The Writer In Me

The owl and the darkness

2012-01-29T22:21:00.000-08:00

The owl and the darkness

A Short Story By G.S.Vasu Kumar

Gopal opened his eyes and saw the moon lit sky above him. He found himself lying on the grass bed, surrounded by trees, when he turned to his right. He scratched his head, trying to remember how he had reached this deserted place? How he had fallen asleep here? But he couldn't remember anything at all.

He got up to his feet, took a narrow path which lead to some unknown destination.

He kept waling as it grew dark and darker. The only light which was guiding his path was that of the moon light. He felt as if someone was following him or was it his hallucination? He wasn’t sure.

He turned back to see who it was? But found no one behind him. He waited to hear the sound of some footsteps coming from the dark. However, the only sound he could hear was that of some crickets from the bushes nearby. He continued walking and again he felt the same thing.

“Who is it?” Gopal asked, turning back. But he got no answer.

“Don’t you dare to scare me like this!” He warned at the top of his voice, before continuing his walk.

Suddenly, he heard the flapping of wings above his head and his heart almost skipped a beat in fear.

It turned out to be an owl, which flew past him, before settling on the branch of a tree in front of him.

Its eyes seemed to glare at him.

“What are you staring at, you old fool!” He cried at the owl. In reply, the owl only hooted.

He tried to mimic the owl as he passed by the tree.

“If it was you who was trying to follow me then don’t you dare do it!” He warned the owl.

As he covered some distance, he found the same owl perched on the branch of another tree in ahead of him.

“How is it possible?” He asked himself quite surprised, as he never saw the owl fly by him.

The owl was glaring at him once again from the distance. He got annoyed. He bent down, and picked up a stone from the ground.

But the owl had disappeared by then. He looked for it in all corners, but it wasn't there.

“Where did it go?” He asked himself, scratching his head in amazement.

Is it some evil spirit in form of an owl? He thought.The thought made him feel really scared. He started running as fast as he could. He turned back while running, and found that the darkness was approaching fast him behind. His heart beat increased, he halted to catch some breath.

He was shocked to find that the darkness had over taken him. There was faint light ahead of him. He looked up in the sky to see the moon had been overshadowed by dark clouds.

He resumed running as he was afraid of darkness. He found some wooden fence at some distance before him. He ran towards it and leaped over it. He sat on the ground to take some rest. He never knew when he fell asleep again. When he woke up, he was shocked to find himself in a box, which was some coffin.

There was complete darkness inside the box. He tried to move, but couldn't. He wondered how he got inside this coffin? He had no answer.

He started kicking the coffin cover with his right foot. The sand started pouring in through the gap. Now, it was certain that the coffin was buried deep inside the ground.

“What are you trying to do?” asked a voice from some distance.

“I’m trying to get out of here!” He cried at the top of his voice.

“That’s impossible!” replied the same voice. “You are buried at least six feet under the ground, tightly sealed in a coffin.”

“By whom?” Gopal asked, bewildered.

“By whom? Who else? Your dear parents, my boy,” responded the voice. “You had deceased sometime back or should I rather tell you that you had committed suicide.”

“Suicide? Why should I do that?”

“How would I know that? All that I heard from some people who came to see for the last time, was that, you had ended your life by hanging yourself to the ceiling fan.”

“Who are you?”

“Well, I’m your neighbor in the next grave. I too had come here by ending life long time back. Now, I would like to get some sleep...”

“One last question…”

“Yes?”

“I was very much on the ground followed by the owl and the darkness...before…I…”

“Ah! That was just a nightmare! Now, try to get some sleep.”

The End

My Story "The Twist in the Fate" published in Authorstand!!

2012-01-27T22:03:00.000-08:00

My story "The Twit in the Fate" has been published in Authorstand for the short story contest#7 and below is the link for the same :-

http://shop.authorstand.com/search.aspx?searchTerms=&searchGenre=&searchAuthor=g.s.vasu+kumar

Request to read and rate the same.

An evening with Ruskin Bond

2012-01-21T15:00:00.000-08:00

Ruskin Bond had been one of my favorite writers since my childhood days. He was the inspiration for me to write. Last year, I wrote a story “The Bond”, which was my dedication to him. This story has been published in the book “Only men please” this year.

As a child, I loved reading his short stories; which magically took me to those misty mountains and places of nature. I wished to meet him some day, even if it meant I had to travel as far as Mussoorie.It was my dream like Tom Hanks had in the movie “The Terminal”.

I never thought that by becoming a member in the Crossword Book Shop, this dream would come true. I was surprised to see an email in my inbox saying “You are invited to meet Ruskin Bond on 21^st Jan, at Crossword, Frazer Town, Bangalore". I couldn’t believe what my eyes saw…I re-read again and felt very happy that finally my dream to meet my favorite writer in coming true!

I told my wife about it and she was pleased to hear this too. We both reached the Crossword one hour before the book launch of “The Adventures of Rusty”. I bought four books of Mr.Bond. I wanted to take his autograph in one of these books.

He finally arrived at 7 PM. The crowd stood up to give him a warm welcome. Two kids read poems written by him. He unveiled his book and also read some part of the book. It was the story “Monkey Trouble”. After that, he took some questions from the audience and answered them mixed with humour.

Later, he started signing autographs for his fans. We stood in a long queue. When my turn came, I wanted to say something to him and I said, “You are my inspiration to write.”

He smiled and replied “Thank You” and signed on my book.

This was one of the most memorable evenings of my life!

Life is what you make it

2012-01-17T02:33:00.000-08:00

Book Review

“A story of love, hope and how determination can overcome even destiny” says the cover page of the book by Preeti Shenoy, the author of the best selling book “34 bubble gums and candies”.

“Life is what you make it” is an inspiring and motivating story of the protagonist Ankita. She is young, good looking and smart and has many friends in her life. Even boys swooning over her. Everything seems to go in her favour as she manages to get into a premier management school for her MBA. Sadly, six months later, she is a patient in a mental health hospital in Bangalore. As it is discovered, she has bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder is a serious brain disorder that causes dramatic shifts in moods, energy levels, attitudes and ability to carry day to day tasks. It can be severely crippling that it can result in damaged relationships, poor job or academic performance and even suicide.

Destiny pushes Ankita off track in her life. Perhaps, many would have given up at this stage. But how Ankita stands up with courage and determination to take control of her life is the crux of this truly motivating story.

The author has mentioned that this book though a work of fiction but it is based on some real experiences. If the character of Ankita is real, then hats off to her! She is one of the role models for life. She shows us how to make the best out of our individual lives!

This book not just entertains you, but it makes you to take stock of your life and inspires you to be the ‘real’ you! Also go for what you truly believe in deep inside your heart. We all have just one life and we need to make the best use of it so that life would be proud of us in the end.

I being a writer myself, remember one of my reader’s reactions after reading my story “Another Dream”. This story had touched her so much that she wanted to live her life with passion. I never thought that my story would have so much impact upon my reader. Now, the same thing has happened to me after reading this book. I would say that it is one of those books which made an impact upon me.

This happens to be my first book review. I thank my colleague Prashanth for giving me this book and making me to read it. I also thank Preeti for writing such a wonderful book!

This book is already a best seller. But still I highly recommend it to all those who haven’t yet read it. Please read it!

Only Men Please

2012-01-13T02:34:00.000-08:00

Finally, I got the book in which my short story "The Bond" got published. It felt nice as if this was the first time I was seeing my story in print ( though it wasn't!). Holding the book in my hands felt nice...very nice..

The book would be launched on 31st March 2012 in the British Library, Bangalore...It has 35 short stories from different writers ( all are men only )..

Now, the book is available on flipkart.com at discounted price. Below is the link:-

http://www.flipkart.com/books/8188234680?_l=KHIZ2bUYWX3cmVTrjMow6g--&_r=n_aHdNBLiIMebz15UiOMhA--&ref=392f80e7-88da-44ab-934f-e9c20c4e172c

The Slingshot

2012-01-07T22:20:00.001-08:00

Prashanth took aim at the ripe mango hanging from a branch of the mango tree, and let go the stone from the slingshot with force.

The stone missed to hit the mango and rushed towards Bala, who bowed his head just in time.

“Chill Bro.” Sawan said, “I know it is your first 3-D movie!”

Hatred

2012-01-07T21:13:00.001-08:00

“He hates me for I had killed her.” Rohan said.

“No, it is not true!” Amit said, “It was fate’s cruel play”

“I never thought that my birth would kill my mother and my father would hate for the rest of his life for the same.” Eight year old Rohan said sadly to his uncle.

Play

2011-10-21T15:31:00.000-07:00

He held her hand, looked deep into her beautiful eyes and said,

“Niharika, I love you. I love you so much and I always will.”

“It is Priya, not Niharika, you fool.” She muttered.

But it was too late to repeat the same dialogue once again before the audience.

Did he really love me so much that he forgot the character’s name while enacting the play today? Niharika thought.

He realized that the first love never dies, but it gets buried deep inside one’s heart.

Memories of the past which he thought he had long forgotten had resurfaced once again.

Killer

2011-10-21T15:29:00.000-07:00

“You’ve killed so many innocent people,” She said, “and do you think you can get away with it?”

He pierced the sharp knife as his wife let out a loud shriek.

“Yes, I think I can,” He said picking up an apple pierced to the knife, “as long as I kill them in my stories.”

Rehearsal

2011-10-11T07:24:00.000-07:00

Rajesh was feeling nervous as he spoke the inner feelings of his heart.

“Priya, I love you. I wanted to tell you this since the first time we both met, but couldn’t gather enough courage to speak it out until now. I hope I’m not late.”

“Rajesh, you took so long to tell this,” Priya replied, “But I too love you.”

He smiled and looked at his reflection in the mirror. He would tell this tomorrow.

It was a scene from the play for their college farewell function which they were to enact on the stage the following day.

Inspire

2011-09-22T01:54:00.000-07:00

A Short Story By G.S.Vasukumar

He visited his grandma’s house in a small village after many years. One night before going to bed, he sat on the bed and was swinging his feet back and forth, while going through the family album. Suddenly his feet hit some old trunk which was kept below the bed.

He was curious to know what it contained, so he pulled it out, and opened it. He was surprised to see some old books. He dusted them, kept them on the bed.

He had a frown on his face seeing his grandmother’s name on the cover pages of the books. The books contained collections of short stories written by her, when she was young. He started reading and felt they were simply amazing work.

I never thought that she was so talented? He thought.

Next morning, he took them and showed to his grandpa, who was reading The Hindu newspaper.

“What? She wrote these short stories?” He asked surprised going through it. “I never knew it? She never told me anything about it?”

“Yes, we never thought that she was so talented, isn’t it?” He asked his grandpa, “Shouldn’t we get them published and showcase her talent to the world?”

“No.” His grandma said coming with cups of coffee and biscuits in a tray.

“Why not, Savithri?” His grandpa asked her, picking up a cup of coffee from the tray.

“I never wanted to share it with anyone. I wrote them for myself…my satisfaction.” She replied.

“What if we publish it with a pen name?” He suggested.

“That should be fine, I think.” His grandpa said.

“Ok. But remember that I never want to be in the limelight.” She said.

“I will take care of it, grandma” He said.

He became busy tying the short stories of his grandma in his laptop. He made them into different collections and gave a name for the each of the collections. He decided to print the first collection of short stories and see the response.

He got the books printed and started advertising. Initially, the response was lukewarm as she was an unknown writer. But the sales picked up gradually and soon ‘Saki’ became a household name. He had even designed a website for her and mentioned it in the book, hoping to get the feedback from the readers.

The website received many fan emails. He showed it all to his grandma. She had tears in her eyes while going through those emails. She hadn’t expected that she would receive so much positive feedback on her work.

“This is one of the happiest moments of my life.” She said, “Thank you.”

“You deserve it, grandma!” He said.

The second book was a bigger success than her first one, as it hit the international market. People loved her work so much. The same happened to her third collection of short stories. People started asking, who is Saki? She was compared with other famous story tellers of the world.

***

Subramanian went through what he had typed so far on his laptop and was satisfied with how his story “Inspire” had shaped so far. This was his first novel and an important one.

“How is the progress, dear?” His wife, Sunitha asked coming with a cup of coffee, and handing it to him.

“So far so good,” He said, taking it and having a sip and giving her a smile.

“Do you think it would work?” He asked her.

“Sure, my love,” She said smiling back at him. “Not many of us follow our dreams in our lives. But you have dared to,”

“It should work,” He said, “as I have left my job to work on my first novel.”

“It will!” She said, patting on his shoulder, “Success likes those who dare to do something different!”

After slogging day and night for many days in a row, finally he was able to complete the first draft of the novel. Then he spent some more days making the required amendments and brought out the second draft and then the final draft.

When the book hit the book shops, it was sold out within the first few days of its release. They had to go for re-printing.

***

“Mr.Subramanian your first novel ‘Inspire’ is a sensational hit,” The interviewer said. “So what’s next?”

“I would be taking a short break and then would be working on my next book.”

“Sounds good,” He said, “You had dedicated your first book to your grandma ‘Saki’, who is a great writer. So it wasn’t a tough thing to follow the foot steps, I think”

“In fact, it was a tough thing to follow as I had to keep up the reputation of my grandma, who is my inspiration.” Subramanian said.

“I Agree. Readers would like to know more about her. Perhaps even meet her. Even I would love too.”

“Sadly, it isn’t possible,” He said, “She is no longer with us.”

“Oh, is it? But how come your book says something else?”

“Well, while writing it is always better to mix reality with fiction. People deserve to read happy endings, you see.”

“Can we at least have her photograph?”

“Sorry, I had promised that I wouldn’t do anything like that.”

“Well, we wish you all the very best for your next book.” He said, “One last question when would the last collection of short stories by Saki be out?”

“It should be coming out soon, before my next book hits the book stores.”

***

Later, the telephone started ringing, Subramanian answered the call:-

“Congrats, Subbu!” His grandpa said from the other end.

“Thanks, Grandpa.” He said, “What is grandma doing?”

“Well, she is reading your book,” He said, “Wait! I will give it to her.”

“I am proud of you, Subbu.” She said, “Your book is so nice and interesting.”

“Thanks a lot, Grandma,” He said, “I felt sad when I had to lie to them about you.”

“It is alright, son.” She replied, “Thanks for keeping up the promise you made to me.”

“You’re welcome, grandma” He said.

The End

Live

2011-09-10T09:56:00.001-07:00

Shreya had met Arman and fell in love with him. She had thought that their love would last for a life time. But she was wrong; Arman left her for another woman.

She had packed everything he had given her, including their pictures, etc in a carton box, sealed it and placed it in the attic. But still she couldn’t get his picture out of her mind. Also the memories of the past came to haunt her and spoil her present moments, thinking about him.

Death seemed to be the only solution to her never ending problem and she had given a serious thought about it.

Shreya reached the open terrace of the building; she opened her bag and felt the suicide note with her finger tips. Just then, her mobile started to beep. The mobile screen showed her that she had received a mms from Arman.

“Shreya, I am really sorry for what I had done to you. I know that I don’t deserve your forgiveness. But still I am begging for it. Latha had left me for someone else. Only then did I realize how you should have felt when I done it to you. I would like to get back into your life. Please answer my call, as I would like to speak to you.”

She had a drop of tear in her eye, which she picked with her finger tip.

Is this drop of tear worth for what he had done to you? Her mind asked her. Before she could answer the question which her mind had raised, the mobile started beeping once again.

“Arman, it is too late!” Shreya said changing her voice a bit,“Shreya just leaped down from the building.”

“What? Oh my God! Who is this?” He asked shocked.

“I am Priya, her friend.” She said, “I just came to the terrace looking for her, but found the suicide note under her mobile.”

“Alas! I should have tried to contact her before. Does the suicide note say anything about me?”

“Hmmm…lemme see..” She said, “Oh, yes…it says you are responsible for her death”

“Please tell me what should I do? Please…..”

“As you wanted to get back to her, so I think you could be forgiven.”

“Yes, you’re right!”

“I shall destroy this suicide note.”

“That would be a great help. Thanks a lot, dear.”

“Never cheat another girl in your life time. This should be a lesson to you.”

“Yes, yes, I have already learnt it!”

“Good. Good bye, then.” She said, disconnecting the call.

She dialed her service provided customer care number and requested for change of her mobile number. Then she took out the suicide note, tore it to as many pieces she could, and let the wind take it from her hand. The pieces floated down slowly.

She had a beautiful smile on her face and felt as if she was born again.

Feel

2011-09-08T00:55:00.000-07:00

A Short Story By G.S.Vasu Kumar

Akash was the only son to his caring and loving parents, who were both blind, and they saw the world through his eyes. They thought that he would be there for them when they grew old, and needed him the most. He transformed into a handsome young man as the time flew.

The parents started searching for a suitable bride for their son. However, he kept rejecting the proposals which they brought for him.

“Son, let us know, what kind of girl you have in mind?” His father asked him, “So that we can find her.”

“Dad, please don’t worry about it,” He replied, “I’ll find her someday and bring her home.”

“All right, son.” His father said.

One day, Akash brought home a young beautiful girl and introduced them to her.

“Father, mother, here is your would be daughter-in-law!” He said.

His mother felt her face with her fingers and had a smile on her face. His father repeated the same process and smiled too. But the girl wasn’t pleased.

“What nonsense?” She cried, “You didn’t tell me that your parents were blind?” She asked giving an annoyed glare at her husband, Akash.

“Sweetheart, what difference would it make by you knowing it in advance. You are going to marry me, not them.” He said.

“I can’t be their servant for the rest of my life, you moron!” She cried, stamping his feet with hers.

“Ouch!” He cried in pain.

“I want you to send them away to some blind age home.” She said.

“Darling, there is nothing by that name.”

“Well, to some place where people like your parents stay.”

“We can think about it later.”

“No later business,” She said firmly, “If you want to marry and stay with me then you need to do it. If not, you can forget me.” She added leaving the place.

His parents had become almost speechless listening to their conversation.

“Son, what’s going on?” His father asked him.

“Would you send us away to the so called “Blind Age Home”, son?” His mother asked.

“Nothing, dad” He said, “She just can’t stand physically handicapped people. Mom, it is always better to stay with people like you. You would be able to understand each other better.”

After some time, they both got married and his parents got shifted to the old age home. Akash’s wife became pregnant and later, was admitted in a hospital for delivery.

“I have some good news and some bad news,” The nurse came and informed him.

“Is my wife all right?” Akash asked her.

“She is fine!” The nurse said.

“Then what could be the bad news be?” He asked.

“Well, she has given birth to a baby boy, but sadly he is born blind!” She said, “You can go and see them.”

Akash was shocked by what he had just heard. He walked silently towards the ward.

“I hate you!” His wife cried as soon as he entered the ward.

“Darling…”

“Shut up!” She cried interrupting him, “I shouldn’t have married you in the first place. Now see what has happened.”

He woke up with a sudden jerk.

“What happen? Did you have a bad dream or something?” His wife asked.

“Yes, the dream seemed so real and scary.”

“What did you see in your dream?”

“We both were blind in the dream. Our son, Akash got married to a girl who didn’t like us, and she sent us away to old age home. Later, she gave birth to a blind boy.”

“Thank God, it’s just a dream” She said with a sigh.

“What if this dream comes true?” He asked.

“Don’t you worry,” She said, “Dreams are only dreams, and they seldom come true. Now, go back to sleep.”

Next day, Akash brought home the girl whom he loved and wished to get married. He introduced her to his parents. She bowed down and touched their feet, seeking their blessing.

His mother raised her up, felt her face with her fingers.

“How I wish I could see both of you together!” She said kissing on her forehead.

“Tell me, how does our son look like? Is he handsome?” She asked.

“Aunty, I can’t see him with my eyes,” She replied, “However, I have seen him through the eyes of my heart, and he is a wonderful person. I feel so lucky to get a person like him.”

“Are you also…?”

“Yes, aunty, I was born blind. I can only feel things, not see. I started seeing the beauty of this world through your son’s eyes.” She replied.

The End

A Love Story….of two different times

2011-08-29T15:29:00.000-07:00

A Short Story by G.S.Vasu Kumar

Note: - This is an edited and modified version of my old story ‘Time Slip’, which I had written in the year 2003.

Avinash waved his hand, as the train whistled and left the railway station. His father waved back at him. He was going to Hyderabad city to spend his summer holidays in his cousin’s place, which he was visiting after a long time. Actually, he wanted to meet his pen friend, Archana. They had communicated with each so far through letters, though recently she had shared her landline number with him.

He had to keep imagining about her since the start of their friendship, as she wasn’t willing to exchange their snaps.

Let us meet in person someday rather than sharing our pictures, she had written once, in one of her letters, when he had raised this topic.

The evening breeze was blowing into the compartment through the window, which ruffled his hair. He combed them gently with his fingers. He switched on his Transcend MP3 Player, plugging the ear phones to his ears. He started listening to his favorite song You took my heart away….

Once again, his mind started imagining about Archana.

He picked up the Sidney Sheldon’s novel The Master of the Game and started reading the same. He had shared some of his favorite novels with her. She was a fan of Chetan Bhagat and loved his books a lot.

The train picked up its speed rapidly. Time flew by, as the train reached the station and came to a screeching halt. But he was engrossed in that novel that he did not notice a young and beautiful girl in her early twenties enter the compartment and seat opposite to him.

She was neatly dressed, a slim figure, an anxious black eyes, her dark hair fell softly on her shoulders.

The guard waved the green flag, which was followed by the train’s whistle. It started leaving the station.

Suddenly, a fragrance reached his nose which made him to lift his face, which was so far behind his book. He looked out of the window of the compartment.

No, it isn’t coming from outside, he thought and started reading once again.

But the fragrance started haunting his nose once again. He saw directly at her and he was suddenly lost, and couldn’t take his eyes off her. He kept staring at her. She looked at him and caught him in the act; she just gave him a rather annoyed glare.

The ticket collector entered their compartment and he started checking everyone’s tickets and when it came to her turn came, she took out her purse and she was shocked to find it missing. She tried to convince him that she had taken her taken before boarding the train compartment, but he refused to listen to her. He demanded her to pay fine for traveling without a ticket. She searched her for her purse, which she couldn’t trace.

Avinash took money from his wallet and paid her fine. She thanked him after the ticket collector left the compartment.

“What’s your name?” Avinash asked her, he had lost his heart to her. It was love at the first sight.

“Jhansi,” She replied, smiling at him. “And what is yours?”

“Avinash, but you can call me Avi,” He replied smiling back at her.

As the next station came, everyone in the compartment got down, except them. The train picked up speed as it left the station. Later, it passed through a tunnel and as it came out of it, he looked at her. Even she looked at him, but he resumed reading his book.

“What is that for? Are you deaf or something?” She asked, pointing her finger towards the earphones of his MP3 Player.

“No, I am listening to the songs from my MP3 player. Haven’t you seen it before?” He asked, pulling it off from his ears. “Would you like to listen to it?” He gave it to her and showed her how to plug it to her ears. He was surprised that she didn’t know about MP3 player.

Perhaps, she is from some remote village, where people are not aware of such things, he thought.

Sometime later: -

“How is it?” he asked her.

“Music is good and different. Unlike what I have heard so far,“ She said, giving it back to him, “Thank you,”

“No mention,” He said taking it and as he did so, his hand touched hers. They looked into each others’ eyes passionately. They both came closer to each other, as he took her hand into his, and rubbed it gently. He continued reading his book and didn’t know when he fell asleep.When he woke up, she was gone.

Maybe, she got down in the previous station, he thought.

Hyderabad railway station had arrived and Vicky was waiting for him in the platform.

“Hi! Brother, how are you?” He asked hugging him, “and how was the journey?”

“Fine,” He said.

Later at home, Vicky unzipped Avinash’s bag to see what he had bought for him.

“Diary? When did you start writing a diary?” Vicky asked, taking it out first from his bag.

“Yes,” He said, relaxing on the bed.

“But this is old one…very old one,” He said turning the pages of the diary.

“Old one? Look properly. Do you have short sight or what? It’s current year’s diary.” He said, turning and looking at him.

“You have short sight and not me!” He said throwing it at him, “It’s 1942’s diary. Is it your grandpa’s diary?” He asked jokingly.

“1942? How can it be?” Avinash asked, surprised and shocked, catching hold of it and looking for himself. “It is not my diary!”

“Hey! When did you start wearing salwar kameez, etc?” He asked laughing aloud, taking them one by one out from the bag, and showing them to him.

“Oh! God,” He exclaimed, leaping out of the bed, “It should be her bag!”

“Don’t tell me that you took her bag by mistake?”

“You’re right!” he said, “Our bags looked similar….”

“So, what’s next?”

“She should have written her address in this diary of hers. So let us go and give it back to her.” He said turning the pages of the diary, looking for her address.

“Give what to whom?” asked Vicky’s grandmother, coming into their room, “Let me have a look at it?” she said taking it.

“Well, this handwriting looks quite familiar to me,” She continued, “Ah! It’s Jhansi’s handwriting!” she cried overjoyed.

“Jhansi’s handwriting ?!?” They both exclaimed surprised.

“Yes, she was my childhood friend. Where did you get this diary from?”

“Grandma, since you tell us that she was your childhood friend, does that mean she is of your age, right?” Vicky asked.

“Yes, if she was alive today,” She said with a sigh.

“Alive? Isn’t she alive now?” Avinash asked shocked.

“It was the fateful evening of 14th August ,at about 5.30 pm, in the year 1947, I and she were both walking in the market square. When some freedom fighter, who wanted to shoot and kill Sir Simon Richard Hibbs, who was responsible for many innocent deaths during the freedom struggle. He fired a bullet at him, but the bullet missed it’s target and hit her and she died on the spot.” She concluded.

“How old was she then?” Vicky asked.

“Twenty-four, I think.” She said, “Anyway, keep this diary safe, okay?” she said, getting up and leaving from the room.

“Sure.” Said Vicky, “Now, I get it!”

“You get what?” Avinash asked.

“Tell me was there anything peculiar or strange thing happening while she got into the train or when she got down?”

“Well, I was so much immersed in my book that I didn’t even notice her enter the compartment nor did I notice her go. She had left before I could wake up, but before I could wake up, I was hearing some distant shouts…I thought perhaps it was in my dream.”

“Like what?”

“Like Vande Mataram! Quit India!”

“That’s it! That’s it!” Vicky said, “She had a time slip, and she came to the present time. Later, she went back to where she rightly belonged,” Vicky said, explaining it to him.

“Is it possible?”

“Yes, It is a rare phenomenon, and on that count, you are really very lucky.”

“How I wish that I could do something to save her life? I think that I have fallen deeply in love with her.”

“Come on, brother, you can’t change the history, alright.” Vicky said, patting him on his shoulders.

Next Morning:-

“Avi, wake up!” Vicky cried, pulling off his blanket and shaking him up. He pulled the curtains and the sunlight seemed to pierce though Avinash’s sleepy eyes.

“What is it?” He asked, yawning sheepishly and blocking his eyes with his arms.

“See today’s newspaper!” Vicky said throwing it at him.

“Scientist Dr.Raman invents The Time Machine, through which one can travel back and forward in time. So, what?” He asked, yawning and looking up at his cousin.

“So, what ? Hey! We both can travel back in time to 1947 and meet your lady love, Jhansi!” He cried, leaping onto the bed and kneeling before him.

“Oh, yes!” He said, overjoyed, “But do you think that he would help us out in this?”

“Sure, he will once he comes to know about your love story. The only constraint in your love story is time, and if you do succeed in traveling back in time. Then nothing on Earth would come in-between your love story!” He said, “Now get up and get ready soon.”

“Alright.” He said, leaping out of his bed, overjoyed.

Later, they both went to Dr.Raman’s place and explained to him whatever had happened and he listened to his story with much curiosity.

“So you had a time slip,” Dr Raman said, when Avinash concluded his story, “It is a rare thing to happen, and you are fortunate to go back in time and then come back without your knowledge.”

“So would you help us?” Vicky asked curiously.

“Sure, I will,” He said, “please follow me,” He said, standing up and leading them into his huge laboratory.

“Well, after I had invented this time machine, I needed to test it to know whether it really works or not? So….”

“So?” They both asked, curiously.

“I had transported my pet dog ‘Tracy’ back in time to 1947, but someone should have got curious to know what this time machine is really about. So they had opened the door and let my ‘Tracy’ out. However, the time machine came back with this bag in it.” He said, taking it out from one of the shelf in the machine and showing it to them.

“What does it contain?” Avinash asked curiously.

“Well, I was surprised to find a dairy of the current time, some clothes, a MP3 Player, etc.” He said, unzipping the bag and showing it to them.

“Oh! God, it is indeed my lost bag!” exclaimed Avinash, having a closer look at it.

“What? Then you can take it.” He said, giving it to him.

“Well, Let’s travel back in time and which year, time, month and date you both would like to go to?”

“5.00 PM, 14th August 1947, Hyderabad.” They both said together.

“Fine.” He said pressing some buttons and the door of the time machine closed, as they fastened their seat belts. It started rotating round and round in great speed and suddenly flashed into the thin air like light or even faster than that. The next moment they found themselves in a strange place. As Dr.Raman opened the door, they all got down.

“Where are we now?” asked Vicky.

“In the same old city but in 1947!” said Dr.Raman, “Well, let’s go and find it out for ourselves. Because seeing is believing,”

They passed through a busy bazaar street and managed to reach the market square well in time at 5.25 pm.

They found a mob of men shouting the slogans “Vande Mataram!” and “Quit India” and the British army was trying their best to suppress the crowd, but they only came back in many numbers. So, even lathe charge failed to scare them away. Just then Sir Simond Hibbs got down from his car.

Jhansi and Vicky’s grandmother, both young girls were passing by that market square, a freedom fighter aimed his gun at Sir Simond Hibbs. He was about to press the trigger of his gun when someone pushed another freedom upon him, who went and hit his hand, as he pressed the trigger of the gun. The stray bullet raced towards Jhansi, who was unaware of it. Avinash leaped forward dashing through the crowd, as fast as he could and pushed her down along with him in the nick of the time. The bullet hit the window glass of Sir Simond Hibbs’s car and it cracked to pieces.

Later :-

“Thank you very much for saving my life.” Jhansi said hugging him.

“It’s okay,” He said, “Do you remember me?”

“Yes, I do,” She said, “I want to tell you something…”

“Tell me…what is it?”

“I…I love you.” She said, bowing her head down in shy.

“I love you too.” He said, hugging her again and caressing on her forehead.

“Woof! Woof!” barked a dog coming towards them.

“Oh! Tracy, where had you been forso long?” asked Raman picking it up and caressing it.

“Jhansi, why don’t you come along with me and we can stay together happily,” Avinash asked.

“No, I belong to this era and time. Sorry, I can’t leave it and come with you. Why don’t you stay back?”

“Unfortunately, I can’t do that. It is okay,” He said, sadly, “I will miss you.”

“So shall I,” She said, in tears, “Take care, Bye!”

When they came back to the present time, Avinash went to the address which was written in the diary. He wanted to return the bag. He came to know that she had passed away at the age of 76 years, sometime back. Jhansi had left a letter, along with her personal diary for him, hoping that someday, he would come back and collect it.

“Thanks for this,” Avinash said taking it, “Tell me something about her?” He asked looking at a middle-aged person.

“Well, she remained without marrying, but she adopted and brought me up like her own son.” He said, “even though she is my auntie, and real my parents had been killed in a car accident. She told me how you had saved her life. I should thank you for what you did for her, and for giving me a caring mother. You were her real life hero, and I am proud of your different love story, which I am never going to forget.”

“Thanks.” He said, “Will you take me to her grave, please?”

“Sure, I will.” He said.

At her grave, Avinash placed some flowers. Tears filled in his eyes, fell down on the grave.

Later, back at home :-

“Avi, you’ve changed the paste and have thus become a great person.” Vicky said.

“So are you.” He said, reading the letter and then turning the pages of the diary.

In the last page of the diary, it was written: “To my hero, who saved my life, I shall always be grateful to, in my life and as well as in my death”. Love, Jhansi.

“Hello! Can I speak to Archie?”

“Speaking.”

“Hi! Archie, I am Avi, Avinash. How are you ?”

“Hi! I am fine. How about you?”

“I'm fine too. When shall we meet ?”

“Tomorrow morning at 10.30 am at Birla Temple.”

“Hey ! How do I recognize you?”

“Well, I will come in a pink Chudidhar.”

“Fine, then. See you tomorrow.” He said, “Bye!” hanging the phone down.

The End

Chikmaglur - Our Team Outing

2011-08-13T06:08:00.000-07:00

We took the risk of going for this trip during the peak rainy season. It seemed certain that the rain would play the spoilsport and make us to spend the most part of our stay indoors, playing some indoor games, but it was our resolve to be there...which made the difference.

We were fourteen in total and our group included three girls.One should really appreciate them for coming forward and making this trip a memorable one.

We had planned for this particular trip from such a long time that many of us almost thought that this trip may never take place. Finally, we left Bangalore in a mini bus after completing our work on Friday night from office at 1.10 am. The destination was Chikamaglur, which was about 250 kms from Bangalore and then we had to go to Jungle Greens Home Stay is at a distance of 21 Kms from Chikamagalur.

Chikamagalur means town of the smaller daughter. Chik means smaller or younger, Magalu means daughter, and Oor means town or city, hence Chikamagalur. The local Raja gave this place as dowry to his younger daughter, from then on, this place is called so.

We had a very nice time in the bus while traveling; we started watching the latest hindi movie “Singham”…as the movie progressed, I noticed that most of them had fallen asleep. They only started waking up when the end credits started rolling on the TV screen. We all got down and had tea and coffee at a small road side dabha. We still had to cover a long distance…and the dawn was yet to come.

We reached Chikamaglur and had to ask for directions to reach Jungle Greens Home Stay. We saw many coffee and pepper creeper estates on the way. I was almost lost in nature at this time. Our bus could not go through the narrow road towards the home stay, so we had to travel by jeep.

Jungle Greens Home Stay is surrounded by Mountains, Jungle and Coffee Estates, which had pepper trees too. The main objective of Jungle Greens is to encourage and promote Country side tourism which most people might not have experienced. Even the Muthodi Forest is about twenty minutes drive from Jungle Greens Home Stay. We could hear the peacocks sing from the home stay, though we weren’t so lucky to see them.

Some of us, including me, preferred to walk to the home stay and it was really pleasant early morning walk. We were greeted by birds on the way, which were singing somewhere in the coffee gardens. We could only hear them.

We settled in the rooms and got ready. Then we had our tea/coffee which was followed by break fast. Now, we were ready for the first trekking of the day, which was the private water falls called Hulikal Waterfalls. We had to travel by bus and then wait for the jeep to arrive. The jeep was supposed to carry us further to the waterfalls. Again, we had to travel in two teams as the jeep could accommodate only 6-7 people at a time. There was a small water flow crossing which had a gate. This gate is usually locked as it is a private property. We had to wait for the key and also for the second batch to arrive.

One thing that bit scary was the bite from leeches; as they were everywhere near by the water falls during the rainy season. The horse leech is very commonly found in this place. We were not aware of the leech attack unless we noticed the blood flow from our body parts. As the leech bite is painless in nature. We had carried packets of salt to avoid them, which could help us only to some extent.

The jeep left dropped us at one spot, from where we had to trek to reach the water falls. When we kept silent, we could hear the nature hum. The path which leads to the waterfalls wasn’t an easy one. I felt like halting at some point, but thanks to my colleagues who somehow managed me to get to the falls. The falls was amazing, nothing like I had seen before in my life. Though I had seen many water falls before, but they were crowded by people who made it look less beautiful. This was the perhaps the first waterfalls where we were all alone.

By the time we returned back to the home stay, it was 5.30 pm. We were late for our lunch and couldn’t venture out for the next destination as per our plans. So, we decided to stay at the home stay and enjoy the camp fire. And again, this was first time at least for me to enjoy the night in the camp fire, dancing to the music coming from the stereo system. There was also slight drizzling to make the evening memorable.

Later, we settled to play UNO (card game), many were new to this game and they started enjoying the game. We played until 2.00 am and then settled down to sleep. We woke up early in the morning and got ready. The break fast was good.

After the breakfast, we left to the shooting spot near Mallandur village in our bus. We made a mistake of going too far into this shooting spot, which had grass lawn spread across. Our bus got stuck in the middle and it refused to move forward. We started thinking about the way to get it out of that place.

One of our team mates Mr.Prashanth suggested to get hay from one of the houses in the village, so that to spread it below the wheels of the bus. It would help it to move forward on the wet ground. It was also raining to add to our misery.

Prashanth went along with some villagers, who had come there to graze their cattle and came back with bundles of hay. Meantime, the driver and cleaner had gone in search of help and came back with some strangers in a jeep.

We even called our home stay owner and updated him about the situation. He told us that he would be sending his son to help us out. He came in the jeep after sometime. Two jeeps were tied to our bus with ropes and we tried hard once again and this time we succeeded. It was a team effort, which provided us the success. We thanked them for helping us and left to Chikmaglur.

After having our lunch, we left to Mulayangiri the highest peak in Karnataka, with a height of 1,930 metres (6,330 ft), it is the highest peak between the Himalayas and the Nilgiris after Chembra peak (2100 m),Banaura peak(2073m),and Vellari mala(2339m) of Wayanad district of Kerala.

The climate was harsh, with rainfall and strong winds blowing against the climb, which made it difficult to climb the steps to reach the Shiv temple on the top of the Mulayangiri. I decided not to go, as I had been to this temple twice before.

Once again, while descending from the top of Mulayangiri the bus was stuck in the mud on the side of the road. It was already late in the evening; we were thinking different ways to get out of this situation which could strand us in this spot. However, we were lucky that a group of guys traveling in a jeep stopped by to help us out this situation.

We finally headed towards bangalore watching the movie “Zindagi Na Milege Dobara”. I dozed off to sleep as I was tired. Also I had seen this movie twice before. Finally, we reached bangalore at 12.30 am. This was one of the best trips of my life…Like the saying quoted by Praveen goes…

"If the path is beautiful, ask where it leads to. But if the destination is beautiful, don’t ask how the path is, just keep going".

Home stay details :-

http://junglegreens.blogspot.com/

Melkote

2011-07-28T12:25:00.000-07:00

We had booked a taxi for Melkote on Saturday evening and planned to leave on Sunday morning. The cab arrived at the first pick up point at 7.35 am and we left Ramurthinagar by 8 am. We reached the second pick up point by 9.15 am.

Melkote is 125 kms from Bangalore on the mysore road and about 2 hours journey. One has to take the right turn after Mandya, which is 90 kms from Bangalore. You can also board the KSRTC bus upto Mandya and then any city or private bus.

We reached Melkote in the afternoon and the first place we saw was the beautiful Kalyani, a large pond. This pond had featured in many movies. We took some snaps near this place before going to the Yoga-Narasimha Swamy Temple, which is on top of a hill. The temple was really good and one gets a different feeling while on the top.

The view from the top of the temple is very nice.

Then we left to the Cheluvanarayana Swamy Temple. Here the presiding deity is Lord Cheluva-Narayana Swamy or Tirunarayana or Lord Krishna. Later, we headed to the Raya Gopura ( this was the place which had attracted me to visit this place ). We spend some time in this place clicking pictures.

We left this place and reached the Akka-Tangi Ponds on the way back to our cab. It started raining and we had to halt near some ruined structure.We had puliyogare and sweet pongal. I am very fond of sweet pongal since my childhood days.

We left to Srirangapatna after our lunch. We went and saw The Mausoleum Of Tipu Sulthan and “Sangama”, the amalgamation of three holy rivers Kaveri River, Kabini River and Hemavati River.

It was another wonderful trip.

Lepakshi

2011-07-12T15:29:00.000-07:00

We left to Hindupur which is 120 kms from bangalore on one sunday morning at 10.45 am and got into a KSRTC bus which was about to leave to Hindupur. We reached Hindupur at about 1.30 PM. Leepakshi is 15 kms from Hindupur Railway Station.We had to catch a local bus to Lepakshi.

Virupanna, as the king's treasurer, had vast sums at his disposal, which he spent on making Lepakshi a magnificent temple. It consists of three shrines -- dedicated to Shiva, Vishnu and Virabhadra. Virabhadra, a wrathful manifestation of Shiva, was the patron deity of the Nayak rulers.

The temple core is surrounded by a large open court entered from the east with large gopuras to the north and west. A monolithic Nagalinga -- the largest of its kind in India -- and Ganesha in the second interior court entice the eye by their sheer scale and perfection.

This temple is a master piece of art work done by the Vishwakarma Brahmin Stapathis who sculpted this temple. This was built in the 16th century and sits on a mount.

The Lepakshi temple can be divided into three sections - the 'Mukha Mandapa', (or the 'Nitya Mandapa' or 'Ranga Mandapa'), the 'Artha Mandapa' and 'Garbha Griha', and the 'Kalyana Mandapa'.

One mandapam has pillars with life-sized images of dancers, musicians and other sculptures, created by the artisans of the Vijayanagar Empire.

The ceilings have breathtakingly beautiful mural paintings.

The huge granite Nandi Bull is carved out of a single stone and is placed at some distance outside the Lepakshi temple is considered to be the biggest monolithic Nandi in India.

The sculptures and the mural paintings seen in the Natya and Kalyana Mandapams are exceptional for their artistic beauty and skill. Most of these sculptures portray the mythological puranic episodes like 'Ananthasayana', 'Dattatreya', 'Chaturmukha Bramha', 'Tumburu', 'Narada' and 'Rambha'.

The Lepakshi temple has been built in honor of Lord Veerabhadra. According to the legend the Kalyana Mandapa of the temple had witnessed the marriage Lord Shiva and Parvati.

The 'Natya' (Dancing) and 'Ardha' (worship) Mandapas are the best parts of the temple in terms of architecture. The 'Natya' Mandapa has been adorned with sculptured pillars depicting life-size musicians and dancers.

It is a revitalizing trip for those who believe in heritage sites, for those who marvel at the art of our ancestors.

The Ooty Trip

2011-07-09T03:21:00.000-07:00

I had been to this place twice during my childhood days, and this was the third time. Also the toy train journey was really amazing experience, which I had mentioned in my previous post. I had booked a room in the Sunpark hotel well in advance. The hotel was good, though Nandini, my wife felt that the Lake view hotel would have been better.

The first place we went to see immediately after our lunch was the botanical garden. This garden was laid out in 1848 and is currently maintained by the Horticulture Department of Tamil Nadu.

There is a beautiful green lawn where one can relax and have some fun with family and friends. We had visited this place twice as we couldn’t cover it completely on the first day. This is one place which Nadini was very keen to see and I am glad that we could see it completely on the last day of our stay in Ooty.

If you are lucky then you may find some birds in the botanical garden...........

We had hired a local taxi and our driver was called Mahalingam, who was fond of having food in jain hotels.

The second day was really memorable as we had been to the Pykara Lake,

6^th mile,

9^th mile,

Pykara falls ( The waterfalls was almost dried up with less water ), Oak tree and Pine Tree forest, The Golf Course, Rose Garden; where we got one memorable photo together. It has about 1000 varieties of roses ranging from red to yellow.

We had visited the St.Stephen's Church :-

We also visited Sim’s park, though it couldn’t be compared with the Botanical Garden in Ooty, but still it was nice.

On the third day in Ooty, we went to Doddabetta; the highest peak in South India. It stands at 2,623 Meters tall. However, we weren’t so much impressed visiting this place. Also we couldn’t see the Lamp’s Rock and Dolphin’s Nose view points due to bad weather and fog.

We had been to tea garden in Coonor, where Nandini Devi had dressed like a tea plucking lady and had posed for some pictures.

I liked the angel’s statue in the St.Thomas Church, which I had seen before in one of the travel books.

We had been to the sacred heart church where many movie shootings were done.

All in all, it was a memorable trip to Ooty, which will forever be framed in our hearts for a long time.

The Toy Train Journey...

2011-06-28T01:06:00.000-07:00

We reached the coimbatore railway station almost half an hour late and had to catch a taxi to mettupalyam, so that we don't miss the toy train which would leave by 7.15 am or so.It proved to be the right decision, if we had come by bus then we would have certainly missed the toy train.We had enough time to have a hot cup of coffee in the railway station canteen.The train left the mettupalyam station at 7.30 am.

This train journey covered about 46 kms in about 5 hours journey passing through Hilligrove, Coonoor, Wellington, Aravankadu, Keeti, Lovedale stations and finally ends at Udagamandalam or Ooty at about 12 noon.

The train had passed through jungle…some elephants crossed the track. We were lucky to take the picture of a langur.

The climate became cooler as the train started to ascend the mountains. The strange thing was that the train was pushing the carriages from behind. It was wonderful to witness the train passing through the dark tunnels. We even saw some small waterfalls on the way. We even witnessed a peacock dance, spreading its feathers.

People used to shout in joy whenever the train went through the dark tunnel.

Steam engine was stopping after every one hour of journey to take water in small stations during its journey of 19Km up to Coonoor. At Coonoor steam engine was replaced with a diesel engine for the last part of the journey ending at Ooty.

We saw the tea gardens; valleys with pine trees through open window of the compartments.

During five hours of journey the train has passed through 16 tunnels and 250 bridges.

I would like to mention that this is once in life time experience…one should experience it once to cherish the joy for a life time.

One should note that the compartments of this train doesn’t have any toilets.

The train tickets can be booked well in advance through IRCTC website.

Indian Railway Station Codes

METUPALAIYAM – MTP

UDAGAMANDALAM - UAM

The Regret

2010-11-27T15:03:00.000-08:00

A Short Story By G.S.Vasukumar

Ramesh went to the old store room, searched for a carton on which it was written with a marker “Dad’s things”. He finally found that carton. He sat on a small stool, after pulling this carton towards him and tearing its seal open. He picked up his dad’s old diary into his hands, and went through it.

“I had brought up my son with lots of love and care. I never expected that he would do the same thing in return when I grow old. I had thought the least I could expect from him was that he would spend some time with me and say something nice. Sadly, that never happened. Maybe my expectations were too much. He had become very busy in his life and never found any time for me.”

Ramesh sadly turned to the next page of his father’s diary. He found a peacock’s feather between the pages. He picked it up and read the note on that page.

“As a kid, my son loved this peacock’s feather a lot. As he grew up, he had forgotten about it. I felt it would be nice if I could treasure it. It has sweet memories of my dear son playing with it.”

He looked up, touching his face with that peacock’s feather. Then he continued reading his father’s diary.

“Maybe, my son loved me, maybe. I would never know his inner feelings as he never expressed much. We had become like two strangers as he grew up. I felt it wouldn’t have mattered if I had to pass away some time back.”

Ramesh had a drop of tear in his right eye, which flowed slowly down his cheek.

He had moved to a distant place after completing his studies. He had seen his parents only a few times. As he got married and had his own kids, it even became a rare thing. It was not that he didn’t love or care for his parents. But he had locked his love for his parents deep inside his heart and never expressed it to them. It was some years back when his mother had passed away.

His father was living alone in the old house. He had asked him to move into their place, but the old man had refused it. He wanted to live his last days recalling the wonderful memories of that house, where his beloved wife had stayed.

Ramesh had given it a thought to spend some time with his father, but that time never came. Soon his own children grew up, and one day his old father had passed away in his sleep.

He had seen his father’s diary a couple of times: once while he was alive and the second time after his death, while packing his things from the old house. Finally, his father’s things found its stay in this store room of the house.

Today, he missed his father a lot and he just remembered that his father used to write in a diary. He felt that he might feel closer to his dad going through it at least now.

“Life isn’t a fairy tale. Reality is too hard to digest.” His father had written in the next page.

“After my dearest wife passed away, for the first time in my life I realized how much alone I was in this selfish world. My dear son had asked me to move with him to his house. However, I refused as I knew that it wouldn't make much difference moving to that place. So I thought let me stay over here embracing my solitude, with the sweet memories of my dear wife to cherish till my last day arrives.”

“Moreover, my wife had loved this place a lot! I wonder what would happen to this place after I am gone. Perhaps, it would be destroyed to build some thing else. Luckily, I wouldn’t be there to see something my wife had loved being destroyed forever.”

A drop of tear from his eyes landed on the page of his father’s diary. He closed the diary, kissed it and hugged it tightly to his chest.

He went inside and asked his son.

“Son, can you please take me for a drive?”

“Sure, dad!” His son said, standing up.

His son drove his father to the graveyard. The eighty year old Ramesh walked slowly with the help of his son towards his father’s grave.

“Son, I would like to spend some moments alone with my father” Ramesh said.

“Sure, dad, I will pay a visit to grandma’s grave in the meantime.” He said walking away.

Ramesh bent and placed a bunch of white Lilly flowers on his father’s tomb.

“Dad, I hope you are listening to my words wherever you are right now…I am very sorry for having neglected you when you needed me the most in your life…I am extremely very sorry for that…please forgive me…one more thing, I love you a lot! I wish I had told you this while you were around.” He said with tears overflowing from his eyes.

The wind was blowing quite strong, and it carried away his tears towards the big banyan tree, which stood near to his father’s grave. He remembered to having seen a small sapling the last time he was here.

“I forgive you, my dear son. I love you a lot too. I always did. I wish that I could hug you now, but I am helpless being this stupid tree in my present birth.” These were the thoughts of the big banyan tree.

“Dad, shall we go now?” His son came and asked him.

“All right, son” He said, walking away with him.

The wind carried some leaves from the big banyan tree, and they gently touched the old man’s back.

The End

The Savior

2010-11-27T14:55:00.001-08:00

A Short Story by G.S.Vasukumar

The woman handed a hot cup of coffee to her husband with a smile on her face. Meantime, in a distant room of a tall building, a stranger loaded his long range gun and took his aim. The husband took the cup closer to his lip. The stranger moved his finger closer to the trigger, and as he had one sip of the coffee, he pulled the trigger of his gun. The bullet raced out of the gun, cracked through the window glass and pierced into his forehead. It was just a fraction of few seconds. She had turned to leave, when the cup of coffee slipped from his hands and crash landed on the floor. She just took a turn, in that very moment a bullet pierced into her heart. She collapsed on the floor.

Taking lives of his targets was the profession of this stranger. He had got this assignment from his boss. It was an honor killing. The couple had fallen in love with each other, though they belonged to different caste. They had eloped from their village knowing the fact that their elders wouldn’t spare their lives if they came across them anytime.

He scanned through the lens of his gun to see if he left any witness in that house. He was shocked to see a baby crying in the cradle in the next room.

“Alas! What have I done?” He cried, letting his gun fall from his hands, which hit the floor.

He rushed to that building and saw the innocent face of the baby. The baby stopped crying seeing him. He slowly lifted the baby from the cradle and kissed on his forehead.

“I’m very sorry! I killed your parents!” He said. The baby just smiled at him, and held his finger. He walked away from the house with the baby in his arm. His mobile started ringing and he answered when it started ringing for the second time.

“How could you do this to me?” He cried

“Do what? What are you talking about? Did you complete your job?” The voice asked him from the other end of the line.

“This!” He cried, taking the receiver of his mobile closer to the baby’s mouth.

“I didn’t know that the couple had a baby!” He cried back.

“Don’t you dare to lie to me? You know very well that I don’t take the assignment of parents having children.”

“Why create a fuss on the split milk? Just put another bullet in the baby’s head and send it to its parents!”

“How about putting a bullet in your God dame head instead? I am leaving forever! Never try to contact me or track me down. If you do then you will meet your end! Good bye!” He said disconnecting the call.

Later, in an isolated house in the out skirts of the city, the killer was seated on the sofa, and he was depressed. He couldn’t forgive himself for what he had done today. He knew well what loneliness meant in life, having no one to neither take care nor love. He had been through that in his life, and now he had just made this baby an orphan.

The moon was shinning in the sky. The moon light fell upon the cradle in which the baby was sleeping peacefully, unaware of the fact that his parents were killed by this killer.

He took the loaded gun and pressed it against his head and was about to press the trigger, closing his eyes. Suddenly, he heard the cry of the baby and opened his eyes. He walked towards the cradle. The baby stopped crying the moment he saw him. He kept his hand upon the baby, gently patted him. The baby smiled at him, closed his eyes again and went back to sleep.

“No, I can’t do this!” He said to himself, keeping his gun in the drawer of the table and closing it.

Some years passed by, when the boy who was named Aryan was eight years old, one day, he was down with high fever and cough. He called up a doctor.

The doctor answered the call after the third ring “Do you know what time is it? It is 2 am for God’s sake! Can’t it wait tomorrow morning?”

“No, doctor, someone wants to speak to you..” The voice said. Then the doctor heard a boy’s voice, which was his son’s voice.

“What do you want? I will pay you whatever money..” The doctor fumbled.

“I don’t want your God dame money, doctor. Just Hurry up with your medical bag to this address…” The voice said.

The doctor was wide awakened now. He took the scribbling pad and noted down the address. He rushed to that place in his car as fast as he could.

When he reached that place, he was escorted to the boy’s room.

“Where is my son?” He asked him.

“He is fine. First, you treat him!” He said.

The doctor checked the boy and gave him an injection.

“He should be fine by morning. Call me, if the fever doesn’t come down. Now, where is my boy?”

The door opened and his son of nine years walked in with handful of chocolates and a smile on his face.

“Dad, this uncle is so good. If at all I have to be kidnapped again then I want him to do it!” The kid said.

“You could have called me up without doing all this” The doctor said, holding his son’s hand and pulling him along.

“I am sure that you wouldn’t have come so fast if I hadn’t done this. I just wanted to show you that my son’s life is as important as your son’s life to you.”

“Thanks…you have opened my eyes. Good night!” He said, getting into his car with his son and driving away.

He went back to Aryan’s room, bent down and kissed on his forehead. When Aryan opened his eyes in the morning, he found him holding his finger and dozed off to sleep on the chair next to his bed.

“Dad, you didn’t sleep in your room?” He asked, waking in him up.

“Son, are you all right now? Has the fever come down?” He asked up, waking up.

“I’m feeling much better, dad. Thanks for being there for me.” He said hugging him. “I love you dad!”

“I love you too, son. You know, it feels so nice to have someone love and care for you. I had no one in this world until you came.” He said.

***

Twenty five years later.

“Son, I would like to confess something to you. I am not your real father, and your parents were killed... by me twenty five years back. So I brought you up from then.” He said

“Killed them? Why did you do that?” Aryan, the young man asked shocked.

“Because, I was paid to eliminate them” He replied

“Eliminate them? Who paid you to kill parents? Why?” He asked still in shock.

“Your grand parents had made a contract with my boss to eliminate your parents to save their honor. Your parents belonged to different caste and married against their wishes.”

Aryan became depressed learning the truth about his parents. He was confused whether to hate or like the person who had brought him up in the place of his parents, even though he was responsible for his parents’ death. But then he was just an instrument or a weapon in the hands of people who wrote the fate of his parents.

Next day, he went to him and asked :-

“I want the details of my grand parents! Where do they live?”

“What would you do knowing that? Kill them? Would it bring back your dead parents to you?”

“Just give me their details!”

He gave him the details, and he reached his grand father’s house in the village.

“Are you Karam Chand?” Aryan asked the old man.

“Yes, what can I do for you, young man?” He asked.

“I want my parents back!” He cried, taking out the gun and pointing at him.

“What the hell are you talking about?” The old man cried getting up.

“You know what I am talking about!” He cried walking forward.

“So you are their weed!” He frowned and said “I thought you were plucked too!”

“It would have been nice if that had happened then you could have lived peacefully. Now prepare to die!” He said, aiming his gun at him.

“Please don’t kill my husband!” An old lady rushed blocking the old man.

He aimed his gun at the big portrait of his grand father and fired all the bullets from his gun. They hugged each other in fear.

“I wanted to put all the bullets into your body for killing my parents. However, I couldn’t just do it. How could you kill your own son? Whom you had brought up? How could you…?” He cried.

“You will have to pay for this!” He said, before leaving.

***

Some days later, a stranger took his gun and aimed from a vacant under construction building. His finger moved towards the trigger. A bullet hit his hand while he pressed the trigger of his gun. The bullet from his gun missed its target by a few inches and hit the book shelf, breaking the glass of the book shelf to pieces. Aryan was shocked to see what just happened.

He looked in all directions to see who had shot at him, but couldn’t find anyone. Just then his mobile started to ring.

“Who the hell is this?” He asked.

“Someone who just shot your hand. Remember, the next time you take your aim then I will have the bullet delivered to your head.” The voice from the other end replied.

“What do you want me to do?” He cried feeling scared.

“Just leave this place!” He said “And do tell your boss that if you try again then I will eliminate each one of you and put an end to this!” The line got disconnected.

Aryan’s mobile started ringing.

“I think by now you would have understood that you can’t kill the hatred from some people's hearts. Your grand father had sent him to eliminate you” He heard the voice of the person who had brought him up.

“Yes, Thanks for saving me. However, don’t be under the impression that I have forgiven you.” Aryan said

“I know. I wouldn’t forgive myself, even if you had. Take care, son” and the line got disconnected.

The End

Chikmaglur Trip

2010-11-21T15:18:00.000-08:00

We started our journey towards Chikmaglur on one Saturday morning at 9.30 am from Mekri Circle. We halted at Kamath to have our break fast, unaware of the fact that we were 40 kms away from the scheduled route.

When we reached the place called Javagal, we came to know that the Yagachi river was over flowing on the road. It was almost impossible to pass through the same. So we had to go back and take another route from Bellur and Halebidu, which added extra kms to our already long journey.

We reached Chikmaglur, but still were far from our destination, Athithi Homestay, which is some 30 minutes drive from there. However, it took a longer time than that, as someone had miss guided us at the last turn. We reached a dead-end and where the road is so narrow that one can’t even turn back the vehicle. We had to drive the Wagon R in reverse direction. We finally found some space before a house below the road.

Unfortunately, the grass on the ground was wet due to the recent rains. The wet mud stuck in the gaps of the tires, making the ground slippery. We tried to remove the mud on the tires with wooden sticks. This only helped us to go forward upto some point.We tried our best, but couldn't get the car out of that place.During this time, we had called the owner of the home stay and informed our situation. Sudha told us that she would be sending a taxi to pick us up from there to the home stay.

Then the owners of the house came to our rescue. We tried again with their help, but still we couldn’t get to the road. Finally, that person got an idea…he went and came back with some wooden sticks and placed them before the wheels of the car, and asked us to drive on it. We were finally back on the road.We offered some money to him, which he refused to take. It feels nice to come across a good samaritan like him.

Finally, we reached the Athithi home stay at 6.55 pm and it had become dark by then. We decided to have hot bath after the tiring journey.

I liked the below painting on one of the walls of the home stay.

There were so many books to go through, sadly not much time for doing that.

This window reminded me of my short story "The Window"..

"A thing of beauty is joy forever"...This flower in the below picture was much higher and I had take the picture from below. I am a nature lover, and I love taking pictures of nature landscapes, flowers and birds more than anything else.

The home stay place was too good. If you are a nature lover, looking to get away from a city, looking to get some clean air, peace and quite, yet want a comfortable, cozy stay, this is the place for you. The location of this home stay is wonderful, set amongst the coffee estates, with a panoramic view of the mountains in the front and the coffee plantation at the back. One thing which we really missed was to explore the coffee estate as we were short of time.

This location is rustic, but it is a lovely place and a scenic beauty. The whole bungalow is very well maintained by the owners. Sudha Rajashekar was very nice lady to interact with, and we met her on the day of our departure to Bangalore.

After a hot bath, we all felt refreshed. Our cook brought us hot cups of coffee along with biscuits. As it was already late, we decided to take some snaps in this nice bungalow before our dinner. We took some cool snaps. Meantime, our cook brought us a very delicious chicken soup along with French fries. I should admit that I had never tasted such a wonderful and delicious soup so far in my life. The French fries were good too. Then we had a very delicious dinner to end our night with.

We wanted to watch some nice movie, but realized that the dvd player wasn’t in working condition and so was the sony music system. We decided to go to bed and wake up early in the morning. Our cook had spoken to one person who would be our guide for the next day.

We woke up at 6 am and got ready. We even washed our car with the help of a local boy. He even clicked some of the pictures for us. I didn't have chocolates to give him, but gave him the pack of Kurkure.

We had a nice break fast in the back side of the bungalow, next to the garden. The break fast was good too. Our guide came at about 9.00 am and we started at 9.30 am to Mullayangiri Peak. It was about 22 kms from that place.

Our guide in the below picture, wasn't so keen to be in pictures...but I had taken this one.

The journey from the home stay to this place was scenic and nice. We finally reached Mullayangiri and went up the hill to see the Shiv temple. Two kids were counting the steps as they were ascending the hill. The count was 373 steps so far. I think there were some 432 steps.This is my third visit to this place. I loved it every time.

Mullayanagiri, the tallest peak in the vicinity (and also the tallest in Karnataka @ 1930 m). We also visited another temple on the way back.The above picture of Ravi Sidula was taken near a tree outside this temple.

We set towards Bababudangiri from this place. We stopped near waterfalls to take some snaps. Last time when I went to this place, it was raining. This time around it was normal with the sun in the sky, though it wasn’t hot up there in Bababudangiri.

The Wagon R, which was our companion in many journeys of life. We had visited many places in karanataka...even outside in this cozy car of Ravi. "Poetry in Motion..." is written on the back of the car...well, the poetry continues...

The waterfalls in the below picture looked different last time as it was raining at that time.

Our guide told us that some people used to trek the hill in the below picture and reach the top.It would take about 4-5 hours to reach the top.

We returned back to our home stay at about 2 pm and had our lunch again in the backyard of the bungalow. We bid farewell to our cook and went towards Chikmaglur to meet the owner of the home stay, with whom we had interacted over phone until now.

This was our first home stay experience and I should tell you that other than the bad experience on Saturday, it turned out to be a wonderful Sunday. We really enjoyed our stay in this place. They made our stay really cozy and comfortable. I am a nature lover and this place was like heaven to me. I have brought back some fond memories of this place.

I highly recommend stay in this place.

Athithi Home Stay Details :-

Home

Sudha Rajashekar
Hosamane Road,
Chikmagalur
Phone : 08262 - 231 096

Estate
Sudha Rajashekar
Sanehadlu Estate
Chikmagalur
Phone : 08262 - 246 777

Mobile No's:
Sudha Rajashekar : 09449586828
C.P Rajshekar : 09448211499

Bangalore assistance call
Raghuram : 09886383709

Email : stay@athithi.in

JP Park, Mathikere, Bangalore

2010-11-21T13:06:00.000-08:00

I wanted to visit this place from quite sometime. I had heard nice things about this place from people I know. It was a nice experience when I finally visited it with my niece, Sirisha this Sunday. I was able to click many pictures of Sirisha in this place.

The Jayaprakash Narayan Park (JP Park) is located at the junction of Jalahalli and Mathikere. Developed at a cost of Rs 8.5 crore, the park boasts of 20,000 varieties of plant species, 60,000 flowering plants and shrubs and 5,000 medicinal herbs. Just like Lalbagh, a nursery would be functional soon. There is a rock garden in the park modelled after the one in Almatti. A musical fountain will be functional shortly.

The park has three grooves called Pavithra Vana, which will have mini grooves called Nakshatra vana, Rashi Vana and Navagraha Vana. Apparently, each star in the zodiac constellation has a particular plant/tree ascribed to it. The groove would have plants of every star, rashi, planted.

The park also has a 4.5-km jogging track, bamboo garden, palm garden, and play area for kids.

There are also a few acres devoted to a football court, volleyball ground, kabaddi ground and a 1,000-seater amphitheatre, though most of them are still in the making.

Main attractions in the park are the two water bodies of 15 and nine acres each.

The bigger lake has already attracted migratory birds like pond heron, coot hen, little cormorant, moore hen, pelicans etc. I had sighted one bird in this place.

At present, the park is open to the public freely. But a minimal entry charge might be levied later based on the maintenance costs. Yes, there’s a separate parking area to accommodate 200 cars and 400 two-wheelers. And the entire park is a no smoking zone.Also eatables are not allowed inside the park. Timings: 5 am to 8.30 am and 5 pm to 8.30 pm.

Route Map :-
From MG Road, take a right turn on any of the intersections and arrive at Cubbon Road which is parallel to MG Road
Continue on Cubbon Road past the Chinnaswamy Cricket Stadium, Minsk Square (Yeah, the one with the Flight prototye), General Post Office, and Hotel Capitol
Continue on Raj Bhavan road past the Governor's mansion
At the intersection, take a right turn onto Palace Road
At the intersection of the Highground Police station, turn left onto Sankey Road / Chowdaiah Road
Continue on Sankey Road / Chowdaiah Road past Golf Course, Le Meridien, Windsor Manor and Cauvery Theatre
Immediately after Cauvery Theatre, turn left onto Sankey Road
Continue on Sankey Road past Sankey tank and Chowdaiah Memorial Hall
At circle, continue on CV Raman Road and pass Indian Institute of Science.
Turn left onto MS Ramaiah Road towards Jalahalli / MS Ramaiah College / Mathikere
Arrive at Mathikere Bus-stop and follow the directions from Mathikere Bus stop below.

From Mathikere Bus stop
Ask anyone where JP Park is, and follow their instructions.
If after 5 minutes you have not found JP Park, Ask someone else, and follow their directions for the next five minutes.
Follow the above steps till you reach JP Park

From Mathikere Bus stop (Alternative set of instructions)
Going towards Gokula / BEL / Jalahalli on MS Ramaiah Road, immediately after passing Mathikere Bus stop, take a left turn onto Mohankumar Road.
After around 2 minutes, there is an intersection with a bus stop on the right side of the road.
Take a right turn at the intersection onto Srinivas Murthy Road
The Jayaprakash Narayan Park will be on your left.

The Bangalore Book Fair 2011

2010-11-21T12:38:00.000-08:00

I had been to the Bangalore book fair 2011 held in the palace grounds, Bangalore on Saturday, 20^th November 2011, with my niece, Sirisha. It was really nice experience. There were so many book stalls with so many books and I felt as though lost among these books.

I got some books for her and two books for myself.

The books I got are “A river on fire” by Jasvinder Sharma

and “Under the rain tree” by Vastala Balachandran Warrier. Both the books are collections of short stories.

One nice thing was my collection of short stories “Imprints – Colours of Life” along with my writer friend Ravi Sidula was displayed in the Pothi Shop in the book fair. I felt nice seeing it over there.

I wanted to visit the book fair again on the last day. However, I could visit the second time like last year. Anyways, I would be reading these two books and post a review on the same shortly.

The Bond

2010-09-11T20:27:00.000-07:00

A Short Story by G.S.Vasukumar

The lightening which had struck somewhere nearby woke him up with a sudden jerk. It was followed by a big thud, as if some huge tree had been uprooted and fallen. He had a glance outside his window, and it was raining

He took the umbrella and walked into the backyard of his house and opened the back door.

“Oh, God!” He cried in grief and shock, bringing down the umbrella, as he saw that the mango tree had been uprooted and fallen down. The umbrella slipped from his hand and fell down in a puddle of rain water.

He fell down on his knees, with tears welling in his eyes. The rain drops mixed with his tears.

Someone placed a hand on his right shoulder and gently pressed it. He turned his face and looked at his daughter-in-law, Neelima’s face which was filled with sympathy; she was holding the umbrella which had fallen in the puddle of rain water.

Neelima knew how much the mango tree meant to him even though there were many other plants and trees in the back yard of their house. It was one single mango tree which stood behind the tall back compound wall of the house, just nearby the old well.

“Papa, come, lets go inside…please..” Neelima said.

He kept looking back at the fallen tree while they went back inside.

“Neelu, you know, my grandfather had planted that mango sapling?” He told her, wiping his face with the towel. “My entire life…almost all my memories are woven with that mango tree in the back drop.”

“I know, papa” She said, sadly, “Now, please go back to sleep.”

Rajesh tried to close his eyes and fall asleep, but the memories of the mango tree kept coming back to his mind. When he was a kid, his grandfather used to sit under this very mango tree and tell him many interesting stories, while his mother used to feed him under this tree.

During summer holidays, his friends and class mates visited his house to have some ripe mangoes. He remembered how he used to climb that tree and sit upon one of its branches and view the splendid sunset in the evenings. How he and his friends used to play hide and seek near this very tree…those were the wonderful days of his life…

“Son, try to be as selfless like this mango tree!” his grandpa told him once, while they both were seated under it.

“Selfless, grandpa?” Rajesh asked, with a frown of confusion on his face.

“Yes, my child,” he said, patting gently on his back, “You know, trees give us so much selflessly…they give us fruits, shade from the sun, wood for our furniture, even those papers which you use for writing…they give us so much and in return what do we give them? Nothing…just nothing…we cut them down mercilessly.”

“Well, to plant a mango sapling and allowing it to grow so big takes so many years…but to bring it down just a few moments… be selfless like this mango tree…as the joy of giving is greater than the joy of receiving.”

“You are right, grandpa” Rajesh said, “I will try to be so.…also I will never let this tree come down.”

His grand father smiled and hugged him in joy.

Rajesh remembered how he had made a swing from one of its branches to his small daughter, Nirmala. She used to spend most of her time on the swing from that day onwards.

“Papa, there are so many little things that gives one greater joys in life.” Nirmala said, one day seated on that swing, while he was pushing the swing forward, standing behind.

“Like?” he asked.

“Like this very swing of this mango tree.” She said, smiling.

“Yes, my dear.” he said.

Some days went by; He felt like someone very close to him had departed from him forever…he believed that every living thing had a soul like a human being, and when they died they too go to the other world. Perhaps, the soul of this mango tree would have united with his grandfather somewhere…in the so called, the other world. This thought gave him some solace…

He couldn't see the empty piece of land on which the beloved mango tree had stood until sometime back. He decided not to go into the backyard again...

He took out the old family photo albums and started going through it. Most of the pictures were taken with the mango tree in the back ground. It was like the family tree, which had stood for many years…he had a drop of tear in his eye…it fell down on one of the pictures of the album.

“Please…don’t!” Neelima said, closing the album, handing him a cup of coffee. “It is better the things of the past are left behind. If not, they will start hurting us.”

“It is things of the past moments which sum up life, my dear.” Rajesh said, taking his cup of coffee and smiling at her.

“Now, I understand the bond between you and that mango tree…it is same as the bond between you and your grandfather.” She said.

“Yes, you are right…When my grandfather had passed away, that was the first time I had seen someone die and I didn’t know the meaning of it. I was too young to understand death then…so felt strange to see people crying…”

“He might have passed away to the other world, but he remained with me in form of that mango tree, which he loved so much. It was the gift from him to me...It was the bond.” Rajesh said.

“That day, I had cried when the mango tree had been uprooted and fallen…it was as if my grandfather had really passed away…now, I understood the death better and the pain it leaves behind in one’s heart. Lucky are those who go away, for they don’t carry their hearts with them.” He concluded.

“You’re right!” Neelima said, picking up the empty cup.

Nirmala had come with her daughter, Priyanka to spend a few days in her father’s place. She too felt very sad knowing what had happened to the mango tree, which was so close to her family.

Priyanka couldn't see her grand father being sad and down in his life after losing the mango tree.So she decided to do something....something which would make him happy and normal again. She got an idea and she told her mother and aunt. Together; they convinced her uncle, Suresh to get a mango sapling secretly.

He got one secretly into the backyard. He and Priyanka planted the mango sapling; while Neelima and Nirmala kept guard. They also made a small fence around the mango sapling, so that goats or cows shouldn't feed on it.

Next morning, Priyanka asked her grandpa to play the game of "hide and seek" with her. She made her grand father to wear a blind fold then she ran shouting into the backyard of the house. He followed her voice and went behind her. She reached the spot where they had planted the mango sapling, and waited for him to come.

He kept walking, until his right foot hit something and his hands felt something sharp. He immediately removed his blind fold, and found himself standing before a mango sapling; which was protected by a fence. It was exactly in the same place where the old mango tree had once stood.

He had tears of joy in his eyes..he went down on his knees and spread his arms, smiling at his grand daughter, Priyanka. She rushed towards him and hugged him in joy.He kissed on her forehead, while patting on her shoulder.

The End