Deep forest camp, Day 6
The rules were simple and brutal: no new supplies, no internet orders, only whatever you carried in your backpack and whatever the jungle gave you.
Medini stood on the edge of the camp looking lost for the first time in her life.
She had no gadget to modify, no prototype to scale.
Her entire first-round victory had been built on listening and teaching.
The forest didn't speak human languages.
AJ was in paradise: his drone was perfect for wildlife survey.
The problem? He had brought only two units and one spare battery.
Now he was trying to convince Manu–Vishwa to cannibalise their solar panels so he could build six more before the week ended.
Manu and Vishwakarma were the happiest people alive.
Their survival kit was modular by design: one central hub, twenty detachable sub-units (water filter, soil sensor, motion camera, sound recorder).
They spent the morning scattering the sub-units across five square kilometres like children hiding Easter eggs, then kicked back in hammocks drinking coconut water.
Sindhu's crocodile buoys needed almost no change; she just painted tiger stripes on a few and renamed them "general wildlife alarms".
Now she floated down khals with Mr Ray, counting everything that moved.
Madhu had the hardest job of all.
His floating purifier was now officially useless.
Mr Ray's words echoed in his head every minute:
"Chain breaks = forest starves."
So he did the only thing he could think of:
He tore his beloved prototype apart on the riverbank.
The solar panels became power sources for tiny sensors.
The bacterial chamber became a water-sampling drone.
The outer shell (once proud and bulky) was sawed into transparent strips so sunlight could still reach the river grass.
By dusk on Day 6 he had a new creation:
a fleet of palm-sized floating discs that measured salinity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, and turtle heartbeats (don't ask), then transmitted data to a handmade bamboo antenna.
He looked like he hadn't slept in years.
Shabonti found him at midnight, soldering by headlamp.
"Bhaiya, you're scaring the monkeys."
Madhu didn't look up.
"If I get this wrong, the forest dies a little.
If I get it right… maybe it forgives me for the first version."
Shabonti sat beside him quietly for once.
Meanwhile, 400 km away
Madhu's flat, Mumbai
The latest episode of Sunderbans ka Rakshak played at full volume.
On screen:
Medini sitting helplessly while everyone else tinkered
AJ screaming as his drone crashed into a mangrove (battery died mid-flight)
Manu–Vishwa high-fiving after their 18th sub-unit pinged back tiger footage
Madhu on his knees in mud, surrounded by dismantled parts, eyes hollow
Madhu's mother was pacing again.
"This is torture! They praised Medini, now they're burying her! And my son—look at him! He looks like a ghost!"
His father sipped tea, unusually calm.
"Let him break the machine, Ma.
He's finally learning the river is alive.
That Ray fellow wanted exactly this."
On screen, the camera zoomed in on Madhu's trembling hands as he connected the last wire.
A tiny green light blinked on the first disc.
Then the second.
Then all twenty.
The bamboo antenna lit up like a Christmas tree.
Madhu let out a sound halfway between a laugh and a sob.
The episode ended on that image, with the caption:
WILL THE FOREST ACCEPT THEIR NEW TOYS?
Vote now for who deserves to stay.
Madhu's mother grabbed her phone.
"I'm making twenty fake accounts if I have to."
His father smiled into his cup.
"No need.
The boy just stopped trying to save the river.
He started asking it what it needs.
That's the first time he's looked like a real scientist."
Back in the forest, the new floating discs drifted out with the tide,
quiet, small, almost invisible.
Deep forest camp, 2:17 a.m.
The moon was a thin silver blade above the mangroves.
Medini sat alone on a fallen log, knees drawn to her chest, the confident smile she wore for the world completely gone.
Two full-grown tigers (one male, one female, both enormous) lay pressed against her like oversized house cats.
The male rested his heavy head on her lap; the female had her tail curled around Medini's ankle.
Medini scratched behind the male's ear, voice barely a whisper.
"I am Medini, bearer of the Pṛthvī fragment.
I could part the river with a thought, grow a forest in a night, make every root and vine tell me exactly how many tigers are breathing right now.
This challenge would be child's play."
She exhaled, long and tired.
"But I can't.
Uncle Daksh made the rules crystal clear: no fragments, no avatars, no miracles.
Just human hands and human hearts."
The female tiger huffed, warm breath fogging the air.
Medini smiled without humour.
"Yeah. I'm lost too."
Then her eyes widened.
"Wait… honey-collectors.
They walk these forests blindfolded, following the scent of bees.
They know every hive, every flowering tree, every secret trail the tigers use.
If I map the bees… I map the forest."
The smile came back (smaller, sharper, real).
She pressed her forehead to the male tiger's.
"Thank you for the reminder, old friends."
The tigers purred like distant thunder and melted back into the dark.
Medini stood up, rolled her shoulders, and walked toward the honey-collectors' tent with purpose.
Same night, AJ's tent
AJ sat surrounded by the corpses of three dead drone batteries and one cracked lens, staring at them like they had personally betrayed him.
"I'm done," he announced to the darkness.
"I can't make lithium cells from mud and hope."
He flopped backward, arms spread, and accepted defeat.
Manu–Vishwa's tent
Both were already snoring in perfect sync, sub-unit sensors blinking happily all over the forest like fireflies.
Sindhu's tent
She slept floating in a hammock strung over the water, one buoy tied to her wrist like a teddy bear.
Madhu's tent
He was passed out facedown on his charpoy, new transparent discs charging in a neat row, one hand still clutching a screwdriver like a sword.
Morning – Mumbai, Tārā's bedroom
The 16-year-old sat cross-legged on her bed, laptop open, Sunderbans ka Rakshak live feed playing.
She watched Anahita on screen (elegant, composed, walking beside Madhu through the mangroves, occasionally touching his elbow to "steady" him).
Tārā's eyes glowed faint silver for half a second (future-sight flicker).
Then she grinned, sharp and feral.
"This was a genius plan," she said to the empty room.
"We get to keep the CEO of the Institute busy for an entire month,
dangle Madhu like bait on a hook,
and make her think she's the one hunting."
She closed the laptop.
"Checkmate, snake lady.
Your move."
Outside her window, Mumbai slept peacefully.
Inside the Sunderbans, the forest held its breath.
Day Seven was coming.
Deep forest camp, Day 10 – dusk
The final tally was read under a sky the colour of tiger stripes.
Dakshraj stood on the same mahogany log, voice carrying over the water.
"Forest Challenge – official ranking:
Manu & Vishwakarma – 92 / 100
Their modular system mapped 47 km², recorded 11 tiger movements, 312 bird species, and zero disturbance to wildlife.
Madhu – 88 / 100
Transparent discs caused zero sunlight blockage, collected real-time water data for 18 khals, and one baby turtle was recorded using a disc as a raft. The forest approves.
Medini – 81 / 100
Ingenious use of traditional honey-collector knowledge produced the most accurate bee–flower–tiger corridor map ever recorded without technology. The judges salute her humility.
Sindhu – 74 / 100
Simple, effective, but lacked ambition for this scale. "Good for crocodiles, boring for tigers," Mr Ray said.
AJ – 41 / 100
Two drones, zero working batteries by Day 7. Eliminated from competition."
AJ raised both hands in mock surrender.
"Fair. But I got the best footage of my life, so I'm staying as your personal cinematographer, deal?"
Daksh laughed. "Deal. Guest pass granted."
Public vote (still running on TV screens across India):
Medini – 64 %
Manu–Vishwa – 19 %
Madhu – 11 % ↑ (rapidly climbing)
Sindhu – 4 %
AJ – 2 % (mostly pity votes)
Then came the private evaluations.
One by one, contestants were called into the judges' tent.
Madhu's turn.
He walked in sweating, hands clasped behind his back like a schoolboy.
Mr Ray spoke first, voice softer than it had ever been.
"Your new discs… the river can see through them.
Fish swim under. Crocodile passed yesterday—didn't even look twice.
Fewer wires next time, but… good."
Professor Jagadish pushed his glasses up, smiling.
"Compact it. Or go wireless—mangrove sap conducts electricity better than you think.
You're thinking like an ecologist now, not just an engineer. Proud of you, beta."
Dr Anahita Saha closed her notebook slowly.
"You listened.
You destroyed your old work and built something the forest didn't hate.
That is rare."
She leaned forward, eyes almost warm.
"Never abandon the purification function.
Combine both—survey and healing—in one skin.
Do that, and universities will name buildings after you."
She paused, then added quietly:
"Or come work with me, and we'll name the patent together."
Madhu's face lit up like sunrise after a storm.
For the first time in weeks, his shoulders straightened.
His eyes shone.
He bowed so deep his forehead nearly touched the ground.
"Thank you… thank you all."
He walked out floating.
Outside, Shabonti tackled him in a flying hug.
"Bhaiya! Mr Ray smiled! I saw it! With teeth and everything!"
Madhu laughed (actual, real laughter that startled a kingfisher into flight).
Manu and Vishwa high-fived him.
Sindhu ruffled his already messy hair.
Medini pulled him into a side hug.
"Told you listening works," she whispered.
Even AJ, officially eliminated, slung an arm around his shoulders.
"Bro, your glow-up arc is insane. Season finale energy."
Under the mahogany log, Mr Ray watched the children celebrate.