The Green-inspire Tunnel

It was beyond exciting! Many of them had started imagining the fun the moment their teacher stopped announcing that they were going to have an overnight trip to the distant beach. For two nights, all the classmates will stay together! It was not just an overnight trip, or some hours of beach playing. Going to a school overnight trip for two days and nights together with all the classmates was a wholly new experience for them. Moreover, their teachers have promised them an exciting surprise. No one among them had visited that beach ever. 

 Arusha was particularly more excited than anyone, because she had heard a few interesting stories about that mystical town. She had heard and read that strange tribes live there, she would love to have a glimpse of them. She couldn’t just stop from day dreaming the adventure! 

 The day finally came. Everyone gathered at the basement. Each one's face shone brightly. Finally, the teacher's voice made everyone's attention gather towards her, ' Listen my dear students, let me narrate our itinerary: Tonight we will depart. Tomorrow, in the morning, we will reach there. We will be staying there for a day, and leaving the morning after that. So we will reach here by afternoon then. That place...is a bit unknown to us. I have some information from the letter I received, but I have never been there before. And you must remember that it is not going to be a trip...it is an adventure! And that eagerness was no longer waited. The group of children were led to the corner of the school basement floor. Mysteriously, a door popped out, which no one had seen before. It seemed like a tunnel opening there. And at the opening stood a bus like tram with sleeping beds. That tram was strange: it was not even half the size of average human height. It seemed that one could only sleep if he or she wants to be inside the tram. It was soon realised that the tram was short because the tunnel was very low. No one understood why it was like this. 

 Arusha was to sleep with Aisha. She wanted to talk about what she had read and heard: strange things about the strange town to Aisha,' Well, Aisha, you may be surprised to know that where we are going is an inspirational place!’ 

 ‘What? But how do you know it? And what exactly do you mean by “ inspirational”?, popped out a question.  

 ‘When I went to work for the NGO, fighting the climate crises, that one which I mentioned to you earlier, I overheard two other friends internally talking, about some town called Green-inspire. There lives some kind of people who every four monthly invites children of different schools to visit their own place and explore it, but always puts one condition of not revealing the place to the public. It is strange, isn’t it? Our teacher also talked about some kind of invitation from strange people, and see, she is not revealing a bit of it in front of other teachers. The only information she has given to our parents is that we are going on an overnight trip to learn different things, and how to “live cleanly”. I don’t know what that means. I guess, we may be going there, though I am not sure enough. I wonder what will we do if we are going to that very place and we are put by them in a similar condition.’ 

 ‘I think they have some solution to that, because we aren’t the first group to go there. And who knows we are going there only? Whatever it is, it will be fun, I suppose.’ Aisha gave an optimistic answer as she was. By the time, everyone had almost slept, except those two excited girls. They wanted to be awake if they could, to see what is the way that led to the town. However, they couldn’t keep themselves from from sleeping, even with so much excitement! 

 After the tram started, they saw that they were being led into the a long tunnel. The teacher knew it would take almost seven hours, by the letter she mystically received from the leader of the people that lived there. They woke up as they arrived. Though they were still in the tram. And the windows were too dirty to look out. The teacher said that they will be able to watch outside when everyone wakes up. 

 After a couple of minutes, the tram door opened. A woman from that tribe gave the warmest welcome she could possibly give. She exclaimed,' Oh what wonderful faces do I see today! Welcome... Good morning, Ms. Harissa, I guess you hadn’t had any serious difficulties reaching! Also, I ensure you that you will be enchanted to be here. This certainly won't be any waste of time!’  

‘Oh! Thank you. We are looking forward to it,’ she said. 

 Adventurous legs and excited minds stepped out at the wink of an eye along with their teacher. The tram again went into the tunnel. They were so astonished to see that the indigenous people live almost like normal civilized society,the word 'tribe' won't exactly describe them, though the community settlement was a bit different so they were allowed to roam and discover the place till evening. They were also asked to feel free to ask questions of their lifestyle. The teacher declared the name of this community: the Green-inspire community.  

There were many things to feel strange for. Like they used electricity – but had only carbon dioxide emmision-free sources like windmills and solar panels to produce that. Everyone had a question of how did they transport the windmill and solar panels to such a remote place. Some thought it was by sea route, since there’s a beach. But they were informed by one of the Green-inspire person, ’ When you reach a bit far in the sea, you see a great wall staring it front of you. We tried to see over it, and we saw another stretch of the sea. We tried to break the wall, but we couldn’t, it’s too strong. So what our leader thought was to call some engineers with the materials that we couldn’t get here, by the rare tunnel route, and eventually, made the windmills and solar panels, right here! It took months, since we had to be educated about that matter, but we completed it at the end. So now we can enjoy the fun of electricity without any harmful or disastrous emissions. We don’t usually need as much electricity as general civilized people do, since we don’t have refrigerators and air conditioners. We use green practices for preserving food.’ 
This also made them ask another question: ‘How do you cook food? Because being emission-free means being LPG and stove free, right?' 

 So they answered that they used solar cookers since there was abundant sunlight. They were placed at the beach. They had set up their little cloth mill and everyone was seen wearing simple cotton clothes because manufacturing synthetic fibres create too much of pollution Their footwear was beautifully made from recycled waste. The girls saw that they didn’t have much population there, so they didn’t need any mode of transportation. Though they suggested that if problem arises, they will find something. Aisha remembered bicycles. 

 Eventually, they had a description of the whole lifestyle there. By the time, all of them were very tired. So they stopped and asked them to take rest with them. Some families offered meals as it was beyond lunchtime. And everyone ate like they were hungry from ages! In spite of living in lush green forest with prosperous coast, they were, interestingly, vegetarian. They also had practiced agriculture. For vegetables and herbs, they had kitchen gardens beside their houses. It was not much time left for the evening to arrive by then. And the teacher announced that they were going to play in the beach as soon as the evening approaches. So when it approached, Arusha and Aisha jumped up from the makeshift bed, made of recycled waste materials. They also saw many tanks used for rain water harvesting nearby. It was like a dream town for environment friendly people like Arusha and Aisha! 

The beach was not so near, as told by one of the Green-inspire people, because it will take a few kilometres for the land to change from forest like fertile to coastal, but a walk to there was not at all tiring, because of the magnificent landscapes and views it offered. They also saw something like a wastewater treatment plant, and when they inquired about it to a person standing there, it was the same. They found out that it was being made from the raw components and the associated engineers were transported with the same idea that the windmills were, though the manufacturing system was a bit indigenous. Everything they saw was exquisite enough to let them keep going. And when they finally reached the beach and started playing there, one more shocking fact was waiting for them: The sand at the beach appeared like sand when it was dry, but the moment it touched water and air together, it started acting like clay that can be moulded into different shapes and things. This added to everyone's excitement. An artistic girl among them was on top on the world. Another girl remembered the words of the teacher, ‘She promised us for some surprises, right? Maybe, this is one!’ Another one recalled that she had seen many earthen utensils when they were roaming.  

So, when they were really satisfied with the surprise and the beach, they made their way back to the community settlement of the Green-inspire. They asked to play with the Green-inspire children and had an enjoyable time. After dinner, everyone was informed to choose the place where they would sleep. After all, they loved the people, their welcoming and friendly nature as well as the idea of living in a luxurious but emissions-free, green world. Who wouldn’t be impressed by such things! 

 But a question stuck in Arusha's mind,' If they want to live like this, why aren’t they exposing their identity to the outside civilized world? Why are they letting only a few people to explore, why not anyone?’ She couldn’t bear the curiosity, so she went ahead and asked their leader.  

And what the leader spoke seemed like a story: 'Twenty years ago, one businessman and a fossil fuel company found that this place has abundant amounts coal, oil and natural gas inside it's surface. They wanted to take it out and make the air of the Earth dirtier and release harmful greenhouse gases reponsible for climate change. We won't let that happen, because how could that happen? We were twenty people and we stuck to our decision. We wished that there must be some force who will let us stay here and avoid the invaders to come and ruin our home. The next morning we saw what you see today: no straightforward route to come here, protected by all sides. Still the tunnel doesn't allow whosoever, who is the villain of the planet, to enter this land. The tunnel that you came from also gets closed for four months after staying open for two days, to maintain good security and change its way. That is also built very low to disturb the least possible soil creatures. There are strong winds always blowing around this town and after you reach a certain distance there is a barrier in air which can only be trespassed by areal creatures for their and our protection. 

 ‘You children are invited here because we hope that you will do everything you could to save the ecosystems and also wake the people up and remind the policymakers of the not-so-discussed yet deadly climate crises, caused by global-warming. It happens because of burning of fossil-fuels. You can find more about it. It is worse than you can think. Just because it is not happening at some particular place or at some particular time, it doesn’t mean that it is not happening at all or will never happen. People cannot take “their home” for granted, its too much now! 

 ‘If we go to the civilization and declare this land to the public, they will increase ruin it. You also have to promise that you don’t reveal that secret to anyone. Without my permission. When you'll wake up tomorrow, we will provide you with magical badges which will guide you whom to tell about this place and whom not to.’  

Then, Arusha went directly to sleep with the other children. Many knew the rules about the tunnel, that it will only be opened till tomorrow morning for them, and that the sea route and the air route are not opened. Though it was only Arusha who knew the story behind it. 

 The morning came. The planned itinary was that a tram would come through the tunnel to pick them up. It would be early in the morning. At the noon, the tunnel gates would be closed for the next four months and the tunnel route would magically change to the next school. They won’t be able to go to their home ever after. Of course, they could land in another school and reach to their school from that school, but the thin tram would already be full. 

 The teacher woke up everyone in the morning. But she couldn’t find where Arusha and Aisha were. So she informed it to the Green-inspire people. And how helpful they were – all their adults were ready to go and find them! While the teacher waited for their tram. Then started the real problem. 

 Two hours passed by but neither did the tram came nor those girls! Worries encircled around them. The indigenous people didn’t come either. They have to anyway get out by the noon or else they would be in great trouble! But how would they? The time was ticking. Nor could they ask the Green-inspire for help as they weren’t there. Just then, Arusha and Aisha came, but not the Green-inspire people. Maybe they have not found the girls and the girls came by themselves. They said that they had gone to discover more green ideas, if there were, so that they could apply where it can be needed for an even greener life. 

The time passed by, but still no signs of the tram! So, everyone was sitting around the tunnel, depressed, hopeless and sad. Arusha and Aisha liked the land. They wanted to stay, but they also wanted to go back and make changes in their community, because the tunnel would have changed the route to some other school. What other option do they have? They couldn’t walk through, if travelling by tram could take seven hours, walking?!!!!! And the tunnel roof is very low for them to stand straight. Even the tram was very low, they couldn’t stand in it, they could only sleep. Everyone with their bags was waiting for the tram beside the tunnel.  

Suddenly, the teacher lost hold of the bag she had and… to utter surprise, the bag went far…far away, until it finally disappeared from their sight. What was that?! The tunnel wasn’t steep down, it shouldn’t be gravity. It was something else! Something magical! After everyone was a bit out of shock, a Green-inspire child came and asked ( children didn’t go to find those girls – they were sleeping then), 'What has happened? Could I help you?’ 

 And the teacher spoke, 'We are very confused. See, one of my bags just accidentally fell into the tunnel and it went on and on, until it disappeared far. How could that happen? Have I lost my bag forever? And also, the tram that was to come hasn’t come since ages. And we are very worried. We know we couldn’t stay here for four months continuously, right? The sooner we get to our home, the sooner we can wake everyone up about your methods of living. But,how do we do that? Is there a way could we get out?’ 

 ‘'Oh! So, this will be the answer, listen,: that could happen because of a magical phenomenon of this tunnel. You know that you have to reach your home at time, you will need the special tram to do it…until the last four hours before closing. At that time, exactly for situations like this, something in the tunnel have a pulling force from the other end. Like there is wind which is pulling you, or sucking you to the other end. We call it the Green-inspire force. So, the bag went that way. And you can go that way too! Though it would take four hours for you reach there. But you have to start right now, or it will be late, as very little time is left. So, quickly get ready. I think the most fearless must go first and then everyone would follow because of little soil problems.’ At first, the teacher came forward. But adventurous Arusha and Aisha requested her to let them go first… she agreed because she could take care of them from behind better. 

 At the same moment, the Green-inspire people came back to inform that they haven’t found the girls, but as they arrived, they saw that the girls had already come there. And came to know that they were leaving. The leader gave that magical badge to everyone. 

          'Happy journey back!’ They all bid farewell and off they went. Inside the tunnel, it was like a ‘soil-slide ride'. So swift with the force at a uniform speed that everyone actually slept! So  when they finally woke up, exactly when they reached, they discovered that their clothes were  covered with dirt everywhere. But that could be easily solved: they always kept one pair of uniforms already at school store for rainy days. They could wear those and get back to their parents! 

An Ingredient for the Ant

‘Whoopee,’ screamed Spejadu, a witch. She was cursed to live far off in the woods by her cruel uncle (who lived in another forest.) She again screamed, ‘Whoopee, I have made it.’ She had produced a wonderful spell to make things bigger by size (not by age!) But it could only be used on living things. It couldn’t have any effect on non-living things.

This spell qua spell is surely a mixture of 5 ingredients:

1)    Bamboo (because it grows very fast)

2)    Dead silk moth (it also grows a lot in one of its stages)

3)    Balloon (it tremendously inflates bigger)

4)    Dead elephant’s flesh (it is a huge animal)

5)    Elastic (it stretches a lot)

Her spells have a rule to be only of 5 ingredients.

            She brought a coconut shell – cut it off in a shape of what we call as a wok. She mixed all these ingredients, set up a fire and boiled all of them in hot, boiling water. After an hour or two, after chanting her magical Mantra (also called incantations) on the mixture, she put out the fire. And that’s how she made her spell.

            Now, she tested it upon her favourite thing: a flower. One drop of that spell would make a living thing three times bigger! She carefully and hopefully put exactly one drop of it on the flower (it was not plucked). And then…the flower grew…bigger…bigger…and bigger… till it was three times its original size! Spejadu plucked it. She was beyond SURPRISED and she was also ECSTASTIC. She was over the moon!

            Spejadu knows English and Hindi languages. She then took a piece of flattened wood and carved in Hindi which translates in English as:

My 100^th try of any spell and today…yes, today, I have made first ever totally successful spell!

                                                HURRAH!

            Soon, stars and darkness occupied the sky. She had made a bottle and its lid for the spell just after carving. But now, she couldn’t find the lid. She also couldn’t come out in the dark and find another piece. She had her hut built by her uncle and lived inside it. If she would come out, creepy-crawlies and deadly predators would be waiting for her. She decided to let the bottle be open for one night and planned to find the lid for it the next morning. Or else will make a new one.

            Spejadu woke up. Her dim, sleepy eyes could see something getting bigger. At first, she considered it as a dream. Then discovered it is not her dream actually. Some black and weird creature was growing bigger and bigger. When she saw it clearly, she screamed, ’Ant! Of this size? How???’

            She discovered that while she was waking up, her leg hit that bottle which was without its lid, and that bottle, full with spell, fell on an ant crawling nearby. One drop of it could make one three times bigger. The bottle had delivered at least 50 drops. So, the ant turned 150 times bigger than its original size! And imagine the size of the eggs the ant might lay. It would start new species of ants!

            Before any more spell could be delivered to that already huge ant, she quickly took the bottle with the little spell left in it, about just 2-4 drops.

            She was so scared of that ant-giant that she could think of nothing but running away to some other part of the forest. She took the bottle and made a lid on her way. She remembered her carving. She took it too.

            Reaching to a safer place, she was so much hungry. There was only one fruit tree there, bearing only one tiny baby coconut. That was not enough for her. And also, she considered a crime to sacrifice animals for her hunger.

            Suddenly, her eyes gleamed up with an idea. She put the little spell left on the coconut and then, plucked it off from the tree. That was enough for her and her stomach. She built up a fire and a shelter as the night approached. She slept.

            In her dream, the sight of her cruel uncle came! He warned, ‘Spejadu, you have only three nights to stay in this area. My curse says that you have to live in the hut only. Think of a solution in three nights to rid of that ant. If you don’t move away from here, you would be a slave to a cruel human in the human world and you will lose all your spell making powers by the next sunrise!’

            She was terrified after his dream. She thought she would kill that ant. But no…ants also have lives like her. She probably had to make a spell to make living things get smaller. And that too, in proper amount for not doing anything disastrous again!

            She thought about its ingredients. But, could not think anything she can find in the forest. Not even a single one. So making this was going to be difficult in just three days’ time.

            She wondered the whole day how can she go to the human world without being specially noticed or recognised. Night conquered the land. She hardly lit a fire and slept in the shelter built the day before as she was tired of thinking.

            Her eyes welcomed the next morning, means one night passed and only two left. With a fresh mind, she got an idea how to go to the human world. She now remembered how she got balloon and elastic for the previous spell: by getting her uncle’s permission through a special communication device for disguising as a human, then doing all the work under his supervision within limited time.

            Her uncle gave her the permission to go and come within one hour. She clicked her fingers and closed her eyes. In a matter of seconds, she found herself in a market with lot of people around. Great shops stood on either sides of her. Every shop had one or more shopkeepers.  On the banner above each shop read what did the shop has. Some also had sales and some were of more than of one storey. The people stood around were men, women and children. She checked her pockets and found some money enough to buy the ingredients.

The stationary shop appeared first. She bought an eraser (because it shortens) and a pencil (it also shortens on use).

She walked further and also bought a candle and soap. One hour was about to get over then. She had already bought four ingredients, but one is still remaining. She could not think of anything else as an ingredient suitable for the spell. So at last she had:

1)    An eraser

2)    A pencil

3)    A candle

4)    A soap

            Soon, one hour along with all the money she had was over and Spejadu found herself back in the forest near her recently made shelter. Reaching there, she discovered the sun setting. So, she made a fire and sighed, ‘Heaven knows when I will make the spell. What could be the fifth ingredient? I have to find one soon. There is only one night left.’ Her eyes were too tired now, so she hit the sack.

            Morning came. Spejadu got up. She ate some food which she bought on her way the last day. She then wandered into the forest if she could still find something as the fifth ingredient. Hours pass like this.

            After sometime, when she was sitting on a rock, she heard some branches thing moved and shaken. Surprised, she saw a man coming! Both stared at each other for some seconds in astonishment. Spejadu stammered, ’Who-o a-are y-you?’

            The man asked, ‘Who are you first?’

            ‘I am Spejadu. And you?’

            ‘I am Devank. And I have come here for a forest adventure with my other friends. They are there – behind the tree, see there.’

            ‘What? Forest adventure?

            ‘Means we just come to explore and know the terrain. Just to know what can we really do. We enjoy doing these things. Walking on the forest floor is one of our favourite things. What are you doing here?’

            ‘Actually, I’m living a little away. And I’m actually…a witch. You won’t believe me but I can prove. I can make spells.’ Spejadu exclaimed!

            ‘Don’t lie. It is just in stories. Besides, I am not a fool!’

            ‘You don’t believe me? Let me show it. Now, I will click my fingers and my dress will be changed, you see. And after that if you still will not believe me, I can do some more magic!’

            She did the same and her dress changed. She also showed her special communication device and Devank had to believe his eyes. She narrated her whole story of living in the forest alone, which really astonished him. ‘But’, warned Spejadu, ’don’t ever reveal my identity to the outside human world, or else you will be in great trouble.’

            He swore he would obey.

            ‘Now’, she narrated, ‘I am making a spell to make living things shorter by size. I have accidently made an ant too big by another spell. I have to prepare a spell to make it shorter by size. I only have one last night left. Or else my uncle will make me a slave of a cruel human in the human world. I cannot think of its last ingredient. Do you know anything suitable? Any ingredient? I have to find something before tonight.’

            ‘Let me think,’ he said and started moving here and there thinking. He saw a plank of wood which gave rise to an idea in his mind! He exclaimed, ‘So, Spejadu, I’ve got an idea!’

            ‘Which idea? Tell me quickly.’

            ‘It’s humans.’

            ‘Humans? How?’

            ‘It is true that many organisations conserve trees. But still, many people, including my family members, don’t even care about them. Their thinking is getting shorter towards nature. They think nature is dangerous so they exploit it. They say that they can’t maintain a lawn or anything. And I usually say, “If you can take care of your house, why not this?” You can have dead human brain your ingredient.’

She asked her uncle and then, went to a cemetery disappearing into thin air. She took out a brain magically from a recently dead body. She washed the brain with a liquid and took that liquid (not the brain!) for the spell.

Back into the forest the third night approached. She made her spell and also made another carving like the first time.

I’ve found a solution…Yeah! Now, I wouldn’t be a slave! And uncle will get defeated!

I made another spell to make living things shorter. I’m again ECSTATIC. Hurrah!!!

She reached back at the hut at midnight.  She carefully lit a lantern and a fire to find that ant-giant. Devank said that after all is settled he`ll go with his friends back to his home.

            She searched for eggs the ant giant may have lain to shrink them. There were no eggs. Moving further to the room where there was the ant giant, she was more horrified the ever.

            Soon, she saw the ant-giant and slowly and carefully put drops of the spell. But, to her surprise, the ant did not shrink! Spejadu said, ‘No, my spell couldn’t have failed! Let me try on that flower blossomed on that tree. She did and the flower shrank a lot as compared to that tree (it was not plucked). Why isn’t the ant shrinking?

Devank said, ‘You told me it is affected only on living things, right? May be…what I think is…’

‘What do you think?’ Spejadu questioned curiously.

‘I think that the spell’s not working because the ant may be dead.’ They both touched the ant frighteningly.

Spejadu answered, ‘Yes, I also think it is dead’, the then laughed, ‘If I already knew this was going to happen, I wouldn’t have spent three long nights and days!’