दिव्य Divya (The Trial - A Test of Wit)

एकविसाव्या शतकाच्या मध्यावर घडणाऱ्या या कथेत, अंतराळातील वसाहतींसाठी प्रशिक्षण देणाऱ्या विशेष शाळांमध्ये जगातल्या निवडक बुद्धिमान मुलामुलींना पाठवले जाई. भारतातर्फे आलोक नाईक या विलक्षण बुद्धिमान मुलाची निवड झाली आणि तो सिंगापूरच्या शाळेत दाखल झाला, जिथे हुआन चेंग हा चिनी विद्यार्थी वरिष्ठ विद्यार्थ्यांच्या समितीचा अध्यक्ष होता.

This story is set in the mid-twenty-first century. To train for life and work in space colonies, select gifted children from around the world were sent to special schools. One year, India selected Alok Naik, an extraordinarily brilliant boy, who was admitted to a school in Singapore, where a Chinese student named Huan Cheng also studied. At this Singapore school there was a tradition of teasing and testing new students, and Cheng was the chairman of the senior students' committee formed for this very purpose.

चेंगने आलोकला सामोरे बोलावून धमकावण्याचा प्रयत्न केला, पण आलोकने शांतपणे व तर्कशुद्ध उत्तरे देत त्याला निरुत्तर केले. चेंगला याआधी असा प्रत्युत्तर देणारा विद्यार्थी भेटला नव्हता, त्यामुळे तो वरमला.

Sitting like a king at the head of a long table, Cheng summoned Alok and gruffly told him it was customary to answer when called. Alok calmly replied that since the introduction had been one-sided, he was waiting for it to be completed. When Cheng said there was no need to know their names, Alok retorted, with a hint of sarcasm, that if they were ashamed to share their names, they needn't. Even Cheng's next threat met a logical response - since he didn't yet know whether the task would be pleasant or unpleasant, calling it stalling wasn't fair. Cheng realised he couldn't win an argument with Alok, since every previous student brought before him had already been thoroughly intimidated, but Alok was the first to talk back.

चेंगने आलोकला 'साधन न वापरता व जाजमाच्या लाल पृष्ठभागाला स्पर्श न करता सफरचंद आणा' असे काम दिले. आलोकने जाजमाच्या उलट्या (काळ्या) बाजूचा वापर करून, त्याखालून हात सारून सफरचंद उचलले. दुसऱ्या कामात कोटावर जाकीट न उतरवता जाकीट काढायचे होते, जे आलोकने चतुराईने बटणे नसल्याचा फायदा घेत सहज करून दाखवले.

Cheng announced the first task - to retrieve an apple without using any tool and without touching the mat's red surface. Alok noticed that the mat, before being spread out, had been black on its underside, so he carefully slid his fingers beneath it, rolling it as he moved to the centre, and lifted the apple to hand to Cheng. For the second task, a jacket and coat were put on Alok, and he was told to remove the jacket without taking off the coat. Alok noticed neither garment had buttons, and by tucking the coat's sides through the jacket's armholes and performing some deft manoeuvre, within a minute he had the jacket in his hand while the coat remained on him.

तिसऱ्या कामात एका छोट्याशा पोस्टकार्डाला असे भोक पाडायचे होते, ज्यातून आलोक स्वतः उभ्या उभ्या जाऊ शकेल - हे काम आजवर कोणत्याही विद्यार्थ्याने केले नव्हते. आलोकने कात्रीने पोस्टकार्ड इतक्या कुशलतेने कातरले की त्याची मोठी बांगडी बनली, आणि तो त्यातून सहज गेला. आलोक हे 'दिव्य' पार करणारा पहिलाच विद्यार्थी ठरला.

For the third and hardest task, Cheng handed Alok a postcard and told him to cut a hole in it, using scissors, large enough that he himself could pass through it standing upright - a feat no student had ever achieved. Though it seemed impossible for a five-foot-tall boy to fit through such a small postcard, Alok did not falter for a moment. He cut the postcard with such skilful precision that it transformed into a thin but enormous bangle-like loop, and Alok easily stepped through it. Witnessing this, the committee members, for the first time, spontaneously burst into applause - Alok became the first student ever to pass this 'trial by ordeal.'