The Honeycomb in the Mountain

A fictional narrative based on incidents from the childhood of Swami Vivekananda.

- GITANJALI MURARI

The long train journey was at last over. “But now comes the difficult part,” warned Bhutnath De, Vishwanath Datta’s business partner, “we must travel for another two weeks through dense jungles before we finally arrive at Raipur.” Turning to Naren, he added, “I’ll lead the way in my cart and you bring up the rear...is that alright?”

“Oh yes Uncle,” Naren’s face flushed with excitement, “it’ll be an adventure!”

A month ago, Vishwanath Datta had shifted from Calcutta to Raipur. “The new project will take two years to complete,” he had told his family before leaving, “as soon as I find a good house, I’ll send for all of you…Bhutnath will accompany you and bring you safely to me.”

“What about my school, Baba?” Naren had asked anxiously. Vishwanath Datta had laughed, “New experiences are great teachers, son…you will get a unique education.”