The Return of Vaman - A Scientific Novel Read Online Free

transformation. It did. This was important because my next step involved live objects. I experimented on insects, butterflies, guinea pigs, etc. When I found that even living objects survive the experiments, I decided to take the final step.
    Knowing the many possible outcomes of such a step I wrote all the details and kept them in a safe place. I set up video and tape equipment to ‘observe’ and ‘hear’ the outcome as I submitted myself to the reflecting machine.
    My experience as I went through the beam produced by the machine was surprisingly normal. Never was I conscious of being twisted or contorted. There was no discomfort as I walked round the beam. I spoke out whatever I felt and this was duly taped.
    As I came out I found that I had indeed been transformed. Not only that, my dress, wristwatch, pen, everything on me went through that change. My brain had also been transformed so that I found it difficult to read normal writing. All operations which distinguished between left and right were confusing. I had to think which way to turn the screwed top of a bottle in order to open it—for my new instinct dictated the wrong way. But physically I was fit and felt my left hand to be much stronger and versatile than my right hand.
    Then, to complete my experiment I went through the beam again. As expected I regained my usual form as I emerged, but with one important fact which I had anticipated.
    My brain retained no memory of my reflected state!
    It was only through the evidence recorded during my transformation by the various instruments that I could convince myself that it had in fact happened. I looked at notes made by me in the reflected state. I could not read them until I saw them reflected in a mirror!
    This erasing of memory of what happened in the reflected state is an unsatisfactory feature of my experiment which I have not so far been able to rectify. When I change myself back to my usual form I will have totally lost all memory of my encounter with you tonight!
    As I listened to Ajit’s weird tale I had the feeling that all this was not real—but a mixture of Lewis Carroll, H.G. Wells, and the Arabian Nights. But I was looking at the living proof quietly sipping port in front of me. To set any remaining doubts to rest, I asked Ajit the question which had been bothering me:
    “Is this Ganesha also a reflection?”
    “Why don’t you verify it yourself? You live right above the museum.” Ajit’s suggestion was a practical one.
    I took a bunch of keys and we both went down to the British India Section. By the time I reached for the cabinet where the Ganesha was supposed to be locked in, I knew what I would see.
    The cabinet was empty!
    “So I was not such a generous donor after all!” quipped Ajit, as I returned to my study after placing Ajit’s ‘gift’ in the empty cabinet. He must have somehow pinched the original and subjected it to his infernal experiment.
    “What about Pramod’s performance?” I asked. Surely, all that I had learnt so far shed considerable light on the mystery.
    “Pramod came to see me on the eve of the test match. He was very depressed. He knew that he was past his prime as a test match bowler and that his inclusion in the final test was not purely on merit. It was something he then said that gave me a daring idea. ‘There are no surprises left in my bowling,’ was what he moaned about.
    “Suppose I turned him into his reflection? I thought he would bowl as a left-hander but not as an ordinary left-handed bowler would. All his actions would be that of a right-hander reflected in the mirror. In any case, none of the batsmen expected him to bowl like that.
    “I drugged his coffee, and while he was unconscious, subjected him to my experiment. Taking him to the lab in spite of the tight security was no problem. I had discovered the loopholes in the security system long before. After the experiment I left him on his hotel bed.
    “Early next morning, I had a frantic phone