“For months now, I have been wondering how best to help you become a better Vaidyar. And after today’s incident, I have finally made up my mind. Kathir, I have decided to send you to school. To a Siddhar’s school of medicine.”
I stared at him blankly, wondering if I had even heard him right. He was sending me to a … what exactly?
“Don’t look so gormless, boy,” Father sniffed. “You do know about the Siddhars, don’t you? They are the discoverers of medicine.”
I gaped at him. What kind of a question was that? Of course I knew about the Siddhars. Everyone did. I racked my brain, trying to dig up all possible Siddhar-related information. The Siddhars were ancient, godlike beings who had lived aeons ago. They possessed all kinds of awesome powers that they had supposedly learnt from the great god Mahadeva himself. They could read minds. They could fly. And yes, they had used their wonderful cleverness to invent medical treatments for diseases. Almost all the formulations that we used had supposedly been invented by the Siddhars. But I’d always thought they lived during ancient times. Surely they were not around these days?
“Why, the Siddhars were magical people,” I stuttered finally. “With supernatural...