Ishan And The Trusted Secret Circle Of Knowledge

Meet Ishan, a twenty-three-year-old half Italian half Indian Oxford student. He found by accident, that's what he thought, a secret room under the institution's library. The room is pure white, Floor to ceiling, wall to wall. A round white table has been carefully placed in the middle of this white, but not blinding, space with a book on it, a relatively old brown leather-covered book. There is no apparent light in the room, but it's lit. This round room has two doors, one to come in and one to get out. The door that Ishan came from doesn't open from the inside, and the door to get out has no handle from the outside. The exit door led into a hallway that led somewhere to the back of the university's woods. In the room, three Gandalfs look like professors standing waiting for Ishan. The old mens have grey and white beards and round little glasses holding on the tips of their noses. The three mentors are dressed as almost mages in ceremonial robes and keep their heads warm with sorcerer-looking hats.

"At last!" says the oldest of them. "We have been waiting for you!"
"Professor Charles, what is this Room ?"
"This is the trusted secret room of knowledge!" Says the professor as the two others stand still like statues.
"Why are you here?" asks Professor Charles.
"Here in the room, or here at Oxford?" asks Ishan with a trembling voice, unsure if he should have asked the question.
"Here in the trusted secret room of knowledge?" Said Charles with a calm and soothing voice.

For Ishan, as far back as he could remember, he always copied his mother's gestures. He wanted to follow in his mother's footsteps. She studied at this reputed university before him and became a doctor. She left India in 1919 because of a shooting by the army in a park known as the Massacre of India. Her father got killed by a bullet, shot by a soldier without warning, the army shot at the protestants in a park, and her father died on site. That's when Shama decided to leave India to pursue her dream of saving people's lives. London and India were far apart, and the cheapest way to travel was by train. She took the Orient Express once every two months to return home to see her mother and the remaining family members, aunts, uncles, sisters, and brothers. The Orient Express took her from London to Turkey, and then she took another train to India. It took an eternity to get to her parent's home. She was the first of her family to go to Oxford or any University. The family was so proud they encouraged her the best they could in her effort to become a doctor. Shama was one of the rare women to study at Oxford at that time. She was a grade-A student, and the teachers loved her—a ray of light for other students and ready to help anybody at any time. Ishan really admires his mother for what she has accomplished.

His father's side was Italian, from an Italian mother and father like the generation before them. Like Ishan's mother, he fled his country in 1919 due to the Italian Revolution. He didn't want to participate and was a pacifist at sixteen. Egypt was his choice of predestination to find work, but the job opportunities were deficient at this epoch if you weren't a native of the country. Marcello was starving and had no choice but to steal food. He had nothing to eat. He stole everything he could put his hand on fruits, bread, and sometimes a piece of meat. A Man called Sadiki noticed the young men stealing food. Marcello was lucky they usually cut off your hand if caught stealing. At first, he offered him a roof, and pity pushed Mr. Sadiki to offer him a job. Gardening at first, then cleaning, and then, a year before Marcello left, was cooking for the old man. Mr. Sadiki is a good man, he takes care of Marcello as if he were his own blood.
Sadiki had a wife, but she had passed away before they could birthed offspring of their own. The man had no problem putting food on the table as he was rolling in the high society of Egypt, and he had some import-export companies. He knew a lot of politicians' faces and was in all the 'soirées' the rich men attended. Money wasn't a problem. Marcello left the home nest to fly on its own, but when he met Mr. Sadiki, he was still under someone's wing. After being a gardener and a chef, he still wanted to live freely, so he decided to leave Mr. Sadiki. The great man did one last thing for him.
One man in the web of Mr. Sadiki's friends had a job for Marcello on the Orient Express. On his first day, he was a ticket clerk on the train, and he moved his way up fast to the driver's seat. He stayed the Orient Express conductor until he died in nineteen fifty-seven. Like all Italians, Ishan's father was passionate about everything he did, particularly his job. Being this passionate made him one of the greatest train conductors of his time. At the end of his journey in Turkey, he had a day before returning to London. After five days of train ride, he needed his favorite meal. He had a routine, sat at the same table facing the same direction, and always looked north at the train at the train station. Marcello always took the same, a Turkish sandwich with a little glass of red wine. One day, a green-eyed young woman came into the deli. Marcello was undistractable when looking at her, waiting for the perfect time to get up and introduce himself. Five months had passed since he first met Shama, and Marcello was always waiting for her to appear in the door frame. Marcello was eating his Ayvalik Tostu sandwich when she stood at the doorway, waiting for him to see her. The smile on Marcello's face every time he saw her was majestic. Shama was there waiting for her train, and Marcello was waiting to return to work. It was precisely at that moment the love story started.

Telling his father's story for about forty-five minutes, Professor Charles asks Ishan the question again.
"why are you here?" formally asks Professor Charles.
"Well, I pulled on a book, and it was stuck, so I pulled harder, and at that moment, I heard a clicking sound. I looked behind. Ishan repeats the gesture as he tells the story, and Ishan sees an opening behind a book panel. Behind that panel was a staircase. I took it, and here I am," says the frightened student.
"we've been here every evening since last week, waiting for you to pull that book!" says the relieved professor when he finally pulled the book.
"We have a question for you!" always the same professor speaking. "do you want to be part of the trusted secret circle of knowledge?"

"I don't know!" replied Ishan.
"If you accept, you could come here once a week and ask the book of knowledge one question. The book will always answer you. Do you accept to be a member of the trusted secret circle of knowledge?"
"Yes, I do!" says Ishan, loud and clear.

"You will ask your question, and the book will always answer you. We have to leave the room before you open the book. Only you can see the answer. May I ask what your question is?"
"My question is. On my tenth birthday, my father said something to my mother's ears. So softly I couldn't hear what he said. I was too far away and couldn't read his lips. He made my mother smile and blush that day. I regret that I didn't ask my mother before she passed away what my father said to her that day."

"We are now leaving the white room. You can open the book when the door is closed!" says Charles with his soothing voice.

Ishan takes a step forward and swallows his saliva before opening the book with his left hand. He's so anxious and febrile to know what he said that day, and it has been haunting him since his father died in the Orient Express crash. A ray of light is coming from the book pages. He's blinded at first, but after a few seconds, the answer becomes clear, written in black and white. Ishan read the words, and his eyes were flooded with tears until they couldn't hold more water. The drops slowly found a path to his chin, sliding down his cheeks. he gently took a step back to carefully not drip on the book as he closed it. A little smile comes in the right corner of his lips as he finally knows what made Shama smile and blush that day.






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