Kalki the hacker
1987
Blue smoke haze from the fire filled the hut and made the ramshackle room warmer in the midday sun. I sat on the hard-packed dirt floor and sipped hot, sweet, spiced tea with Baba Kumar G. We were joined by the local police man who was making a pipe of hashish for us to share. Baba G was a Sadhu, who had forsaken worldly goods to live the life of a holy man.
The walls of the Sadhu’s house were made from found materials, old iron, broken boards and packaging cartons. For lack of a better word it was a shanty. But it wasn’t dirty; it was clean and homely, if somewhat sparse. The one room house was big enough to sleep four people, with simple thin copra mattress on the earth floor. Incense was burning beside the fire on a small altar to the Hindu gods, with a statue of Shiva in prominent position.
I looked up from my chai tea when there was a break in the conversation. Looking at Baba G, I said, “you were talking about Kali Yuga, what is a yuga?”
“A yuga is an age that lasts for thousands of years and each yuga is dominated by the personality of a God. For the last 15,000 years has been the age of Kali, the destroyer, only this is the golden age of Kali. So, there will be death but there will also be rebirth.”
I listened to the baba speak, eagerly anticipating his pearls of wisdom.
“The next yuga will be Satga Yuga which is an age of peace but before that must come Kranti, a period of chaos, destruction and warfare.”
I cleared my throat, “so when will the Kali Yuga end?”
“Kali Yuga could continue for many more thousands of years, but the Baba’s are talking about the arrival of Kalki the avatar who will initiate the end of Kali Yuga and the coming of Satga Yuga… the new age.”
“Kalki is the tenth and last incarnation of Vishnu and will come from the sky on a white horse and will bring destruction to the wicked. He will renew creation and restore righteousness.”
Baba G took the chillum, lifted it in both hands and touched it to his forehead “Boom Shankar!” and lit it with a stick from the sacred fire. He drew a deep breath of the charas and tobacco and blew it out his nostrils in a seemingly unending stream of sweet smoke. Coughing he passed the chillum to the policeman.
“Who do the Babas think Kalki will be?”
The policeman took a pull on the hash and passed it to me. “Boom!”
“We think he’ll be a hacker, who will bring down the western banking system from a cave in the Himalaya using a laptop computer and satellite phone.”
Blowing out smoke I turned quickly to look at the Baba’s face. Was he taking the piss? How did this simple ascetic guy know about laptop computers and satellite phones, let alone hackers? I’d only seen a couple of people with mobile phones in Delhi and none at all here in the foothills of the Himalaya.
“Seriously?”
He just raised his eyebrows at me, took the pipe and smoked.