The Rise of a King - A short story

My name is Abimanyu

My name is Abimanyu. I’m young, agile and poor and I belong to the kingdom Vidharbha. My father was a soldier when he was young but as he became injured, he later became a blacksmith, now he makes swords for our soldiers .I’m an adopted son, but was never treated like one. Im a guard at the palace and Im madly in love with the maiden I guard, our princess. Only an insane fool would dare to love a princess, but then I’m one such insane fool. Adithi‘s features are that of a goddess, making anyone succumb with awe; beauty being her synonym; a glance at me and her eyes seemed to suck everything out. My heart pounded each time she crossed me and my words scrambled whenever I had to reply to her commands. All in all, I was in love with Adithi and crazily so.  

  

My father had a small store house where he kept his finished swords and this store house was my battlefield, and my only enemy was my friend Ajay who was a soldier. I always dreamt of becoming a soldier but my father didn’t allow me to as he didn’t want me to get injured like him. But I loved fighting; Ajay and I dueled with each other till our hands could no longer lift a sword. All this was just for a hobby but I enjoyed it, fighting was fun and the sword, my Barbie. Our neighboring kingdom was Mathura , our arch rival ; our countries had been fighting for more than 3 decades and right from our childhood we were taught to hate Mathura.

Im called Yaksha

Im called the great Yaksha, commander of the army of Mathura. Im a great warrior, the best in the world. Killing is my passion and to rule my kingdom is my ambition but regretfully im not the heir to the throne nor there is any prince. According to our kingdom’s codes, the heir to the throne must possess a dragon tattoo in his arm; this dragon tattoo is imprinted on the new born princes; who are destined to become kings later. Though I don’t possess this nonsense in my arm as I wasn’t born in the royal family, I will in future somehow take over the kingdom.

Our neighboring kingdom Vidharbha has been our first enemy for a long time. The war seems to have no end at all. Whenever there is a battle there is a lot of blood and killings. Abductions are also common; invariably children, women and men are taken to be used for different purposes as slaves. During one such battle , the royal family was burned alive and hence the absence of any heirs; but the king was saved with injuries , he has grown old and useless now. This worthless king now wants peace, which I hate the most. It’s time we destroyed those bastards.

Im princess Adithi

The sun had not yet come out when one of the slave girls woke me up. Today is an auspicious day; I have to offer my prayers to the gods. The slaves helped me to bath and I wore my jewels one by one and then admired my beauty for sometime in the mirror. Satisfied with myself I strolled outside, my guards stood ready to escort me to the temple and there in the end Abimanyu stood gazing at me as though he had never seen me before. He had this expression with him always making him different from the other guards I had. I knew for certain it was not fear.

The temple was far away from the palace, so it took us some time to reach there. I got down from the chariot and walked towards the deity hall when a thorn pricked me on the sole. I gave a small scream and the slave girls rushed to me. One of them shouted “someone fetch a medicinal plant”; from the corner of the eye I could see Abimanyu rushing away. Suddenly across the temple a group of men in horses rode towards me at a ferocious pace, I knew something was wrong. A guard shouted, “its Yaksha, commander of Mathura”. Quickly my guards formed a circle around me,                 but It was a child’s play for Yaksha with two strokes he broke through the guards and grabbed me.

I screamed and twitched in vain, as he lifted me like a doll and shoved me onto his monstrous shoulders. Now only one can save me,     Abimanyu. I grouped all my energy, at the top of my voice I bellowed, ABIMANYUU.                                          

 Far away , among the bushes a small figure came scampering, with desperation I murmured “save me Abimanyu” and then fell unconscious.

Im Shikhar

Im Shikhar, a soldier under Yaksha. Yaksha carried the princess to his chariot and I closely followed him and got on my horse, waiting for my commander’s order. But he seemed to be in another world. I could tell, he was awestruck by her beauty, he slowly ran his fingers through her beautiful hair. Suddenly I heard heavy footsteps, turning back I found one of their guards scampering towards us. “ Commander Yaksha……… Commander Yaksha….. there is an enemy “; “ Kill him”, he grunted back.

Five of us proceeded with our swords. I quickly recognized this was a new guard, didn’t face him in the temple.” New or old I’m going to kill him” , I said to myself. I ran with fury. With a flurry of clashes he pushed all of us down. His motions were fluid, eyes of a hawk, strength of a lion, as brave as gokul. And in his eyes I could see there was desperation, he would go to any extent to save Adithi. As the 5 of us tried to keep him away from the chariot, Yaksha jumped out and pulled his bow. The arrow struck him on the ribs. He fell down writhing in pain. “we cant waste anymore time, lets go” , Yaksha bellowed.

I, Abimanyu

I staggered to get up. The enemies were long gone. I had to do something, I have to save my princess, my love. The arrow hadn’t got very deep; with an agonizing cry I pulled it out and whistled for my horse. It came at once and I was in pursuit of my love.

I slowly sneaked through their kingdom as a traveler. I struck one of their soldiers who was alone and changed my dress. I hurried into the palace searching for Adithi. Two guards stood outside the room, it was now or never. I took out my sword and before they could react, with two strokes, their throats were bleeding. I found Adithi in the corner of the room, her face brightened as soon as she saw me. “I knew you would come Abimanyu”, she said. I couldn’t stop smiling and blushed. “You risked your life for me, but why….. is it because im your princess”      

“No….” , I mumbled. “ I know you love me Abimanyu, it doesn’t matter that you’re….”

I heard heavy footsteps, didn’t want her to stop but I had no choice;  “Adithi we have to leave”. I let out my hand and she grasped it at once. My nerves shivered with joy but there was no time for romance now. I quickly took out my sword and looked for a escape, before which 6 soldiers came to prevent us. I gently pushed Adithi away and attacked them with rage, more soldiers came pouring in. I could no longer hold on, I surrendered in dismay as they took Adithi , my love away.

I knew death was inevitable now, that didn’t pain me much; I couldn’t save Adithi, which hurt me more. I was tied to a pole with my hands outstretched. 5 archers stood a few feet away ready to impinge their arrows on me. The crowd cheered and jeered, it was fun for them. The first archer let his arrow; it missed my neck by a few inches. The crowd booed. The second arrow tore my shirt in my arm. The crowd went to silence. They started to talk with themselves and one by one they began to bow at me. All were startled with something on my arm, ……………………….a black dragon stood with pride.

The author:

Abimanyu had no clue what that black dragon meant, but to the people of Mathura, they had found their prince, the heir to the throne. During that old battle when the royal family of Mathura was burned alive, not only the king was saved but prince Abimanyu was too saved by a servant. But the servant grew greedy and took all the jewels from the small prince and afraid of being caught he put the prince far away from the palace, thus Abimanyu (prince) was assumed dead. A soldier from Vidharbha then found him, pitied and adopted him as his own son and took him to his homeland.

I,Yaksha

My head seemed to spin in all directions, didn’t expect such a thing. The heir to the throne has arrived. It isn’t safe for me here anymore. I quickly sent two of my men to kill the king. I wanted both my kingdom and Adithi, I will get them no matter what comes in my way. I forced Adithi into my chariot and we rode to Vidharbha.

Vidharbha was my enemy, but in the present situation it was a potent ally. I held a private meeting with the king, “ im Yaksha, commander of Mathura, but now I want to turn against my kingdom, ill tell you all the secrets of our country. In return you must give me your daughter and make me king of Mathura”. The king thought for a moment and slowly a smile curled upon his lips. I could guess what he was thinking; Mathura had been a headache for them for many years, now was the chance to set it all right.

Im king Abimanyu

My father, our king was killed before I could save him. I quickly grouped all my ministers,” Though I was not brought up here , my blood belongs here, and I want to avenge my father’s murder. It’s time we attacked Vidharbha or they will attack us anyway. Yaksha knows all the secrets of our country, but there is one secret he doesn’t know about and that’s me”.i had to save Adithi in any case, I could not let her down, not after becoming a king.  “Prepare the men, we attack Vidharbha at dawn”.

At dawn we marched towards Vidharbha. We lined up ready for the battle, infront of us stood rows of Vidharbha’s soldiers led by Yaksha.  I gulped and shouted ,” For our Mighty King,  For Mathura ,  Attackkk “. As my horse slithered forward, a guilty feeling surged inside me. I was attacking the nation which adopted me.. which made me a man. My only enemy here is Yaksha, im going to kill no one else. I passed through the layers of soldiers, defending myself from any attacks with the easy swaying of my sword. Suddenly I met an unexpected person, it was Ajay.  

I became motionless not knowing what to do. But Ajay attacked me with rage, I fell down from my horse. “ Ajay, you are my friend, I don’t want to harm you”  while he said,” my country comes first than anything”. I regrouped myself and struck blow by blow. At last I pushed him down and ran to kill Yaksha. If this war has to come to an end, I have to kill him. Far in the centre Yaksha stood with his teeth clenched. As I came closer I realized I was no match for him, he was a giant. But I didn’t deter, attacked him as hard as I could , he didn’t flinch. With a kick in the ribs, I fell a foot away, he proceeded towards me to give the fatal blow when another sword clashed with his and pushed him aside. It was Ajay , “ what happened to your country now”, I mumbled. “ country is insignificant when compared to the whole world, you are my world Abimanyu”.    “ Nanbaen da” , I exclaimed. “ now finish that beast”, he screamed.

I got up and with renewed energy struck Yaksha, I focused all my energy on my sword . we dueled each other with a flury of blows and at last with with a deadly blow, I killed Yaksha. As soon as he was killed the soldiers started to scramble, fear got to them, they retreated to the palace. I commanded my soldiers to keep their positions. I along with a few of my ministers got into the palace for peace talks. The king had no choice but to accept. He also agreed to marry his daughter to me. Finally the wars between the two nations came to an end.

I want to meet Adithi in her chamber. She smiled as she saw me, “I love you, Abimanyu , king Abimanyu”. I smiled back,” call me just Abimanyu”. I moved closer to her , I put my arms around her slender waist and kissed her softly and then….. they happily lived ever after. 

My Last Singing Competition

                                                 My mom hails from a family which has a strong affinity towards carnatic music. So that’s how I got into singing or was rather pushed into. My mother in particular is a very good classical singer and her sisters are equally proficient. Thus all my cousin sisters were injected with carnatic classes when they were small and soon they too became good singers or very good singers. So it’s like a musical family, at family functions all girls were forced sing and we guys used to simply stare at them. But as my mother didn’t have any daughters I was made the scape goat, at an early age I was taught a few songs and was forced to sing. Sometimes I had to join with my cousin sisters and u could imagine how embarrassing it would be.. But then it was kind of a good feeling to sing with my cousins. But later as I grew up I withdrew and now, have joined with the audience.

So this was one of my most tragic parts of my school life, I had studied in tirunelveli till 3^rd and was new to my school mahatma at 4^th. Here in mahatma they allocated an hour each day for co-curricular, but then I didn’t know what that word meant. On the first day my teacher called me and said,” what co-curricular you want to choose”, I kept staring. She understood me and said “select one from these “karate, chess, music, mirundhangam, skating, and guitar. But that word music hit me and didn’t bother to listen what she said after that. I quickly mumbled “music... miss “. I was always fascinated by keyboards and guitars and other orchestra equipments… so there was no other choice that came into my mind. My teacher shot me a small smile. Puzzled I went back to our class.

After a day or two, we had our first co-curricular class. This class was common for the entire 4^th std (like an elective) so the classrooms were different. I approached my teacher and asked for the directions, she quickly glanced at a group of my class girls “join them”. I gulped and moved closer to them. Perhaps our class boys had already left. Then those girls started running. This part it’s still very fresh in my mind. I had no other option but to follow them. But they ran like as though a dog was chasing them. I clenched my teeth and ran behind them. This was my most embarrassing moment back then. Finally they stopped at a small room and all of them squeezed through a puny door. I followed them and stopped at the edge of the door and had the shock of my life.

The room was filled with layers and layers of girls and girls only. My heart stopped, my eyes quickly scanned the entire room for any hope. There were no guitars, no keyboards nothing but a shruti box. I realized the inevitable, I had joined vocal music.                      My heart started beating again soon, there were a small or very small group of boys about 4 or 5 sitting in a corner with a satisfied smile curled upon their lips. One more idiot to join them. I quietly crossed the layers and joined them. The first thing that came to my mind is ‘I have to change’.  When I returned home, my mom shot at me a very huge smile. I knew she has heard the news too. (My mom worked in the same school). I just said, ’I’m going to change it’. But eventually I could not due to several reasons, mentioning of them will make it lengthy. So soon the news spread like fire about a new boy in music class. And all girls giggled when I walked in the corridors. But soon I got used to it and they too stopped. In music we were taught various carnatic songs and several ragas which I kept forgetting, all were one and the same to me. But soon I loved singing. It was kind of fun. Our small room bellowed with our voices, when I was happy; I would sing loud and when sad; would sing even more louder. Singing gave me pleasure and satisfaction. It was as though I could feel my soul while singing.

As years passed by, there were a few drop outs in our music class and soon I became the main feature (in boys) and I started performing in stage and in culturals. But always in a group, my teachers were not confident on me and so was I in doing a solo. But I liked singing in a group, I had never to worry about the thalam or the raga, the girls would take care of it, I had to just sing along with them. Sometimes it was 5 girls and just me. You can imagine how awkward it would be. But it didn’t matter much that time. But suddenly after a few years I was vexed of singing and thankfully our classes were over but still I was forced to sing on school functions or Tamil dramas where a boy voice was required.

So let’s come to our competition, I was in my 11^th std, one day I was informed that there is a singing competition adjoining bhartiyar’s birthday and I was required to represent our school. Furthermore it a competition only for boys, so I perfectly understood why they wanted me. Immediately I refused, but they forced me through my mother who was more than happy to involve me. Reluctantly I agreed and started learning a bhartiyar song from my mom; it was a pain staking process. When singing along with my mother I sang perfectly but singing alone I simply forgot the lines or the tune itself. After few days of rigorous training, finally the day arrived.

There were other competitions too like drawing, writing etc.,  few boys accompanied me, we were all geared up for the occasion. I kept humming to myself till I reached the venue and was very nervous that I kept forgetting the tune and shruti. But I was determined and kept practicing. I reached our hall and had look at my counter parts, all of them looked ordinary and relaxed. Suddenly a bolt of confidence struck me and realized after all I can do it. Atleast a 3^rd prize will suffice.

There were a few participants before me and they sang ordinarily it was nothing exceptional, my confidence bred. And finally I was about to perform. I got up nervously and walked towards the judges. They signaled me to start. I did. It was a perfect start, the shruti and words were just perfect and it went on for two lines……….. and then suddenly as though I had short term memory loss, everything became blank. I stammered and came to a stop. I hit my head with my palm. The judges looked at me with a sense to urge me forward and after 2 or 3 seconds I regained my words and sang, but it was not like how I started. My confidence level was 1000 feet below sea level. I changed my tune and words scrambled. But I managed to finish. I hung my head in dismal and staggered to my place…………. It was all over. But the good news is that no one from our school heard it. I soon came out and said my friends who had participated in other events ‘ I did well da, I’m expecting a prize’ but deep down I knew, it was down to ashes and promised myself again to never ever sing in a competition or even casually in front of a group.  But recently had to… and the results were similar too  ;)      

                                                                                                         

Im Crying

Sadness gripped my heart with iron fists

Sucking the air out of my lungs with ease

Seems so the whole wide world is against me with disgust

Tears roll as I weep and weep without cease

Those days when I was small and dread

tears flowed easy, but were short lived and many to pity

As I grew up, my emotions bred

Sobs switched to a calm cry and it seemed the pain would last for eternity

100 bullets, and I would dodge from an enemy 

An single unfriendly feather from my closed ones, bleeds me badly

Am i that unworthy, to be not cared about; tell me

My eyes dry up, no more to cry; sadly

The greatness grief is not in crying in itself

But in making someone cry

Therefore I shall keep crying to myself

But will never ever make my dears cry

A Letter to Microprocessor

O Microprocessor! O Microprocessor!!

Why did you do this to me , my love

Three agonizing hours and you were all over me

haunting me, demoralizing me; you ripped my soul apart, my sweet heart

O Microprocessor!  I confess, for four freaking months; had been

hating you, mocking you more than anyone could; For I knew

I had to take care of you, least once in a month;

But never hesitated to cheat you, my dear

O Microprocessor! They sent us an angel, to spread your love

Alas!! , We saw him as a devil

Am I to be blamed, for you are an ugly,

psychotic, cruel, blood sucking book; yes you are my darling

O Microprocessor!  but still; for the last two days

I loved you, cared you, more than anyone could

Ah!!! Have you fallen for me?? .......Is it why

you want me to be with you forever and ever, my love

The last line says about arrears... this poem is dedicated to all those poor innocent souls who will fail in microprocessor......send me ur comments and condolences ...

You make my life worth living

My life was a Microprocessor

seared with disgust , fear;

when you arrived my friend , my philosopher

rejuvenated with rejoice; pumped up like a beer;

As my hand hung over your shoulders

A gallon of courage seeps into my blood

I feel, I can take on the undertaker or for any boulders

adrenaline flowing through my veins like flood

My feet twitched, I was drowning fast

under a sea of troubles and pain.

I was on the look out; you were nowhere to be seen, felt aghast..

Then I realized, you were pushing me out, immersing yourself under the treachery marine.

Fools said, "love is superior to friendship clan"

friendship, the pure form of love without lust

pleasure, satisfaction what you gave is more than

what sex could provide just

You pamper me like a mother

guide me as a dad

petty crimes and we are together

Ah! what more to say; my chest is heavy though Im glad

machi, you make my life worth living!!

hope you liked my poem... ill explain certain parts which u might have misunderstood...the microprocessor in the first line has several meanings....1.like a device which gives output when input is given 2. microprocessor subject 3. class 4.lab...... and undertaker is a famous wwf champion.... and here boulders does not signify its exact meaning but something like a giant etc.. and then in the third para.. im drowning under a sea which is compared to troubles and and at first i cant find u and then later i come to know that u are helping me by putting urself in the troubles or here the sea... and the rest are simple.. please send in ur comments and suggestions... keep reading

MY LOVE- A POEM

I was within her, so was she

It was love at first sight; a heavenly sort.

In those days, her words though mystic like that of a banshee

Was like a euphony, drenching my heart.

When her scent came to my senses

My face brightened, a smile curled upon my lips easy.

At those ravishing moments when her soft kisses

Filled my cheeks, my soul felt ecstasy.

I kept running around her like a merry-go-round

As though she was my world.

Years passed by, as we were bound;

With love and care emanating multi fold.

I trembled; there was darkness everywhere to fear

Her hands grasped mine, leading me out of my shackles.

The wide world barked,” you can’t lift a spear”

While she said , “ you are my Achilles”.

Im deeply in love with u, my dear mom.

this is a quick fire poem compared to my older one which i took days to construct, hence this poem might be less on vocab and construction.... but anyways there are no hard rules regarding poems as the lines need not necessarily be grammatically correct.... let me explain the poem in case u misunderstood any of the lines..... the first line says that i was inside the womb of my mom (my love) and so was she ... coz... in my blood and genes... and that scent doesnt mean the perfume but her body odour... and achilles is a greek hero who is a great warrior... and all the above lines are about my mom....

hope u liked my poem... do write ur comments and suggestions....

THE ERRANT EXPEDITION

This is about a real incident happened in my life. Though I was born in madurai, early part of my childhood was in tirunelveli , as my father worked there. I studied till 3rd std there, though it’s been more than 10 years since we left tirunelveli. Still I have fresh memories; those days were like a picnic to the heaven. My home was in a puny colony of four houses, our house was a small one which had a rectangular verandah upfront where I and my dad used to play cricket. And then two rooms , one of which was assumed to be the hall or the living room and the other was the bedroom. A small kitchen adjoining the hall and it was all. There was a colony adjacent to ours where my friends lived. There was a open space in their colony where we usually played in the evenings.

The shrill voice of my mom,” gokul gokul “calling me across the wall, ‘pestering me to come home’ still rings in my head.

I studied in a unpopular school called ‘presentation convent' which was a primary school. Hence when I went to mahatma school in Madurai later, I was awestruck, didn’t know that schools were this big. My school(pres.con) consisted of three sections. One was a small office room which was usually occupied by a nun, our headmistress. The second building was comparatively a bigger one with a number of class rooms and the third was a church above which there were few class rooms as well. There was a open space outside the church where we usually played football. More than 30 of us would run behind that torn ball,………. it was all fun. We used to have lunch outside, below the trees sitting in a circle sharing each other’s food. Those days would never come back.

So let me come to our interesting incident, I was in 2nd std; I usually went to my school by auto; it would take about 15 to 20 minutes from my home. In the evenings we used to keep our bags under a tree and play nearby till our auto came. It was usually short-lived as our auto usually came within 10 minutes and on this particular day our auto was nowhere to be seen, 10 …. 20 …. 30 ……40 mins and still no sign of our Benz. We played gleefully till our legs were tired. We sat down under the tree and wondered ‘what to do now’ .

There was this one friend of mine. I don’t remember his name right now, so lets name him santosh. Santosh sat beside me putting his arms around me, wearily I muttered, ’ I don’t think the auto will come today’. ‘Hmmm…. Yes’ he replied and after a few seconds he beamed ‘ let’s go on our own , I know the path ’. Immediately I refused,’ no chance da…. My dad will kill me, auto will come in a few minutes… wait’. He seemed disappointed and remained silent or a few seconds and exclaimed, ‘ there is a pond nearby we can go and play with the ducks and on our way home.... ill buy u lollipop da I have money’. My face brightened, I had seen the pond earlier I knew there were ducks and I had yearned for a long time to play with them …. And the idea of lollipop excited me even more….. santosh’s home was near to mine …. So It all fell in place ‘ I quicky nodded to my friend and he gleefully got up, urging me to hurry up.

So we set for our journey, there were two exits … one was the main road and other was a small trail. We went through the trail with thick bushes on either side. Now fear slowly started creeping into me… my parents usually came home late as both were working but ‘’what if they find out????’’. We moved at a brisk pace now clearing ground faster. I clutched my lunch bag closer to me as it brushed against the bushes and ....atlast we were in the open space and in front was the pond. The small pond was usually dry except when it heavily rained…. It was one such season and there were small ducks swimming in and out of the water. I grinned … I had wanted to play here for a long time but my parents obviously didn’t allow me to….

I threw my lunch bag aside and dumped my school bag in the sand and ran towards the water, santosh ran along with me …… the water was knee deep and I moved cautiously under the water whereas santosh ran like a devil only to fall inside the water completely…… he got up grinning with mud all over him. He quickly grabbed one of the small ducks as it freaked out. I moved closer to santosh ,’’ give me that duck ’’ at first he refused and then smiling he put it on my hands . I had never handled duck before nor any other creature. So naturally my hands tumbled and the duck slipped, santosh looked at me with contempt. Shrugging, I smiled back. Now together we moved to the farther end of the pond where we found some weeds and some wild flowers. I quickly grabbed one of them and threw it to santosh. Then it suddenly it came to my senses…. My uniform was all muddy now…. My mom would scold me even for a small dirt in my shirt…. Frowning I came out of the pond and shouted ‘’ it’s time lets go’’. Santosh looked at me displeased …. And then agreed to move on.

Quickly I gathered my things and started walking towards our home…. We walked in the streets as though we were kings…. Inspecting everything around us … as previously I had never gone alone in the main streets without elders…... my socks and shoes were soaked and it annoyed me… and then it struck me ’’ LOLLIPOP’’. My parents always denied when I asked for chocolates and it made me mad about chocolates. ‘’ you promised me that you would buy chocolates for me’’, I muttered to santosh.. He gave me a puzzled look and shoved his hands into his pocket and took out a 10 ps coin.

I gave him a stare and he replied with a naughty smile… I thumped him on the head angrily and he accepted it gleefully. Irritated I quickly moved ahead of him he strode past me ‘’ do you have money’’ he asked. I shrugged …. ‘’ probably not’’. I then searched my pockets to verify… there was a coin deep inside….. grinning widely I showed it to my friend. It was a 50 ps coin. It wasn’t a great amount but still worthy at this moment…… ‘the coin must have been the change when I went to the petty shop yesterday’… but it didn’t matter now as we hurried to the nearest shop. Santosh grabbed the coin from me and gave it to the shopkeeper and exclaimed ‘’ two lollipops’’. A first grade lollipop costs 1 rs but we didn’t look in that direction now… a third grade which was 25ps it had no wrapper but it didn’t matter to us. Then he shoved his 10 ps towards the shopkeeper demanding two soodamittai… (though many of you might not have heard about this chocolate….) It was the cheap and best for us.

It was getting late and we walked faster now. After a few quite minutes we were in front of the janikiram hotel. My home was about 5 mins away now…. We walked now slowly ..Discussing about a girl in our class and how she was so stupid and so studious…. I exclaimed,’’ girls are always like this da’’; santosh agreed nodding his head vigorously, licking the lollipop merrily. There was a left turn now and in the corner sat a dog, I was particularly afraid of dogs then. It seemed to stare at me, fear clutched me and my heart skipped a beat when santosh took a stone a threw on the dog. The dog got up barking … and that was enough for us… we ran feverishly not daring to turning back ….we scampered as though we were in a race. My lunch bag swayed erratically as I moved at greater speeds and with a tumble, my water bottle fell off… but I didn’t bother to pick it up and kept running before bumping myself to a cycle which was coming from the opposite direction. I fell down immediately , a trickle of blood came from my knee . few people came to my aid…. I wasn’t hurt much… I turned to check on the dog… it wasn’t to be found anywhere…. Apparently the dog hadn’t chased us at all.

Wearily I gathered my things and moved towards my home bidding tata to my friend…. My house was a few paces ahead and I walked closer when I noticed that our auto was standing outside our colony…. I quickly got inside and found my dad talking to our auto driver…. But at that age I didn’t know of the consequences that were about to come , I shouted a ‘’hi to my auto driver ‘’ and looked at my dad . he looked at me differently, like never before…. But I didn’t care after a busy evening….. I strode towards our verandah when my dad muttered ,’’ remove ur shoes and clean urself ’’. I put my bags around the corner and slowly looked down for my shoes….. then a terrible thing happened

There was only one shoe and the other leg had only socks on it….. I slowly raised my head, my dad looked at me and noticed my missing shoe…..’’ where is your shoe ‘’, my dad commanded … I shrugged… twisting my lips as though I were innocent….. he looked at me from top to bottom…. My shirt was full of mud… blood trickling from knee…. Water bottle missing …. And apparently my auto driver had told about my missing in the school.
My dad never beats me …. He never used to scold….. so I was pretty casual…. My dad looked at me as though I were a serial killer ‘’ where did you go’’ my dad barked. I started narrating eagerly as though I had undergone an expedition and then…………. ‘’DAMAAAL DUMIEL DAMAAAL…….’’ ……….’’ Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu………''..
I learnt , ’’THERE IS A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING’’.....

MORAL: Naanga apovey rowdya form aytomla…….

THE SUBTLE CHASE-- A short story

It was just another sunday , i had my breakfast and got into my bike ( a pulsar 220cc) and drove towards my friend's house and just when i was crossing caf'e coffee day i lost my senses for a second. There was a very very beautiful girl standing at the entrance, awestruck i applied brakes and stopped a few paces ahead and she too started walking in the same direction . I slowly turned my head looking for her and she saw me too. [background music : kangal irandal...] but she wasnt smiling . she gave a queer expression ,there were two chances one was that she was in some kind of trouble and the other was that she didnt like me, the later seemed more probable to me. So I waited for her to pass me and then may be proceed to my friend's house.

Then suddenly someone sat on my bike and the most unexpected thing happened , it was her. i couldnt stop smiling, gently i brought my hand towards her and said, ' Hi Im gokul anand' and she replied 'just go' .not expecting this kind of a reply i said 'may i know ur name'. and , she replied with a bang on my head ' just go, these guys are trying to kidnap me' . that was enough for me , I gave my bike a full throttle and we were moving at 100 km/hr and the thugs were actually moving faster shortening the gap between us. There was a signal ahead and I had to choose a path from three. to the right was gomathipuram an area where i seldom roamed and in straight was my school and in furthur mattuthavani bus stand, so i had to choose between a left and straight path. As i neared the signal , i suddenly remembered that it wasnt my bike that i was riding and i didnt even have a license.

There was a traffic police to the left and so I raced in towards the bus stand, the thugs were even closer now. In this tense situation , I forgot to realise a thing... she was clutching so hard to me that there was hardly any gap between us, i smiled to myself [background music: partha mudhal..] . Now the bad guys were almost on me when i was a few yards from the bus stand. i had to do something extra-ordinary now, thought for a moment and steered my bike towards my right in a sharp curve to enter the bus stand . i drove inside honking everyone out of my way nudging into small gaps where i can find them, there was an exit at the other end which obviously the goons didnt know. Taking sharp turns i raced towards the exit, turning back i noticed that they werent chasing anymore, excited i shouted ," dai naa madurakaranda".

In the process i failed to notice a stone slab in front of me and bumped right into it. we both fell off the bike and quickly getting myself up , i gently forced my hand towards her and she grasped my hand at once and we were scampering at a brisk pace towards a safer place. With the situation more calmer now , i slowly glanced towards her , she was more beautiful than i first saw her, with her free hair dancing in her shoulders and her sweat like droplets of diamond were dripping onto her cheek.

There was a small street ahead with uncompleted houses on both side and we entered into one of the houses and i asked her ' atleast now you can tell me who you are' she replied ' im swetha, daughter of anil ambani' shocked i gulped and listened to her. ' i was on my way to kanyakumari as a part of college tour along with my friends and while crossing madurai these guys started chasing me in the station and eventually i missed my train and the rest happened with u, i cant imagine what i would have done without you' and she hugged me and i slowly moved my arms around her and at the same time i heard footsteps and it happened to be the chasers ofcourse.. [ vada pochey!!!]

They stopped a foot ahead of us like they always do in movies and commanded to hand over her. i gently pushed her aside telling her ' i can handle this , just watch '. Atlast it was time for some action, i had to think of some strategy first,.... may be like vijay ' Ah there is no place for comedy here' and then thought of jackie chan and bruce lee ; ' i neither knew karate nor kungu' and then it suddenly striked ' wat about sherlock holmes' i had watched the movie twice recently and i knew exactly wat i needed to do. the procedure neither required great strengths or martial arts... and then i rehearsed myself in my mind the following....'first distract the target , then block his blind swing, counter with blow to his left cheek, dazed he will attempt a wild hit, employ elbow block.. a kick in the ribs and fracture left jaw. The result : jaw fractured , diaphragm haemorrhaging, three ribs fractured. Physical recovery: six weeks.' all was set there were three guys and one stepped forward and i thought to myself ' lets do this one by one, follow the steps carefully'. took out my hanky and threw it on his face , then distracted he attempted a blind swing [..... it was happening as i had planned] i quickly shoved my left hand blocking his swing and proceeded to hit his cheek when everything came to an abrupt end.. the other two guys caught me like a cockroach and the other guy kicked me on the ribs .... i fell a foot away wondering to myself ' its not a tamil movie afterall',gasping for air i stood up wearily when swetha came and said ' let me finish this ', unconscious i fell down.

A scream woke me up still mostly unconscious , i slowly opened my eyes .The scream was from one of the guys, Swetha stood in a karate pose with anger masking her beautiful face. even at this time i couldnt stop admiring her beautiful torso. Again i fell unconscious, when i woke up again i was kissing Swetha.. her soft lips brushed against mine with ease. she said ' i love you, i will never leave u until death' With the intention of kissing her again i moved forward when another set of thugs came.. now in larger numbers. i quickly grasped her hand and scampered across the street. [background music: sambho siva..].
i heard distant noices now that of a bomb about to explode ,.. the amplitude and frequency of the sound kept on increasing.. then i heard ' THUD THUD THUD' we ran for our lives now slowly both the noises combining , it was as though i was going to die . running with still her hands grasped i fell into a deep deep hollow... for a second i couldnt see anything and then three blades joined together at the centre was approaching me.there was some letter inscription on it. it said'C...........R..............O...............M...........P..............T.......O.........N. it was my fan and i was lying on the ground beside my bed and as for the bomb sound it was my clock beeping loudly.... and the thud thud was from the door. slowly i gathered myself and opened the door. AJ stood there 'you are late again its almost 8.30 am'. i regrouped myself , took my bucket and ran towards where i should for i had another agonizing day ahead in the class.

REFLECTIONS

Staring into my eyes reflected in a pond with fishes so fishy

With stresses and frustrations drenching me

Searching for an answer deep inside the glassy water

Memories of childhood came swirling to me

I recall my childhood carefree and young

Full of life and full of fun

Running and playing as the day passed by

Warm beneath the blazing sun

Life was simple to this bold little child

The small world in his hands

Conquering challenges ,it was simple

With a child’s heart walking the lands

I stare at the reflection with the pond looking back

The eyes so tired on me

Where is that child my eyes don’t reveal?

The pond has no answer you see

This child’s in our heart pumping life into us

Creating the answers we ask why

For that precious child I must seek no more

For that precious child is still I

I wrote this poem a few weeks ago while returning from indore. this is my first poem like a real poem and though this poem doesnt reflect the real me, Its about how to go about ur problems in your day to day life. I would want to accept that the basic idea of 'solving ur problem like a child' was from an article i had read previously , i got inspired by it and wanted to pen down the idea like a poem. so the actual poem is my own creation. write ur comments as well...

regards

gokul

The Beginning

Hi friends.... i have been thinking for a long time about writing a blog. Though still im unclear with my ideas. I think its high time I start writing. Right from my childhood I have had a passion for writing, be it short stories or stupid poems. though my vocabulary and grammar might not be that strong but anyhow i want to pursue my passion. so please ignore any such grammatical errors or spelling mistakes. Please send in your feedbacks to me, that will certainly help me and satisfy ur needs as well. ill be back with few of my creations...

regards

goks