THE VOICE OF HISTORY

One morning in Delhi, there was a slight chill in the air.

- Kusum Agrawal

Under the blue sky, the Qutub complex spread out calm, serious and full of pride.

Just then, a school bus stopped, and a group of children jumped out excitedly.

"Hey! This is the Qutub Minar! It looks even taller in real life." said Rahul.

"Such a tall building! I can't understand how it must have been built in those days. There weren't many machines earlier," Meena thoughtfully said.

The guide laughed and said, "Come along, today you will get answers to all your questions." All the children stood in front of the Qutub Minar.

Looking up for so long made their necks tired.

Then Aditya asked, "Sir, how many floors does it have?" The guide replied, "Five." "Only five?" Sia said in surprise.

"How can five floors be so tall?" "In those days building even five floors was not easy," the guide replied smiling.

Rahul then asked, "Was it always like this?

Or were there more floors before?" The guide looked at the Qutub Minar, as if asking its permission whether he should tell them something about it or not.

Then he said, "No, child. When it was built, it had five floors. But time tested it many times. There were earthquakes, lightning strikes, strong winds, and one floor was badly damaged." "Then what happened?" Aditya asked anxiously. "Did its floors fall?" The guide calmed him and said, "No, no.

The rulers did not let it fall. The broken parts of that floor were removed and later it was rebuilt." And yet in Sia's mind, something was not sitting right. Looking at the tower she softly asked, "But it must have been very painful? Uncle, does it feel pain too?" The guide became silent. A few moments passed as if even the air had stopped.

Then... a slow, deep voice echoed.

"Yes... it does. A lot." The children became frightened. Rahul held the guide's hand and shook it.

"Uncle, where did that voice come from?" "Did you hear it too?" Meera asked, trembling.