INARA AND ZIZOU GO TO BRESWANA

• Concept by Snigdha Sengupta-Haji
• Illustrated by Nithesh Xavier

Breswana was a sprawling village that sat halfway up an impressive Himalayan mountain. The mountain, peppered with large boulders and vast forests, provided a stunning view as a welcome to any visitors. 

It was this view that greeted Inara and Zizou as they sat atop their ponies, on their way up to the village. They still had a long way to go, and their ponies were beginning to get a little tired.

“Should we let them rest for a bit?” asked Inara.

Her pony snorted in agreement.

“Let’s find them some water,” Zizou suggested.

They tied their ponies to a branch in some shade and walked down the path a little while, looking for a stream or pond that the ponies could drink from. Shortly, they heard the rushing roar of flowing water, and knew they were close.

“It sounds like the water is this way,” Inara said, “but the path leads away from it. I think we’ll have to leave the path.”

“But Nana said never to leave the path no matter what,” Zizou warned.

Inara hesitated. She always listened to what Nana said, but on the other hand, her pony, Saaki, was very thirsty.

“We’ll just go a little way in, we won’t be long,” she reasoned, and began to walk into the forest.

“Inara, wait!” Zizou shouted, but followed her in anyway.

The forest was very dense and made walking very difficult for the two siblings. They were surrounded by all kinds of trees and shrubs with colourful flowers, prickly thorns and glistening leaves. Both Inara and Zizou got scratched many times while they made their way, but they did not complain. It was for the ponies, after all.

Eventually they reached a clearing and saw a beautiful stream cut its way through the rocks above. It flowed into the clearing by way of a mini-waterfall, forming a pool near where Inara stood. Relieved, they quickly filled their water bottles and drank their fill. Once their thirst was quenched, they filled the bottles again and began to make their way back.

The forest was all around them once again. Zizou saw berries and mushrooms and lots of brightly coloured offerings hanging from the trees and his mouth began to water. But he remembered that in forests, many brightly coloured plants are poisonous, and so he resisted. He couldn’t wait to get home and taste Nani’s butter chicken.

Inara was beginning to feel tired and was wondering how it was taking them so long to get back. Was it because they were walking uphill that it was taking longer? Or were they walking in the wrong direction? She began to feel a little scared and held Zizou’s hand for comfort.

Suddenly, they heard a great rumble all around them. The ground began to shake and all the trees began to sway, shaking loose fruits, nuts and other objects.

“Earthquake!” Inara screamed, and began to run. Zizou followed her as they ran wildly in search of the path. Soon, the rumble died down and the ground stopped shaking, so the siblings stopped to catch their breath. While resting, Inara noticed that they were standing at the entrance to a cave and pointed it out to Zizou.

“What do you think is in there?” she asked. She remembered Nana’s many stories of bears and leopards in these woods, and wondered if they lived in caves like this.

“Could be a mother bear with her cubs,” Zizou said, obviously thinking along the same lines, “Better not to disturb them.”

Inara agreed, but was curious about it nonetheless. She gazed into the dark opening of the cave, hoping to get a glimpse of whatever was inside. After a few eventless moments, she thought she saw something huge and black move inside the cave.

She gasped and looked harder, trying to make sure, but it was too dark to tell. She stepped forward tentatively, but just as her foot came down, there was an incredible sound!

The ground began to shake once again, and little rocks and pebbles began to tumble down the mountain. Inara and Zizou quickly took cover behind a large tree and protected each other from the rocks. The rumble was the same they had heard while returning from the clearing, but now it sounded much closer. In fact, it sounded like it was coming from inside the cave!

Soon, the noise died down again, and the siblings made their way uphill and found the path. Their ponies were agitated and scared, and snorted with relief when they saw their friends approaching with water bottles in their hands. Zizou poured the water into two bowls and set them before the ponies and they drank deep and long until there was no water left.

And so they were on their way again, getting closer and closer to home. Before long, they saw the rooftop of their house peek out of the treetops. As they approached, they heard the clip-clop of another pony making its way towards them.

From around the corner, a strong, chestnut brown pony with long, flowing black hair appeared. On it was a man with a hat on his head, a stubble on his chin, and a smile on his face.

“Hi, Moti,” he called to Inara.

“Nana!” she screamed, and spurred her pony towards his so she could hug him.

Nana embraced both Inara and Zizou and then shepherded them home to meet Nani, who was waiting impatiently on the doorstep.

Dinner was a feast as Nani filled their plates with all kinds of their favourite foods. They had butter chicken, barbecue mutton, fried eggs, rice, and yakhni. After eating to their heart’s content, Nani asked them what they wanted for dessert.

“Ras Malai,” shouted Inara, excitedly.

“Butter,” shouted Zizou.

And so ended the first day of their adventure.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next morning, they woke up to tea and toast, their favourite breakfast (and, of course, lots of butter for Zizou) and were joined at the breakfast table by Khali. They had lots of fun telling each other funny stories and giggling and laughing the whole time.

“So, how was your pony ride? Did Zaidaan and Saaki behave?” Khali asked.

“Yes, they were wonderful as always,” Inara said, “but I’m afraid we are getting too big for them, they got very tired on the way up here.”

“I’m not surprised, given how much you eat,” Khali said, watching Zizou swallow a scoop of butter and lick the spoon clean.

“”We had to go looking for a stream to give them some water,” Inara said, “And then the earthquake hit and scared us.”

“Earthquake? What earthquake?” Khali asked.

“Well, while walking back to the ponies, there was a loud rumble and the ground and trees began to shake. It was very scary,” Zizou explained.

“That’s strange, we didn’t feel anything up here,” Khali said, mystified.

“It happened twice,” Zizou declared.

Inara remained silent, appearing to be deep in thought.

Later that day, as Zizou and Inara were climbing trees in the orchard, Zizou noticed that his sister seemed a little distracted.

“What are you thinking about, Inara?”

Inara hesitated.

“Come on, you can tell me anything, you know that,” Zizou said.

“Well, do you remember the cave we saw on our way up?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

“Did you hear anything weird when you were there?”

“I couldn’t hear anything over the earthquake. Only the rocks falling and the rumble from the ground shaking.”

“Well, that’s the thing,” she said, speaking in hushed tones, looking around to see if anyone was listening, “I don’t think that was a rumble at all. I think that was a growl.”

“A growl?”

“Yeah, I think that sound came from an animal. Maybe a bear, like you said.”

“I don’t think a bear can make the ground shake no matter how loudly it growls,” Zizou said, doubtfully.
He glanced at Inara and saw that she was hesitating once again. “What is it, Inara? Out with it.”

“Erm… Well… I kind of don’t think it was an animal either,” she said, uncertainly.

“That’s what I said.”

“I think it was a person.”

“A PERSON?” Zizou shouted in surprise, forgetting to keep his voice low.

“Shhhhh!” she chided.

“Sorry, sorry, but why would you think a person would make a sound like that? And why are you convinced it isn’t an earthquake?”

“Well, firstly, if it was an earthquake, why didn’t anyone else feel it? And secondly, before the sound came, I was watching the cave entrance, and I thought I saw something move inside. I can’t be sure, because it was too dark, but I don’t think I’m mistaken.”

“But that could be anything. A bear, a leopard, maybe even dog or a pony,” Zizou pointed out.

“That’s true. But when we were hiding behind the tree, I thought I could hear a word being spoken. I think whoever was in that cave was making the sounds, and was trying to speak.”

“Are you serious? I didn’t hear any of that! What was he saying?”

“I’m fairly certain I heard it say ‘Hunger’.”

Their conversation was interrupted when Nani called them in for lunch. Both Zizou and Inara were unusually quiet during the meal and kept exchanging significant glances with each other.

After lunch, Nana and Nani went for their afternoon nap and Khali went off to the school to teach her classes. Zizou and Inara huddled together in the courtyard to discuss what to do with the rest of the day. They were both thinking of the same thing.

“Do you want to go and check the cave again?” Inara asked, finally.

“How will we find it? We nearly got lost the last time.”

Inara smiled. “I left a marker on the tree where we re-joined the path. I think I know how to get there,” she said, a mischievous glint in her eye.

“Okay, but if we are doing this, we’d better go prepared. Who knows what we will find,” Zizou said, “We need to take food, water and something to scare the beast or man or whatever it is inside that cave.”

“What can we take?” pondered Inara.

Glancing around, Zizou grabbed a thick staff that was lying in the courtyard and held it aloft.

“This should do nicely,” he said.

Inara snuck into the kitchen and started loading her bag with all kinds of treats and snacks and sweets from the larder. Soon they were ready and set off towards the cave. Thanks to Inara’s marker, it was easy work finding the spot, and before long they found themselves at the cave entrance again.

“What do we do now?” Zizou asked.

“I don’t know,” said Inara, shrugging, “Can you hear anything?”

Zizou shook his head.

“Inara, are you sure you heard a person? Because it would be really dumb of us to come all the way out here looking for a bear.”

Inara had a determined expression on her face. “I’m not sure, Zizou, but I want to be.”

Saying this, she picked up a rock and threw it into the cave before Zizou could stop her.

Nothing happened.

The siblings looked at each other uncertainly, and then Zizou called out.

 “Hello? Anybody here?”

 Hearing no response, Inara walked into the cave, unafraid. Her eyes took a while to adjust to the darkness, but once they were able to see a bit, she felt her heart pounding with excitement.

“Zizou, come quickly!”

Zizou ran inside, but had to wait till his eyes adjusted as well before he could see what Inara was talking about. As the gloom lessened, his excitement grew as the implications of what he saw struck him.

The entire cave was littered with bones from different animals, discarded seeds from berries and fruits and empty husks from nuts. The animal bones ranged from the very small to the very large.

Zizou and Inara stared at each other, anticipation and trepidation flowing through them. There was no doubt about it. Something lived in this cave. And it did not seem to be a wild animal.

HUUUNNNNGEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRR!

This time there was no doubt about it. Both Zizou and Inara heard the voice loud and clear. They stumbled out of the cave as the familiar shaking of the ground intensified. Zizou stepped in front of Inara and held out the staff he had brought with him for protection.

The trees in front of them were rocking back and forth as if subject to a stampede. The siblings watched aghast as the bushes separated and into the clearing stepped a humongous monster!

The creature had a hulking frame and was almost 12 feet tall. He had a large, protruding belly that bounced and jiggled angrily as he moved. His arms and legs were thin, spindly branches that clawed at the trees. But most terrifying of all was the face. His face was haggard and drawn thin, and covered with a dense, bristly, brambly forest of a beard that quivered and swayed with every growl he emitted.

“Stop!” yelled Zizou.

The creature paused mid-rampage and set his eyes upon the two siblings. A hint of intelligence gleamed behind his ravenous stare as he considered his new visitors. However, the silent stand-off was interrupted by a long and painful groan that emanated from his stomach. Suddenly, his gaze turned wild and he lunged at Zizou, grabbing the staff and effortlessly wringing it out of his hands and casting it away. Next he swiped at Zizou, lifting him up in the air and lowering him towards his mouth, when a gunshot sounded through the forest. The creature paused and looked for the source of the sound, and Inara did the same.

Out of the foliage, riding on Billu the Wise, came Nana! And by his side were Zaidaan and Saaki, rushing to the aid of their friends.

The creature dropped Zizou to the floor instantly and fled back into the cover of the forest, making a huge racket as it went.

Nana and Inara rushed to check on Zizou and made sure that he was okay.

“How did you know where we were?” Inara asked.

“Khali told me about the earthquakes you guys felt yesterday. I knew what they actually were, and Zaidaan and Saaki led me to your marker.”

“T-thank you, Nana,” Zizou said.

“You guys should be grounded. This was extremely dangerous,” Nana said, sternly.

“We’re really sorry, Nana,” Inara said, “But what was that creature?”

 “That creature was once a boy that lived in this village,” Nana said, ”He used to be a good boy, kind and respectful. But he had one problem. He was always hungry. He could not bear to share his food, and when his own food was not enough, he began asking for food from other people. If anyone refused, he would get angry and sometimes even stole it from them.

The village elders summoned the powerful witch doctor to cure the boy. She prescribed him some medicines, to be taken over the course of a month. But the boy was so hungry, he ate all of them at once. As you know, if you do not take your medicine as it is supposed to be taken, it can be dangerous for you, and it was no different for him.

Since then, the boy began eating everything before him, plants, animals, even rocks. Each day made him grow wilder and more out of control. Eventually, fearing that he would eat their livestock or their children, the villagers forced him out of the village, and he has lived in the forest ever since. Anyone who travels the forest alone now carries beetroot with them, for that is the only thing he fears.”

As he said this, Nana held a red plant aloft in his hands, showing it to Inara and Zizou.

“This is why he ran away; he isn’t afraid of guns. This was also in Zaidaan and Saaki’s saddlebags when you first arrived. I put it in there for your protection. And this is why I told you to never leave the path, or go anywhere without telling me first.”

“But is there no way to help him?” Inara asked.

“None, I’m afraid,” said Nana, “Now let’s go home.”

Nana and Zizou got on their ponies. Inara thought for a moment, the quickly threw her bag filled with snacks and goodies near the entrance to the cave, and then mounted Saaki and followed Zizou and Nana home.

“What was his name?” she asked Nana on the way.

“His name was MaMoo,” Nana said.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next few days passed in a whirlwind of feasts and festive meals. Zizou devoured all that was placed before him, but Inara seemed more reserved and ate with a little more restraint. The afternoons were spent frolicking in the courtyard, climbing trees, racing ponies and playing with the local hounds. The vacation was a heavenly time for the siblings, exactly as they had planned it to be, except for one daily detour.

Every day, just after lunch, while Nana and Nani took a nap and Khali was at school, Inara would disappear for an hour. Even Zizou did not know where she went during this time, and when asked, Inara would simply say she went for a walk.

In truth, Inara was paying visits to the creature’s cave. Ever since Nana told her his story, she felt a deep sympathy for the creature’s plight and an overwhelming urge to be of some help. She knew, being Zizou’s sister, how hungry boys could get, and felt that the creature was an unfortunate victim of forces beyond his control, and not someone to be feared in itself. And so, every day after lunch, she took it upon herself to sneak into the clearing near the cave and leave some food for him to eat. She began with the same goodies that she had left there on the day when Nana saved them, but soon she began to branch out and leave him all kinds of food.

She made sure to take beetroot with her at all times to ensure her own safety, but she tried to leave the food for him without disturbing the creature at all. However, on one of her forays, as she placed the basket full of food near the creature’s cave, she heard an almighty roar just behind her and squealed in terror as she saw him crash through the foliage and make his way towards her. Inara bolted, desperately running towards the path, but as she turned to look for evidence of him giving chase, she saw, to her surprise, that he stood still, staring at her, holding her basket in his hand.

He looked at her quizzically, with an almost human expression on his face and then, grasping the basket to his chest, he turned away from her and made his way back into his cave. Inara heaved a sigh of relief and returned to the courtyard to play with Zizou, a little flushed, but otherwise okay.

The days of fun and games were fast approaching their end, however, and soon it was time for Inara and Zizou to return home to America. They bade tearful goodbyes to Nana, Nani, Khali and everyone they had gotten to know and spent time with during their vacation and made their way to Saaki and Zaidaan. The ponies stood with their heads lowered, understanding that it was time for Inara and Zizou to leave.
The siblings fed the ponies an apple each, which visibly cheered them up, and them mounted them and set off on their return journey.

Travelling back down the mountain, the siblings discussed their time in Breswana excitedly and exchanged stories of their favourite activities during the stay. On one hand, they were sorry to leave, but on the other hand, they were excited to be reunited with Mama and Baba and all their friends in school.

Time passed quickly as they talked and before long they reached the tree on which Inara had left her mark on the very first day.

“Remember this?” Zizou asked.

“Yes, I wonder how he is doing,” Inara said, quietly.

“He’ll be fine, there’s plenty to eat in the forest,” Zizou assured her.

Inara nodded, but felt uneasy all the same. Something was weighing on her mind. Suddenly, Saaki stopped, and Zaidaan, noticing this, stopped as well.

“What’s wrong?” Zizou asked.

“I want to say goodbye to him,” Inara said.

“To who?”

“MaMoo.”

“Are you serious? Did you forget what Nana said? It’s really dangerous.”

“It’ll be fine, I have some beetroot on me.”

“I don’t think this is a good idea, Inara.”

“He doesn’t have any friends. I just want to say goodbye,” she said. She knew that Zizou was unaware that she had been visiting MaMoo all these days, and so she didn’t try to convince him it was fine. She dismounted from Saaki and began searching her bag.

Oh, no, I forgot to get him any snacks.

It's all right, it’s just a quick goodbye. I have the beetroot anyway.

Her mind made up, she started to walk towards the cave, when Zizou interrupted her.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“I’m just going to say goodbye and be back in a minute.”

“And do you think I’m gonna let you go in there alone?”

Inara smiled gratefully as Zizou joined her and they walked into the woods hand in hand, being as quiet as possible.

On reaching the cave, they looked around the clearing, searching for MaMoo, but there appeared to be no sign of him. Inara could see the baskets she had left for him on previous days, and it appeared that he had tried to eat the baskets as well.

“Do you see him?” Zizou whispered.

Inara shook her head and then after a pause, called out, “Hello?”

There was a low growl from inside the cave. Zizou’s hand tightened around Inara’s.

“MaMoo?”

Suddenly there was an almighty howl and the earth began to tremble. Zizou and Inara were thrown off balance and lay there helplessly as MaMoo leapt out of the cave and snarled in their faces, his face appearing wrought with strain.

Inara, panicking, brought the beetroot out of her pocket and threw it towards MaMoo, causing him to leap out of the way and let out an anguished wail.

“Let’s get out of here!” Zizou screamed and pulled Inara with him as they began to scramble away from the cave.

MaMoo, however, leapt away from the beetroot and, jumping from branch to branch, ape-like, cut a wide circle around the clearing and landed on the other side of the siblings, trapping them between himself and the cave. His eyes were bloodshot and desperate, and in them Inara saw pure hunger.

“Now we’re done for,” Zizou said, looking around for an escape. But before he could do anything, MaMoo grabbed him and Inara by their ankles and held them high in the air, roaring at them furiously.

Inara and Zizou screamed in terror and flailed helplessly, trying to free themselves from his grasp, but to no avail. MaMoo held them that way for what seemed like an eternity, apparently struggling to come to a decision. And then, instead of gobbling them up as he had so many others, he cast them aside and ran past them towards the cave.

The siblings looked on in surprise as MaMoo thrashed about in the clearing, in obvious pain. His hands clawed at his stomach and his ferocious thrashes uprooted the very trees from their roots. On more than one occasion, he lunged towards Zizou and Inara, and then retreated again, struggling to control himself.

Eventually, being overpowered by his hunger and finding no alternative food, his eyes fell on the beetroot that Inara had thrown at him. Grabbing up the beetroot, he forced it into his mouth with an expression of disgust all over his face.

And then, to the surprise of Inara and Zizou, a transformation began to take place. MaMoo began to shrink before their very eyes! His long, spindly arms and legs shortened to human proportions. His skin became smoother and a freshness came over it. His brambly facial hair smoothened out into a silky, luxurious, swaying beard. But most of all, his eyes lost their wildness and desperation and became human and sad.

Before long, what Inara and Zizou saw before them was not a monster, but a man looking up to them from the ground.

MaMoo looked at Inara and whispered weakly, “I’m hungry.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nana and Nani sat outside their house, drinking noon chai and looking out over the mountains with wistful expressions. It hadn’t been very long, but they were missing Inara and Zizou already.

“The house seems emptier without them, doesn’t it?” Nani said.

“Yes, but it saves us a lot of cooking,” said Nana.

They were interrupted by the sound of ponies approaching and Nani looked down the path to see who was approaching. She gasped in surprise as she saw Zaidaan and Saaki making their way back up the path with Zizou and Inara on them. And along with them walked a strange man.

“What are you doing back here?” Nani asked, “And who is that with you?”

“I don’t believe it,” Nana said, his eyes widening in shock.

“It’s MaMoo.”