“No riddle my dear friend, Manuel Savedra had mentioned in his manuscript that “to make gold in a laboratory, at least one human being who has all these three virtues has to be present during the experiment- so my dear Shonku you are in.”
“IN? Where? Is it going to happen here? In Hampstead? In this drawing room? WHERE?"
I was truly perplexed and was thinking whether Krole should be taken seriously or not.
Krole pointed his finger firmly towards the world atlas on the wall and said, 'four degree west by thirty seven point two degree north.'
I did not have to look at the map to say 'It's Spain I believe — Granada.'
'Right you are', said Krole, but to name the actual place you have to look at the map.
I stepped towards the wall; the place where my finger reached after calculating the latitude and longitude had 'Montefrio' written on it. Krole said Manuel Savedra — the writer of this manuscript used to live in Montefrio.
'Have you gone mad Krole?' I couldn't help saying— 'Do you believe that the seven hundred years old house still stands there? And above all if the manuscript has the procedure described, then we can do it in any laboratory, why do we need to go to Spain for that?
Krole was quite annoyed when he heard that. He put down his coffee mug on the table with a 'bang' and said - Shonku, you must know, that this is not an average scientific experiment, had it been somewhat like that, then it wouldn't have been important whether you eat garlic or not, whether the colour of your hair was black or not. Here in this kind of experiment - ‘time’, ‘geographical location’, even ‘physical and behavioral pattern’ of the researchers play important roles.
Believe me, these are all serious matters and for god's sake please do not underestimate these things. And what makes you think that seven hundred years old house would not exist! haven't you seen those pre-renaissance European castles? They are still standing tall in many places. Krole went on with his long lecture '… according to the manuscript, Savedra was from a very high-class family and the description of his residence suggests that it was a huge castle. Some part of it could be broken, but I am sure we will find at least one room in the whole castle, which can be used as our laboratory. And of course if people are staying there in the castle then we will have to negotiate with them. But I believe that, anything and everything is possible in this world — you only need to pay the price and Alchemy is……..
“What is it; which makes you people start an arguement so early in the morning"?
Saunders entered. Krole was so excited; he repeated our entire conversation to Saunders and ended with - “if we could go to Tibet in search of an imaginary animal, then why can't we go to Spain which is just a two hours plane journey from here and where there is a chance for us to create artificial gold?
Saunders did not argue — possibly because Krole was so excited. He said 'I do not mind going to Spain and I believe Shonku also doesn't mind, but may we know what are the equipments and ingredients your experiment require other than shonku in person.
'Time is more important than the ingredients. Savedra has suggested that one can start the experiment at 12pm, on any day within seven days before or after the Midsummer Day — because only in those few days the sun is strongest on the earth.
The ingredients are also easily available. Mercury and lead has always been mentioned in Alchemy all over the world they are mentioned by Savedra as well, apart from those — water, sulphur, table salt and quite a number of roots, leafs & barks of some specific plants.
The tools should all be earthen or made of glass. This is also a very common thing in Alchemy, other than these, we need a burner, an old 'air pump of a blacksmith’ and a water tank on the floor.
Water tank? Why? Asked Saunders.
To save rain water in that, but this is something new, I have never read this in any other Alchemy book, replied Krole.
Has he mentioned 'touchstone' I asked.
The concept of a touchstone is very popular in every part of the world. Some of the books of Alchemy, which I read, primarily focusses on making a touchstone and after that by the touch of that stone one can turn other metals into gold.
Krole said 'No! Savedra has not mentioned touchstone. The ingredients will react chemically and form a semi-solid stuff. That has to be purified in the rainwater and the liquid which comes out finally works as the catalyst. That means when other materials are brought in contact to that liquid they turn into gold.
Did Savedra succeed?' Saunders asked with sarcasm.
There was silence for some time and then Krole said in a grave voice “the manuscript is actually a diary and not written in a textbook format. The way his experiments proceeded his language became more and more poetic. Though he didn't write anything like 'today I made gold’ but towards the end he wrote — Krole picked up the manuscript from the top of the grand piano and read out loud “today I not only feel like the best magician or the like the best scientist of this world but I feel like - I am the best artist on this earth — who has a divine talent — and who can immortalize any creation of this universe….' Now you are free to interpret this.
Saunders and I looked at each other. Silence prevailed for some time again; I could understand that some of Krole's excitements had automatically been injected into Saunders' veins exactly the way it was happening to me. Saunders asked 'does any ritual or any chanting required in this process? And the way he asked the question, I could pretty well understood that he was trying to hide his excitement from us.
Krole took a long drag from his pipe; puffed out and said— 'a planchet has to be performed, prior to the commencement of our experiment.
'Planchet?' But whose spirit to call?
'The world famous alchemist Zabir-Ibn-Hayan's, you must have heard of this 10th century genius. It's just a normal blessing seeking process and as I am there, it wouldn't be problem at all.
We knew that Krole heads a planchet institution in Munich.
'And we need him.' Said Krole staring at the door. Following his line of vision we found Mustafa — the huge Persian cat of Saunders.
-'He means?' Saunders shouted loudly. I know Saunders is quite sensitive about cats, somewhat like me. Three years back when he came to my house in Giridih he tied a nice ribbon around my cat Newton's neck, as a gesture of his affection.
Krole said Savedra has strongly mentioned that a cat's presence in the laboratory is very important and always been very helpful for experiments. If not a cat, the second choice is an owl. But when we have a cat then why should we go for the second option?
Saunders or me, none of us promised Krole about the Spain trip, though Krole mentioned repeatedly that if this Midsummer Day passes by, then we have to wait for another year.
After the breakfast we three went to a fair in Hampstead Heath. This is an annual affair- it happens during the summers every year. Rows of stalls, gambling joints, merry-go-rounds, a large number of kids and a mixed crowd of all ages. We walked through all these and reached at a relatively open space where there was a very well-decorated caravan-like car which had -'Come and have your future told by Madame Reneta' written on it.
Madame herself was sitting inside the car and looking through the curtained window, she smiled and wished us good morning.
Gypsy fortunetellers like this are very common in this country — especially in the fairs. Krole immediately decided to visit her to see what was there in our fate. All three of us entered the caravan, as krole was quite hell-bent to know our future. Madame Reneta - a well built lady, was sitting in her well-decorated room and waiting for clients with her minimum equipments - one round shaped table, a vase holding a single red rose and a crystal ball. Generally what happens — these fortunetellers stare at their crystal balls and see their client's future events in the ball.
Krole did not waste time and said, 'Madame, could you please tell us whether anything remarkable is going to happen in our lives. We three are friends and are going to start a very important project soon.
Reneta put both her elbows on the table and concentrated on the crystal ball. We three were sitting around the table, on three chairs. The sound of 'Merry-go-round, giggles of kids, loud voices of the vendors were coming through the window. Krole was so excited he moved closer towards the ball.
'I see the sun rising ' Madame Reneta whispered in a very thick, husky voice. Krole suddenly stopped breathing - I am sure he was translating 'sun' into 'gold'.
'I see the sun rising for you,' Madame Reneta uttered again. 'And'....She stopped. My heart started beating faster. Situations like this transform elderly people to kids.
'And what?' Krole asked anxiously. He could not be patient any more. But Madame Reneta was indifferent; she covered the ball with her two hands from two sides possibly to have a clearer view of the future by guarding the daylight.
'And- ' the thick husky voice reverberated the caravan again 'And I see death. Yes death'
'Whose death?' Krole's voice trembled as he uttered the two words. He again started breathing very fast.
'A death of a radiant man.'
Madame Renata didn't say anything more.
When asked how does the 'radiant man' look — she replied 'his face is blurred'.
Saunders got up from his chair; Madame Reneta came out of her trance and raised her right hand with a smile. Saunders paid her a decent fee and we three came out of the caravan.
End of Part one
Read the Full Story in 3 parts, nest issue Sept'12
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