THIS is no Star Trek, but another place where no man has gone before. Skeletons of those who tried to get in but couldn't are at the entrance to this place and the skulls warn you not to enter. In the dead of the night, King Vikram walks up to this place where they cremate their dead and brings down the corpse from the tree to carry it on his shoulders. He has promised a yogi that he would bring him this corpse. He had thought it to be an easy task, but then, no one had told him that the corpse would turn out to the abode of the ghost who talks.

"Vikraaaaaaaam," a voice echoes across the forest. "Who called me?" says Vikram to himself, in his heart. "I am Betaal, the ghost who lives in the corpse that you are carrying. You are brave to have come here alone, but, since this is your first time, you are perhaps unaware that it is going to be a long journey, so, let me tell you a story to pass time. However, if you break your silence during the journey, I will vanish."

Betaal continues: "Mahiwal, Farhad, Ranjha and Punnu elope with their sweethearts Sohni, Shirin, Heer and Sassi, while villains chase them. To escape the villains, the lovers are compelled to cross River Chennab in a boat that can hold but two persons at a time. In the middle of the river, there is a small island, on which, any number of persons can stand. It appears that the young men are so jealous that no one of them would permit his prospective bride to remain at any time in the company of any other man or men unless he was also present there."

"Nor is any man to get into a boat alone when there happens to be a girl alone, on the island or shore, other than the one he loves. This leads one to suspect that the girls are also jealous and fear that their men will run off with the wrong girl if they get a chance. No one is willing to relax his or her conditions, while the villains are closing up on them. The lovers have to guess the minimum number of trips that the boat has to make to get the four couples safely across in accordance with the imposed conditions. Somehow they happen to get to the other side, but on reaching there, the couples find that they no longer love each other and should separate forever. How did they cross the river, in how many trips and why did they part ways? Answer me Vikram or I shall break your skull into pieces."

Virkam: "Betaal, there can be no love without trust; and for answers to the first two questions, ask readers of Mind Games to write at adityarishi99@yahoo.co.in." "You are wise Vikram, but you broke your silence, so, I'll have to vanish now…ha, ha, ha…"