Ravana Goes To Silicon Valley: Chapter 5
The woman laid him on a thick carpet and removed his boots and parka. She frowned when she saw his leg.
“That rakshasa did a job on you, pal.”
Chandru swallowed, but said nothing. The pain was nearly unbearable and he didn’t dare look down to assess the damage.
The woman removed her parka. Underneath she wore only a pink silk teddy, straight out of Victoria’s Secret.
“Why are you wearing that?” Chandru stammered. “We’re deep in the mountains in a hut, not in a… someplace else.”
“You don’t like it? It’s supposed to be seductive. I’m trying to keep up with the times. Is this better?”
An instant later she was wearing a black lace negligee.
“No, no, it’s fine, I don’t care,” Chandru said. “I mean, what’s going on? I’m confused. What are you?”
“Me? I’m an apsara, a celestial nymph.”
“Are you real?”
“Of course. Are you? Or in a deeper sense, is anybody?”
“OK fine, you got me there. Tell me, is this a dream?”
“It is if you want it to be. Does it matter? Who can say for sure who is the dreamer, and who is the dreamed?”
“Please stop answering my questions with questions, it makes my head hurt. Can you please explain what’s going on here? For starters, why am I in a hut with an apsara?”
“The short answer is because my friend Amrita and I rescued you. Long answer is that when the gods have some minor problem with a demon, a rakshasa, an asura or other bad guy they call on the apsaras to fix it. We’re a little bit like Ghostbusters, if you like. If there's something strange in your neighborhood, who you gonna call? Apsaras! In your particular case you were about to get yourself killed by a rakshasa, thanks to your own stupidity and recklessness. The gods wouldn’t have that happen for various reasons, so they called me and Amrita and asked us to handle it. You really think the rakshasa let you go just because you were pecking at his hand with that stupid ice pick? By the way, most people with manners would say thank you.”
“I apologize, thank you for saving me. I’m sorry if I offended you, I’m just a bit shook up, that was my first time being attacked by a rakshasa. And you do look great in that outfit. The pink one was nice, too.”
“Thank you, that’s so sweet of you. Anyway, get some rest now and we’ll talk more later. Here’s some tea. It will make you relax.”
She handed him a bowl, and he gulped it down. He hadn’t realized how thirsty he was. When he had finished he noticed the pain was gone.
“You made the pain go away, just like that. Amazing! How did you do that? What was that tea?”
The apsara shrugged.
“Earl Grey and codeine. What did you think? Nectar? Soma? If you don’t shut up and get some rest I’ll make the pain come back.”
“You can do that?”
“Sure, I’ll just break your kneecaps.”