This is a story about Kuttappan. A village magician who dreamed of going to the moon.

Decades back, in a remote village of south India, was born a calm and sleepy boy to a family of magicians. Magic was still largely unpopular in those parts of the world. They foresaw the newborn boy to be a propagator of their tradition in magic. They gave him a trendy name – Kuttappan.

Kuttappan was not raised like a normal child. Magic wands were his toys, and magic tricks were his lullaby. In course of time, Kuttappan grew an obvious affinity towards the art of Magic.

One fine morning, Kuttappan found himself set alone in this world. His magic wand turned out to be the only companion left in his life. Kuttappan had by then mastered pretty much what his family had to teach him about magic. Now it was upon him to go out there and make a mark of his own. He wandered from one village to another showcasing his magic and drawing appreciation from the surprised folks. However, the urge to invent something big kept Kuttappan busy.

After a lot of effort, Kuttappan, finally invented the vanishing act. He would vanish from the land and appear in the waters. Sometimes he would vanish from one village and appear in another. A bird in his hand when covered with a cloth vanished, to appear in a box placed far away, only seconds later.

Daytime went practicing magic. At night, he got surrounded by strange dreams. His dreams were random, blurred and absurd. He could never understand them. Suddenly one night, he woke up from his dream disturbed and restless. Not able to pursue his dream nor his sleep, he slipped out of his house for an aimless walk. The starry sky caught his attention. He was fascinated by the biggest among the stars, that kept changing its shape day after day. Something drew him close to that big star. He felt attracted to the Moon. That night, when he resumed his sleep, his thoughts were specific, focused, yet still largely absurd. A dream sprouted in his heart. That sprout traveled to the Moon, carrying Kuttappan in its arms. Kuttappan dreamed of going to the Moon. Thus started his moon mission.

Kuttappan’s way of going to the moon was based on Magic. Kuttappan believed that if he could make an object vanish from one place and appear at another, he could vanish from the Earth and appear in the Moon.

Kuttappan was loved by all, but his Moon mission was slowly turning out to be a chat over tea topic in the village. People made fun of him. Some thought he had lost his sanity. Some believed he should stop magic and start working at the fields like others. No one in their wildest imagination found a sense in his mission.

Years passed by, Kuttappan’s efforts continued without any breakthrough. People who made fun of him passed away, but their children inherited the talent of making fun of Kuttappan. Nothing demotivated Kuttappan. He kept working day and night towards his Moon Mission.

Thanks to the long night’s stunt with the mission, every morning, he was determinedly found at the small hotel in the village that sold coffee and breakfast. One morning, Kuttappan did not drop in at the hotel for his routine coffee. People smelled a tragedy. They rushed to his house expecting to find him dead of exhaustion. They searched all around his house. They checked at the usual places he visited. They searched in nearby waters and far off hills. There was no trace anywhere.

Someone suggested he had accomplished his mission. Others laughed at it. But the fact remained-

Kuttappan was no where!

End of Part 1 – To be continued in – Part 2

Did Kuttappan achieve his Moon Mission? Read on.. https://deepakwarrier.wordpress.com/kuttappans-moon-mission-part-2/