My name is Ankush Maraki and I’m an orphan. You see, the only reason I'm on a train is that I ran away and used my savings to buy a ticket. The train was from Chandigarh to Rameswaram. I’ve always wanted to live in Rameswaram, for the sights, the sounds, and the mysteries. I’ve always heard stories about the secret caves on Dhanushkodi beach to the floating rocks of the Ram setu bridge between India and Sri lanka.

The ticket I had bought was economy because that's all I could afford. 

The train car was dirty, had cockroaches everywhere and suspicious people were on board. I decided to take a look around the train to find a better seat (hopefully in first or

business class) so I walked out and found a place completely different.

The business class car was amazing. With nice cloth seats and a clean floor with not a single whiff of dust. There were no seats here so I decided to go to the first class car. The first class car was all empty except for a few scattered people. This car had a bar and a small playground for the kids. I decided to take a seat and found that the seats were even better than the business class ones. As soon as I sat down I fell asleep and waited for Rameswaram to come. 

When I got off I arrived at the busiest station In the world (or at least that's what it felt like) the station was made of marble and smelled amazing, like lavender and salt water combined. As I walked through I realised nobody really cared if they bump into me, but that's what every Indian train station is like. 

I looked to my left and out of the crowd I found a small restaurant. I was starving! I walked over and with what I had in my savings I got a chole bhature (which was delicious). Afterwards I looked for the exit which was on the other side of the train station, so I started the walk.

While I walked I noticed that the train station had tons of shops on this side. There was a clothing shop, a toy store, and a bookstore. I wanted to get a book but I had to save my money

for necessities.

Finally the exit came. I stared at the door and wondered what the city would look like.

I walked out.

As soon as I came out I realised that the city was even more crowded than the train station and the smells and sights were triple what I imagined. I saw tons of temples, and the ocean was so close I could hear it through the honks of traffic. 

I looked to my right and noticed the big temples towering over the city. It was so much I almost didn't see the truck coming straight at me. I moved away but realised instead of back on the pavement I was in the middle of the road! I quickly moved while watching for any more vehicles that could be coming for me.

On the other side of the road I found a little park which was the perfect place to go after I’d just been in the middle of a really

busy road (it was pretty scary). The park had a big fountain in the middle and a field with trees on the edges.

As I went to sit down on the grass I noticed a policeman looking strangely at me but I just figured he thought I was alone without parents. I just ignored it and sat for a few minutes in the park. When I got up I took a few moments to stretch and brought my attention towards the big temple.

The Temple

From afar, the temple looked big but as I got closer it seemed to have gotten bigger. I walked towards the line of people waiting to get in the temple (yes, there is a line, there's that many people). After what seemed like hours I finally entered the temple and realised that the long wait was worth it. The temple was amazing, with beautiful statues and design on the wall to the tremendous view of the ocean. It looked like I was in an art museum.

There were tons of paintings on the walls that told the story of how Hanuman Ji built a bridge from India to Sri Lanka with his army of monkeys. There were even more paintings of stories that I didn't know.

I decided to go to where all the gods were kept, right in front of

the ocean. I said my prayers after another but shorter line. I left the temple to find something running towards me.

The Dog

It was a dog. The dog I found was a golden brown color with white spots. The dog started barking at me and came over to smell my pockets. Normally people would try to avoid dogs in India because of the diseases they carry, but this one did not look sick at all. I started to pet him but he growled. So I walked away. He followed me and started  whining. It probably meant he was hungry.

I walked up to the closest restaurant I could find. It was called Hotel Rameswaram. I ended up getting a whole dinner which included salmon, tuna, and chicken tikka masala. It seemed like the dog could hear and understand me. When I only ordered the salmon he barked and pointed at the tuna, then he pointed at the tikka masala and started staring at me with

puppy eyes.

I figured he needed a home which reminded me that I needed a place to stay. I asked the restaurant owner if there were any cheap hotels around. He told me about a place called the OYO flagship hotel, which sounded a bit strange but what other choice did me and the dog have?

We walked to the OYO flagship hotel and found out it was just a big tin shack with two rooms. I went to the desk and asked for a room but saw a sign that said NO DOGS ALLOWED! The total cost was 13 rupees. When I got to the room I had to sneak the dog in through the window. The room was a normal one but just smaller. It had a small bed, a cabinet, and a window. 

I layed down on the bed, absolutely exhausted. It felt so good to finally get some sleep, especially after today's events. I'm happy to go to sleep with my first friend in Rameswaram.

We decided to leave early (again sneaking the dog through the window) so we could catch the bus and hopefully find some seats.

The walk wasn't long because the bus station was only a few steps from the hotel.

 As soon as we walk in I notice nobody else is there except me and the dog. The bus driver looked very fierce with the stare she was giving me that probably meant, “Don't get into any trouble!!”. I sat down and waited for the bus driver to come to find out we don't have a ticket, but she never came. She just sat down and drove, but she wasn't going in the direction of the

beach in fact she was going in the opposite direction. I immediately started panicking. I realized she was going to the port. She parked in front of a small jetty and got out to talk to someone, probably the boat owner.

 At this moment I noticed a little girl looking in my direction. I waved to her and mouthed that I needed help. She nodded and tried to get into the bus but couldn't. Then I noticed something in her pocket, something shiny like metal. I banged on the window and pointed to her pocket, she pulled out what appeared to be a hair clip. She picked the lock, got inside (by this time I was waiting by the door) and pulled me out of the bus. While she pulled me I noticed something, she smelled of oranges and lemon (tons of citrus). She was beautiful. With black silky hair and a pink sari. Then I realized I had a crush on this girl I had just met, wow great job, Ankush on your

second day in Rameswaram you already have a crush on someone, I thought. 

Me and her hid behind a cargo container. We kept peeking out and saw the bus driver walking back, looking inside the bus and saw that I was not there. Her face was full of anger. She drove away, probably looking for me. 

I am definitely never getting on a bus again, but if I do I’d want to be with this girl.

We come out from behind the container.

The Girl

The girl told me her name was Eesha. I did the same and told her my name “My name is Ankush, thanks for saving me back there” and she replied with, “You're welcome, you should be careful next time. Never get on a bus with no one else on board”. “Thanks for the advice”. She started to walk away. But I really wanted to talk to her. So I called out her name, “Eesha!” she turned around and came walking back. I asked her where she was going and she replied with “none of your business”. I asked her if she wanted to be friends with me and even though her face showed a bit of annoyance she said yes. She told me we could get a chai  if I wanted to, I obviously said yes. So we

went to get chai and eventually became more and more close.

 I told her about how I'm an orphan to the time when I was in the middle of the road. She told me she works selling oranges and lemons (so that's where the smell came from) to the fact that had also been in the middle of the road once. In fact she said she is in the middle of the road almost every day.

 After she was done telling her story I told her about where I'm staying and that she could come visit whenever she wanted to. I really wanted to   go now because it was getting late. But Eesha didn't want to go because she loved the dog so much. “Does he have a name?” she said. “No, not yet. I haven't decided on one”. She gave me a surprised look and started to give me name ideas “ Chintu, Toffee, Chiku” at this point the dog was barking so much I had to cover my ears, Eesha was laughing

and that's when I realised her laughter was even better. A sort of light, soft chuckle. It was amazing, I started laughing and said “you like that, right? Okay your new name is Chiku” from there me and Eesha parted our ways. But before she left she said she would come and visit soon. I asked if she wanted to go to the beach tomorrow. “Yeah!” she said. She looked up at the sky, “look at the stars, they look so beautiful”, I looked up and saw many beautiful stars gleaming in the moonlight. That's when I noticed how dark it was, so I said goodbye and thought about what the new day was going to be like.   

New day

Today I was feeling very happy because 1. I had a new friend, and 2. I learned to never get on a bus again. Today I was going to meet up with Eesha and go to the beach (of course I'm going to walk). I realised that I needed to find her and thought about how I was going to do that. I gave it a good 5 minutes of thinking and had an idea, I should go to the port and try to find her there. So that's exactly what I did. I walked to the port with Chiku and saw a trail of lemons and oranges on the ground. “she must be here somewhere" I thought, gazing in the direction of the fruits.  I followed the trail until I found a box with a letter on it. It said “I knew you were going to look for me. Try to find me”. So I looked around and saw a pink thing shining behind a cargo container. I knew exactly who this

was…Eesha. I walked in her direction and when she knew I had found her she came out.

 I told her that I was planning to go to the beach today just to find some shells and maybe put my feet in the water. She agreed and we walked together to the beach. There were not as many people as I expected but that was good for us so we could spot more shells easily instead of looking around peoples feet like crazy people. Eesha found two big shells while I only found a small shell. Chiku had found a big stick so we played fetch for a while. When we were done we put our feet in the water and that's when I noticed a person begging for money. I gave him some money and those moments after that were life changing.

The Fisherman

He told me and Eesha that in the caves of this beach there is a secret tunnel with a secret passcode only known by one person, Vasco Da Gama. he said that when Vasco De Gama came and explored the shores of Dhanushkodi beach he stumbled upon secret caves with markings on the front that have never been translated before, which led to a secret cave full of looted treasure. There were artifacts from the Indonesians, the Nepalese, the Bengals, and the Mughals. Vasco

never told a soul except for the leader of the Mughals whom he met on his exploration of north India. The leader of the Mughals, Shah Jahan, who was famous for building the Taj Mahal in Agra, was intrigued by this secret cave and ended up sending some of his guards there to take back some of the loot but when they reached the cave they found nothing. They returned and told Shah Jahan that there was no cave or any markings on the rocks. Vasco went to check on it and saw nothing. He searched the whole beach but found nothing. Vasco left disappointed and never told anyone. The only people who were told were the relatives of Shah Jahan, like me. The legend says that only someone with a heart full of pureness and perseverance can read the markings and solve the mysteries and riddles of the caves.

 I had stopped listening after the word “perseverance” because

of someone familiar running toward me… The bus driver!

Found

She had a big smirk on her face and was saying something in Tamil, probably “I’ve got you now!”. I immediately started to run away along with Eesha who also recognized the bus driver. I could tell from the look on her face when she yelled “RUN!”. Even Chiku was running and barking like crazy. 

Even though we were being chased by a kidnapper I still couldn't help but think about what the fisherman told us. Questions were rolling in my mind like, “why did the markings disappear?” and “has anyone else entered after Vasco de gama left?”. Eesha noticed the expression that was on my face and asked “okay, what are you thinking about?” in a way that sounded like curiosity and annoyance. I told her what I was thinking and she replied with “you're seriously thinking about

that right now, when we are getting chased by a possible kidnapper?!”. I took this to mind and I replied with a simple “yes”. After that she quickly pulled me away from something and said “watch where you're going!”. I took some time to look at my surroundings and saw that the bus driver was still chasing us (she had amazing speed and was almost to us) and that we were near the rocks. I quickly turned around to look at the bus driver, she was slowing down and yelled something else in Tamil. 

We were finally in the clear so we stopped running (taking one last look back just to be careful). The bus driver wasn't coming but something else had come up on the rocks next to me.

The Markings

The markings I found looked really similar to what we had learned in school about Persian history back at the orphanage. We had a brief study about the mughals too and suddenly I remembered why the markings look so similar, they were in Persian, the language of the Mughals! We had not learned how to read Persian but my Persian friend back at the orphanage taught me a little bit. So I could read a little bit , except the markings had all faded a lot over the years. Even when I looked

really close I couldn't see much. But I tried anyway and was able to make only half of the sentence. It said “Is known by both masculine and feminine names,

And burns up without rain;

Originates from a man and goes into a man,

But no one has been”

I told Eesha.

I said that I could not read from there because of the faded letters. The expression on Eesha’s face suddenly changed into a face that tells me that she noticed something.   

“I’ve heard of this riddle before, I think the rest of the sentence is, able to guess what it is”. Excitement suddenly showed up on my face. “We are so close” I thought in my mind. But then Eesha said “I don't really know the answer to this riddle. I’m sorry”. I found my smile drooping down into a disappointed

face. But then I realised I had far bigger problems than this riddle.

Beaches And Waves

The water was getting close and I tried to swim away from it but the current was too strong. Eesha is trying her best to pull me out. I was almost pulled out of her hand. I noticed she was crying, saying “I don't want to lose another friend. I’ve lost too much already.” 

I was crying just thinking about what she said. After 10 seconds of trying to hold on, I let go and was pulled into the current. I’m swimming so hard. Swimming like I never had before. Suddenly everything went black. I’m thinking about the riddle as I drift out to sea. I don't want my last moments thinking

about anything else. I finally came out of the water and stopped. I must have been in a rip current. I see Eesha on her knees, crying. I yell out her name. “Eesha!!!”. She gets up and looks my way, I wave to her and she waves back. Her face looks so relieved. I’m happy she’s happy. I focus all my strength on trying to swim back to shore. Those swim lessons at the orphanage finally paid off. I was swimming like crazy trying to get back to shore. It took a little while but I eventually made it. Now we can finally focus our attention on solving the riddle. After some hugs, of course.

Babur

As I was drifting out to sea I had thought about the riddle. I had recognized it somewhere. Something suddenly popped up in my mind, I had learned about this riddle before! The answer was…river! It was a pun in Tamil. I looked around for any place to put our answer. I found a very dusty area of the rock underneath the riddle. Eesha and I exchanged looks of happiness. We were thinking the same thing! Eesha quickly made the markings in Tamil because she probably knew Tamil. The cave shifted open and led to a tunnel. We entered the tunnel and noticed more markings on the wall, Eesha was

flying through them saying what was on the wall. “In 1526, I Babur was looking for more land until I stumbled upon these tunnels which led to a cave. The cave was perfect for all the jewels of the kingdom. I will move down here close to these caves to get easy access to the jewels.” I was very shocked by this message. I didn't know there was actually treasure. We went on into the cave and waited for whatever challenges came.

The Cave

The walls of the cave were not just lined with markings but also pictures of which I'm pretty sure is Babur, one of the kings of the Mughal empire. He was king from 1526 to 1530.

The cave was very dirty and narrow. Except for footsteps that look suspiciously new. As we walk I ask Eesha what she meant when she said she had lost too much. She looks away and says “I don't want to talk about it”. I asked her another question, “how did you lose another friend?”. “I said I don't want to talk about it!” she says, annoyed. I stop asking questions before she gets too mad but how can I stop thinking about what she said?

 Me, Eesha and Chiku came to a halt because of more markings on the wall right in front of us. Wow, the Mughals sure liked riddles, I thought. The wall said (again in persian) “What has a mouth but cannot eat, moves but has no legs and has a bank but you can't put money in it?". Me and Eesha thought about this and came up with an answer. River, except there was no place to write it down. I then noticed a light coming from the other side of the rock. I looked around for any ways of connection because I had a plan. I told Eesha to maybe try to push the rock so it could open. We pushed and we pushed. The rock was moving! We kept pushing but it wasn't opening. But my feet were wet, very strange. It smelled like saltwater. That's when I looked down to see water rising higher and quick.

Flood

The water was rising quickly, while me, Eesha and Chiku were stuck in a narrow cave with lots of water. Ugh, Why?, I thought.

Chiku was definitely scared, you could tell by his whining and his scurrying around. Me and Eesha were scared too.

 I didn't want my trip to end like this, I had so many plans. Suddenly Eesha blurted out “I never had any friends, my job forces me to not make any friends. You were the only friend I ever knew. I’m happy to be with you!”. By this time the water was up to my shoulders. I was getting ready to hold my breath when the rock came open. All the water went into something

that looked like a chamber. Inside the chamber was tons and tons of gold. 

My face dropped immediately. Eesha’s was dropped too, I didn't look at her but I could tell she was. Our attention turned to some gold falling over. Huh, that's weird, I thought. We walked toward the fallen gold and what we found was even more weird.

                  Robber

We found a person. A person I’ve seen before. The fisherman. He came out and pointed a golden sword my way. Why my way?, I thought. “My name is Lingeshwar, meaning Lord Shiva. Shiv Ji opens his third eye when he gets mad, I may not have a third eye but when I get mad you do not want to be near me!” Lingeshwar said. 

Meanwhile I have so many questions, same with Eesha. We look at each other in fear. Chiku is going bananas with what happened. Literally, his barking sounds like he is saying “bananas!”. 

Out of all this madness I am able to say “how did you get in here?!”. “I followed you. When you stopped to figure out the riddle I heard what your thought process was and got in. when you were being sucked in the current I closed the rock before you saw me. I then walked down the tunnel to the other riddle. When I opened the rock I heard you coming so I hid behind the gold. Then you came in and I couldn't hear so I decided to peek but this gold fell down!”. Lingeshwar said very menacingly. “Also I'll need to take that crown.”. I was confused. I was so busy looking at Lingeshwar I didn't notice the big crown that sat in the corner of the room. The fight was on.

              The Crown

Me and Eesha bolted for the crown. But so did Lingeshwar. We were in a race. On one side a villain, while on the other, two kids who need to save Rameswaram. We had a head start but Lingeshwar was catching up.

The crown was getting close. We had to hurry. We are so close… Ugh! Lingeshwar was able to take the crown. He ran out of the cave. Me and Eesha ran out behind him (not forgetting Chiku). 

Once we exited the cave we noticed we had been in there at least four hours. The crowd was much bigger now so we had to

stand on our tippy toes while running (it hurt so much. I know many people can relate). We spotted him out of the crowd running towards the port. Oh no…he was trying to illegally smuggle an ancient artifact possibly into Sri Lanka. We had to hurry. I kept looking back on my team to make sure that all of them were still there.

Chiku was getting everyone's attention by barking so loud that even I had to cover my ears, I was at least ten feet ahead of him. But his barking was good, somebody would definitely call the police. When the police would get here we could tell them what happened and where Lingeshwar went. Me and Eesha shared a look  meaning she was thinking the same thing.

Now we focused our attention on trying to find the devious fisherman. I kept watch over him while I was running. “This way!” I called out to Eesha and Chiku. We stopped running

straight and diverted to some steps leading us out of the calm beach into the city. We kept running in his direction wondering when the port was going to come. And at that moment I saw the largest boat you will ever see, it was labeled with a 

big MSC. This was the only boat there so we knew Lingeshwar was going to be there. We ran faster and faster to get to the port. Finally we were at the gates of the port. I saw Lingeshwar almost there. We need to hurry. We made it to the ship just in time before it left the dock. Now all we had to do was find a criminal on the largest cargo ship in the world that is 399.9 meters in length and 64.3 meters in width, how hard could it be.

                    Boat

The boat was ginormous. It had at least 20 thousand crates in there. How are we going to find Lingeshwar there?  I thought as we walked on the deck of the boat.

The sun was now fully out. Great hot weather for searching. We split up, me and Chiku while Eesha goes alone. Me andThe boat was ginormous. It had at least 20 thousand crates in there. How are we going to find Lingeshwar there?  I thought as we walked on the deck of the boat.

The sun was now fully out. Great hot weather for searching. We split up, me and Chiku while Eesha goes alone. Me and

Chiku stayed close to the railing on the deck. “Chiku do you think she likes me?” he replies with a single bark “really? Can you notice? Is it that obvious?”  he replies with barking but not a single one, but multiple. I looked in the direction he was barking in…Lingeshwar! Except he didn't have the crown, just a big box. There's probably the crown in the box. 

“Eeshaaaaaaaa!!” I yell out while running towards Lingeshwar. Eesha follows my voice and comes from behind me. We run as fast as we can. Then he does something I never expected, jumping into the water. Me and Eesha are in absolute shock. We know we have to jump if we want to save Rameswaram but we don't want to……okay we're jumping. We tell Chiku to stay on the boat so he can keep watch and make sure there's no more trouble up here. We jump, the water feels warm and co