Banana Girl
Author: Jay Gandhi.
Genre: Child short story.
Characters: Twinkle Gandhi, Simi, Madam Martha, Jay Gandhi, Jimmy, Jenny Gandhi, KETKY baby, Captain Shiva.
Reading time: sixty minutes
Total Chapters: 8
Authors note: Thank you for reading.
Chapter 1: Hyderabad breeze
“Dear, its time to wake up”, Jenny said, as she tried waking up Twinkle at 7 am in the chilly January morning. Hyderabad had always been cold in winters. Like any other teenager, Twinkle wasn’t feeling great to get up and go to school. After a few shrills from the furious mother, Twinkle did woke up. She got ready and was at the breakfast table, when Jay Gandhi, her father, starting sharing a joke or two with her. As the usual trend was, nobody used to laugh at Jay’s jokes other than himself. But his early morning’s chirpy chatter did make Twinkle cheerful. Twinkle was the only child of Jay and Jenny. The school bus arrived and the sixteen year old hopped onto the last seat in the bus.
She had two sweaters and hand gloves as the protection from fierce shivery winds. As driver slowly started going past the lanes of KATCHIGUDA district, the site of the sunrise was enthralling the docile teenager. Twinkle never had been a talkative girl, as sixteen year girls are supposed to be. She always used to be in a world of her own. She used to miss her attendance calls as she dozed in her dreams during the lectures. She had a very few friends in this town. In fact she talked only to Jimmy and Simi. The family had moved to Hyderabad after Jenny had successfully secured a job at GOOGLE. Now the Gandhi family was a so called big shot. Twinkle was still ignorant to this new found “status”. In fact her home also resembled a normal middle class family. They still had meals sitting down on the floor. They did not have any domestic help. No one in their family carried a mobile phone. Still the school was ten minutes away, as the bus passed through massive CHARMINAR. Twinkle used to love this place. She always marveled at the beauty of the monument. She loved spending time at CHARMINAR, especially in the evenings when the sun used to sky dive at half past five during this season. Soon the school arrived as the conductor blabbered in TELEGU for the kids to get down. Slowly Twinkle got down from the bus and marched towards her class. Three months had passed after she had joined the school. But she hardly interacted with anyone. She didn’t even bother to know the names of the people in her class. She always sat on the last bench. The class started.
As expected, Jimmy arrived ten minutes late. He asked Martha Madam to let him in the class. Martha was this tough disciplinarian from the traditional Catholic family. She sarcastically told Jimmy, “Yesterday you had come fifteen minutes late; today it’s only ten minutes. You are improving my son.” All the students were laughing. Jimmy responded saying “Sorry madam, it’s just the fault of Hyderabad breeze. It’s so difficult to wake up early.” Martha said, “Why don’t you stay at home this winter and take F in final year of your school” Jimmy soon found out that Madam Martha was not amused by his tongue in cheek remark. But to his fortune, Martha didn’t scold her too much and allowed him in. Jimmy quietly went to the last bench and sat besides Twinkle. Jimmy was this bigmouthed, big bellied boy. He was extremely smart unlike his partner. His greatest asset was his brilliant brain. He had spontaneous ability to think of useful ideas. Jimmy was also quite handsome as per the other girls in her class. Both the last benchers spent their time in their own merry way. While Twinkle thought about lovely rivers, classic sunrises, gentle rains, Jimmy was busy scanning his porn magazine. Perhaps last bencher behavior is common in all parts of India!
The break time started after two hours of rigorous Arithmetic. Twinkle had bought the pieces of ripe bananas. Jimmy as usual had not bought any food and relied upon other classmates. At this time, Simi came to meet Twinkle. Simi was a very bright student. Simi was the perfect all rounder; a dream child of every South Mumbai mother. She could dance, swim and sing. She was the prefect of the class and the gossip monger of the colony. She was THE ideal kid. How come Simi and Twinkle bond well together is a mystery. Twinkle had no hobbies. She didn’t gossip, didn’t watch TV, nor attend tutors, nor she was fond of internet. She was an absent minded, below average student. Her looks weren’t that great. But her brown eyes always had a weird glitter. She was more of an enigma. She hardly talked about studies, sports or TV shows. She was an extremely creative child but never boasted about it nor did she share her works of fiction. She loved to write. She treasured the pen given by Jay on her fifteenth birthday. Her only pastime was writing and thinking about the new concepts. Her talks always fascinated Jimmy and Simi. Jimmy even had a crush on Twinkle. No wonder. Jimmy had crush on half of the girls in his class. So his genuineness could genuinely be doubted. Soon the break ended. Next three lectures were devoted to Moral Science, General Science and Social science respectively. Jimmy and Twinkle had no interest in either of the sciences.
Here we had three tenth graders. Simi, having a dream of getting into the Merit list, Jimmy, having a dream of making a proper girlfriend till the time his time in school comes to an end, Twinkle who had no dreams. Twinkle’s life was a dream; an enigma for the most. Her only delights were bananas and her stories. The day ended as all the students went home. But Jimmy had not yet gone home. He had gone to play Counter strike; the strategy game that had had gripped the teenaged boys all over the world. Twinkle came home, had her food, obviously her food cannot end without a banana, and dozed off to sleep.
Chapter 2: Overdose
One evening while Twinkle was alone at home, she was working on one of her articles called how does the brain work? Hyderabad breeze was picking up; Hunger was killing Twinkle. There was nothing to eat at her place except a few bananas. She decided to treat herself to sweet, tasty bananas. She could not control herself. She kept on eating them one after another. Suddenly the climate got extremely chilly. Twinkle started feeling very drowsy. As she got up, she felt the world spinning around her. She had never had this feeling before. A crazy emotion ran through her brain. She saw the flashes of this mighty bearded man, whose face resembled devil. She felt that he was strangling a small girl’s neck. The moments lasted for a few seconds. On regaining some sense after a minute or so, Twinkle felt normal. But she couldn’t help feeling curious as to why did she get that kind of feeling. Was it because she was writing since a long time and was mentally tired? Or was it due to banana overdose? She dint even know whether to be serious about the issue or play it down. Twinkle wasn’t feeling scared but was feeling weird. In this moment of weirdness, she wrote on one of the pages of her book that tomorrow she didn’t want to go to school and hoped that it snows in Hyderabad.
Next morning, the entire nation was stunned. Hyderabad had witnessed the snow fall! The weather forecasting community was taken aback. Hyderabad had never seen snow since 1911. This wasn’t expected at all. As Twinkle woke up in the morning, she was feeling aghast on her written thing coming true. School remained shut. But she wasn’t jumping with enthusiasm. She felt that it was just a co incidence.
Jay was very happy seeing the snow. He was over the moon. The prospect of Jenny being at home for full one day was something wonderful. After having come to Hyderabad, Jenny had been all busy with her work. Jenny had not spent enough time with Jay. At least this is what Jay felt. Jay, by the profession was a career counselor. Well, that wasn’t surprising because in his twenty years of work he had changed nine companies. He was a namesake counselor. He was more of a househusband that is if that term does exist. But Jenny had always supported Jay. Jay by nature was a man of opinions and a very frank. His frankness cost him his job at many a places. But his principles never budged. Jenny was proud of her hubby and used to love his poems. Jay, Jenny and Twinkle formed a small but a very close knit family.
Next day, Twinkle narrated the entire incident to Jimmy and Simi. While Simi was feeling something divine, Jimmy was laughing his guts out. He couldn’t believe that Twinkle ate twelve bananas! Twinkle was skeptic about Simi and Jimmy believing in her story. But Simi did take this very seriously, while Jimmy gave a new nickname to Twinkle; Banana girl. The school break had just finished. Madam Martha came to the class and spotted Jimmy frantically banging on his desk. Jimmy was trying to provoke people to force Madam Martha into giving a free lecture. But Madam Martha had some different ideas. She asked Jimmy to explain his actions. Martha-Jimmy confrontations had become a part and parcel for the students of the class. They were happy with the entertainment both provided. Jimmy said, “Madam, I was trying to shoe away the mosquitoes.” Masterstroke! Jimmy felt he had given a very nice excuse till he found the entire classing looking and laughing at him. He looked at Twinkle for some moral support, but Twinkle was busy in scribbling something. Jimmy then said that Twinkle had asked her to do so! Incase Madam Martha decided to throw him out of the class she also would have to throw Twinkle. Jimmy’s wish came true and soon Twinkle and Jimmy were standing outside the class.
One-hour lecture was a great opportunity for Jimmy to ask Twinkle out for a date. Twinkle wasn’t mad at Jimmy’s stupid excuse. On the other hand she was very happy standing outside the class. This would perhaps give her some more time to think about her book, “How the brain works?” Jimmy started bugging Twinkle. The Hollywood effect was evident on Jimmy as he tried out all the cheesy lines to impress Twinkle. Twinkle wasn’t going to get wooed that easily. But Twinkle wanted to use time constructively to think. To do so, it was imperative for Jimmy to shut up! So she did agree for the date after a few minutes of Jimmy’s constant chatter, provided he wouldn’t utter a word for next one hour. They were supposed to meet at HUSSAIN SAGAR (lake) at 5pm in the evening.
Both of them met at the lake at the right time. Not sure what to say, Twinkle preferred remaining quiet. As they started peddling the boat, Jimmy started talking. Jimmy complimented Twinkle for her dressing sense. He praised her for her calming nature. Jimmy started describing his stories about how Twinkle was different from other girls. Slowly, Twinkle started speaking. This was a genuine surprise for Jimmy. He had hardly seen her talk that freely in those three months. Wind was blowing. Sun was about to set. The atmosphere was getting cozier. Twinkle’s chat generally revolved around how she was brought up. She had a high regard for her dad. She got inspired by Jay to write. As the time passed by, the feet peddling the boat were tiring. After an hour, the couple found themselves in middle of the lake. The sun had set. They were panting and the time for which the boat was hired had finished. Here they were…amidst the dark sky, calm waters…alone. The ice had been broken between Jimmy and Twinkle. They started discussing about emotions and how they view the world. They talked about their expectations, dreams and about many other things. This was a perfect date. The clock was ticking as they started moving towards the shore. It was eight pm. Jimmy was having the time of his life. Twinkle was taken aback by her speaking prowess! She never felt that she had it in her to speak and go on speaking. Jimmy asked if he can buy an ice cream for Twinkle. She would have refused the offer on any other day, but today Twinkle wasn’t going to allow her mind to take control of her. She asked Jimmy to get a Banana split. Jimmy wasn’t surprised at the choice of the Banana lover. Twinkle wanted more of the ice cream. Jimmy had no hassles in buying her the split till the time she was spending quality time with him. After having five scoops of banana split, Twinkle was not feeling that nice about herself. She started feeling very drowsy. As she got up, she felt the world spinning around her. A crazy emotion ran through her brain. She saw the flashes of a mighty bearded man, who looked like a devil. She felt that he was strangling the neck of a small kid. The moments lasted for a few seconds. On regaining some sense after a minute or so, Twinkle felt normal. This was the second time she had witnessed this kind of sensation. She was horrified…She did not know what was happening to her. Jimmy was confused. But smart Alec that he was, he recollected the story about such kind of feeling that Twinkle had narrated. He promptly took out a piece of paper and asked Twinkle to write that Madam Martha would remain sick for three days. There was nothing wrong in throwing the dice. Incase the wish came true, Jimmy could bunk the next three days and enjoy with Twinkle (hopefully!)
Chapter 3: Captain Shiva…the royal butcher!
Far away from Hyderabad, in the royal town of VARNIK, Jaipur lived a prince named Shiva. Shiva was the son of MAHARAJA KARTHIKANAND. Their royal heritage was well known in the entire state of Rajasthan. By profession, Shiva was a captain in the navy. He was only thirty years old when he was given such an important post to handle. Shiva was a very hardworking man. He had often steered ships out of the storms and had earned a nickname of Shiva-the rescuer.
Though Shiva was a very normal man, he had tremendous hatred for kids. He did not like their chirpiness and mischief. He was a very strict person. He could not stand ill discipline. Once while he was on the VIKRANTA ship in the Arabian, water refused to remain calm. Rain was pelting. The tides were getting stronger. The storm in the water was about to wreck a havoc. Captain Shiva was firmly focusing on his work. He was trying hard to steer the ship through the calmer route through the left and reach towards the shores on the outskirts of Sri Lanka. The night was at its darkest. Moon was no where to be seen. At such a critical juncture, a small kid sneaked out from his room and reached the navigators office. He started toying with various buttons. Captain was furious. Here, he was amidst the storm trying to save the life of hundreds of people and there was a kid who could not understand the gravity of the situation and was playing around him ignorant of the consequences that his mischief could have. Shiva was getting livider by the second and his temperament was genuinely getting tested. He finally lost his cool and slapped the child. In doing so he lost his concentration and the ship rammed into a huge iceberg. Shiva was aghast at the sight. Though the rescue teams arrived in time and the damage was relatively limited, Shiva was expelled from the navy.
He lived alone at his huge palace. No security guards, no relatives and even his parents had shunned him. Shiva had lost it all. He had become this cruel, long bearded, stone-hearted man. He used to grab hold of the children from a nearby school and used to brutally kill them. He initially cut their head. Then he removed the eyes and used to eat it raw. He had become a cannibal. He used to cut the bones of all the children and put it into the deep well in his courtyard. This well could be termed dead well because it contained the remains of around fifteen children. Captain Shiva’s hatred for the children had transformed him into a royal butcher. The entire locality wasn’t aware of such an act. They however were extremely uneasy because of rampant missing of children. They suspected some kind of a kidnapping spree. But no ransom calls meant that situation was extremely bad. The national dailies were full of the reports of how the kids went mysteriously missing from VARNIK.
Simi was reading this news aloud in the class next morning, since Madam Martha had not come to the class as she was not well. Twinkle and Simi were equally tense about this weird set of things happening with Twinkle. While Jimmy was flirting along with Fatima, Simi was feeling something divine. Her gut feeling was telling her that something was going wrong somewhere with Twinkle. Jimmy was finally made to sit down and both the girls explained Jimmy that the event that occurred twice cannot be a co incidence. Jimmy finally realized the magnitude of the situation and all three decided to take some kind of action.
Chapter 4: Banana Power
Jay and Jenny were in the drawing room one morning when Jenny suddenly screamed at Jay. Jay had not put his clothes for the wash. Nor hadn’t he had his breakfast on time. All that he had done since waking up was writing poetries. Jenny was extremely mad at such kind of irresponsible behavior of Jay. Since the time the family had come to Hyderabad, Jenny was sensing a kind of unhappiness in Jay. The negative vibes eventually were about to start a really bad quarrel. Jenny said, “What is your problem? Why aren’t you co operating? You know I have to go to work. For you its so easy to stay at home and go to work whenever you want. In fact you don’t even need to go to work. You know that since your wife is earning, why should you take your job seriously? All you want to do is create trouble for me. You are jealous of my success.” Jay was listening to all this very calmly. He didn’t speak a word. Well, that was unusual because Jay wasn’t the one who used to shy away from a fight. In fact he was the one who loved to start an argument. His basic reasoning behind fighting was fun! It was shocking for Jenny too. She was expecting bombardment of answers. This is when she realized something was seriously wrong in her family life.
While Jenny was still red hot, in came Jimmy, Twinkle and Simi. The three kids weren’t in their school at 10 am in the morning. This infuriated Jenny even more. Jimmy said, “Hello aunty; what’s up! I haven’t met you since so many days. I know I am like your family member. So I won’t remain formal. Aunty can you please make some noodles for me. I am so hungry.” Jenny was about to blow up again when she realized that she was getting late for her office. She left saying. “Dear Jimmy, Mr. Poet is free and has no work to do. So he will cook noodles for you and hopefully will eek out some justifiable reason for all three monsters bunking from the school. Won’t you do that Honey?” Jenny’s sarcasm was at her peak. Soon she left as all three kids gathered around Jay. Twinkle slowly narrated the entire incident to Jay. She mentioned about snowy Hyderabad and Madam Martha getting sick. Jay reacted in his usual manner. “You actually think that I will believe that! I agree that I look like a fool, but that doesn’t mean I am. And even if I agree, I would like to see a demo. I would like you to prove your BANANA POWER! ” Twinkle was absolutely mad at Jay. She felt that her father would at least believe her. Soon she became quite cranky and refused to provide proof for her so- called energy. Jimmy couldn’t lose this golden opportunity to sympathize with Twinkle. He said, “Twinkle, don’t worry…I am with you.” Simi could not help laughing at the BOLLYWOOD effect on Jimmy.
After some thought, Jay gave the kids the address of a lady called KETKY baby. Jay in his hay days was a great friend of KETKY. KETKY was then a short tempered girl but her intelligence always overshadowed her not so good qualities. KETKY had a tremendous interest in astrology and tarot card reading. KETKY, through her grit and determination had become a very famous mystery lady. She always had this wish to rule the entire world. She generally had answers for all the miraculous things that people generally experience. Right from mysterious illnesses to losses in business, she had answers for everything. Before a few years she earned the honor of “BABY” from Mysterionics University in London. KETKY baby was a highly paid witch…so as to say!
All three kids went to baby to find the solution of their unique problem. Though security was very tight at MIDC office, Jay’s name was enough for the kids to get a direct entry into the Baby’s office. After listening to the story, BABY shook her head four to five times. Then she looked up towards the green-colored ceiling. Her face resembled some kind of tension. After couple of pauses, she again started shaking her head. Simi was finding it least amusing. Twinkle as usual had no reaction. Jimmy was trying to emulate the expressions of baby. Baby, though might be quite older to Jimmy, Jimmy couldn’t resist getting smitten her beauty! After a few twists and revolutions of shoulders and other unique histrionics, Baby screamed “FIVE!!!” Simi was wondering what did five mean! Simi started racking her brains to try and find the significance of five. She had read many novels. But none of them had mentioned about the importance of FIVE! Baby asked the kids to wait patiently for five minutes as she tried to establish contact with supernatural entities. Jimmy was gripped by all that was going on. Twinkle was expecting BABY to contact the latest superhero Krishnan. Perhaps he might have some knowledge of such a strange experience. Simi was constantly looking at her watch. It was 3 pm. She had to attend her Hindi tuitions. But she decided to stay back. Baby started speaking “My dear Twinkle, Almighty has given you a unique power called Banana power. You are THE BANANA GIRL. Whatever you write after eating a dozen of bananas, it will come true. But Lord has imparted this gift for a reason. I have tried hard to contact the HR department of all the supernatural companies, but no one is aware about any special motive. Once you fulfill that motive, your banana power will disappear and you will again become a normal girl.” Jimmy was listening to all this very keenly. Jimmy felt that BABY was manipulating the truth. But he remained mum. Jimmy felt that the Lordly motive would be to retire Madam Martha. Simi thought that the motive would have been Simi topping the merit list. Twinkle was quite. She wasn’t sure as to what this “motive” was. Jimmy quickly extrapolated the advantages that he would get because of the Banana power. Baby went on “This motive has been named as your karma. Every human born in this world is born for a reason. This karma of yours is your reason to live. Most of the people have a karma that isn’t that difficult to accomplish. But your work is very tough. Hence you have this BANANA power to assist you.” Jimmy said that since Twinkle wasn’t sure of her karma, she could keep feeding on bananas and keep trying till the time she attains her goal. This seemed a fair enough idea. But this is when the significance of FIVE was explained by Baby. She said, “Almighty doesn’t want you to misuse this power of yours. Hence you can use this “token” only five times. Out of which you have already used the power twice, though accidentally. So now you have three tokens and “karma”. You are the chosen one. You have to use your own discretion to decide your karma. Any wrong use of the power might cost you. IF you don’t achieve your karma and you run out of the power… aftermath can be very deadly. You might even die!”
Twinkle was absolutely flabbergasted. Banana power was this double edged sword. Twinkle asked KETKY BABY, if she could consult her every time before she thought of using before using the Banana power. BABY agreed.
Chapter 5: Karma
Next day in the class while students were busy trying to solve some trigonometry problems, Twinkle was busy trying to figure out what her karma could be. While getting ready for the school, she had witnessed a vociferous quarrel between Jay and Jenny. Perhaps the patch up between the parents could be one of her karmas. While she was in the dreamland, Jimmy was busy scanning the legs of the girl sitting ahead of her. Jimmy was pretty sure of his karma. His karma was to have a girlfriend.
February had started. Board exams were forty days away. Simi was pretty much sure of what her karma was. She wanted to score well and get listed in the merit list. From an outsider’s perspective, the motive of Simi seems quite understandable. After all a sixteen year old cant have any other challenge. But Jimmy’s feelings can’t be discounted. As the time ticks away the need for a companion arises in everyone. Jimmy needed someone special, who can listen to him, a person who can take care of him. Jimmy’s habits weren’t that of a gentleman. But he had a terrific liking for Twinkle. He liked this brown eyed girl. He had no specific reason for falling for Twinkle…perhaps this was his first love. He cared a lot about Twinkle. He helped Twinkle in her elusive search for her karma. He was her moral support. He also worked hard to convince Jay and Jenny about the genuineness of the banana power that Twinkle possessed. Simi had now become very busy. She used to study ten hours a day. In the evenings she met both her friends near the NIZAM KA MAKBABRA. She used to pray everyday.
Jenny was trying hard to save her marriage. Jay had totally changed. He did not argue these days, he refused to discuss things. He had totally refused to talk. The marriage was on the brink of a major upset. Jenny did not know what to do. She had said sorry and also agreed to make it up to Jay. Jay on the other hand, had few other plans for Jenny. On 16th February was the twentieth anniversary of the couple. Jay was setting up things for a huge bash. He wanted to surprise Jenny. He had forgiven Jenny and he himself was feeling guilty for not supporting Jenny. He was thinking of making a new start. Jay was putting on an act to purposely irk Jenny. Making others upset isn’t the right note from where a surprise can be planted, but then Jay was like that… he used to do weird things. The anniversary was four days away. Preparation had started…at least in Jay’s mind. The couple’s karma was to lift their relationship to a new high.
Meanwhile in VARNIK, captain Shiva had captured a twelve year old. He kept on slapping the boy for some time. After that he cut the ear of the boy. The boy was left unconscious on the ground. As soon as he regained his senses, Shiva attacked his eyes with a pointed and sharp weapon. After that, Shiva cut his body parts and ate them. The cruelty was such that it can’t be described in words. All the remains of the dead boy were put into the dead well. This was the sixteenth murder that Captain had committed. The karma of this devil was pretty much evident. His only aim was to kill the kids. The Rajasthan police was trying hard to trace down the criminal. But no concrete clues were obtained. The people of VARNIK were now terrified. They had stopped sending their children to the school. Parents did not want to jeopardize their kids. So many missing kids only meant one thing. A pedophile was at large and till the time he was not nabbed, parents weren’t going to take any risk. Schools of VARNIK were shut down due to fear of kidnappings. This made headlines of all the national dailies.
Simi was quick to make note of this. On thirteenth February, the class was about to go on a field trip to Rajasthan. Simi informed about the happenings to Madam Martha and was hoping that Madam would cancel the field trip. Simi had her personal motive over here. She did not want to go to this compulsory trip because she was losing 3 days on such a worthless trip. She wanted to sit at home and study. But Madam Martha was not going to budge. She pacified Simi saying that the trip was near JAIPUR and not in JAISELMER…the district in which VARNIK was located. Jimmy was keen to go on the trip. This would give him a nice opportunity to spend more time with Twinkle. Twinkle, however was in the world of hers, still unaware of her karma. She did not want to take any chances. She packed a special bag full of bananas, a few pages and her pen given by Jay at her fifteenth birthday. This was the Banana power-kit. Jay had asked Twinkle to be careful before using her powers. Jay had asked Jimmy to take care of Twinkle. This was a happy shock for Jimmy since he always felt that Jay considered him irresponsible.
Meanwhile, KEKTY baby was still trying to establish the super natural contacts to help Twinkle. On 13th February, the class left for three day trip to Rajasthan. Everyone had a fixed karma now…Simi wanted to use spare tome of her trip to study. Jimmy wanted to spend time with Twinkle. Twinkle wanted to find her karma. Jay wanted to make a new start. Jenny was thinking of new ways to repair the wounds of the marriage. KETKY BABY was busy with her work. Captain Shiva was on a look out for a new prey. Madam Martha’s instant karma was to finish the field trip and safely bring back all the kids on 16th Feb to the Secundrabad airport.
Chapter 6: 14nth Feb.
On reaching JAIPUR on the morning of the Valentine day, the bunch of forty students settled down in rooms allotted to them in the three-star hotel. This hotel, RAJPUT was located a few kilometers away from the main city of JAIPUR. JAIPUR boasted of some really classy forts, camels, and was rightfully termed Pink city since most of the architectural developments were pink in color. Madam Martha had given strict instructions to students,” Its 10:30 am. I want all of you to get ready by 11:30. We will go to the main town and will check out the fort of KUNWAR JAYSINGH. If any one is late, the bus will not wait for them. And they will have to remain alone till the evening.”
Jimmy heard these instructions intently and the devil mind of his started making some plan. What if everybody goes and Jimmy and Twinkle are left alone! This would give him a terrific chance to spend quality time with Twinkle and that too on a Valentine’s Day. But how would he achieve this? Simi and Twinkle were in the same room. Convincing both girls would be a mammoth task. Everybody had assembled in the courtyard at 11:25 am. Jimmy got a terrific idea. He called up to the office management and said that Ms. Twinkle had an urgent call from KETKY BABY. On being informed about this urgent call, Twinkle rushed into the hotel’s lobby. She felt that KETKY BABY would have found the solution to her puzzle. But this was only a trick. Twinkle fell for it. Simi meanwhile was waiting for Twinkle to return back in her room. Assuming that three of them had broken the discipline Madam decided to punish them by not allowing them to board the bus. Jimmy was so happy. But he made a puppy face in front of Madam Martha. Twinkle knew that there was no use of narrating the story to Madam Martha since Madam would consider this as one of her stories. The group left for JAIPUR leaving the three kids alone. Simi wasn’t complaining. This time would be used by her to finish her TELEGU chapters. Jimmy wasn’t complaining since he felt that he would get some time to spend with Twinkle. Twinkle was mad.
Twinkle suspected Jimmy behind the entire trick. She raised her eyebrows and spoke, “Why did you do this?” Jimmy felt the anger in her eyes and did not answer. Twinkle shouted, “Why the hell did you do this!!! I am asking you…?”
Jimmy remained mum. Twinkle’s frustration reached its peak. She wasn’t able to decipher her karma. Her parents weren’t leading a happy life. She had this weird super natural power which she was in no way enjoying. She had started hating bananas…In fit of rage the lava erupted and Twinkle started, “You are useless. You have no other work than trying to lure me. I am not going to get wooed by your tricks. I agree that you have been my nice friend but there is a certain limit. Here I am in such a grave situation and you are trying to take advantage of that. What the hell do you want…Why don’t you leave me alone?”
Unusually Jimmy smiled. He felt hurt but it was expected. He went to his room and sat down. Twinkle went to Simi and discussed the course of events. Simi for once stopped mugging her answers and keenly listened to Twinkle’s woes. After a few moments of pause, Simi said, “I think he loves you…hence he did that…” Twinkle wasn’t appreciating Simi’s remark. Even if Jimmy had fallen for her, she wasn’t thinking of having a boyfriend before she relinquishes her Banana power. That afternoon all three kids sat down and decided that they will find the motive irrespective of whatever it takes. Twinkle explained Jimmy that she wasn’t in love with him. Jimmy was shattered but dint over react. Jimmy took the heartbreak in quite a dignified manner. He decided to stay friends with Twinkle till the time she finishes her karma. Simi was a bit sympathetic with Jimmy.
At this unusual juncture, Jimmy got an idea. He said, “Twinkle, you still have three shots at using you power…right. Why don’t you use the first power to find out the motive?” This was quite a practical solution. It sounded pretty reasonable. Simi had her doubts, but Twinkle was excited. Twinkle decided to try out the idea suggested by Jimmy. But she called up KETKY BABY to take permission and some consultancy help. Even BABY agreed to the idea given by Jimmy. Twinkle bought her Banana bag and sat on the cozy sofa. She started eating bananas. Her pen and papers were put right besides her. Simi and Jimmy were observing keenly. After eating a dozen of bananas, Twinkle started feeling very drowsy. As she got up, she felt the world spinning around her. A crazy emotion ran through her brain. She saw the flashes of some bearded man, who looked like a devil. She felt that he was harassing small children. The moments lasted for about a few seconds. On regaining some sense after a minute or so, Twinkle felt normal. Twinkle promptly wrote on the paper “I wish to be notified my karma.” Nothing happened for two hours. It was then that Twinkle realized that her Banana power showed effect only the next day after which she had eaten bananas. When she had written that it would snow in Hyderabad, the next day it snowed. Same was the case with the absence of Madam Martha. Twinkle was shocked as to how KETKY BABY could forget about notifying about such an important aspect of her banana power. Meanwhile Jimmy and Simi were trying to decrypt about the bearded man. What could that mean? Why couldn’t BABY fail to explain the crazy emotion that Twinkle felt? Too many questions were driving all the three kids crazy. It was 7:30 pm. Madam Martha had returned to the hotel RAJPUT with other kids.
At night at the dinner table the three kids discussed their strategy. In the morning, they would find out the karma of Twinkle. Accordingly they will have to take steps to avoid being punished again my Madam Martha. The adrenaline was pumping. The very reason of the birth of Banana power wasn’t far away. Twinkle was getting anxious as the seconds ticked by. Meanwhile in VARNIK things weren’t smooth. Since four days, Captain Shiva wasn’t able to capture any prey. He was hungry and mad. So he left his royal palace in search of kids. His cannibalistic instincts had completely taken over the control from him. It was 10:30 at night when he saw a small kid playing near the streets of the royal palace. He could not resist. He went near the small boy and said, “Hey, I have got a lot of chocolates with me…Would you like to come to my place? We can share and eat them and have a lot of fun!” He was throwing the bait and the kid succumbed. As Captain Shiva lifted the kid and started strolling towards his palace, a huge cry came… “Where is my son??” The mother of the kid was shouting frantically. Shiva got scared by this and ran away from the site putting the kid down. This was an unsuccessful attempt. Shiva ran towards the VARNIK railway station. He decided to hide in one of the spare bogie of the train. This train was to be serviced the next morning. Captain realized that this was a safe place to hide, at least till the morning. But VARNIK cops did not waste any time to start an extensive search operation for Captain Shiva. Based on the description given by the young kid, the sketches were made. In all the newspapers the sketch was given for printing.
Captain was in a hideout; Twinkle wasn’t able to sleep the whole night in anticipation of her karma. Simi was awake with Twinkle trying to crack a few Geometry problems. Jimmy was thinking of options he had since Twinkle had turned him down! Jenny was up the whole night, still depressed. Madam Martha could not catch any sleep since she was constantly wary of kids like Jimmy who would trouble other people of the hotel at the night by knocking on their doors. Cops had started their extensive search. 15th Feb was going to be a very eventful day.
Chapter 7: Ride to VARNIK
At 7:30 am on 15th morning, three kids met at the breakfast table. Another problem was facing the trio. The news of karma will definitely come, but by what means? Will TV news channel flash the news? Will the newspaper bring in the information? Will they have to keep their ear on the radio? Will any new edition of magazine publish? Other problem the team was facing was how will they realize that a particular article is the motive and not any other article? Too many questions were enough to make the Banana girl angry.
As Simi picked up the newspaper from the lobby, she was shocked to read the headlines; “Child-hunter on the run.” Simi had been tracking the news right from a long time. She looked at the sketch of the wanted man. That did not ring any bells with her. But she decided to inform Jimmy and Twinkle about this. On seeing the sketch of the wanted man, Twinkle was gripped by the very same crazy emotion that she had felt when she experienced the Banana power.
The world was turning around her. She saw the flashes of the same man killing small innocent children. Jimmy was thinking of various possibilities. He recollected the words of KETKY BABY; "My dear Twinkle, you have been blessed with the BANANA power because your karma is more difficult than others!” Twinkle regained her senses after a minute. Simi was wondering as to why Twinkle felt that crazy emotion even though she had not had her quota of bananas. BANANA girl, Jimmy and Simi were once again completely perplexed. They were not sure as to what should they interpret from this. Frantic calls were made to MIDC office of KETKY BABY. No satisfactory solution was offered by Hyderabad’s support team. Twinkle called Jay for some moral support when Jay talked extensively about KETKY BABY. The people from Mysterionics University in London had come to Hyderabad. They were in search of a super power which would help them destroy “CARTOHOL.” CARTOHOL was this sphere made up of inert gases like neon, argon and xenon. The chemical composition of this was such that when this compound came into the hands of some highly qualified witch or magician, they could manipulate CARTOHOL to develop a hotline contact with people in hell. This power could be used extensively to rule the world. The Mysterionics team had got strong clues that the owner of CARTOHOL and divine power to destroy it were both present in Hyderabad. Twinkle wasn’t thinking of CARTOHOL at all. Her focus was VARNIK.
BANANA girl had to take the decision. This wasn’t any of her creative stories where she could experiment. She had to be quick. The circumstances were pretty much what she disliked. She always hated working under pressure and always avoided. This was definitely what she had learnt while she was working on her book as to how brain works. Time had come when Banana girl had to stand up and be counted. She thought hard for a long time and finally decided. The trio had to go to VARNIK. Logic behind the decision was petty much clear. The sketch and the flash-man that BANANA girl had seen were virtually same. Two shots of BANANA power were remaining with her. She reasoned that if they go to VARNIK, they will certainly become assured of the karma- “Killing the child hunter” This was the tentative karma that the trio eventually finalized. The clock was ticking. It was 1 am. VARNIK was 3 hours away from the RAJPUT hotel. But the lunch tie had started. It would be very difficult for the kids to escape the sharp vigil of Madam Martha. But Jimmy once again came up with a nice idea. He made a hoax call at the hotel lobby saying that Madam Martha should immediately contact the school’s principal. This was enough for the trio to escape. The plane to Secundrabad was about to leave from Jaiselmer airport at 4 am on 16th morning.
The kids boarded a bus to VARNIK. As the journey started, Twinkle started reliving all the incidents of past few months. How her family had come to Hyderabad, How unusual banana power gripped her. She was finding it way too complicated to gulp. Why couldn’t KETKY baby give the full description of Banana power despite being such a great witch? Why was Jay talking so much about CARTOHOL? Why did baby fail to describe about the child hunter? Was capturing the child-hunter a difficult work? Weren’t cops good enough to nab the killer? How can this be the karma? Why was Madam Martha so behaving rudely with the trio? Too many questions were bugging the BANANA girl. At 5 pm the trio reached VARNIK bus stop.
Jimmy was too tired to use his brains. Simi was very happy to finish her algebra in the bus. Twinkle’s brain was racing. She called up KETKY BABY and said, “Madam, I feel that the man who I see in my flash and the man in the sketch are the same; this man is the child-butcher. I think I know my karma now. I think its finishing this child hunter. Madam I have thought long and hard about this? What do you think?” After a pause, baby spoke “Give me a call in five minutes and I will let you know whether or not you should go ahead and use your token.” After five minutes Twinkle again called back the baby. KETKY said “I have talked to the super natural body’s chairman and he has said that your motive is pretty much on target. BUT he has given a warning. This is the last time you should use your banana power. If you use it again, you might die.”
Twinkle discussed this with Simi and Jimmy. Jimmy was angry with Twinkle. He reasoned that if Twinkle wanted to use forth token to kill the child hunter, why did they have to come to VARNIK; she could have very well taken this decision at RAJPUT hotel. Twinkle was again confused. Well she eventually did accept her mistake for taking a useless trip. She decided to use her BANANA power. She gulped loads of bananas and felt the crazy emotion that she was now used to. She wrote down on the paper, “Kill the CHILD-HUNTER.” At 6 pm in the evening, the trio left again for Jaiselmer airport. They reached at 10 pm where Madam Martha was waiting for them. Madam lost her cool on seeing the three kids. She shouted, “Where the hell had you all been?” Jimmy started making a few stories but Twinkle wasn’t paying attention to all this. She was feeling so relieved that her banana power was over and done with. She knew that next morning the child hunter would be dead and her life would be back to normal. She was so happy. On 16th Feb, her parents would celebrate their anniversary and hopefully would patch up. Twinkle was anticipating a lot of happiness.
At 12:01 am in the morning Twinkle called up at her home to wish Jay and Jenny. The phone rang as Jay picked it up. “Happy anniversary!” said Twinkle.
However what Jay said shocked Twinkle. The team from London had got a confirm news that CARTOHOL had fell in some evil hands and that those evils would get the control of the world in next fifteen hours. Twinkle did not know what to do. Had she got her decision of Karma wrong? Jimmy was equally shocked on hearing this. The thought of world in evil hands crippled Simi. It wouldn’t be easy to top the merit list if papers were to be evaluated by evils!!!
Things had gone wrong. But Twinkle’s life was at stake. CARTOHOL, was about to ruin the whole world. Perhaps this was the final karma. Now Twinkle saw herself in huge trouble.
Meanwhile at 12:10 am, Martha was still screaming at Simi. She said “Why the hell in this world did you have to go to VARNIK?” As usual Simi wasn’t paying too much of attention to what Martha was shouting. But a bell rang in the mind of Jimmy. How did Madam Martha come to know that that trio had been to VARNIK! Things started clearing. Jimmy realized a huge conspiracy. Jimmy snapped and immediately asked Madam Martha “We weren’t in VARNIK, who told you so?” The answer that Madam Martha gave in the fit of her rage swept the earth beneath the Jimmy’s feet. At 12:30 Twinkle made a final call to KETKY BABY. She said that CARTOHOL was about to jeopardize the entire world. KETKY said that now Twinkle couldn’t do anything since her banana power was finished. BABY told, “I will try to trace the witch who has got the hold of CARTOHOL. You don’t use your banana power. I have talked to super natural department, they have said that your power might clash with the might strength of CARTOHOL and the reaction would be so lethal that the entire world would be set on fire…No one will survive”
BANANA girl grinned. Jigsaw was solved. She bought her banana bag and without adhering to the advice of KETKY baby, used the last and fifth token.
Chapter 8: Captain’s death
AT 6 am on 16th Feb, the class reached Secundrabad. To Twinkle’s surprise her parents had come to receive her. Jay and Jenny were holding each others hands and did not show and signs of any discomfort between them. On 16th night Jay had planned this huge surprise party for Jenny. Jay always liked surprising people. But this was a major one. Jenny was swept of her as the couple danced the whole night. Jay apologized for his mistakes and the couple patched up. They really had a fabulous night.
As usual when Simi reached her home and picked the newspaper she wasn’t surprised to read that the child hunter had died. On reading further, she realized that the killer’s name was Captain Shiva. This was expected since she knew that Twinkle had used her Banana power to kill the brutal captain. But what followed on TV after a couple of hours was even something that Simi had not thought of even in her wildest dreams. Star News channel was showing this interview in which the officers from the Mysterionics University were quoted saying, the all destructive gas CARTOHOL had been neutralized and the witch who planned to use CARTOHOL against the world had been nabbed.
Jay and Jenny were shocked to hear the name of the witch. Banana girl was sitting calmly on her sofa giving an expression which meant that her job was done. KETKY baby was the evil witch who had got her hands on CARTOHOL. The whole night in the plane, Jimmy and Twinkle had solved the entire mystery. Martha had named KETKY BABY when Jimmy asked her about who had told her about the whereabouts of the trio. This meant that there was some contact between KETKY BABY and Madam Martha. KETKY always knew about some weird supernatural power, the day she saw snow on the Hyderabad streets. When Madam Martha had gone to KEKTY baby for some help when she had suddenly fell ill, KETKY’S intuition got even more boost. Then eventually Banana girl had played into her hands when she herself showed up at BABYS office. KETKY always knew that the banana power was meant to crush her CARTOHOL. But she refused to mention about this. Instead she made an excuse about some karma. She confused Twinkle by not letting her know the full potential of her power. When Twinkle called her up from VARNIK, BABY purposely said that this was the last time when she could use her power. All the while BABY knew that Twinkle won’t use her banana power without her permission. She always knew that only way to avoid Twinkle knowing about the CARTOHOL was to keep her away from Hyderabad. So she asked Madam Martha to take the kids to Rajasthan. Martha was given the duty to continually track the movements of the trio. KEKTY knew that it was all a question of one day. On 16th she was going to become the owner of CARTOHOL and become the ruler of the world. So she again lied to Twinkle the previous night when she said that banana power and CARTOHOL’S power would destroy the world. All was working very well but for one mistake made by Martha which was picked up by the alert mind of Jimmy. Twinkle had done a lot of research on how the human brain works. KETKY BABY was very close to achieve her devilish goals. Her voice did not give positive vibes to Twinkle. Twinkle concluded that KETKY was lying. So she had a discussion with Jimmy and eventually did decide to use her 5th token. She felt that her karma was to save world from CARTOHOL and expose the culprit. This is what she wrote, and rest was history. Banana girl proved once again that super power doesn’t lie in using the gift but knowing how to use it.
Soon Banana girl became famous in entire Hyderabad. Madam Martha was put behind bars. Jay and Jimmy were living very happily. Simi topped the exams held in May. Banana girl had lost her banana powers and was happy eating loads of bananas. She faired averagely in her exams. Jimmy performed better that Twinkle in exams thanks to the scholar student whose roll number preceded Jimmy’s. Jimmy could not strike the cord with Twinkle and hence he was on his merry way. He was on a look out for a new Twinkle that would light up his heart.
Author: Jay Gandhi.
Genre: Child short story.
Characters: Twinkle Gandhi, Simi, Madam Martha, Jay Gandhi, Jimmy, Jenny Gandhi, KETKY baby, Captain Shiva.
Reading time: sixty minutes
Total Chapters: 8
Authors note: Thank you for reading.
Chapter 1: Hyderabad breeze
“Dear, its time to wake up”, Jenny said, as she tried waking up Twinkle at 7 am in the chilly January morning. Hyderabad had always been cold in winters. Like any other teenager, Twinkle wasn’t feeling great to get up and go to school. After a few shrills from the furious mother, Twinkle did woke up. She got ready and was at the breakfast table, when Jay Gandhi, her father, starting sharing a joke or two with her. As the usual trend was, nobody used to laugh at Jay’s jokes other than himself. But his early morning’s chirpy chatter did make Twinkle cheerful. Twinkle was the only child of Jay and Jenny. The school bus arrived and the sixteen year old hopped onto the last seat in the bus.
She had two sweaters and hand gloves as the protection from fierce shivery winds. As driver slowly started going past the lanes of KATCHIGUDA district, the site of the sunrise was enthralling the docile teenager. Twinkle never had been a talkative girl, as sixteen year girls are supposed to be. She always used to be in a world of her own. She used to miss her attendance calls as she dozed in her dreams during the lectures. She had a very few friends in this town. In fact she talked only to Jimmy and Simi. The family had moved to Hyderabad after Jenny had successfully secured a job at GOOGLE. Now the Gandhi family was a so called big shot. Twinkle was still ignorant to this new found “status”. In fact her home also resembled a normal middle class family. They still had meals sitting down on the floor. They did not have any domestic help. No one in their family carried a mobile phone. Still the school was ten minutes away, as the bus passed through massive CHARMINAR. Twinkle used to love this place. She always marveled at the beauty of the monument. She loved spending time at CHARMINAR, especially in the evenings when the sun used to sky dive at half past five during this season. Soon the school arrived as the conductor blabbered in TELEGU for the kids to get down. Slowly Twinkle got down from the bus and marched towards her class. Three months had passed after she had joined the school. But she hardly interacted with anyone. She didn’t even bother to know the names of the people in her class. She always sat on the last bench. The class started.
As expected, Jimmy arrived ten minutes late. He asked Martha Madam to let him in the class. Martha was this tough disciplinarian from the traditional Catholic family. She sarcastically told Jimmy, “Yesterday you had come fifteen minutes late; today it’s only ten minutes. You are improving my son.” All the students were laughing. Jimmy responded saying “Sorry madam, it’s just the fault of Hyderabad breeze. It’s so difficult to wake up early.” Martha said, “Why don’t you stay at home this winter and take F in final year of your school” Jimmy soon found out that Madam Martha was not amused by his tongue in cheek remark. But to his fortune, Martha didn’t scold her too much and allowed him in. Jimmy quietly went to the last bench and sat besides Twinkle. Jimmy was this bigmouthed, big bellied boy. He was extremely smart unlike his partner. His greatest asset was his brilliant brain. He had spontaneous ability to think of useful ideas. Jimmy was also quite handsome as per the other girls in her class. Both the last benchers spent their time in their own merry way. While Twinkle thought about lovely rivers, classic sunrises, gentle rains, Jimmy was busy scanning his porn magazine. Perhaps last bencher behavior is common in all parts of India!
The break time started after two hours of rigorous Arithmetic. Twinkle had bought the pieces of ripe bananas. Jimmy as usual had not bought any food and relied upon other classmates. At this time, Simi came to meet Twinkle. Simi was a very bright student. Simi was the perfect all rounder; a dream child of every South Mumbai mother. She could dance, swim and sing. She was the prefect of the class and the gossip monger of the colony. She was THE ideal kid. How come Simi and Twinkle bond well together is a mystery. Twinkle had no hobbies. She didn’t gossip, didn’t watch TV, nor attend tutors, nor she was fond of internet. She was an absent minded, below average student. Her looks weren’t that great. But her brown eyes always had a weird glitter. She was more of an enigma. She hardly talked about studies, sports or TV shows. She was an extremely creative child but never boasted about it nor did she share her works of fiction. She loved to write. She treasured the pen given by Jay on her fifteenth birthday. Her only pastime was writing and thinking about the new concepts. Her talks always fascinated Jimmy and Simi. Jimmy even had a crush on Twinkle. No wonder. Jimmy had crush on half of the girls in his class. So his genuineness could genuinely be doubted. Soon the break ended. Next three lectures were devoted to Moral Science, General Science and Social science respectively. Jimmy and Twinkle had no interest in either of the sciences.
Here we had three tenth graders. Simi, having a dream of getting into the Merit list, Jimmy, having a dream of making a proper girlfriend till the time his time in school comes to an end, Twinkle who had no dreams. Twinkle’s life was a dream; an enigma for the most. Her only delights were bananas and her stories. The day ended as all the students went home. But Jimmy had not yet gone home. He had gone to play Counter strike; the strategy game that had had gripped the teenaged boys all over the world. Twinkle came home, had her food, obviously her food cannot end without a banana, and dozed off to sleep.
Chapter 2: Overdose
One evening while Twinkle was alone at home, she was working on one of her articles called how does the brain work? Hyderabad breeze was picking up; Hunger was killing Twinkle. There was nothing to eat at her place except a few bananas. She decided to treat herself to sweet, tasty bananas. She could not control herself. She kept on eating them one after another. Suddenly the climate got extremely chilly. Twinkle started feeling very drowsy. As she got up, she felt the world spinning around her. She had never had this feeling before. A crazy emotion ran through her brain. She saw the flashes of this mighty bearded man, whose face resembled devil. She felt that he was strangling a small girl’s neck. The moments lasted for a few seconds. On regaining some sense after a minute or so, Twinkle felt normal. But she couldn’t help feeling curious as to why did she get that kind of feeling. Was it because she was writing since a long time and was mentally tired? Or was it due to banana overdose? She dint even know whether to be serious about the issue or play it down. Twinkle wasn’t feeling scared but was feeling weird. In this moment of weirdness, she wrote on one of the pages of her book that tomorrow she didn’t want to go to school and hoped that it snows in Hyderabad.
Next morning, the entire nation was stunned. Hyderabad had witnessed the snow fall! The weather forecasting community was taken aback. Hyderabad had never seen snow since 1911. This wasn’t expected at all. As Twinkle woke up in the morning, she was feeling aghast on her written thing coming true. School remained shut. But she wasn’t jumping with enthusiasm. She felt that it was just a co incidence.
Jay was very happy seeing the snow. He was over the moon. The prospect of Jenny being at home for full one day was something wonderful. After having come to Hyderabad, Jenny had been all busy with her work. Jenny had not spent enough time with Jay. At least this is what Jay felt. Jay, by the profession was a career counselor. Well, that wasn’t surprising because in his twenty years of work he had changed nine companies. He was a namesake counselor. He was more of a househusband that is if that term does exist. But Jenny had always supported Jay. Jay by nature was a man of opinions and a very frank. His frankness cost him his job at many a places. But his principles never budged. Jenny was proud of her hubby and used to love his poems. Jay, Jenny and Twinkle formed a small but a very close knit family.
Next day, Twinkle narrated the entire incident to Jimmy and Simi. While Simi was feeling something divine, Jimmy was laughing his guts out. He couldn’t believe that Twinkle ate twelve bananas! Twinkle was skeptic about Simi and Jimmy believing in her story. But Simi did take this very seriously, while Jimmy gave a new nickname to Twinkle; Banana girl. The school break had just finished. Madam Martha came to the class and spotted Jimmy frantically banging on his desk. Jimmy was trying to provoke people to force Madam Martha into giving a free lecture. But Madam Martha had some different ideas. She asked Jimmy to explain his actions. Martha-Jimmy confrontations had become a part and parcel for the students of the class. They were happy with the entertainment both provided. Jimmy said, “Madam, I was trying to shoe away the mosquitoes.” Masterstroke! Jimmy felt he had given a very nice excuse till he found the entire classing looking and laughing at him. He looked at Twinkle for some moral support, but Twinkle was busy in scribbling something. Jimmy then said that Twinkle had asked her to do so! Incase Madam Martha decided to throw him out of the class she also would have to throw Twinkle. Jimmy’s wish came true and soon Twinkle and Jimmy were standing outside the class.
One-hour lecture was a great opportunity for Jimmy to ask Twinkle out for a date. Twinkle wasn’t mad at Jimmy’s stupid excuse. On the other hand she was very happy standing outside the class. This would perhaps give her some more time to think about her book, “How the brain works?” Jimmy started bugging Twinkle. The Hollywood effect was evident on Jimmy as he tried out all the cheesy lines to impress Twinkle. Twinkle wasn’t going to get wooed that easily. But Twinkle wanted to use time constructively to think. To do so, it was imperative for Jimmy to shut up! So she did agree for the date after a few minutes of Jimmy’s constant chatter, provided he wouldn’t utter a word for next one hour. They were supposed to meet at HUSSAIN SAGAR (lake) at 5pm in the evening.
Both of them met at the lake at the right time. Not sure what to say, Twinkle preferred remaining quiet. As they started peddling the boat, Jimmy started talking. Jimmy complimented Twinkle for her dressing sense. He praised her for her calming nature. Jimmy started describing his stories about how Twinkle was different from other girls. Slowly, Twinkle started speaking. This was a genuine surprise for Jimmy. He had hardly seen her talk that freely in those three months. Wind was blowing. Sun was about to set. The atmosphere was getting cozier. Twinkle’s chat generally revolved around how she was brought up. She had a high regard for her dad. She got inspired by Jay to write. As the time passed by, the feet peddling the boat were tiring. After an hour, the couple found themselves in middle of the lake. The sun had set. They were panting and the time for which the boat was hired had finished. Here they were…amidst the dark sky, calm waters…alone. The ice had been broken between Jimmy and Twinkle. They started discussing about emotions and how they view the world. They talked about their expectations, dreams and about many other things. This was a perfect date. The clock was ticking as they started moving towards the shore. It was eight pm. Jimmy was having the time of his life. Twinkle was taken aback by her speaking prowess! She never felt that she had it in her to speak and go on speaking. Jimmy asked if he can buy an ice cream for Twinkle. She would have refused the offer on any other day, but today Twinkle wasn’t going to allow her mind to take control of her. She asked Jimmy to get a Banana split. Jimmy wasn’t surprised at the choice of the Banana lover. Twinkle wanted more of the ice cream. Jimmy had no hassles in buying her the split till the time she was spending quality time with him. After having five scoops of banana split, Twinkle was not feeling that nice about herself. She started feeling very drowsy. As she got up, she felt the world spinning around her. A crazy emotion ran through her brain. She saw the flashes of a mighty bearded man, who looked like a devil. She felt that he was strangling the neck of a small kid. The moments lasted for a few seconds. On regaining some sense after a minute or so, Twinkle felt normal. This was the second time she had witnessed this kind of sensation. She was horrified…She did not know what was happening to her. Jimmy was confused. But smart Alec that he was, he recollected the story about such kind of feeling that Twinkle had narrated. He promptly took out a piece of paper and asked Twinkle to write that Madam Martha would remain sick for three days. There was nothing wrong in throwing the dice. Incase the wish came true, Jimmy could bunk the next three days and enjoy with Twinkle (hopefully!)
Chapter 3: Captain Shiva…the royal butcher!
Far away from Hyderabad, in the royal town of VARNIK, Jaipur lived a prince named Shiva. Shiva was the son of MAHARAJA KARTHIKANAND. Their royal heritage was well known in the entire state of Rajasthan. By profession, Shiva was a captain in the navy. He was only thirty years old when he was given such an important post to handle. Shiva was a very hardworking man. He had often steered ships out of the storms and had earned a nickname of Shiva-the rescuer.
Though Shiva was a very normal man, he had tremendous hatred for kids. He did not like their chirpiness and mischief. He was a very strict person. He could not stand ill discipline. Once while he was on the VIKRANTA ship in the Arabian, water refused to remain calm. Rain was pelting. The tides were getting stronger. The storm in the water was about to wreck a havoc. Captain Shiva was firmly focusing on his work. He was trying hard to steer the ship through the calmer route through the left and reach towards the shores on the outskirts of Sri Lanka. The night was at its darkest. Moon was no where to be seen. At such a critical juncture, a small kid sneaked out from his room and reached the navigators office. He started toying with various buttons. Captain was furious. Here, he was amidst the storm trying to save the life of hundreds of people and there was a kid who could not understand the gravity of the situation and was playing around him ignorant of the consequences that his mischief could have. Shiva was getting livider by the second and his temperament was genuinely getting tested. He finally lost his cool and slapped the child. In doing so he lost his concentration and the ship rammed into a huge iceberg. Shiva was aghast at the sight. Though the rescue teams arrived in time and the damage was relatively limited, Shiva was expelled from the navy.
He lived alone at his huge palace. No security guards, no relatives and even his parents had shunned him. Shiva had lost it all. He had become this cruel, long bearded, stone-hearted man. He used to grab hold of the children from a nearby school and used to brutally kill them. He initially cut their head. Then he removed the eyes and used to eat it raw. He had become a cannibal. He used to cut the bones of all the children and put it into the deep well in his courtyard. This well could be termed dead well because it contained the remains of around fifteen children. Captain Shiva’s hatred for the children had transformed him into a royal butcher. The entire locality wasn’t aware of such an act. They however were extremely uneasy because of rampant missing of children. They suspected some kind of a kidnapping spree. But no ransom calls meant that situation was extremely bad. The national dailies were full of the reports of how the kids went mysteriously missing from VARNIK.
Simi was reading this news aloud in the class next morning, since Madam Martha had not come to the class as she was not well. Twinkle and Simi were equally tense about this weird set of things happening with Twinkle. While Jimmy was flirting along with Fatima, Simi was feeling something divine. Her gut feeling was telling her that something was going wrong somewhere with Twinkle. Jimmy was finally made to sit down and both the girls explained Jimmy that the event that occurred twice cannot be a co incidence. Jimmy finally realized the magnitude of the situation and all three decided to take some kind of action.
Chapter 4: Banana Power
Jay and Jenny were in the drawing room one morning when Jenny suddenly screamed at Jay. Jay had not put his clothes for the wash. Nor hadn’t he had his breakfast on time. All that he had done since waking up was writing poetries. Jenny was extremely mad at such kind of irresponsible behavior of Jay. Since the time the family had come to Hyderabad, Jenny was sensing a kind of unhappiness in Jay. The negative vibes eventually were about to start a really bad quarrel. Jenny said, “What is your problem? Why aren’t you co operating? You know I have to go to work. For you its so easy to stay at home and go to work whenever you want. In fact you don’t even need to go to work. You know that since your wife is earning, why should you take your job seriously? All you want to do is create trouble for me. You are jealous of my success.” Jay was listening to all this very calmly. He didn’t speak a word. Well, that was unusual because Jay wasn’t the one who used to shy away from a fight. In fact he was the one who loved to start an argument. His basic reasoning behind fighting was fun! It was shocking for Jenny too. She was expecting bombardment of answers. This is when she realized something was seriously wrong in her family life.
While Jenny was still red hot, in came Jimmy, Twinkle and Simi. The three kids weren’t in their school at 10 am in the morning. This infuriated Jenny even more. Jimmy said, “Hello aunty; what’s up! I haven’t met you since so many days. I know I am like your family member. So I won’t remain formal. Aunty can you please make some noodles for me. I am so hungry.” Jenny was about to blow up again when she realized that she was getting late for her office. She left saying. “Dear Jimmy, Mr. Poet is free and has no work to do. So he will cook noodles for you and hopefully will eek out some justifiable reason for all three monsters bunking from the school. Won’t you do that Honey?” Jenny’s sarcasm was at her peak. Soon she left as all three kids gathered around Jay. Twinkle slowly narrated the entire incident to Jay. She mentioned about snowy Hyderabad and Madam Martha getting sick. Jay reacted in his usual manner. “You actually think that I will believe that! I agree that I look like a fool, but that doesn’t mean I am. And even if I agree, I would like to see a demo. I would like you to prove your BANANA POWER! ” Twinkle was absolutely mad at Jay. She felt that her father would at least believe her. Soon she became quite cranky and refused to provide proof for her so- called energy. Jimmy couldn’t lose this golden opportunity to sympathize with Twinkle. He said, “Twinkle, don’t worry…I am with you.” Simi could not help laughing at the BOLLYWOOD effect on Jimmy.
After some thought, Jay gave the kids the address of a lady called KETKY baby. Jay in his hay days was a great friend of KETKY. KETKY was then a short tempered girl but her intelligence always overshadowed her not so good qualities. KETKY had a tremendous interest in astrology and tarot card reading. KETKY, through her grit and determination had become a very famous mystery lady. She always had this wish to rule the entire world. She generally had answers for all the miraculous things that people generally experience. Right from mysterious illnesses to losses in business, she had answers for everything. Before a few years she earned the honor of “BABY” from Mysterionics University in London. KETKY baby was a highly paid witch…so as to say!
All three kids went to baby to find the solution of their unique problem. Though security was very tight at MIDC office, Jay’s name was enough for the kids to get a direct entry into the Baby’s office. After listening to the story, BABY shook her head four to five times. Then she looked up towards the green-colored ceiling. Her face resembled some kind of tension. After couple of pauses, she again started shaking her head. Simi was finding it least amusing. Twinkle as usual had no reaction. Jimmy was trying to emulate the expressions of baby. Baby, though might be quite older to Jimmy, Jimmy couldn’t resist getting smitten her beauty! After a few twists and revolutions of shoulders and other unique histrionics, Baby screamed “FIVE!!!” Simi was wondering what did five mean! Simi started racking her brains to try and find the significance of five. She had read many novels. But none of them had mentioned about the importance of FIVE! Baby asked the kids to wait patiently for five minutes as she tried to establish contact with supernatural entities. Jimmy was gripped by all that was going on. Twinkle was expecting BABY to contact the latest superhero Krishnan. Perhaps he might have some knowledge of such a strange experience. Simi was constantly looking at her watch. It was 3 pm. She had to attend her Hindi tuitions. But she decided to stay back. Baby started speaking “My dear Twinkle, Almighty has given you a unique power called Banana power. You are THE BANANA GIRL. Whatever you write after eating a dozen of bananas, it will come true. But Lord has imparted this gift for a reason. I have tried hard to contact the HR department of all the supernatural companies, but no one is aware about any special motive. Once you fulfill that motive, your banana power will disappear and you will again become a normal girl.” Jimmy was listening to all this very keenly. Jimmy felt that BABY was manipulating the truth. But he remained mum. Jimmy felt that the Lordly motive would be to retire Madam Martha. Simi thought that the motive would have been Simi topping the merit list. Twinkle was quite. She wasn’t sure as to what this “motive” was. Jimmy quickly extrapolated the advantages that he would get because of the Banana power. Baby went on “This motive has been named as your karma. Every human born in this world is born for a reason. This karma of yours is your reason to live. Most of the people have a karma that isn’t that difficult to accomplish. But your work is very tough. Hence you have this BANANA power to assist you.” Jimmy said that since Twinkle wasn’t sure of her karma, she could keep feeding on bananas and keep trying till the time she attains her goal. This seemed a fair enough idea. But this is when the significance of FIVE was explained by Baby. She said, “Almighty doesn’t want you to misuse this power of yours. Hence you can use this “token” only five times. Out of which you have already used the power twice, though accidentally. So now you have three tokens and “karma”. You are the chosen one. You have to use your own discretion to decide your karma. Any wrong use of the power might cost you. IF you don’t achieve your karma and you run out of the power… aftermath can be very deadly. You might even die!”
Twinkle was absolutely flabbergasted. Banana power was this double edged sword. Twinkle asked KETKY BABY, if she could consult her every time before she thought of using before using the Banana power. BABY agreed.
Chapter 5: Karma
Next day in the class while students were busy trying to solve some trigonometry problems, Twinkle was busy trying to figure out what her karma could be. While getting ready for the school, she had witnessed a vociferous quarrel between Jay and Jenny. Perhaps the patch up between the parents could be one of her karmas. While she was in the dreamland, Jimmy was busy scanning the legs of the girl sitting ahead of her. Jimmy was pretty sure of his karma. His karma was to have a girlfriend.
February had started. Board exams were forty days away. Simi was pretty much sure of what her karma was. She wanted to score well and get listed in the merit list. From an outsider’s perspective, the motive of Simi seems quite understandable. After all a sixteen year old cant have any other challenge. But Jimmy’s feelings can’t be discounted. As the time ticks away the need for a companion arises in everyone. Jimmy needed someone special, who can listen to him, a person who can take care of him. Jimmy’s habits weren’t that of a gentleman. But he had a terrific liking for Twinkle. He liked this brown eyed girl. He had no specific reason for falling for Twinkle…perhaps this was his first love. He cared a lot about Twinkle. He helped Twinkle in her elusive search for her karma. He was her moral support. He also worked hard to convince Jay and Jenny about the genuineness of the banana power that Twinkle possessed. Simi had now become very busy. She used to study ten hours a day. In the evenings she met both her friends near the NIZAM KA MAKBABRA. She used to pray everyday.
Jenny was trying hard to save her marriage. Jay had totally changed. He did not argue these days, he refused to discuss things. He had totally refused to talk. The marriage was on the brink of a major upset. Jenny did not know what to do. She had said sorry and also agreed to make it up to Jay. Jay on the other hand, had few other plans for Jenny. On 16th February was the twentieth anniversary of the couple. Jay was setting up things for a huge bash. He wanted to surprise Jenny. He had forgiven Jenny and he himself was feeling guilty for not supporting Jenny. He was thinking of making a new start. Jay was putting on an act to purposely irk Jenny. Making others upset isn’t the right note from where a surprise can be planted, but then Jay was like that… he used to do weird things. The anniversary was four days away. Preparation had started…at least in Jay’s mind. The couple’s karma was to lift their relationship to a new high.
Meanwhile in VARNIK, captain Shiva had captured a twelve year old. He kept on slapping the boy for some time. After that he cut the ear of the boy. The boy was left unconscious on the ground. As soon as he regained his senses, Shiva attacked his eyes with a pointed and sharp weapon. After that, Shiva cut his body parts and ate them. The cruelty was such that it can’t be described in words. All the remains of the dead boy were put into the dead well. This was the sixteenth murder that Captain had committed. The karma of this devil was pretty much evident. His only aim was to kill the kids. The Rajasthan police was trying hard to trace down the criminal. But no concrete clues were obtained. The people of VARNIK were now terrified. They had stopped sending their children to the school. Parents did not want to jeopardize their kids. So many missing kids only meant one thing. A pedophile was at large and till the time he was not nabbed, parents weren’t going to take any risk. Schools of VARNIK were shut down due to fear of kidnappings. This made headlines of all the national dailies.
Simi was quick to make note of this. On thirteenth February, the class was about to go on a field trip to Rajasthan. Simi informed about the happenings to Madam Martha and was hoping that Madam would cancel the field trip. Simi had her personal motive over here. She did not want to go to this compulsory trip because she was losing 3 days on such a worthless trip. She wanted to sit at home and study. But Madam Martha was not going to budge. She pacified Simi saying that the trip was near JAIPUR and not in JAISELMER…the district in which VARNIK was located. Jimmy was keen to go on the trip. This would give him a nice opportunity to spend more time with Twinkle. Twinkle, however was in the world of hers, still unaware of her karma. She did not want to take any chances. She packed a special bag full of bananas, a few pages and her pen given by Jay at her fifteenth birthday. This was the Banana power-kit. Jay had asked Twinkle to be careful before using her powers. Jay had asked Jimmy to take care of Twinkle. This was a happy shock for Jimmy since he always felt that Jay considered him irresponsible.
Meanwhile, KEKTY baby was still trying to establish the super natural contacts to help Twinkle. On 13th February, the class left for three day trip to Rajasthan. Everyone had a fixed karma now…Simi wanted to use spare tome of her trip to study. Jimmy wanted to spend time with Twinkle. Twinkle wanted to find her karma. Jay wanted to make a new start. Jenny was thinking of new ways to repair the wounds of the marriage. KETKY BABY was busy with her work. Captain Shiva was on a look out for a new prey. Madam Martha’s instant karma was to finish the field trip and safely bring back all the kids on 16th Feb to the Secundrabad airport.
Chapter 6: 14nth Feb.
On reaching JAIPUR on the morning of the Valentine day, the bunch of forty students settled down in rooms allotted to them in the three-star hotel. This hotel, RAJPUT was located a few kilometers away from the main city of JAIPUR. JAIPUR boasted of some really classy forts, camels, and was rightfully termed Pink city since most of the architectural developments were pink in color. Madam Martha had given strict instructions to students,” Its 10:30 am. I want all of you to get ready by 11:30. We will go to the main town and will check out the fort of KUNWAR JAYSINGH. If any one is late, the bus will not wait for them. And they will have to remain alone till the evening.”
Jimmy heard these instructions intently and the devil mind of his started making some plan. What if everybody goes and Jimmy and Twinkle are left alone! This would give him a terrific chance to spend quality time with Twinkle and that too on a Valentine’s Day. But how would he achieve this? Simi and Twinkle were in the same room. Convincing both girls would be a mammoth task. Everybody had assembled in the courtyard at 11:25 am. Jimmy got a terrific idea. He called up to the office management and said that Ms. Twinkle had an urgent call from KETKY BABY. On being informed about this urgent call, Twinkle rushed into the hotel’s lobby. She felt that KETKY BABY would have found the solution to her puzzle. But this was only a trick. Twinkle fell for it. Simi meanwhile was waiting for Twinkle to return back in her room. Assuming that three of them had broken the discipline Madam decided to punish them by not allowing them to board the bus. Jimmy was so happy. But he made a puppy face in front of Madam Martha. Twinkle knew that there was no use of narrating the story to Madam Martha since Madam would consider this as one of her stories. The group left for JAIPUR leaving the three kids alone. Simi wasn’t complaining. This time would be used by her to finish her TELEGU chapters. Jimmy wasn’t complaining since he felt that he would get some time to spend with Twinkle. Twinkle was mad.
Twinkle suspected Jimmy behind the entire trick. She raised her eyebrows and spoke, “Why did you do this?” Jimmy felt the anger in her eyes and did not answer. Twinkle shouted, “Why the hell did you do this!!! I am asking you…?”
Jimmy remained mum. Twinkle’s frustration reached its peak. She wasn’t able to decipher her karma. Her parents weren’t leading a happy life. She had this weird super natural power which she was in no way enjoying. She had started hating bananas…In fit of rage the lava erupted and Twinkle started, “You are useless. You have no other work than trying to lure me. I am not going to get wooed by your tricks. I agree that you have been my nice friend but there is a certain limit. Here I am in such a grave situation and you are trying to take advantage of that. What the hell do you want…Why don’t you leave me alone?”
Unusually Jimmy smiled. He felt hurt but it was expected. He went to his room and sat down. Twinkle went to Simi and discussed the course of events. Simi for once stopped mugging her answers and keenly listened to Twinkle’s woes. After a few moments of pause, Simi said, “I think he loves you…hence he did that…” Twinkle wasn’t appreciating Simi’s remark. Even if Jimmy had fallen for her, she wasn’t thinking of having a boyfriend before she relinquishes her Banana power. That afternoon all three kids sat down and decided that they will find the motive irrespective of whatever it takes. Twinkle explained Jimmy that she wasn’t in love with him. Jimmy was shattered but dint over react. Jimmy took the heartbreak in quite a dignified manner. He decided to stay friends with Twinkle till the time she finishes her karma. Simi was a bit sympathetic with Jimmy.
At this unusual juncture, Jimmy got an idea. He said, “Twinkle, you still have three shots at using you power…right. Why don’t you use the first power to find out the motive?” This was quite a practical solution. It sounded pretty reasonable. Simi had her doubts, but Twinkle was excited. Twinkle decided to try out the idea suggested by Jimmy. But she called up KETKY BABY to take permission and some consultancy help. Even BABY agreed to the idea given by Jimmy. Twinkle bought her Banana bag and sat on the cozy sofa. She started eating bananas. Her pen and papers were put right besides her. Simi and Jimmy were observing keenly. After eating a dozen of bananas, Twinkle started feeling very drowsy. As she got up, she felt the world spinning around her. A crazy emotion ran through her brain. She saw the flashes of some bearded man, who looked like a devil. She felt that he was harassing small children. The moments lasted for about a few seconds. On regaining some sense after a minute or so, Twinkle felt normal. Twinkle promptly wrote on the paper “I wish to be notified my karma.” Nothing happened for two hours. It was then that Twinkle realized that her Banana power showed effect only the next day after which she had eaten bananas. When she had written that it would snow in Hyderabad, the next day it snowed. Same was the case with the absence of Madam Martha. Twinkle was shocked as to how KETKY BABY could forget about notifying about such an important aspect of her banana power. Meanwhile Jimmy and Simi were trying to decrypt about the bearded man. What could that mean? Why couldn’t BABY fail to explain the crazy emotion that Twinkle felt? Too many questions were driving all the three kids crazy. It was 7:30 pm. Madam Martha had returned to the hotel RAJPUT with other kids.
At night at the dinner table the three kids discussed their strategy. In the morning, they would find out the karma of Twinkle. Accordingly they will have to take steps to avoid being punished again my Madam Martha. The adrenaline was pumping. The very reason of the birth of Banana power wasn’t far away. Twinkle was getting anxious as the seconds ticked by. Meanwhile in VARNIK things weren’t smooth. Since four days, Captain Shiva wasn’t able to capture any prey. He was hungry and mad. So he left his royal palace in search of kids. His cannibalistic instincts had completely taken over the control from him. It was 10:30 at night when he saw a small kid playing near the streets of the royal palace. He could not resist. He went near the small boy and said, “Hey, I have got a lot of chocolates with me…Would you like to come to my place? We can share and eat them and have a lot of fun!” He was throwing the bait and the kid succumbed. As Captain Shiva lifted the kid and started strolling towards his palace, a huge cry came… “Where is my son??” The mother of the kid was shouting frantically. Shiva got scared by this and ran away from the site putting the kid down. This was an unsuccessful attempt. Shiva ran towards the VARNIK railway station. He decided to hide in one of the spare bogie of the train. This train was to be serviced the next morning. Captain realized that this was a safe place to hide, at least till the morning. But VARNIK cops did not waste any time to start an extensive search operation for Captain Shiva. Based on the description given by the young kid, the sketches were made. In all the newspapers the sketch was given for printing.
Captain was in a hideout; Twinkle wasn’t able to sleep the whole night in anticipation of her karma. Simi was awake with Twinkle trying to crack a few Geometry problems. Jimmy was thinking of options he had since Twinkle had turned him down! Jenny was up the whole night, still depressed. Madam Martha could not catch any sleep since she was constantly wary of kids like Jimmy who would trouble other people of the hotel at the night by knocking on their doors. Cops had started their extensive search. 15th Feb was going to be a very eventful day.
Chapter 7: Ride to VARNIK
At 7:30 am on 15th morning, three kids met at the breakfast table. Another problem was facing the trio. The news of karma will definitely come, but by what means? Will TV news channel flash the news? Will the newspaper bring in the information? Will they have to keep their ear on the radio? Will any new edition of magazine publish? Other problem the team was facing was how will they realize that a particular article is the motive and not any other article? Too many questions were enough to make the Banana girl angry.
As Simi picked up the newspaper from the lobby, she was shocked to read the headlines; “Child-hunter on the run.” Simi had been tracking the news right from a long time. She looked at the sketch of the wanted man. That did not ring any bells with her. But she decided to inform Jimmy and Twinkle about this. On seeing the sketch of the wanted man, Twinkle was gripped by the very same crazy emotion that she had felt when she experienced the Banana power.
The world was turning around her. She saw the flashes of the same man killing small innocent children. Jimmy was thinking of various possibilities. He recollected the words of KETKY BABY; "My dear Twinkle, you have been blessed with the BANANA power because your karma is more difficult than others!” Twinkle regained her senses after a minute. Simi was wondering as to why Twinkle felt that crazy emotion even though she had not had her quota of bananas. BANANA girl, Jimmy and Simi were once again completely perplexed. They were not sure as to what should they interpret from this. Frantic calls were made to MIDC office of KETKY BABY. No satisfactory solution was offered by Hyderabad’s support team. Twinkle called Jay for some moral support when Jay talked extensively about KETKY BABY. The people from Mysterionics University in London had come to Hyderabad. They were in search of a super power which would help them destroy “CARTOHOL.” CARTOHOL was this sphere made up of inert gases like neon, argon and xenon. The chemical composition of this was such that when this compound came into the hands of some highly qualified witch or magician, they could manipulate CARTOHOL to develop a hotline contact with people in hell. This power could be used extensively to rule the world. The Mysterionics team had got strong clues that the owner of CARTOHOL and divine power to destroy it were both present in Hyderabad. Twinkle wasn’t thinking of CARTOHOL at all. Her focus was VARNIK.
BANANA girl had to take the decision. This wasn’t any of her creative stories where she could experiment. She had to be quick. The circumstances were pretty much what she disliked. She always hated working under pressure and always avoided. This was definitely what she had learnt while she was working on her book as to how brain works. Time had come when Banana girl had to stand up and be counted. She thought hard for a long time and finally decided. The trio had to go to VARNIK. Logic behind the decision was petty much clear. The sketch and the flash-man that BANANA girl had seen were virtually same. Two shots of BANANA power were remaining with her. She reasoned that if they go to VARNIK, they will certainly become assured of the karma- “Killing the child hunter” This was the tentative karma that the trio eventually finalized. The clock was ticking. It was 1 am. VARNIK was 3 hours away from the RAJPUT hotel. But the lunch tie had started. It would be very difficult for the kids to escape the sharp vigil of Madam Martha. But Jimmy once again came up with a nice idea. He made a hoax call at the hotel lobby saying that Madam Martha should immediately contact the school’s principal. This was enough for the trio to escape. The plane to Secundrabad was about to leave from Jaiselmer airport at 4 am on 16th morning.
The kids boarded a bus to VARNIK. As the journey started, Twinkle started reliving all the incidents of past few months. How her family had come to Hyderabad, How unusual banana power gripped her. She was finding it way too complicated to gulp. Why couldn’t KETKY baby give the full description of Banana power despite being such a great witch? Why was Jay talking so much about CARTOHOL? Why did baby fail to describe about the child hunter? Was capturing the child-hunter a difficult work? Weren’t cops good enough to nab the killer? How can this be the karma? Why was Madam Martha so behaving rudely with the trio? Too many questions were bugging the BANANA girl. At 5 pm the trio reached VARNIK bus stop.
Jimmy was too tired to use his brains. Simi was very happy to finish her algebra in the bus. Twinkle’s brain was racing. She called up KETKY BABY and said, “Madam, I feel that the man who I see in my flash and the man in the sketch are the same; this man is the child-butcher. I think I know my karma now. I think its finishing this child hunter. Madam I have thought long and hard about this? What do you think?” After a pause, baby spoke “Give me a call in five minutes and I will let you know whether or not you should go ahead and use your token.” After five minutes Twinkle again called back the baby. KETKY said “I have talked to the super natural body’s chairman and he has said that your motive is pretty much on target. BUT he has given a warning. This is the last time you should use your banana power. If you use it again, you might die.”
Twinkle discussed this with Simi and Jimmy. Jimmy was angry with Twinkle. He reasoned that if Twinkle wanted to use forth token to kill the child hunter, why did they have to come to VARNIK; she could have very well taken this decision at RAJPUT hotel. Twinkle was again confused. Well she eventually did accept her mistake for taking a useless trip. She decided to use her BANANA power. She gulped loads of bananas and felt the crazy emotion that she was now used to. She wrote down on the paper, “Kill the CHILD-HUNTER.” At 6 pm in the evening, the trio left again for Jaiselmer airport. They reached at 10 pm where Madam Martha was waiting for them. Madam lost her cool on seeing the three kids. She shouted, “Where the hell had you all been?” Jimmy started making a few stories but Twinkle wasn’t paying attention to all this. She was feeling so relieved that her banana power was over and done with. She knew that next morning the child hunter would be dead and her life would be back to normal. She was so happy. On 16th Feb, her parents would celebrate their anniversary and hopefully would patch up. Twinkle was anticipating a lot of happiness.
At 12:01 am in the morning Twinkle called up at her home to wish Jay and Jenny. The phone rang as Jay picked it up. “Happy anniversary!” said Twinkle.
However what Jay said shocked Twinkle. The team from London had got a confirm news that CARTOHOL had fell in some evil hands and that those evils would get the control of the world in next fifteen hours. Twinkle did not know what to do. Had she got her decision of Karma wrong? Jimmy was equally shocked on hearing this. The thought of world in evil hands crippled Simi. It wouldn’t be easy to top the merit list if papers were to be evaluated by evils!!!
Things had gone wrong. But Twinkle’s life was at stake. CARTOHOL, was about to ruin the whole world. Perhaps this was the final karma. Now Twinkle saw herself in huge trouble.
Meanwhile at 12:10 am, Martha was still screaming at Simi. She said “Why the hell in this world did you have to go to VARNIK?” As usual Simi wasn’t paying too much of attention to what Martha was shouting. But a bell rang in the mind of Jimmy. How did Madam Martha come to know that that trio had been to VARNIK! Things started clearing. Jimmy realized a huge conspiracy. Jimmy snapped and immediately asked Madam Martha “We weren’t in VARNIK, who told you so?” The answer that Madam Martha gave in the fit of her rage swept the earth beneath the Jimmy’s feet. At 12:30 Twinkle made a final call to KETKY BABY. She said that CARTOHOL was about to jeopardize the entire world. KETKY said that now Twinkle couldn’t do anything since her banana power was finished. BABY told, “I will try to trace the witch who has got the hold of CARTOHOL. You don’t use your banana power. I have talked to super natural department, they have said that your power might clash with the might strength of CARTOHOL and the reaction would be so lethal that the entire world would be set on fire…No one will survive”
BANANA girl grinned. Jigsaw was solved. She bought her banana bag and without adhering to the advice of KETKY baby, used the last and fifth token.
Chapter 8: Captain’s death
AT 6 am on 16th Feb, the class reached Secundrabad. To Twinkle’s surprise her parents had come to receive her. Jay and Jenny were holding each others hands and did not show and signs of any discomfort between them. On 16th night Jay had planned this huge surprise party for Jenny. Jay always liked surprising people. But this was a major one. Jenny was swept of her as the couple danced the whole night. Jay apologized for his mistakes and the couple patched up. They really had a fabulous night.
As usual when Simi reached her home and picked the newspaper she wasn’t surprised to read that the child hunter had died. On reading further, she realized that the killer’s name was Captain Shiva. This was expected since she knew that Twinkle had used her Banana power to kill the brutal captain. But what followed on TV after a couple of hours was even something that Simi had not thought of even in her wildest dreams. Star News channel was showing this interview in which the officers from the Mysterionics University were quoted saying, the all destructive gas CARTOHOL had been neutralized and the witch who planned to use CARTOHOL against the world had been nabbed.
Jay and Jenny were shocked to hear the name of the witch. Banana girl was sitting calmly on her sofa giving an expression which meant that her job was done. KETKY baby was the evil witch who had got her hands on CARTOHOL. The whole night in the plane, Jimmy and Twinkle had solved the entire mystery. Martha had named KETKY BABY when Jimmy asked her about who had told her about the whereabouts of the trio. This meant that there was some contact between KETKY BABY and Madam Martha. KETKY always knew about some weird supernatural power, the day she saw snow on the Hyderabad streets. When Madam Martha had gone to KEKTY baby for some help when she had suddenly fell ill, KETKY’S intuition got even more boost. Then eventually Banana girl had played into her hands when she herself showed up at BABYS office. KETKY always knew that the banana power was meant to crush her CARTOHOL. But she refused to mention about this. Instead she made an excuse about some karma. She confused Twinkle by not letting her know the full potential of her power. When Twinkle called her up from VARNIK, BABY purposely said that this was the last time when she could use her power. All the while BABY knew that Twinkle won’t use her banana power without her permission. She always knew that only way to avoid Twinkle knowing about the CARTOHOL was to keep her away from Hyderabad. So she asked Madam Martha to take the kids to Rajasthan. Martha was given the duty to continually track the movements of the trio. KEKTY knew that it was all a question of one day. On 16th she was going to become the owner of CARTOHOL and become the ruler of the world. So she again lied to Twinkle the previous night when she said that banana power and CARTOHOL’S power would destroy the world. All was working very well but for one mistake made by Martha which was picked up by the alert mind of Jimmy. Twinkle had done a lot of research on how the human brain works. KETKY BABY was very close to achieve her devilish goals. Her voice did not give positive vibes to Twinkle. Twinkle concluded that KETKY was lying. So she had a discussion with Jimmy and eventually did decide to use her 5th token. She felt that her karma was to save world from CARTOHOL and expose the culprit. This is what she wrote, and rest was history. Banana girl proved once again that super power doesn’t lie in using the gift but knowing how to use it.
Soon Banana girl became famous in entire Hyderabad. Madam Martha was put behind bars. Jay and Jimmy were living very happily. Simi topped the exams held in May. Banana girl had lost her banana powers and was happy eating loads of bananas. She faired averagely in her exams. Jimmy performed better that Twinkle in exams thanks to the scholar student whose roll number preceded Jimmy’s. Jimmy could not strike the cord with Twinkle and hence he was on his merry way. He was on a look out for a new Twinkle that would light up his heart.
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