To Heaven!

“Ho! Miles and miles my feet have covered, but if you ask me, I’ll tell you tired nil I am. Only two more miles to go and within half an hour I’ll erect my pole and hoist my flag of triumph there.   By viewing me in this way to accomplish my endeavour you may feel sympathetic. No need, I have decided to track my dream. It was my long-long wished ambition to reach the very paradise. O! This bag you stare at. Yes, it does carry my most favourite articles, the memorabilia of my mom. She had passed away when I was a kid. When I grew up to understand the meaning of motherhood, I found some letters kept bound in a trunk. I collected, unfolded and directed my eyes through them. They all smiled at me bearing my address on their faces. They acted as the magic wand, wanting me to tread through the right path, the path of my life’s destiny. She had pointed out the pros and cones and the upshot of everybody’s deed. And those letters I held in reserve allowing them to journey with me wherever I happened to be.  So also to heaven are they with me.

How the heaven would be and how would be the reception for me there. I have drawn the paradise in my mind, using the information gathered partially from the kiddy age stories of grand-kin. The rest I had from the people around and preaching of leaders of our Faith.  I have neared the stairs to sky. The stairs lead to the clouds. Aha! Beyond the clouds lies the cloud nine.

 It is a praiseworthy worth-visiting abode of God. It is a multi-star lodging full of comfortable articles. Cozy bed, comfy dress, mouth-watering food, luxuriant travel-devices, copious recreations, plenty of cosmetics and every sort of lush and lavishness, I think, will welcome me with open arms. Broad beam of light makes the area flood-lit. Angels may greet me at the door-step and my mom will stand behind her. She will sprint forward to embrace me and God himself will lead me to a majestic seat.”

“Who is pushing me now, leave, let me go, I am going to the heaven.”

“Grandpa, it is time for the train to Delhi, move away.”

“Leave me, only one more mile to go.”

“Grandpa, are you sleeping, are you doing sleep-walk?”

“Go, go, why did you come here? I cannot take you there? God phoned from seventh heaven to me. So I am in a hurry. I’ll scurry to reach there, go, go.”

Arun who is very attached to the grandpa shoved him aside, holding his hand well. Just as a subservient toddler he strode with Arun to his residence.

The grandfather was in a deep sound sleep after the lunch. In a sudden way he carried his walking stick and  the bag with his precious things and headed forward through the railway track.The track was somewhat adjacent to his residence. Arun seeing him from a distance rushed and rushed to catch him up.

The grandfather, a renowned writer is a victim of somnambulism.Sometimes in sleep he thinks that he is writing something.Something serious also he writes. And of late he remains in a reverie, murmuring something incoherently, but not in Alzheimer’s.

For  http://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2014/12/23/photo-prompt-

A Dreadful Determination! Part-8

                                         

[Urmila and Sharmila are sisters. The elder one Sharmila was in love with Vinod, her neighbour, even when they passed through the school-age. Father had brought proposals which she resisted tooth and nail, though she knew not the result. She recalled her baby-hood memories in which Vinod always sided with her in all the activities.  A squad of six used to engage themselves in kiddies’ amusements a lot. Whenever Urmila tried to retrieve her mind from the memories, it did not obey her. Again it went on a tour to the backyard of mind. Urmila bloomed into the synonym of beauty and Vinod grew into a  handsome personality. ]

For a long time Urmila lay in wait for the sleep to obtain her company, but the latter remained loathe to come to her. Sharmila was in deep sleep playing the accompaniment of a mild snore. Urmila got up from the bed, opened a shutter of the window and looked through. The night was in jet black attire and the battery of the moon seemed not charged. So it was not lit. Not even a single star- light was seen and it was a total black-out. Urmila came back and lay down again. Mind was full of agony and anguish. In some way she cut across the time till dawn arrived.

In the morning she shed all the thoughts and feelings immersing in her routines. After seeing the completion of the usual personal chores, she proceeded to the college. In the evening after getting into the home-wear she sat at the snacks and tea.

“Mole, think once more about it, we shall fix the marriage now. We’ll have it after your exam only.”

“No, Amma, it will hinder my studies. I don’t want it now. "

“I don’t know if your Achchan will agree. He may not cancel it.”

Urmila’s mother, Sharada tried a good many tools to remodel Achchan’s as well as the daughter’s mind and ultimately  the daughter won the bid. But Achchan had put forth a condition that after the final exams, marriage wouldn’t be delayed. Urmila nodded in concurrence and escaped for the time being.

“At least I can have a sleep for three months,” thought she, “By the time I will tell them about Vinod.”

Three months was a short period of time as Urmila was totally engaged in her academics. In between here there the youngsters kept their meetings live.

 The days that sank Urmila in books and notes reached their conclusion. Urmila yanked a big sigh of relief and freedom from the tautness of studies. She felt like having a pair of wings to fly high in sky.

Meetings with Vinod multiplied, duration of the meetings expanded and anxiety about obtaining a job for Vinod swelled up and days crawled. Proposals for Urmila followed her. Two-three proposals she could make her parents cancel by extracting one or another shortcoming on minute scrutiny.

 Urmila and Sharmila had gone for a sabbatical stay in grandparents’ residence .A lady named Malathi distantly related to the grandma visited them for a wedding invite of her daughter.Her son Aravind had accompanied her.

“Are these Sharada’s daughters?” the lady hadn’t seen the girls for the former one decade.

“Yes, she is Urmila and this one is Sharmila,” the grandma.

A chit-chat about the studies, job, marriage etc and the like about the girls had their role in their talk. The lady eyed the girls in particular Urmila once more before bidding bye.In the evening a phone call from that lady delighted the grandparents. The intensity of joy was such that it straightened the wrinkles on their visages.

“Mole, Urmi , where are you?”

“I am here in the portico,* Ammoomma ,I amreading the newspaper.”

“The boy who came here afternoon is an engineer. He is abroad. His mother has proposed him for you.”

“How can an individual prefer a person at merely a sight?”

“He might have noticed your behavior and all. He liked you. That is why his mother called, *Appooppan also approves it”

“No, Ammoomma, I’ll continue my studies.”

Appooppan didn’t respond to it, but whispered, “Today’s children are too smart to hear the elders’advice.”

“*Chechchi, he is very handsome.” Sharmila

“Then you marry him.” Urmila chided Sharmila.

They returned home after a week. Amma who knew from her parents about the proposal didn’t mention anything about it. She lurked for Achchan to arrive. After his usual like keeping the bag, changing the dress, taking a body bath, tea, snacks and all,he seated comfortably in a chair turning the T.V. on. Amma came and sat by his side. She opened the folder of proposal and took out the details.

 Achchan in soft loving voice, “Mole, did you hear what she said?”

Urmila who was sitting in another chair lifted her eyes from the novel she was reading.

“This proposal sounds good. If the horoscopes match, you will be lucky.”

“U..m..m, Achcha…that….” 
                                                 

“Now, no excuse, let’s check the horoscopes first.”

Urmila didn’t voice a word even expecting an incompatibility in horoscopes. After the day’s chores both the sisters took the night’s abode in bed.

*Ammoomma-grandma.

*Appooppan-Grandpa.
*Chechchi-Addressing an elder female.

Dance with the Trees!

                                                  

Early dawn, Cock gives

All wake- up call, Mango and

Jack dance holding hands.

Dances the passion

 Flower with the host Mango.

Breeze hums melodies.

Perform Wind and Jack

 Boogie-woogie merrily.

*Mistletoe joins them.

 Blues and Jazz Palms play

 And waltz out with pleasure; beats

Rhythm-pad  Air-stream.

Moon-lit night ,with the
 Trees in glory wind, light and
 Shades rock,twist and dance.

*A parasitic plant( Iththil)

For http://carpe-diem-361-dance-with-trees.html#links

A Vindictive Act!

        

That news from the west of ours
about bidding adieu of budding lives
 of one hundred thirty two school-pupils

and adult lives of nine from this Universe,

 falling in predicament, flowed
incessant brooks on cheeks from eyes,

drenched hearts with deep wrenches

And filled minds with misery and sadness.

Those tender buds with innocence on face

And dreams in mind to be cherished
 in days ahead would have bloomed
 to blossoms with vibrant hues
 and gushing fragrance to spread glee
 in the eyes of self and others
 all Ha! Ended up  dejectedly
in massacre; school's bomb-blast.

What do those beasts in human hides

hiding in Nature’s hide-outs gain with
 this vindictive act of cruelest nature 

and as they believe, is there a heaven, 
above the Earth that can house these
 evil-spirited beastly beings, carrying
 false notions in malicious minds,
 to provide comfort they feel to relish?

O! God don’t you see the spiteful vices

displayed by the teens and youths
 selected and trained to be sinners
 by a handful of fanatic brains

that design ways and means

for achieving selfish mottoes
 of luxuriant stay as masters
 clasping the world in their clutches? 

All the Nations, if do not punish
 and put in lockup the possessors 

 of those misguided muddy souls
 which express cheek in open and 

and come together and counsel
to tame all those miscreants and
their accomplices to shed the venom,
they hoard, it will  ruin the whole globe.

A Dreadful Determination! Part-7

A Dreadful Determination!

[Urmila and Sharmila are sisters. The elder one Sharmila was in love with Vinod, her neighbour, even when they passed through the school-age. Father had brought proposals which she resisted tooth and nail, though she knew not the result. She recalled her baby-hood memories in which Vinod always sided with her in all the activities.  A squad of six used to engage themselves in kiddies’ amusements a lot. They played in and with water and sand, dawdled time in group games and funs during their babe-stage. Whenever Urmila tried to retrieve her mind from the memories, it did not obey her. Again it went on a tour to the backyard of mind.]

Now pl.read.

Urmila had bloomed into a matured girl. Nature had applied all her pretty art work on her. She painted Urmila with ample eye-catching hues. Brown silken hair-covered crown beautified her head and two black curved bows adorned the attractive forehead. Two petals of lotus with a brown tint in two sockets ornamented the cheeks. The right figured elevation above the mouth decorated the face and soft red chillies covering the mouth, decked with a winning smile amplified her cuteness.

 Her colour was not so fair though, the beautifully-shaped body with the right curves and flats made her stand out from all others. She was a stunning beauty. The word ‘smart’ well suited to depict her.

  Vinod was burly in his make. He, the six-footer with expanded chest and mighty brawns that earned for him the title ‘handsome’, was very much masculine. He was slightly fairer than Urmila. The friends who were aware of their affair used to comment on them that they were ‘made for each other’. Akhil, Anand and George extended their untainted support and aid.

 The youngsters had earmarked the bullet wood tree’s bottom area on the other side of the mini forest(Kaavu) for their meeting. That was not much discernible as it stood in the extension of other woods. Staying away from her sister Sharmila was truly hard. But some way or other they had the hap to remain unnoticed by her always.

  Enjoying the appeasing aroma of the bullet wood’s blooms they exchanged their hearts. They whispered from mind to mind. They sat speechless for hours looking into each other’s eyes. In accordance with the passage of time, their courtship got garnished with inseparable feelings. Smile sometimes transformed into laughter and words into sentences. The very sight of each other sparked glimmer in their eyes and pleasure in their soul. Each one felt that God had created them for their union.

 Whenever they chose the ground around the tree to pass their yen, Breeze cooled their minds, Birds sang love song for them, Twigs patted and pampered them with tender strokes and even Autumn stopped pouring to smooth the progress of their closeness. The warmth of their togetherness delighted the beings and stimulated the surroundings that facilitated the duo with comforts. Their love was deep from the soul and so it was uncontaminated at that stage.

 They shared their glee and gloom with each other. They planned their future actions. They built castles in minds and solved numerous interrogations that arose in enormity.

“Will your parents favour us, dear?” Vinod

“I don’t know, what about you, Vinu?”

“I can make them agree.”

“My parents also may agree. Achchan is strict, but loving. He will stand by his daughter, I think. ”

“Eh! Let’s see, let’s finish our studies first.”

Quite often they solved that significant question in their own ways.

Urmila’s  achchan, Venugopal  and Vinod’s  achchan  Sreekumar were intimate friends. Both the families held fairly an equal position in pecuniary status. Both had an upper hand in the society’s say. Both were crop-cultivator s, though they were  well-employed . But there was a level-discrepancy with regard to the families’ ethnical grade.

 Urmila’s family had been upholding its middle class repute-form from the preceding four generations at least, whereas Vinod’s grandparents were from the lower class, rather worker category. And more or less his grandfather was a labourer and at the same time he was the caretaker of Urmia’s family’s cultivations. But he aimed at steering his son, Sreekumar to educational qualifications. He saved some money for his son’s studies from whatever he earned.

 Sreekumar, the lone son, fully conversant of his situation did his best for his achchn’s desire to be true. He also dreamt a reasonable rise in life and so his aspirations helped him fulfill his ambitions. Urmila’s grandfather’s philanthropy many a time lifted him from the pits of cash crunches.  Sreekkumar spent a part of his domesticity for tutorials to neighbouring broods and he earned a pretty sum thus also. And eventually he accomplished his mission of obtaining a good job in a public sector concern.

Venugopal had completed his education without much hitch and hindrance and got into a job in a bank. All this know-how the children were ignorant of.

Time waited for none and nothing and so it fluttered and scuttled away flapping its wings. Vinod’s and Urmila’s affair had expanded in volume. And was now Urmila on board of the final P.G and Vinod at the ground of job-hunting after his P.G.course.  

[to be contd.]

A Dreadful Determination! Part-6

[Urmila and Sharmila are sisters. The elder one Sharmila was in love with Vinod, her neighbour, even when they passed through the school-age. Father had brought proposals which she resisted tooth and nail, though she knew not the result. She recalled her baby-hood memories in which Vinod always sided with her in all the activities.  A squad of six used to engage themselves in kiddies’ amusements a lot. They played in and with water and sand, dawdled time in group games and fun during their babe-stage. And they reached their education-conclusive classes now. Whenever Urmila tried to retrieve her mind from the memories, it did not obey her. Again it went on a tour to the backyard of mind.]

Now pl. read.

 On a Sunday Urmila and Sharmila went to light the holy stone-lamp in their mini forest(sacred woods). After lighting the lamp in a hallowed way, closing the eyes both of them prayed to the snake-deity and turned to go back. At the expanse of the land in front at a corner stood a physique holding the open hands upside down in a blessing posture. “May you be first in the class, mole,”  Vinod as if a sage. All the three burst into laughter.

“Why here?” Urmila.

“To pray to God,” Vinod.

“Did you pray for good results in Exams?” innocently  Sharmila.

“Yea, I did! I prayed for many things.”

Waffling some mumbo jumbo just for fun sake, they reached home. And at the gate Vinod bade goodbye.

Academics as well as games stole their time and days one after another and they reached the door-sill of the last Exams for the year. All brooded on the books in the nest of studies. The exams of tenth and the smaller classes came to the conclusive days somewhat alike, as the schedule of the latter was sporadic. Eventually all heaved a sigh of relief and literally all of them together celebrated that day by running and jumping in the vacant land close to the girl’s safe haven.

The vacation had brought in frequency of their meeting again. Late dawns drew them out of bed and placed them on routines like brushing, bathing, breakfast etc. However play area regularly embraced them. The days rolled rather flew away with their amusing games, chat and talk about movie heroes, arguments and discussions about a little bit politics and the such, though the girls were many a time mere spectators in this course.

Climbing trees, eating mangoes, sucking cashew apples, biting Artocarp fruit etc were on full swing. Their hands spared not the small and big fruits of wild plants, hedge herbs etc. Kites also had their roll in their enchantment and entertainment.

One day when Achchan came home from office he saw both his daughters standing on the guava tree. Urmila was advancing to pluck a fruit from a top twig. As soon as did the girls see their father, both bustled to climb down and  Sharmila got her skin peeled off on the hand.

Both the girls earned their reproof in a sizable quantity from Achchan with the fall of a stick on the thigh. As every starting has an end the vacation also ended throwing three, the girls and Akhil Chacko back to the school and the other boys on the look-out of their admissions in the nearby college. They had all accomplished their tenth grade without a wide difference in their scores. Still Anand had to undergo slightly a bitter time of rebuke from parents, as they weighed him against the other two.

Days performed their duty well and grew to months and years without fail. Urmila is in eleventh grade (by then the pre-degree course had been detached from the colleges and linked with the schools gifting it a new cloak named higher secondary) and Vinod in first year degree course. Their affection had attained density more and hence they had discovered means and spots for meeting more.  

                                                                                                                     [To be contd.]

In Twilight at the Traffic Signal !

I couldn't link it with Roadside Beggar, though I had written it earlier. Since it goes with Dusk I link it here.

 Twilight reddens road.

Stops the vehicles traffic

 Signal, long wait, cars.

Stretches, an arm for

 Alms; a figure in odd rags

 An old beggar, poor.

 That live skeleton,

 Impels the chap fat in car;

Disdain on his face.

The empty-bellied

  With flesh nil on body, moves

 To others in hope.

                      

Draws a cyclist the

 Beggar nearer. Tenders he

 Some cash; dusk exults.

Grins the dusk with glee,

When the beggar in wonder

Caresses the cash.

For http://chevrefeuillescarpediem.blogspot.in/2014/11/carpe-diem-608-dusk.







sarala