The Missing Chapter…

We had started early. She was resting on the rock as she watched Vicky taking photographs of the colorful frog, bigger for its kind. It was Amazon, a world full of surprises. She giggled as the frog maneuvered with its prey. The air was pleasant, full of chirping of birds, sweet sound of the river flowing and Vicky’s comments.

Two of them in the middle of Amazon enjoying, ignorant of what was coming.

From nowhere a stream of arrows zapped towards them. One struck Vicky. She screamed as he collapsed. Sensing trouble, he cried as she moved towards him, Run..Run away, I’ll follow. Run. Her heart missed a beat as she took steps back. She turned and started running. Shoving the leaves and branches coming my way, she kept running without looking back, my heart beating harder. Not knowing where she was heading, she knew there’s no stopping now, just running, running for life. A bang, and she fainted.

She screamed as she woke up. The nightmare has followed her. It was third day she had visited the spot, but Vicky was nowhere around. Just indicating what she feared. She couldn't stop crying. The feeling of loosing the most precious in has, was very painful. She knew she could never get over it. Tears didn’t stop. She couldn't stop thinking of him. You are my strength. I can never see you cry. His words echoed in her mind. No, He would never like me this way, torn and dejected. I will live and I will find you. She collected all her strength, picked up her backpack and started waking, still holding his picture in hand.

Not far was the village of the tribe. The huts hiding under the huge trees. In one of the huts was Vicky in tribal wear, tied to the trunk passing through the hut, unconscious. It was a day of celebration, day of festival, day of sacrificing a life to the God.

The words of Vicky had revived her strength, had brought back a hope, a hope of reunion. She kept walking, unknowingly her feet heading the village…

Written for Sunday Scribbling Prompt - Lost

The Mysterious village girl

I was in the middle of the novel and it was getting interested, Thrillers and horrors are my genre. Smita was sleeping on my shoulder. We had completed 4 months of marriage but never had been anywhere to spend some time together. She always discussed Trip plans with me. But I had just started my businedd and I had to devote most of my time for it. She complained that i am being callous, and my work is interfering my personal life. I retaliated. But she was persistent, I had to relent. We decided to spent time in some peaceful place, when one of my friends suggested his village would be a good place, It was a good place and his farmhouse was just next to the beach. This was enough to facinate Smita. And we were off.

We had almost passed half of the journey. The train kept its high speed. It was 2:00 am in the night and everyone was fast asleep, except me who was dug in the novel. I peeped outside. It was pitching dark. Nothing could be seen. Only sounds of rain battering on the leaves and sound of the wild wind as the train kept speeding was heard.

After sometime the train stopped at a train station. The platform was empty. As I was glancing around the station, I saw a silhouette. A girl was sitting on a rock outside the station exit. Her face was muddy. It was raining heavily, she was drenched. Her eyes were red, looked like she needed help. But there was no one around. Smita was now drinking water; I pointed het towards the girl. Which girl? She said. You need sleep, she said and then back to her dreams. I kept looking at the girl, she was looking back at me, as if she had something to tell me.
We kept starting at each other. I had started feeling restless. The train started moving. I looked back, she was there looking at me, her eyes calling me. I felt chilling.
For a moment I felt detached from everything. An unknown feeling was creeping.
I tried to sleep, but in vain. I pulled a shawl and closed my eyes, trying to think about Smita. After sometime when I looked at the train map, I found that the next station was ours. I woke up Smita and began winding up things.

The train stopped we got down. It was still night. My friend's driver had come to the station to pick up us. The rain had stopped. Everybody got in the car.
As we started, I saw the same girl, standing some yards away, near the sugarcane field. Still drenched, her tender muddy face was full of distress. She was looking towards us.
The feeling of hers was very disturbing. As I kept looking at her she turned around and starting moving into the fields. In no time she disappeared in the crops.

My mind was filled with thousands of questions. How come she here reached so fast? It took one hour for us by train. What does she want? Is she just my imagination?

Adam and Eve, Happily married ?

Eve asked Adam “Why do you love me ?”

Adam replied “Because there nobody else around.”

“I won’t talk to you” replies the angry Eve.

The disputes might have come to us in heritance from Adam and Eve.

When we fall in love, the whole world seems to be a beautiful place. We are cheerful, enjoy everything.There’s nobody more trustworthy than him. We confide in him.

Then days pass. Your relationship grows. You get committed or get married. You are happy.

The after some time, gradually things starts changing. Your partner’s certain things start annoying you. Then there are arguments. Arguments get into fights. Suddenly you feel this is not the same person whom you have loved.

When once, his larger problems were trivial for you, now even his trivial problems starts annoying you.

When once, you were an open book for him, now you feel he is a closed book for you.

When once, he was the only trustworthy for you, now nothing could be confided to him.

The interesting part here is, your partner feels same for you.

I want a life without quarrels, only peace and happiness.

But the question is, Is it really possible? But when I look at my parents, I am relieved. They are with each other for 26 years, still happy with each other.

Because they know the secret to happy marriage. Whenever there was a argument, one of them takes the back seat. Else in no time it may turn out into big fight. But off course, there should be understanding between the two.

Down the line, these fights seems so small, and to think a fight over the issue seems funny. Isn’t it ?

Written for Sunday Sribbling:Trust

A Visit to Goddess

 

 

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Visiting Ekviradevi (Goddess) was a perfect venue for a family trip. Off we were by our car. But the car only took us half way the mountain, further we had to walk to the top.

Before starting to climb, I suggested we do pait-pooja (literal translation would be stomach-worship, actually eating) before dev-pooja (God worship), which was at once turned down by my mother. She wanted it other way. But I won with majority and we headed to a restaurant. After pait-pooja, when the bill was placed on our table, we were dumbfounded. It was almost double. We paid reluctantly and started our journey.

The refreshments from the vendors along the way helped us in skipping the heat. Lime juice, Kokam juice, buttermilk, cucumber, we were enjoying. As we reached the top, we were panting. But was worth as the view down the hill was beautiful. The only disappointment was the long queue to reach the shrine of the Goddess. We took turns to stand in the queue. I felt pleasant as I stood before the Goddess idol. I prayed for family's betterment.

The Karla cave next to the temple is also interesting. It’s dated 4^th century. The carvings and statues hinted Buddha era. We took a couple of shots.

The view down the hill was very beautiful. The dried land and rocks cued us of the beautiful scenery in the rainy season. The same dry land would be covered with plush green fields. The water would be flowing down the same dried water path.

We made our minds to be back in the rains, unanimously.

The Big Mistake of her life

Her cell phone rang again. She looked at it. Rohan’s name was flashing on it. She kept staring at it, not knowing what she was supposed to do. She tried to concentrate on something that was airing on TV, but only in vain. She couldn’t believe what her life has turned into.

She was a simple small-town girl. An innocent girl when she had come to this big city. She was enjoying the new city life and was very happy, until she met Rohan. He was so candid and sweet that she at once fell in love with him. He initiated and soon they were dating.
He used to send her flowers and expressed his love in unusual ways. She reasoned his unusual ways to impulsiveness and passion, but sometimes wondered her beliefs.

One day he revealed that he would even kill if anyone tries to separate them. That’s when she sensed trouble and decided to keep distance from him. Following days had more trouble. He tried to contact her but she kept ignoring him. She kept recieving messages from him. The threatening mails and letters kept pouring. Love had now taken the form of fear.

One day her phone rang, seeing his number, she ignored, it kept ringing.Next was a message from him “Please come back Sonia, I love you. Why don’t you understand? if you don’t come today I would kill myself”, She panicked.

Not knowing what to do, she decided to meet him for last time and make it clear that its over. She knew the risk.She knew she was unsafe. She was trembling as she reached his door. She rang the bell. Nobody answered. The door was slightly open. Gulping the lump under throat, she pushed the door and entered the hall. No sign of him anywhere. Her heart was beating harder. She saw a letter lying on the table. “I love you Sonia”. It was written in blood. The paper fell from her hand. She was trembling with fear. She turned to run away when someone held her hand. She felt a pinch in her stomach. Her eyes widened with fear. She was drenched with sweat. “I knew you would come back”, said a voice from her back. She turned, she was almost crying. Her eyes met his. He looked like a devil. His face was covered with sweat and something red. He stretched his hand. “I LOVE YOU SONIA” was cut into his hand; blood was oozing out, his shirt almost drenched with blood. She almost skipped a heartbeat. She jerked his hand and ran away. “Come back Sonia. Try to understand me” the words kept following her.

The psycho was back, trying to reach her. Her cell ringed again. Thirty missed calls. It rang again. This time a message "Come back else i would kill myself". She knew it was time for action.But didnt know what was she supposed to do. Call the police, her mind hinted. Grabbing courage, she picked the receiver with trembling hands and dialed.

Continued here
Written for Three Words Wednesday : Candid Impulse Risk

Sports – In India, its synonym for cricket

There are few things that Indians are CRAZY for. And one of them is Cricket.

For those who are not aware, our national game is Hockey. But it never got the credit it deserves.
In India, there’s only one sport that maximum public watch – Cricket.

Every match is watched in every home. Every match is discussed in detail.
On every holiday, you’ll see guys playing cricket in the streets.
Every child learns cricket by default.

Our adulation towards our heroes is not less crazy. They are our heroes when we win matches. But dunno how they suddenly turn to villains when they loose.

There was a time when people watched five days test matches. As time went on, humans started loosing patience. So One-day matches were introduced for them. Now as we can’t wait for anything in life and want things in the speed of thoughts, 20-20 matches are introduced.
The funniest thing that we saw with the introduction of the 20-20s was the Auction. Ironically, when the companies are laying off people on one hand, we could see millions been spent on one player.

But one name I want to mention here is Sachin Tendulkar. He is the best and has done India proud. He is the real Master blaster. Sachin, we love you !

Find yourself Game:1

IMAGINATION DOES WONDERS !!
try yourself

Here's something that you'd be interested. Want to play mind games ?
I would give you a situation that you have to imagine. And then answer the questions.
So shall we start ? Here we go -

1. Close your eyes. Imagine you are in the middle of a wheat field. The crop has grown up. Its going to be a good harvest.
You are happy. You look around. Far away, under a banyan tree, you see some something. What is it ? It could be some person, some thing ..what do you see ?

2. Close your eyes. Your friend handed a box to you. You are very happy. You want to open the box. You are excited. You open the box. What is in the box ?

3. Close your eyes. You have won a very big prize. You are very happy. You have never seen so much money in life. No wonder you are on seventh heaven.
You remember your closed one had casually talked about his wishes to you once. You want to gift him. Who is it ? And what would you gift him ?

Don't forget to close your eyes and imagine yourself in the middle of the situation.
And lastly, don't forget to comment your answers.

You would realize that what you see is what's on your sub-conscious mind. Something that you have admired. Somethings that you had desired.

I would be posting for more such emotional games. Keep watching!

It's funny how she met him!

It was around 5.00 in the evening. Unlike every Sunday I was at home. I was solving Sodoku puzzle, which is my favorite pastime. I could hear some noise from the balcony. It would be the teens playing cricket, I thought. I never understood the enthusiasm of Indian guys to play cricket every single day they get off. I just shrugged.

But the noise kept creeping. Till then my sister came hurriedly by me. She was buzzing with excitement as if she just won a million dollar lottery. She went directly to the window. I followed her. It was pure chaos, disarrayed crowd. Every person in the rabble was looking up somewhere. Some with mouth open with astonishment while some unstoppingly shouting. I followed their eyes. I almost jumped out of my skin. A man was lying on a window hood unconscious. Thankfully it wasn’t too small. I could see bottle by his body. How did he reach there? Was he attempting suicide? “People say he wanted to attempt suicide”, my sister shared her knowledge. In my mind, I tried to validate her words but couldn’t. Why did he sleep then? Is he asleep or unconscious?

Suddenly something hit me. “Did somebody call the Fire brigade?” ”Maybe. It’s been long. Somebody might have called”, my sister said with indifference, enjoying every moment of the drama. As I made up my mind to call and was about to turn, my sister giggled, and pulled my hand. I looked at her. She murmured, “Look that guy is looking at you” “What?” I said. “15 minutes have passed he is looking. Something’s cooking…hmmm” she made a crazy sound as she said. I looked at the direction she pointed. In the balcony opposite to ours, a handsome guy was looking towards us. I couldn’t make out to who he was looking. Suddenly he smiled. I smiled inadvertently. I realized I did like him. My sister kept humming as I kept looking at him.

Suddenly we heard something. The drunkard man was back to conscious. He was shouting, cursing. Everyone was trilled. Nobody knew what would happen next. Then we could hear the fire brigade siren. Everyone sighed with relief. I smiled and looked back to the opposite balcony. The guy was still looking. He smiled.

--Written for Three Words Wednesday (Disarray Rabble Validate)

Ain't Spiritual development important ?

I see everyone just running to cope with the fast life, this includes me too.
We strive hard, stress ourselves just to be updated with the current world, to earn more salary, to earn more luxuries.
But are we satisfied ? No. We aren't. We still want more, and more.

We are so concerned with our personal and financial development. We keep trying but we are never satisfied.
Just try to sit for 10 minutes alone secluded and ask yourself if you are happy with what you have. I am sure you won't.

We keep looking for happiness outside. But we should understand the happiness lies beneath, within us.
We would never be satisfied with our material needs. This is when the need for spiritual development comes into picture.
You never have targets or goals when you take the spiritual path. So every little prayer or spiritual thoughts gives you satisfaction and happiness.

just think yourself as a person who has lived his full life and is at his end. When assessing yourself, what do you think you have achieved ?

You do not carry wealth, property with you to your next birth. Nor you take with you the memories or experiences.
As per Hindu religion, you only carry your good or bad deeds in the form of Karma and your spiritual knowledge to your next birth.
Your next life could be luxurious or poor depending what Karma you do now. Also if you have spiritual interest in current birth and by any chance you stopped at a point.
You resume at that point in your next birth. So you always build up on your spiritual knowledge.

Now the question is how are you going to develop your spiritual knowledge ?
Actually, you don't have to worry much about Karma. You just have to see that you do good. You have to be faithful and have to owe everything you do to God.
Get a Holy book and read at least one chapter every day. Doing this everyday will help you get more closer to God.

Chanting, reading or listening to holy books or about God is superior to Karma. So its the ultimate solution to salvation.
You don't have to cut yourself to lead a ascetic life, but just have to think about God.

So now, when analysing yourself, just think what Karmas and spiritual knowledge you are going to take yourself with you to next birth.
Coz that is more important than what materialistic things you have achieved. Isn't it ?

Art and Culture? : Come to India!

If we talk about Art, we cannot leave out Culture. We see our Culture in our Art. Isn’t it?

And I cannot find anything other than India, which is as rich and as carried in Arts and Culture.

India is geographically divided in states, the variation has also imbued in the culture.
To be specific, if I travel from Maharashtra to Kerala, I’ll find the two places completely different, even if I am Indian, let alone a foreigner. The living, the food, the language, the dressing, the way of worshipping God, everything changes. That makes it more interesting.

I had got a chance to travel through Europe. That time on the top of the list of places to visit in every city, were Museums and Churches. Likewise, if you come to India, apparently it couldn’t be anything else than Temples. Travel anywhere in India, you would find variety in the temple architecture too. The Lord Vishnu is idol or the avatar is portrayed differently as you travel from Tamil Nadu (Lord Balaji) to Maharashtra (Lord Vitthal) to Orissa (Lord Jagannath). The architecture will definitely pull in your admiration.

One prime facet of Indian Arts is the palaces, castles and forts of Rajasthan and Maharashtra each having it own compelling history behind.

Not to forget the famous Paithani saree of Paitha, hand-woven Sholapur bed sheets, folk songs and dance of different states, more than 200 dialects. Oh! The list is endless.
It’s difficult to pull in everything in one post.

But one thing I cannot forget to mention is the Classical music of India, which you would never ever find anywhere else. Different ragas, different instruments, you cannot stop admiring.
One song, which is a compendium of these, would be the ‘Mile Sur mera tumhara’.

I now discovered how blessed I am to be a part of such a rich culture!

All is in the deeds, Karma it’s called

As the saying goes, “To err is human”. Human cannot be perfect. If he were perfect, he’d be God.
But we can definitely try to move towards it.

We see around us, people who have achieved their goal, or some trying best to achieve theirs. We ourselves too give our best and when it we see results in our favor, we are sure its our hard work that have paid off, isn’t it?

But have you seen people trying hard to achieve their goals, be it big or small and still fail to achieve? On the contrary, have you seen people get everything easily without trying hard?

Why’s the variation? Why do one suffer while other is plain lucky to get anything so easily? What’s the mystery behind this? Will we ever know what’s in the closed book?

The answer to this is Karma, our deeds, good or bad.
We get what we give.

Let me put it this way. There was a rich merchant. He was living with his wife and son. He had everything that he wanted in his life and was living life king size. He was very happy, until his son dies. He still has all the luxury but cannot relish that because he’s can’t get over the pain of his son’s death. The point is that, he is happy and relishes until he has his good deeds are in the books of fate. And once it’s over he has to suffer.

It's always balanced.

When something bad happens to us, we wonder why this happens this to us? We now know the answer. If we try to avoid bad and work for good, we might spare ourselves from the suffering in future.

I don’t know how many of us has read Gita, the holy book, but those who have will agree that it is the ultimate solution to the quest of life.