88 Village life

Sharp yells and grunts disturbed the peaceful dawn in the rural neighbourhood as a group of young men exercised fervently while their muscles sweat profusely. Twenty figures possessing fit physiques could be seen doing a variety of exercises in the rosy glow of the morning light. Muscles taut, veins swelling, sharp breath intakes followed by rapid breathing has become the norm for these youth during daybreak, since the past few weeks.

Thomas and the others had to run five kilometres every morning followed by a gruelling regime of weight lifting exercises. The fresh and pure village environment really brought out the best results in contrast to the city's low-quality air. Aditya had bought a home in this village which was sold by an old couple moving to live in the city with their children and grandchildren.

It was a traditional south Indian home which attracted Aditya very much. One had to know that Aditya was a total stranger to living in the countryside. His paternal grandfather, who had lived in a village, had died when Aditya was just a small kid. He did not know anything about his maternal family as he had no contact with them. So, he never got a chance to live in a village, even for a few days. But from the past few weeks, Aditya had become addicted to this atmosphere.

The most eye-catching thing that Aditya had observed in the village was the relaxed pace with which everyone went about their lives. No one was in a hurry to accomplish targets in the face of looming deadlines, No one had to fight for their space in a tight competition for survival. Though the villagers themselves were poor by all economic parameters, Aditya felt that these people had a very important lesson for those people who pursued more and more wealth in the name of happiness.

Aditya liked the home which he had bought as the residence of 'Rudra'. It was an old building whose walls were built by sun-baked bricks and the roof was laid with terracotta tiles which prevented heat from seeping in. Large, ornate wooden pillars supported the roof. The floor was painted with red oxide which also helped in keeping the interior cool. As the temperatures in South India were high, these old designs were meant to guarantee low temperatures without having to utilize air conditioners or other sophisticated equipment. As it was still winter, Aditya did not plan on making any changes but if the summer turned out to be too hot, then he did not mind making the required modifications.

Aditya had gone on a buying spree in this village where he bought lands and houses around this home as well for the others to live in. The farmland was rented though as the owner was not willing to sell. Aditya was in the process of searching for farmlands to buy as well but the cost was a little unbearable for him, until yesterday night. With the gold they got, it would be possible now.

Aditya also built a semi-open gym with a thatched roof in a neighbouring land with all the required equipment for his followers' fitness necessities. He got the other villagers to take care of these people's diet as he did not want to bare the hassle of hiring cooks in this rural area. He agreed to pay for everything and also added a generous amount of money for the invested labour.

Aditya observed that these people were not as enthusiastic about making money as they were in making new acquaintances. He also observed that women gathered together in one place in the evening to gossip and watch soap operas while the men would play cards while discussing stuff like climate, crop varieties and local politics.

Coming back to the new ability, the new application that Tya had discovered as a part of 'Cellular Regulation' was that he was able to utilize various types of Aditya's cells into measuring instruments. As Tya was able to clearly see inside Aditya's cells, it was able to know all the molecules, chemicals, biochemicals, their structures, origins, quantities and the effects they had on the cell as well as on the human body as a whole. Though Aditya had read about some amazing facts of the human body when he studied Hamsa's medical textbooks, the experience of 'seeing' them was very different and enlightening.

He saw the intricate and sophisticated distribution of 60,000 miles of blood vessels in his body, all the nerve centres were visible to him along with their target organs. This was the reason that Aditya was able to get hold of the right pressure points to either torture a person or relax his body by massaging the strained parts accurately.

Tya knew each and every function of the 37.2 trillion cells in his body. It also told Aditya that his body was home to foreign micro-organisms whose population was actually more than his own cells which made Aditya feel weird as if he was a camper van to these microbe 'passengers'. The dark energy had not penetrated these microbes so Tya was not fully knowledgeable about these bacteria which were actually friendly and beneficial to Aditya's body.

Tya was also studying the impact and nature of thousands of different enzymes that a normal human cell contained along with all kinds of biochemicals and molecules which moved in and out of a cell. This kind of 100 per cent knowledge on Aditya's cells gave Tya the ability to 'quantify' all the sensations that Aditya's sensory organs perceived.

For example, if previously Aditya touched a hot rod, he could only tell that the rod was very hot and that it caused pain to him. But now Tya could release a detailed report on the accurate temperature of the rod, the texture and material of the rod, the scale of damage that Aditya's skin took, the number of skin cells that had died or injured because of this action.

In the same way, when Aditya saw a tree or a flower garden, Tya was able to clearly distinguish all the colours and their shades down to their accurate wavelengths, the various shapes of these flowers, the exact distance between the flowers and Aditya. It was the same way when Aditya heard, tasted or smelled something. Every sensation could be 'quantified', 'analysed' and 'categorised' by Tya if Aditya wanted.

This was the reason that Aditya suddenly became an expert cook as he was able to know the accurate details like temperature, texture, the stage of cooking and if any of the ingredients had to be added and also the precise quantities to the last decimal.

Aditya did not exercise along with Thomas and others as he did not want to damage their view of life and discourage them, so he would train in isolation either in the sports academy or the gym in the luxury apartments where he had bought the flats. He would usually make sure no one was around when he trained as he did not want to be noticed doing a 500 kg bench press or making 100 one finger push-ups in a minute.

Aditya had to push himself to the maximum limit if he wanted to become stronger even with the human genome limitations as according to Tya, the human body potential was largely left untapped. Tya was also the safety measure that Aditya required as any damage, caused by this torturous routine, would be handled by him so that no latent damage accumulates in his body.

Also, Tya was currently capable of numbing his pain receptors so that he would not feel any pain but Aditya did not allow it as he wanted to train his spirit and heart also. Aditya had noticed a lethal shortcoming in him when he dealt with people like Faizal or Thomas who had grown with many challenges and they had to overcome many obstacles to reach a position where their food and sustenance was guaranteed.

This had strengthened the hearts of these people to which the current Aditya discovered that he was not able to catch up to as he had practically grown under the protection filled with love, care and affection of his parents, elder sisters and friends. He wanted to use this pain to strengthen his soul and harden his resolve because he knew that he had it easy because of Tya.

Aditya was aware of this shortcoming even from the beginning when he used to fight with Faizal and others without using any abilities and had to limp his way back to the garage every night. He wanted to prove to himself that his resolve was no less than any other.

During this training where muscle tearing was the norm, Aditya did not know when to stop so Tya would warn him if his body was on the verge of critical damage so that he could stop. This cute little brother would also prescribe that day's diet, he had to follow, so that Tya could utilize these supplements to repair his body back to perfect condition.

Aditya armed with this ability and Tya was the best personal trainer that anyone could ask for. This was the reason that all the people he trained in the last month from Faizal to Thomas had successfully increased their strength to a shocking level. But their increase was nothing in front of Aditya who had increased a minimum strength of 60 kg in a day with the help of Tya's cellular manipulation. Even Aditya felt like this was a dream when he noticed the strength enhancement. His strength had plateaued in a week after the sudden increase but Aditya did not give up.

While Thomas, Giri and others were burning their muscle till their legs began to shake, Aditya (Rudra) leisurely sat cross-legged on a bamboo mat under a huge neem tree as he chewed a neem twig while reading the newspaper. The newspaper front page reported a seizure of 80 crores inr (Indian rupee - inr) (11.5 million USD) worth cocaine. Aditya grinned a little as he chewed the twig.

The bitter juice that was released from the tender twig was good for oral health. In the beginning, some rebellious fellows questioned as to why Aditya would not exercise while they were forced to run till their legs shivered and crunch till their stomach churned. Aditya simply chuckled a little as cracked his knuckles and walked into the semi-open gym with the thatched roof which was followed by cries of pain as well as sounds of pleas.

From then on, no one dared to question his orders. In a way, Aditya was very satisfied with his subordinates. He did not know that his own strength and skill was the most motivating tonic for Thomas and others as they zealously practised to overcome their boss in strength.

"Thomas," Aditya called as he rinsed his mouth with water. Some villagers could be seen working in the land adjacent to his house where Aditya planned to build a garden for himself. One look at Ishaan's office was enough to show the interest Aditya held in plants and greenery. So if a commercial office space was not spared by him, why would this land be?

Thomas was one of the most passionate subordinates and genuinely cared for his fellow members which was appreciated by Aditya.

"Boss," Thomas came running while breathing heavily, he was sweating profusely as his drenched shirt stuck to his body.

"How much gold did we get?"

"62.6 kg, boss" Thomas replied calmly. He was excited when he saw the accumulated gold parts but did not let it go to his head. Aditya was now assured of his 'Sensifull' ability which was the best detector of a normal human's basic character. Aditya had tested the 70-80 people under him with the temptation of money even before he sent them to 'Rudra'. Only those people who were able to keep their cool in the face of a lot of money were selected.

So, Aditya wanted to use this gold as the final test to see if these hot-blooded, impulsive youth deserved to follow him. He did not want people who were not greedy and did not go after money as those people would be more suitable to be monks rather than gangsters. He wanted those people who were greedy but exercised a minimum level of control over it and had a bottom line which they would not cross.

Aditya heaved a sigh of relief when he found that not even one person among the twenty people tried to take advantage of this gold. He did not know that some people did sprout this intent but this thought was immediately suppressed when they remembered the torture that their boss used to interrogate adversaries. They could tell that their boss could easily detect lies. Rudra was almost omnipotent and omniscient in his followers' minds.

"When are you going to sell the goods?"

"In the afternoon, Boss" came the reply.

"Good." Aditya nodded as he took the towel to bathe in the nearby lake as he (Ishaan) had to get back to the office by ten in the morning. Some people were coming today for signing some contract and Kapil Sir wanted him to be present.