THE UNREVEALED SECRET
CHAPTER 1 Mangalam, is a very pleasant village, situated in Palakkad districts of Kerala. The velvety green fields, the hefty old banyan tree, underneath it, is a tea shop whose tea has never changed its awesome flavour since the present owner, Radhakrishnan’s great grandfather started the shop. The tribute of Bharathapuzha River that flows through the village has not only served as a place for the crazy kids to play and dance but also for washing buffaloes.
Apart from this crystal clear river, which always been her speciality, there are so may well maintained ponds in which the people of the village take bath. The young men of the village used to dive from the branches of trees which surround the pond. As soon as they jump from high altitude the water in the pond rises and sprinkles everywhere making the dresses kept by the women to change after their bath, all getting fully wet and making the washed clothes completely dirty. It is because of this reason the women of the village have their morning bath very early before the men folk get up from their beds.
Since the guys bring only a single towel with them; even if that goes wet, they don’t bother for that, ‘cause they will go with that wet cloth around their waists after finishing their bath.
The trouble is for the grandmothers of the village, who can’t wake up early in the morning due to mist and fog.
These men dirty their clothes and in their old age, the grannies instead of chanting mantras, they have to shout “Is it to take our lives away your mothers have given birth to you.” at the men.
But the men dare to care the curses of the old ladies for if they didn’t get one a day their night’s sleep is gone.
Very common sights in the morning hours of the village are, the school going children with a heavy book load on their shoulders, ties which fix tightly on to their necks, shoes and socks which is a must even during rainy seasons. Men, women and children all standing in a bus stop waiting for their buses in order to reach their workplaces and schools on time.
We can also see some people running as fast as they can, right from the banyan tree which is in a higher altitude.
It was the public examination season for the twelfth class students. Every student who were going to attempt the exam were at their last minute preparations. Exam will begin in a week’s time. Parents of those children are very much cautious about their children’s health and studies. They never failed to provide them health drinks and nutritious foods. Fathers advices seemed highly valued at this time. Those families refused the cable connections at their homes because the exams were nearing, also it should not spoil the dreams of the children, perhaps the dreams of the parents to get admission for their children in a top medical or engineering colleges.
CHAPTER 2 One afternoon, the cloud was clear; sun was shining above the head. The village was drowned in silence. A voice of a young girl filled the air, breaking through the silence. If someone lends their ears to her voice they could hear so “The Newton’s first law says, All objects continue to be in their state of motion or rest unless they are acted upon by an external force”. Within a couple of minutes she finished vomiting a whole essay question regarding physics laws. In between, one could hear, “Look Prakithi, you always have a starting trouble. Crap why don’t you remember properly. Exams are nearing; you should achieve your goal, ambition, dreams. Hmmm all these are one and the same. Anyways stop talking and start studying, if anyone hears, they might think I have gone nuts.”
It was clear from her conversation that she was talking to herself. The conversational learning procedure continued. The voice kept on rising as her interest increased in the deeper portions of the subject.
After sometime the voice disappeared only a slight murmur remained. It was Prakirthi’s again. “Let me sit under the jackfruit tree for sometime. My throat is aching. The other half I shall read in my mind and study.” It was at this time the pleasant smell of jackfruit pierced her nostrils, traveled through her esophagus and reached the stomach.
She wanted to eat jackfruit. She went into the kitchen, opened the kitchen shelf. Took the container in which jackfruit was kept. Picked and dropped some juicy layers of jackfruit on the plate and when she was about to place the lid in its position, it slipped from her soft pinkish hands and fell down on the floor making a terrible noise.
It awoke her grandmother who was sleeping in her room. Her granny’s voice rose “What’s that sound Kirthi?”
“Nothing grandma, I just came to take some jackfruit. The lid fell down when I was about to close.” the voice softened “Are you not studying?” The girl’s voice again got a starting trouble “Oh…Ah…Yes grandma, I’ll take a break of ten minutes and then continue studying.”
Grandma back in position on bed replied “Fine and don’t forget to lock the kitchen door, even yesterday I drove the black cat which just waits for a chance to enter into kitchen and drink all my milk.”
She made herself sure of closing the door properly and ran to her place to eat the delicious fruit.
She leaned herself on the tree. Straightened her legs but crossed her ankles. The silver anklets studded with midnight gray colored stone was peeping out through the down frills of her black long skirt. The skirt had mirror works on it. Anyone who sees it can undoubtfully guess that she bought it from either the east or western parts of India. The mirrors were not so shiny and seemed dull at some places.
The sandal coloured cotton tops suited her most because it is hard to differentiate the colour of the tops from the colour of her skin, as they exactly coincides. She placed the plate of jackfruit on her lap and took one fruit-layer, held it straight and dropped it into her mouth. When she chewed half the layer a small drops of juice tried to flow down through her cherry-like lips, but she managed to take it back into her mouth using her tongue. The afternoon sun showed its virulence by allowing its heat to enter through the shades and settling as water droplets on the butter slide of her face. The creative less world call it as nose. She wanted to wipe out the pearl droplets off her nose but couldn’t get time in between her busy schedule of tasting the fruit. Yet she managed to raise her hand and her straight, medium sized round fingers made a quick wipe out through her nose.
The sparkling eyes of her make us imagine a white sky with black shiny stars studded in it. Her eye balls suddenly moved to the left corner of her eyes, as she was caught by the smart activity of him within a fraction of second he disappeared into the bushes.
She said to her “These squirrels are really fast.” She then continued to enjoy the fruit. It was then wind; an unwelcome guest interrupted her by waving her hair strands to reach her mouth. “I should tie my hair up only then I can eat properly.” She tied her hair which was falling straight from her head and touched the ground as she was sitting.
After finished eating the fruit, she took her book back in her hand. As she was reading through the page, it seemed that someone was calling her from behind probably someone whistling from backside of her ears. But that didn’t disturb her concentration, she continued. After few seconds she felt something was crawling through her tied hair.
A green head was peeping through her neck from backside. She turned her neck slightly. It took her breadth away she couldn’t believe her eyes. But she should believe her eyes at this moment because; she tied a green slender snake along with her hair strands. Her face became pale. She was frost bitten.
……….TO BE CONTINUED
