THE SCARY STORY

Thats how it started....

It was yet another night at the power plant township. It was a cold night and I had taken dinner early. I was evidently hungry. The lights were off in almost all the residences. My flatmate was also fast asleep.The November breeze made a clangarous noise as it struck the trees.

But for my bad luck,  I just finished 2 ghost movies at a strech. With the virtue of excessive imagination, I  always had bad sleep succeeding my encounters with these movies. I turned off the light and got under my blanket. I turned on the A.C. It served me more like a sound conditioner.  I fear the silence the most and this noisy A.C made it a point to cut-off all possibilities of mute-ness.

It was not an easy escape though.

I could hear someone telling me "You are the chosen one. We have come to share our sorrows. We died without fulfilling  our wishes . You have to help us."
I got out of the blanket and in the darkness everything around me : the curtains ,  the dim shadows ,  the wallpapers looked like demons. I was observing the shadows near my bedpost .I couldn't locate the owner of a shadow . I tried holding to everything around me but nothing claimed the ownership. I got out of my bed and switched on the light . It was perfectly fine ........... Everything intact.

I told myself " Dont be a baby. Cant you see that there is no trouble around here. This universe works on rational. "

I felt relieved. Turned off the light and got back to my mission. Then some bizarre thoughts crept into me. " What really happens when one dies. What will one feel while dying. " The more I tried to shew away these thoughts the more they occupied me.

Terrified I jumped from my bed to turn on the lights when the current went away. It hardly happens here in NTPC. That meant something. There was silence and darkness. My senses were at their best. I could hear some noise coming from under my bed:
                                          TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP

I got up but didn't have the courage to look under the bed. I removed the curtains to see if the street lights were on. But they weren't. It was an odd coincidence. I decided to wake my friend who was sleeping in her room. But to my shock the room was locked. I was shocked to death.
This wasn't usual. I was trapped. I cluched to my raksha and ran back to my room. I bent to look under the bed. But there was nothing and the voice ceased.

Suddenly , something watery and cold dropped on my face from I dont know where. I wanted to move or at the least shout. But I was so constrained. I couldn't do anything. It was as if I was chained. Suddenly someone clutched me from back . All I could hear was
                        " KOUSALYA SUPRAJA RAMAPORVA SANDYA PRAVARTHATHE"

Thats how it end .... my dream...

My mother was beside me trying to wake me.

She said " After going to hostel this girl has learnt all these bad habits . Sleeping till nine. Where is all this going to end. My good gods."

THE ART OF BARGAINING

 Dhilikka, Hastinapur,The Sulthanates, Mughal empire ..................  THE DELHI

It is the political front of India. It is a reflection of our nations' progress, pride, history and not to forget CULTURE . I got a chance to stay in Delhi. Although it was for a month it was worth the stay because I realised the rule of the day : THE ART OF BARGAINING.

This city has much to its credit : its a blend of everything on earth . the great walls of Indraprastha fort, the omnipresent  Mughal architecture ,the imperialist set-ups ,the narrow streets , slums , skyscrapers , shopping plazas and not to forget the PWD paragons. The greatest wholesale market in Asia is in its kitty: CHANDNI CHOWK .It seems as if each road , lane and building has a story to tell. If you take a wrong turn then your world will change. Towards right is the great city with all its flavour : there are great malls where people throw money. It doesnt mean they dont care for money . They are well versed in the art of bargaining which forbids bargaining in any of these branded shops with all the designer clamor. That means they can't make the poor hearted rich owners to suffer because of them. My cheers to their magnanimity.

Well, if you take a left then you are into darkness. So much of darkness that your shadow glows. Shops scattered everywhere with  noise and rubbish engulfing the streets. Lepers and beggers waiting to swallow you if you give a faintest thought to help. These long strech of roads can offer you anything on earth. And this is where you can learn all about THE ART OF BARGAINING. As a beginner to this art I was taught the first lesson by some experts:

START BARGAINING AT 1/4 th OF THE RATE THEY DEMAND.

But it worked amazingly well because the altercation will finally settle on atleast 1/2 of the demanded price ( which itself looked meagre to me).

So dear tyros try this logic. It works everywhere.... Bargain more if price is less. Because thats the secret of our country's prosperity :

STREET LIGHTS ARE MEANT FOR DAYTIME. THE BRIGHT BECOMES BRIGHTER AND DARK  DARKER ......

So This Is India

Forbes think India will be having maximum number of billionaires in the world by 2015( The present ranking is fifth).Well, there are rich men in India and we don't lack resources. If we talk in terms of Gini coefficiants then we have much better equality in distribution of wealth  in comparison to many other countries. There is no inadequacy of intellect.Still destitution is very much prevalent.

Walk through the streets of Chandhni Chowk, you can't escape from the fact that India is terribly poor. These dusty narrow lanes in the capital city of the country that claims to have a magnificient past dating back to 2000 B.C does point to the fact that there is something wrong.

Analysers have often tried to put the entire brunt on the Britishers.
Quoting Shashi Tharoor, former UN Undersecretary-General and author, in his book The Great Indian Novel, "...the British killed the Indian artisan, they created the Indian landless laborer, they exported our full employment and they invented our poverty."

But if that is true, the situation should have improved considerably in 63 years. But poverty is still omnipresent.

May be the real cause lies in the fact that we lack any plan for sustainable development.Winston Churchill had mocked India saying that Indians are people who live without food for years and spend the entire savings on the day of wedding. Well , Churchill was never a great man but what he observed is distressingly true.

We need to be proud and for that purpose we need to read history. This pride provides us necessary optimism to develop. But presently the demagogues are exploiting our pride to divert pool of money into  highly leaky channels. The decision to host the Common wealth games is just one such move.

Hitler had referred in his autobiography "Mein Kamph" that democracy is the system of governance that will inject corruption into every strata of society.I think he has a point. The leaders in the shaky seats make it a point to get the best in the least time.

The solution could be in three ways. The first and foremost is to educate. I belong to Kerala which has a literacy rate of 99%. Education brings an outlook in the minds of people that saves them from exploitation. Its true Kerala has been lately haunted and stagnated by excessive labour consciousness. Yet life is much better. The second area of thrust should be from the side of public . The common man should be able to
have a proper idea to channelize wealth. We need to get rid of bourgeoise wedding ceremonies and excessive investment on items of glamour ,  zeal  , energy , spirit whatever they are called.  The IPL could be one such event.

 The third and most important requirement is to dump and get away from " what can I do" sort of attitude. Take an optimistic view and always empathize the nation with oneself because after all the country belongs to you as much as it belongs to the Prime Minister.

THE LOST ANECDOTE

What I am going to say may sound unbelievable to a better lot. Its not your fault but the fault of the narration that has guided you. History is one thing that shadows  few facts and zooms some others. Even the most unbiased historian is severely biased.

Actually what I am going to write about is not classified as history. Its more about the beliefs that get embedded into the society... call them norms or conventions...

Its just a few days past the International Tamil Conference.When the intellects discussed the beauty of 

Ilango Adigal's great Tamil epic Shilapadhikaram, they were quite unaware of what misery my protagonist had to go through.

It seems our gods lavishly empower and privilege the dedicated women who are but responsible to one and only one , their men.

According to the epic a rich merchant Kovalan and his wife Kannagi lived happily until the man met Madhavi and fell in love with her. Gradually he washed out all his wealth and returned to Kannagi. The Ideal Indian wife in Kannagi understood the financial condition and offered her precious pair of anklets. They moved to Madurai in the hope of making a fortune .

Kovalan went to the market to sell one of those anklets.In the meantime a look alike anklet of the queen of Pandiyan Nendunjeliyan was lost. The guards mis informed the king and Kovalan was hanged.

Then the story takes the moral overtone. Kannagi burns the city of Madurai to ashes. God bestowed these powers on her for being a forgiving , moral and righteous woman. 

The question is: Is that righteousness....

My protagonist definitely doesn't think so...

She is lekshmi born to a merchant in Madurai. She had three brothers and a sister. They were living happily in the city of Madurai when one day the fire broke out. She screamed for her life but later regretted for being spared. Her brothers perished in the wild fire. Her infant sister died while asleep.No one knew what happened to her parents. But god allowed her to live... to live much longer .. to this day.... She starved and ceased to exist. 

But the truth is I saw her. She is living in the shadows of parochialism. 

She can't perish unless there is no lack of reason...

GET SET GO!!!

I am an acclaimed Bragger... Let me try my luck as a blogger....Read and become a babbler....
                              Please don't take a Dagger!!!!!!