Sid stared back at the reflection of himself in the square-shaped mirror. The restroom's orangish lights made everything look yellow. The boy cupped his palms under the tap and splashed some water on his face. The beads of water rolled down from his neck and darkened his navy blue tartan-checks shirt. Instead of using the hand-dryer or handkerchief, he slapped-dried his wet hands on his jeans.

The restroom's door pushed open. The man who entered doubled the boy's eyes in size. At least, he wasn't expecting this. The man was Prakash.

Prakash broke the silence when he reached the washbasin. "Damn, I can't believe this is happening—you versus me, but let me remind you,"—he eyed the boy with a fierce glance—"I'm future you. I believed in the same stuff that you do now."

"Well, I disagree!" Sid snapped in a confrontational tone. "Remember when the first time we met, wanna know why I walked out?" The boy literally waited for a yes/no reply, but due to no quick response, he went on. "What you believed back then, I found it pretty dumb. You believed in a magic man, but I didn't choose the same path as you. So, don't say you're future me because I rejected your belief in the first place."

Prakash's eyes doubled in size, each word felt like a piercing shot of needles, not that he was angry, but those words gave him cuts deeper than the blade. He felt exposed to his vulnerabilities of what a blind believer he was.

How can someone as highly educated as he worshipped a magic man masqueraded as a spiritual guru?

"You choose Krishna, right?" His voice was almost emotionless. "You see, we're on the same page. I'm gonna prove it to you in our debate." He closed the sentence with a peal of evil laughter.

Sid wanted to launch a counter-argument but decided to put a reign over his mouth, saving it for debate. Did a tinge of anger crawl upon his face?

Prakash began to walk away, but Sid's words stopped him for a moment: "Will you change your mind if I defeat you in the debate?"

A sneer flashed across Prakash's lips; he presented it to the boy for a split second and kept on walking.

******

"The debate will commence in five minutes."

This announcement was not enough to silence anyone. Constant murmurs from the crowd made the entire auditorium feel like what school teachers often refer to as a fish market.

These murmurs, however, didn't disturb Sid from the analysis of possible arguments on his laptop. Had his mother watched him this focused, she would burst out in tarty remarks, why the hell you don't focus like this during exams?

The boy was too busy to even give a mental reply to her assumed verbal attack. On top of it all, his ambivert nature was a bigger pain in the neck than anything else.

Now that he was somewhat a star debater, people harassed him with multiple questions: "How come you know so much wisdom for your young age?" "Who taught you to quote scripture like an ancient Vedic sage?"

The boy's introverted self (or should we say nervousness) only allowed a few words to get past his throat.

"Hey, what's up, Siddhant?"

Sid looked up to face the owner of this voice. An awkward smile plastered his face. "Bit busy now."

"Well, I came here just to wish you luck." Mr Hassan flashed a genuine smile on his face, sticking out a hand for a handshake.

Sid couldn't bring himself down to show a lack of courtesy to this kind gesture. He kept aside his laptop and got up from his seat, wearing a welcoming smile.

Both of their hands held each other, but Mr Hassan pulled the boy into a hug.

An awkward feeling washed over Sid, something felt wrong to him. He freed himself from this mildly inappropriate move, and to his awe, Mr Hassan didn't wait for another moment. Before sitting back in his place, Sid shot a glance at Ronit, who was busy talking to his associate.

"Let's start the debate," a high-pitch sound exploded from a mic. The pin-drop silence fell across the auditorium.

All eyes locked on Prakash, who walked up to the podium from his reserved seat. His face wore a grim look, but everyone could read a devil was lurking in his mind.

No mic testing was done. Prakash's eyes scanned every debater coldly but pretended not to look at Sid.

"Krishna, so-called God, a hero, roadside Romeo, or a playboy." His words shot a heatwave among many listeners. "We worship him the most in this country. What many of us don't know is how Krishna was evolved from a tribal deity to a supreme god in the span of eight hundred years."

Prakash stopped for a brief moment to catch a glimpse of the audience's reaction and went on. "The first mention of Krishna was in the sixth century BCE. Chandogya Upanishad mentioned him as a sage and a preacher. He's also cited as Devakiputra (son of Devaki), so we can know it's him.

"Fast forward to the fourth century BCE. A Greek envoy wrote a book called Indica. His name was Megasthenes. In the court of a Maurya King, he talks about how the Surasenoi (Surasens, a branch of the Yadava-Vrishni tribe) worshipped Heracles (Krishna) in Mathura. Thus, Krishna was transformed from a preacher and sage to a deity.

"We all know by the second century BCE, Vedic worship had become rigid with expensive sacrifices, giving rise to Buddhism, aided by Emperor Ashoka's will. The large-scale entry of foreign invaders (such as the Shakas) who were favorably inclined towards Buddhism weakened the authority of the priestly class.

"Moreover, improved economic conditions of the lower varnas challenged caste rules. Interestingly, Suvira Jaiswal argues in her book The Origin and Development of the Vaishnavism, "The priestly class seized upon the devotional cult and recognized Krishna as a form of Vishnu so that the upper class can re-establish its social ethics and authority over the lower classes.

"Thus, in this period, Krishna was fused with Vishnu and came to feature in the Mahabharata as a war hero and in the Bhagavad Gita as a preacher. Till the first century BCE, Krishna was only worshipped in his adult form as a preacher, a friend of the Pandavas, a Yadava-Vrishni hero, and a Vishnu incarnate. What was missing from his grand narrative was a childhood.

"We know that Krishna-Gopala is a later addition to the Krishna saga because the original story of the Mahabharata makes no mention of Krishna's childhood. It is in the Harivamsa (dated fourth century CE), a later appendage to the Mahabharata, that the Gopala-Krishna was given concrete shape.

"Krishna-Gopala (or Krishna the cowherd) surfaced when Krishna was fused with another god of the Abhira (Ahir) tribe. Even though it has not been established whether the Abhiras were native to the Indian subcontinent or were immigrants, it is quite clear that in the first century CE, the tribe was living in the lower Indus Valley and eventually migrated to Saurashtra. Thus, Krishna was fused with the cowherd deity of the Abhiras because of the similarities between the two tribes.

"From the first to fifth centuries CE, Puranic epics such as the Vishnu Purana, and the Harivamsa weaved the fragmentary connections of Krishna from a sage to a tribal deity into a supreme god.

"The narrative was finally complete when the initial hesitancy of accepting a tribal deity as an incarnation of a higher god was also removed when the Bhagavata Purana, dated to the sixth century CE, hailed him as the Supreme One."

A silence pervaded the audience like an omnipresent force. Several listeners' mouths were dropped open, and their faces were smeared with discomfort.

"What a bloody fabrication!" A scholarly looking man shouted at the top of his lungs. "Don't fool us. Our Vedic scriptures are five thousand years old. YOU ARE LYING! KRISHNA IS OUR SUPREME LORD."

Prakash presented the questionnaire with a sneer. "Well, your Vedic scripture, Chandogya Upanishad, mentioned Krishna as a preacher and sage in the 6th century BCE. Your screaming won't change this fact!"

"But Heliodorus Pillar has inscriptions describing Krishna as God of Gods. Why did you ignore this historical antiquity, idiot?!" The man put forward another point.

A sign of relief spread across much of hurt people—

"You're dead wrong, dummy!" Prakash growled. "Heliodorus Pillar is dated around 113 BCE; this doesn't explain why Krishna is mentioned as a preacher and sage. I also mentioned Krishna was made into a Vishnu avatar around the 2nd century BCE, so give me shreds of evidence before the 6th century BCE. Of course, if you have any."—no one was willing to ask more questions—"Alright, so I rest my case here."

Prakash's stare at last, upon Sid, who did look dazzled with confusion. Was he angry? He could bet the boy must be raging inside but externally pretending to be calm and compose.

So, yes! He did it. A confident smile plastered on not only Prakash's face but his fans and like-minded skeptics.

"Organizers!" An elderly religious man sprang from his seat. "How can you allow such disparaging views of our Lord and hurting sentiments of more than a billion worshippers? Throw this man out of here. NOW!"—the elderly shot an angry look at the audience—"How can you people stay quiet? Raise your voice now!"

"What!? Oh, please!" Prakash said mockingly. "Stop turning up your victim card! I didn't hurt anyone's religious sentiment. In fact, I'm challenging every debater here, come prove me wrong."

"Totally agreed!" Mr Hassan shouted at the top of his lungs so that everyone could hear his voice. "We have freedom of speech if you guys don't have facts by your side. LEAVE! Off YOU GO, BIGOTS!"

Those last words launched congregational chants of "Leave! Off you go, bigots." Some moderate people choose to stay, but several began to make a move.

"I'd like to debate you." Sid finally voiced himself after watching this whole drama. Some people kept on walking, but a good number of people stopped knowing the boy from the last debate.

"Annddd, here comes the superboy!" Prakash laughed with a toothy grin, also making several people explode with a fit of laughter.

Sid prepared to get up from his seat. All this time, he was simply analyzing each claim made by Prakash, his fingers surfed the internet every now and then.

"Let him pass, it's impossible to defeat his argument," someone from the boy's right side said.

"Very true, these people just want to belittle our Dharma. Better ignore them." Another one from behind added.

Sid didn't heed to any of these warnings. Nothing but an iconic dialogue from GTA San Andreas popped up in his mind.

Ah shit, here we go again.

He got up from his seat, sauntering.

"I want to show some verses on the projector." He pointed at the enormous white broad behind the podium. Instead of going to the stage, first, he stationed at the seat of Ronit. The boy asked the spin doctor to show verses on his command.

"We don't have all day! Prakash is a PhD in religion from Duke University. Do you think you can beat his scholarly knowledge?"

"Just a minute, please." Sid didn't care to look who said that.

The smile on Prakash's face kept on getting wider; people from the audience were showering praises on him. He exchanged looks with Stan, who, for the first, held a reverence in his eyes. Thanks, God! He didn't lose his temper, the amazing atheist must've said.

"Alright!" The word echoed Sid's confidence, but not enough to uplift those who were feeling hurt and lost.

Everyone's eyes followed the boy as he began to advance slowly, with tentative steps, to the podium. It was a Deja Vu for him, just like the previous debate.

The mic felt cold as ice when Sid got hold of it. "If anyone has noticed it, every claim made by Mr Prakash was devoid of any cultural, scriptural, or any other evidence to support his—"

"Oh, hello!" Prakash thundered (Damn he got angry, Stan told himself), "I gave dates and scholarly opinion, and scriptural references. I believe you must be sleeping, kiddo."

Sid presented him with a teasing smile. "And, that's how you committed the first blunder. You did give a vague reference of how Krishna is mentioned in the 6th BCE as a preacher and sage. You quoted Chandogya Upanishad, but allow me to show the full reference of that verse."

The boy looked at Ronit. A light traveled from the protection lens and spread across the whiteboard—some words flashed on the screen.

Chandogya Upanishad 3.17.6

"There you go!" Sid's voice brimmed with conviction. "Despite his PhD from Duke University, Prakash deliberately mixed the two personalities here. Even if you Google, Angirasas are the sages and preachers, Ghora is one of them. The verse clearly states he was communicating teachings with Krishna, the son of Devaki. Unfortunately, Prakash confused Krishna as the sage and preacher."

The silence pervaded the auditorium, but many people came to the edge of their seats. Sid shot a glance at Prakash, who didn't exchange looks.

"Further," Sid continued. "Prakash explained how Krishna was turned into a deity by Greek envoy. Later he claimed the priestly class made Krishna the deity a Vishnu avatar by quoting a scholar's book. Now keep it your mind ya'll, Prakash claimed it happened around the 2nd century BCE."

Sid waved a finger at Ronit, who clicked a button on his laptop, which formed another image on the whiteboard.

"There you go!" Sid went on. "We all know Rigveda is considered as the oldest Vedic scripture, dated around 1500 BCE. As you can see, Rig Veda verses 1.116.23, 8.74.3-4, also falsifies Prakash's initial claim that Krishna was first mentioned in Chandogya Upanishad around the 6th century BCE. Rigveda 1.22.18 says Vishnu is Gopala. We all know Krishna is known as Gopala. So, it also falsifies Prakash's other claim that Krishna was made into a Vishnu avatar in the second century BCE. But let's assume Rig Veda verse 1.164.31 is talking about someone else's as Gopala. Now watch closely! The verse says, "He never falls from his position. The Sanskrit word for one who never falls from his position is Achuyta. Krishna is addressed as Achuyta in Bhagavad Gita 1.21-22.  Further Rigveda 1.164.31 also says, "sometimes he's near, and sometimes far." Compare it with Bhagavad Gita 6.30. 'For one who sees Me everywhere and sees everything in Me, I am never lost, nor is he ever lost to Me.' The last sentence of Rig Veda 1.164.31 states, 'he comes again and again to the material world.' Compare this verse from Bhagavad Gita 4.8: 'I Myself appears, millennium after millennium.' So these verses prove Gopala mentioned in this Rigveda verse is Krishna, not someone else."

Some people sprang up from their seats to applause, but Sid shushed them. "I'm not done, shimmer down." He almost shouted. "The next claim is about the Balagopala and Abhira tribe, like how Krishna was fused with this unknown Abhira deity. Despite Prakash's PhD from Duke University, he didn't care to give any evidence or reference. Even from a scholar. Allow me, though."

Ronit clicked a button, and another image popped on the screen.

"Finally!" Sid exploded with enthusiasm. "My favorite part, the last claim says Krishna was turned into Supreme God in the Puranic tradition. Just for reference, Krishna, as Supreme has been very well established in Vedas and Upanishads. Show them, Ronit." The boy nodded at Ronit.

"Many Indologists," Sid continued, "dates Bhagavad Gita around the 2nd and 3rd century BCE. Throughout the Gita, Krishna has described himself as the Supreme Lord. Show them some verses, Ronit."

The finger clicked, and everyone's heart skipped a beat.

"Well," Sid shrugged mockingly at Prakash, jutting his bottom lip. "Mr PhD guy from Duke University, these verses from Bhagavad Gita disprove your final claim that Krishna was turned into Supreme God around the span of 4th and 6th century CE."