Luke - his story (1)

Luke was not sharing his tent with anyone He had pitched his tent a short distance behind the six tents of the students, their teacher, and Sherpa. His tent was in such a position that he could look after the others as a protector. He was ready for any eventuality and his backpack was fitted with lots of gadgets. His tent was actually the outer cover of his backpack and in a way it was magical. He had removed the inner backpack and then he pressed a few buttons, pulled a few strings and his big backpack turned into a tent.

As soon as the girls bid good night and headed for their tents to sleep, the boys also said goodnight and made their way towards their respective tents. Zia, their teacher had also bid everyone goodnight and set off for her tent to sleep.

Sherpa had informed Sunny that he had some work to do, and for Sunny to proceed to their tent to sleep. Sunny went towards his tent and Sherpa set off for Luke Sir's tent.

Luke and Sherpa were friends. Luke was about 30 years of age and Sherpa was about 33 years old. It was the plan of Luke that Sherpa went as a helper for the trip and it was as per Luke's plan that he would join them when they started walking into the forest area. Luke had told him that he would join them at the base of the forest where the bus stopped.

Luke had a satellite phone and he could connect anywhere. The connectivity cost was high but this phone was useful where other phones did not work. He had a mobile phone too in which he had saved Zia's number and even sent her an SMS. He needed to charge that.

The mountains covered with snow looked beautiful always in the moonlight or even without moonlight.

He had heard the news of the 'Mountain Man' or as people called him Yeti, BigFoot, etc. The information about the huge footprint of the Mountain Man heard over the sat facilities could not be false. After all, it was reported the Indian Army Mountaineering Expedition Team. The sighting was of the huge footprints close to Mount Makalu Base Camp on 09.04.2019. Mount Makalu is about 40 km away from Mount Everest, in Nepal. The army personnel, who were in the expedition team, had taken measurements and pictures as well as a video film of the footprint. These videos had been sent to the authorities to further examine them with the help of computer imaging. Hopefully, they could arrive at some sort of conclusion about the height of the Yeti. The footprint was 32 inches in length and 15 inches in width. Thus almost three times that of a normal male foot. This would mean that the average height of Bigfoot would be about 3 times that of a normal male, say 18 feet.

Hence, Luke wanted to capture some images on the mountains beyond the cliff side. He had purposely asked Sherpa to help him set up his equipment.

Sherpa reached Luke's tent and Luke handed him the equipment. They then proceeded to a flat level area away from the tent to set up the equipment. It needed to be set on a tripod and upon further examination Sherpa found that the equipment was an infrared camera. With the help of Sherpa, they set up two sets of cameras. One camera was placed facing their camp and the other was placed facing the cliff side to note any activity on the snow-covered mountainside.

Sherpa could not control his curiosity and enquired, "Luke, I can understand the infrared camera being placed facing the camp but why place another facing the cliff side and pointing towards the snow-covered mountains? Do you think you can see some sort of life there perhaps the Mountain Man?" he added.

Luke started laughing.

"Yes, Sherpa I do not want anything to go unrecorded. Who knows, we may also have a Bigfoot sighting? But at present, all I can see in the clear moonlight sky are a few bats flying around in circles from the other side of the hills from where we had come towards the snow-covered mountains and back to the hills area."

Sherpa liked Luke and Zia ma'am and felt that they would eventually get married. But such things were controlled by destiny. The least he could do was giving them both a push towards the right direction. The rest was up to their destiny.

Hence, Sherpa started to praise Zia ma'am.

"Luke, Zia Ma'am is nice and why don't you talk to her?" Sherpa questioned with raised eyebrows.

"What do you mean, Sherpa?" Luke frowned.

"You like Zia Ma' am and I know that you regard me as a friend. I am just a small fry but I would advise you not to leave things till you get back to college."

"Once this trip is over, you both will get busy with your lives. It is better to start talking to each other during this trip to get to know each other. You have the opportunity." Sherpa further added.

"If you let things slide then she will go away and your parents will find a girl for you to marry. Then you will need to follow their plans."

He smiled, knowingly, that he had literally put thoughts in Luke's mind. He then bid Luke goodnight saying that he will come and dismantle the equipment at 5 a.m. Then he set off towards his own tent to sleep.

After Sherpa left, Luke looked around to see that his equipment was set in order and then he also headed towards his tent.

Luke removed his shoes and lay in his sleeping bag. He started thinking about his life. He knew he would not be able to sleep early so he took out his mobile and charged it from his battery backup.

Meanwhile, he started to think about his life so far. He was now 30 years of age and had completed his Ph.D. in Quantum Mechanics. Quantum Mechanics was also known as quantum physics, quantum theory, the wave mechanical model, or matrix mechanics. It included quantum field theory, a fundamental theory in physics which describes nature at the smallest scales of energy levels of atoms and subatomic particles.

He was a professor in the College at City B. He has a very high I.Q almost short of being a genius and was an only child of his parents. His parents were renowned professors in their respective fields and were the teaching faculty of the University in City D.

His father's name was Igor and he had done his Ph.D. in Biochemistry. His mother's name was Mona and she had done her Ph.D. in Palaeozoology (Palaeozoology is a branch of zoology that deals with the study of fossil animals to identify multi-cellular animals from geological perspective to establish prehistoric environments and their ecosystems).

In his childhood, he had been a jovial child. His parents doted on him but never spoilt him. He was allowed to get what he wanted up to a limit. He had participated in everything in school and college from declamations to dramas to singing and trekking etc.

He came back to City B two years ago and joined the college as a professor. The college Principal noted his zeal for out of way work and about 6 months back the Principal nominated him to be a representative in the Management Committee of the High School at City B. There he was unhappy to see that the committee had not approved funds for various extracurricular activities of the students, whether it was for excursions or visit other schools for drama/ dance or declamation competitions. Somehow he had been instrumental in the Committee members agreeing to keep aside funds for these activities in the ensuing financial year.

While attending one of these meetings, two months ago, he had seen Zia who had just joined the school as a temporary teacher. It was love at first sight for him. He wanted to know more about this girl who made his heart race and whom he felt he would like to spend the rest of his life with, to have children with and to grow old with. He could have gone directly to talk to her but he was scared that she might reject him and he would then never be able to convey his feelings to her. So he wanted to get to know her without being pushy.

Hence, he decided to contact Sherpa. He knew Sherpa for the past two years and visited him regularly. Sometimes they met outside for a beer or two with the rest of their friends. Sherpa was his best buddy. He owed his life to him. Sherpa had saved his life two years ago when he was almost run over while on the verge of crossing the road. The incident took place outside the high school. He was going there to check up about the admission of the daughter of a colleague. He had parked his car opposite the school and had decided to walk over by crossing the road. A teenager was driving his father's car alone. He came out from the side street and took a sharp turn at a good speed. He could not control his car, almost tilted towards the side just short of touched the pavement where Luke was about to step off the pavement to cross the road. Sherpa saw and rushed to pull Luke further back onto the pavement. The teenager was reprimanded and his father called over after getting his number from the teenager.

Many parents are strict about right age licence for driving etc. Then there are some parents who turn a blind eye. Why do some parent hand over cars to kids without the kids learning driving properly and getting a driving licence is a big issue all over the world?

After this incident, Sherpa and Luke became great friends. In friendship, it is not the designation or status that matters. Friendship does not see these things. It is a soul to soul connection, the souls should have good hearts and the friends should not demean each other.

He then thought of what Sherpa had told him a few minutes ago.

Luke had to do something otherwise his parents would set him up and themselves to for a meeting along with the girl and her family. They would find any other girls e.g., daughters of their known families or of their colleagues or get him matches from the matrimonial advertisements online or through the newspapers. He definitely did not want to meet so many females and he definitely did not want to marry a stranger. He would never want an arranged marriage. Why should anyone choose his life partner? He knew what he wanted in his life partner. Not that he meant to be disrespectful towards his parents and their choice.

continued.....