Hi guys. I'm a newbie and this is my first post on the forum. Hope you enjoy. Please do give me some feedback and any suggestions you may have in regards to the writing and scenarios. I didn't see myself writing about Rudra to begin with but this scene just relates to him more than anyone else in my opinion.
Enjoy
Nimm xx
A Reflective Retreat
"I saw you throw your hands in the air, say a prayer. Your eyes closed, your nose breathing in the salty air."
There was an odd sense of imperturbability at the shore. Odd because despite the constant surging, tumbling of the briny waves as they crashed toward the land, there was a rooted inevitable certainty to the restless action. This roiling reflective mass was an ever-present force, always in motion yet always found here at the edge of city; bound in fact to span around the perimeter of the nation. People, dogs, dolphins, birds...they all came and went; stationary creatures visiting the bay for momentary phases of their fleeting lives, whilst the ocean stayed the same.
The high tide brought forth cacophonous roars, engulfing the lone silhouette stood at its embankments. It was a welcome sound - comforting even. The moon hung, large and looming, in a cloudy starless sky, as it manipulated the shimmering depths much like the way a puppet would dance according to the pull of its strings. Occasionally swooping down to feed a pebble into the wayward water, the figure seemed to be pensive as the waves hungrily swallowed his tokens of dispense, not allowing the smooth rocks to even skim along the glittering velvet surface. They gently lapped at his bare feet, depositing yet more shingle shards in the same shoreward drift, like offertories.
The man chuckled. The behaviour reminded him of a dog playing fetch: hastily presenting its caught prize to the owner, hoping for another throw. His family used to have a dog. A big Labrador with an ebony coat and midnight blue eyes. He hadn't been very old when his brother has bought home a furry black bundle after school instead of a test report. The young lad had rescued the poor pup, only 2 months old, from a vicious dogcatcher, after having witnessed his mother's death at the hands of said villain.
Furious at his son's actions, the father had demanded to see grade results instead of a useless filthy animal. But Dadi had brushed off her son's callous comments, retorting 'for a child only in his 3rd standard, there would be plenty more grade reports to come. But it was very likely that the tiny dog would have met a similar fate to its mother's had her brave grandson not intervened.' And that had been the end of that. She had named the dog Varad, a blessing-granter and as a fourth counterpart to the three brothers.
And indeed the shadowy animal had turned out to live up to his given name when he had managed to make Priyanka talk for the first time at the age of three. Jhanvi had walked into the bedroom to fetch the girl for dinner, only to discover Prinku grooming the puppy's coat with her doll brush. The girl had been asking Varad if he 'wanted a bwue ribbon or a red one?' And had quickly answered her own question by choosing the blue one 'as it looked nicer because his eyes were matching'. Needless to say, the Oberoi badi bahu had been shocked to discover the toddler's sudden free speech after a lifetime of muteness. Her bafflement had increased when the girl had spotted her and run up asking if she could sleep with 'Varu' that night.
Rudra and Omakara fought over Varad constantly to begin with. Omkara had claimed that he was the technical owner since he had found the pup whilst Rudra had argued that the dog had spent more time with him. Their father had soon put a stop to all of that, threatening to 'sell Varad, or even return him to dogcatcher Om had rescued the beast from in the first place, if the two didn't learn to share.'
Shivaay had been the last to warm up to Varad. He had said that dogs were flea infested creatures that licked themselves clean. Dadi has laughed off his concerns, telling him that the same could have been said for cats. And when his younger brothers told her of his aversion to the pup, she had been amused. Good-naturedly placing her hands on her grandsons' shoulders, she said she hadn't expected her Billu to warm up to Varad straight away. After all it's the nature of cats and dogs to not get on. But when they do, they become the best friends. "
Not long after that Varad had performed another miracle by making the two ever-warring Oberoi bahus laugh together for once. That time the topic of the argument had been on jewelry. When Jhanvi and Pinky had noticed bits of their priceless artefacts missing, the two had began to vehemently accuse one another of theft. Shivaay, after a long day of exams and a big headache, had shouted at them to stop fighting. When the two ladies had turned to face the eldest Oberoi child, their eyes had also landed on certain four legged hairy creature slowly padding into the room. An ornate necklace lopsidedly tied around it's mane like a collar, a large silver strand dangling from its maw and Priku running after it shouting 'wait, Varu, you forgot mummy's hair clip!' The two sister-in-laws had shared a look before bursting into a fit of giggles. Confused, Shivaay had about to ask what was going on when the source of mirth had strolled up to him and dropped a slobbery earing at his feet. And soon he had joined in with peels of laughter.
Since then his protests to stay away from Varad had become more half-hearted and less voiced. From then on, the dog was normally always found near the three brothers; wherever they went, he went - that is when he wasn't accosted by Priku and Dadi. They had all fallen into a routine of who would have the pup on what night, who would feed him breakfast, lunch and dinner on what day.
The fourth part to the trio of brothers had lived with them for thirteen years before passing on. Priyanka had lost her confidante, her diary and childhood teddy bear. Her nervous habits resurfaced and she became less vocal.
Dadi had weeped inconsolably at first and even the Oberoi bahus had shed a few tears. Only when Om had bequeathed her a sketched portrait of Varu with her late husband, and explained that it would have been selfish to keep the pet all to themselves when Dada must have been very lonely up there, did she relent.
Shivaay, having spent a few years away studying abroad, had not long come back when the event took place...he had not cried. Varad and Shivaay had been alike in more ways than just their appearance. Both were extremely protective of their family but both were also composed beings - it was difficult to know what they were thinking.
Rudra had begun to spend more time away from home, throwing himself into Mumbai's nightlife, thrill seeking, sometimes secretly drinking nearly as much as his mother did and behaving recklessly. One drunken night, after being kicked out of the club for fighting over a girl (who really wasn't worth it - but he wanted to test out his bodybuilding regime against a real opponent), Rudra had stumbled upon this place.
A modest strip of the beach tucked under a remote cliff, hidden just behind the ship wharfs. Back then, he returned almost every night; everyone had assumed him either at the gym or at a bar. He didn't bother to correct them. And when Omakara had been struggling with his addictions, Rudra had spent most of his time retreating to the solace of his howling ocean. But as the months had turned to years, his visits became less frequent.
Before the incident at the maha-pooja, Rudra hadn't even been here in 3 months. And now, the youngest Oberoi brother stood here yet again for the 5th time in 2 weeks. Throwing another pebble in the rippling water, he reflecting on everything that happened recently. The fact that he had come so close to losing both of his brothers these past few days was a daunting realisation. It dawned on him just how fragile the family was at this moment in time with the parents' talks of living separately and his father's promises of divorcing his mother to marry his mistress.
A shrill ring broke him out of his reverie. Hastily putting on his shoes, Rudra place the phone to his ear, picked up a pebble as he ambled back to the wharf.
"Kaha hein tu? Kitne derr se geya hein."
"Where are you? You've been gone for a while."
"Kya, bhai! Ab date par bhi na jaa sakh tha ek adhmi?!"
"What? Can't a guy even go on a date now?!"
Omkara chuckled on the other side. "Tu kabhi ne sudhre ga. You're a lost cause."
He faintly heard Shivaay in the background saying "Usko batha agar woh 15 minutes meh nahe aya tho hum dono uske bina uske Maggi noodles kaha lehenge."
"Tell him if he's not here in 15, then we'll eat his noodles without him."
"Suna tune?" Om chortled into the phone.
"Did you get that?"
Rudra grinned. "Don't you dare. This is unfair, yaar. Mein abhi aya. Hath math lagana warna mein aap dono se baath nahe karoonga."
"I'll be there soon. Don't touch else I won't speak to either of you."
Not sparing the shore another look, he tossed the rock with a backwards flick into the ocean.
"And the ocean roared. And the ocean howled."
- Alice Phoebe Lou
A Reflective Retreat - pg 1
A Quiet Passion - pg 2
The Bitter Taste of Regret - pg 2
Tia's Intuitions - pg 4
Kitchen Confrontations - pg 5
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