Excerpt: Patanjali somewhere else (working title)

Patanjali somewhere else. A nanonovel by Elefteria, november 2009
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***
The start of a new short cycle
still dark and cold
the big light will soon be rising above the end of the world
everything still quiet and peaceful.
The small round room
the candles lit, four, one for every corner of this world.
The earthen walls all around
and the one big hole in the wall
that is facing the place where the light begins.
The metal case with the book.
He touches the case and then the book very gently.
He keeps the book in both hands.
It is so old, it's almost falling apart.
The book on the small wooden bench.
He kneels
he closes his eyes
he repeats what his master taught him:
early in the morning when this whole world still sleeps
I come to honour That
he opens the book at a random page.
He reads

“this supreme enstasy is near to him who is extremely vehement in his practice of Yoga”

he reads it aloud three times.
He looks at the hole in the wall and sees the light coming in
he reads it silently three times.
He looks at the candles
he blows them out, one by one
he closes the book.
He puts the book back in the case.
He kneels again and bows his head.
He looks at the sky again.
The big light is shining now.
He looks at the ground
he looks to the corner of the room.
He looks at the bundle of dried leaves lying there.
his hand goes to his eyes.
He cries.
***

Atjani stepped out of his little house and looked around him. Surely it was not as cold as the short cycle before. He had counted it right and interpreted the numbers right. The warmer period of the big cycle was coming again and he looked forward to it with mixed feelings. Atjani sat down on the very small bench in front of the house. The bench was made of a piece of straw. When it would be warmer again, he would make a leave bench, which was much softer to sit on. But for now this would do.

He had to think about what he himself would have to do. the warmer period let him time for a big expedition. And he was forced to make one as his teacher and mentor had died during the cold that lay almost behind them now. Nobody knew yet. He knew he should not tell anyone. He did not want to tell but he felt very lonesome with this secret. His teacher Pali had died much too soon. He could have lived for another four or five long cycles to make Atjani ready to be a real teacher for the next generation. Now Atjani had to do it all alone. Exept when he started an expedition and would look around in this world for another teacher.

The months past he had been sitting in the very little house, reading the old book of the sage Patanjali who was the ancestor of all the patanjali's that this world had known for cycles and cycles. He had missed Pali terrible, for now there was no one to teach him and help him understand the ancient texts. They were strange short texts that needed a lot of meditation and discussion from teacher to student to be properly understood. And they had to be properly understood to give the ordinary people guidance in their lives. Not that the patanjali's saw the ordinary people often, but they just knew that their studies and lives were bound to the lives of all creatures living in this world.

Atjani decided to go for a short walk. The earth under his bare feet was still black and wet, but he could feel life flowing in it again. Soon the snakes and ants and all the other big animals would crawl out of the depths of the earth again. Atjani was not afraid of them, they would not do anybody any harm. Also the giant animals like the snail and mouse were not harmful at all. That was something every child knew. Atjani had lived on the corner of this world all his life and he would not have been chosen to be a patanjali if he had been afraid. His old name was Atjom and Pali had been pleased by that, because the letters of his name had already been a hint that he could be a good patanjali. It was always a A name who was chosen, never an I. And always a new name was given to a patanjali, ending on that i. It was a symbol, a hint that the i, the individual came only at the end and was not of any importance. So it had been and so it would be.

Atjani was six cycles old now. He knew that most patanjali's lived for about fifteen cycles. All of them, he had never heard before that a patanjali passed away before his time. The moment his age would be eight cycles he had to start to look for a student, who could be his successor. He still had two cycles to go before he had to do that. But he had no teacher of his own any more and he would have to spend his time carefully and well planned. How could he ever learn anything without is teacher? He had looked in the other books this winter, books written by other patanjali's. You had to be thirteen cycles old before it was allowed to write a book. At that time the student and successor would be old enough to study on his own most of the time and the patanjali got more time for himself and to write down his experiences. You had to be twelve years old to read the books of the ancestors.

Atjani knew he had started to look in the books too early. But what else could he have done? He was all alone, he could not tell anyone about the dying of his teacher and there was no one who could learn him all he had to know. The walk made his thougts go round and round and did not bring any rest in his head. So he forced himself to look around.

18k:
They walked along the border of the big blue thing and they saw lots of animals. The big ants were busy. They had houses in the earth, just like they had. Maybe their ancestors had learned the technique from the ants. The worms were also crawling in the earth, coming to the surface to get some light and eat the earth as their food. They would never eat an AI creature. There were lots of other big animals crawling on and in the earth. Around the big blue thing the earth was wetter than elsewhere. Megan must have filled it one or two short cycles ago. Then they heard heavy bumps on the earth. It did not sound like Megan. They stood still, close together by a small stone and saw a giant animal coming their way. It made enormous jumps on the earth and stopped sometimes to sniffle with its very large nose. It was white and had lots of soft stuff on it, that moved when he jumped. Atjani had never seen such an animal. It's Zoe Bowie whispered Iaman. It's okay it's not dangerous. The animal had enormous legs and with those legs he scratched himself. Then it hopped away. Iaman was glad. We can find some of his animal stuff now. It is light enough to carry and will make a warm soft bed for us. She walked to the place where the animal had been. The earth was flat where his feet had stood. There were white stems all around. Iaman picked up about thirty of them and picked another stem to wind round the bundle. Then she took that bundle in one of her arms. This is really good luck Atjani she said. We have found this only one time before. There are many Zoe Bowies here on the worlds but their stuff blows away quickly. But now we have some. I will chew it to smaller pieces and then we can use it. He enjoyed with her and feeling the softness of the stems he could imagine how good they would be to sleep on.

to be inserted at about 50K (and at the same time the connection to my second novel)
Elisa huppelde over de smalle paadjes van het volkstuincomplex. Altijd als ze bij haar tante logeerde gingen ze hier even naar toe. De plantjes water geven, bloemen plukken en als ze er waren ook aardbeien en frambozen. Daarna naar de kinderboerderij en de speeltuin aan de overkant van de weg. Elisa hurkte neer bij een bosje viooltjes dat voor in de tuin bij de waterbak stond. Ze bloeiden van vroeg in de lente tot laat in de herfst. Elisa vond het altijd zo mooi dat de bloemetjes paars en geel tegelijk waren. Mag ik er een paar plukken riep ze naar haar tante die achterin de tuin kruiden verzamelde? Je mag er drie plukken riep tante terug. Maar niet teveel, op de tuin bloeien ze veel langer dan wanneer ze geplukt zijn en dan kunnen we er langer van genieten. Zorgvuldig plukte Elisa drie bloemetejs. Ze had geleerd om dat zo te doen dat ze de steeltjes en de plant niet beschadigde. Ze wilde naar haar tante toerennen om die te vragen de bloemetjes in haar vlecht vast te maken toen ze plotseling iets zag. Tante kijk eens.... er wonen hier allemaal kleine wezentjes riep haar heldere stemmetje over het tuinencomplex. Dat zijn mieren antwoordde tante die op haar toe liep. Er zijn veel mieren dit jaar want het is nogal droog geweest. Pas maar op, want het zijn rode mieren en die kunnen je prikken, net zoals muggen. Nee zei Elisa verontwaardigd, ik weet heus wel wat mieren zijn! Dit zijn echt wezentjes. Ze zijn een centimeter groot en ze hebben vier armpjes. Er zijn er een heleboel. Tante knielde glimlachend naast haar neer om het spelletje mee te spelen. Ze hebben vast kleine huisjes in de aarde zei Elisa verrukt en toen gilde ze weer. Kijk die twee daar, dat zijn een jongetje en een meisje en ze zijn verliefd.....
In de naastgelegen tuin keek een man verstoord op van zijn spitwerk. Wezentjes bromde hij minachtend. Ja ja en Sinterklaas bestaat natuurlijk ook...