NOVEL~*Hiding behind a Stranger*~THREAD 22- Chapter 27 (2 pts)-9th FEB

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Kalgi22

@Kalgi22

Stunner

+ 3

Posted: 8 years ago

#371

Originally posted by: roseraja1915

🤗Our darling little chatterbox - the live wire of this thread, provided she is online! 🤗

Shaggu...The live wire of this thread!😳🤗

Rose, we waiting for pictures!

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roseraja1915

@roseraja1915

Rocker

Posted: 8 years ago

#372

Originally posted by: Kalgi22
Shaggu...The live wire of this thread!😳🤗

Rose, we waiting for pictures!

Oh ok. Thought of posting them later in the evening since there may be a few more reviews to come. But since the thread is not so busy at the moment as it still early morning there, will do so now. 😉

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roseraja1915

@roseraja1915

Rocker

Posted: 8 years ago

#373

1st pic: The entrance to the local Siva Subramaniar temple.

2nd pic : A replica of the Batu Caves Murugan Statue at our temple.

3 rd pic : Devotees going around the temple

4th pic : The chariot procession at night.

( The celebration at the local temple although one of the grandest Hindu festivals in my town, is not as lavish as in Kuala Lumpur or other cities in the country).

The second set of pictures are those that were aired on TV - Thaipusam at Batu Caves, Kuala Lumpur.

The first 3 pics: the huge kavadis carried by worshippers.

The 4th pic: The massive crowd going up the steps during Thaipusam on Thursday.

My nephew ( who accompanied his friend who was a kavadi bearer ) started his way up 1.00 a.m. and came down at 6 a.m. early Thursday morning.

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melovesja

@melovesja

Rocker

Posted: 8 years ago

#374

Originally posted by: roseraja1915

1st pic: The entrance to the local Siva Subramaniar temple.
2nd pic : A replica of the Batu Caves Murugan Statue at our temple.
3 rd pic : Devotees going around the temple
4th pic : The chariot procession at night.
( The celebration at the local temple although one of the grandest Hindu festivals in my town, is not as lavish as in Kuala Lumpur or other cities in the country).

The second set of pictures are those that were aired on TV - Thaipusam at Batu Caves, Kuala Lumpur.
The first 3 pics: the huge kavadis carried by worshippers.
The 4th pic: The massive crowd going up the steps during Thaipusam on Thursday.
My nephew ( who accompanied his friend who was a kavadi bearer ) started his way up 1.00 a.m. and came down at 6 a.m. early Thursday morning.

Thanks Rose for beautiful pics and detail writing so come to know what exactly going on as I experience them .😃

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Kalgi22

@Kalgi22

Stunner

+ 3

Posted: 8 years ago

#375

This much of big kavadis?😲 First time I'm seeing something like this. Thinking of bearer. It's very tough to carry it to cave, right? You said 500 steps na😲 If I'm not wrong they've to do fasting while carrying na. 👍🏼 for your nephew's friend. May his prayers get answered.

Thanks for sharing dear. It's so divinely beautiful! 😳

Edited by Kalgi22 - 8 years ago

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melovesja

@melovesja

Rocker

Posted: 8 years ago

#376

Originally posted by: harshu27
'Khuda... have I not been a dutiful servant of yours? Have my prayers ever been half-hearted? Then... why? You've blessed me with success in every other venture... but, when it comes to my life's most important venture, I can't see success... why? I challenged Huzoor that I would stop Khalil... that I would find the Sahiba... but...' In a spurt of hysteria, he glimpsed up, questioning Mother Nature for being nothing but a mute witness to his plight 'Tell me... they ARE here somewhere, are they not? In a remote corner of your dense jungles? My men think I may be losing my mind... am I really going mad?'

Harshu dear you always chooses best part.👏 pic is perfect find.😊

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harshal

@harshu27

Stunner

+ 2

Posted: 8 years ago

#377

Originally posted by: roseraja1915

1st pic: The entrance to the local Siva Subramaniar temple.
2nd pic : A replica of the Batu Caves Murugan Statue at our temple.
3 rd pic : Devotees going around the temple
4th pic : The chariot procession at night.
( The celebration at the local temple although one of the grandest Hindu festivals in my town, is not as lavish as in Kuala Lumpur or other cities in the country).

The second set of pictures are those that were aired on TV - Thaipusam at Batu Caves, Kuala Lumpur.
The first 3 pics: the huge kavadis carried by worshippers.
The 4th pic: The massive crowd going up the steps during Thaipusam on Thursday.
My nephew ( who accompanied his friend who was a kavadi bearer ) started his way up 1.00 a.m. and came down at 6 a.m. early Thursday morning.

Colorful pics rose so vibrant😛

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harshal

@harshu27

Stunner

+ 2

Posted: 8 years ago

#378

Originally posted by: melovesja

Harshu dear you always chooses best part.👏 pic is perfect find.😊

Thnx mitu😳

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roseraja1915

@roseraja1915

Rocker

Posted: 8 years ago

#379

Originally posted by: Kalgi22
This much of big kavadis?😲 First time I'm seeing something like this. Thinking of bearer. It's very tough to carry it to cave, right? You said 500 steps na😲 If I'm not wrong they've to do fasting while carrying na. 👍🏼 for your nephew. May his prayers get answered.

Thanks for sharing dear. It's so divinely beautiful! 😳

Thank you. Chellam 🤗

Yes, Chellam - the kavadis are really, really huge - even I wonder how it is humanly possible to carry them. 😊

272 steps one way- so yes 544 both ways.

The devotees have to observe strict rituals to prepare themselves for the event which includes fasting and abstinence from all comforts of life as early as 48 days before the actual day.

Apart from kavadis, devotees also carry milk pots ( paal kudam) and many also pierce their bodies.

@ Mitu @ Harshu

🤗 Thank you, baisas.

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Durgeshnandini

@Durgeshnandini

Dazzler

Posted: 8 years ago

#380

It was anticipated, this breakneck chase, this race against time, but the feat of making the last lap being so notoriously tense and rife with difficulties at every step, the credits and kudos all go to you dearest author!

The elements were predictable, the actions anticipated, but the tension in this diptych was overpowering, the kind of battle where the pawns act in seconds, missing a blink or skipping a pulse is all the worth to capture their brief but significant expression. The air taut with mounting palpitations, like the Ustaad's drawn bow-strings, the scenes might have been put down to microseconds, but never seeped in any bit of monotony - for there was some action in every microsecond!

'WHAT!!!' Khalil burst out into a loud throaty laugh that continued ringing in her ears long after he had stopped...

The words are simple and staright, but the stressed reference of the jarring effect of Khalil's laughter on Heera, imprints the impression of intimidation in our minds and hers. It's no longer so easy to act stoic and unfazed, when with every passing revealations, the sheer hatred escalates to the point where she's overcome by white rage, a kind of vengeance never to be seen in this compassionate lady.

Heera's fingers had turned white from having clutched the edges of her veil so tightly. His acidic words grated against her raw wounds, leaving her enraged. So enraged that if someone had inflicted a hundred slashes on his face at that point, her gentle heart would not have melted.

The best part of this chapter, or rather the salient feature of this chapter not observed before in the others is the jam packed motion in every line, with every para. There were no pausing for moments, let alone minutes, seconds flicked away in planning actions and moments summing up the impact of reactions. And your words have just taken us through all of this dearest author, I, for example, never felt like a third person devouring the chapters, it's like I was a part of it!!

Just then, her mind went blank. It was too terrifying to face her own thoughts - more terrifying than the sight of the savage ogre that stood in front. A white sheet blinded her vision and her head began spinning.

A wordsmith! Yes, that's what you are! That beginning the sentence with a just then to let the time pause for a blink, capturing the moment of meltdown of an otherwise glowing ember of hope. Ustaad crosses a hundred hurdles with the safety of his beloved being his strength, and Heera collapses into defeat unable imagine the disparaging nature of her sole Achilles tendon. Thus cracks the Diamond, for the first ever time.

No. Of course, he wasn't planning to keep up his end of the deal. He had no interest in sparing the lives of her people. But, taking HER life? THAT, he was beginning to have second thoughts about.

This is another interesting aspect of yours. This is something surprisingly typical about you and HBAS, this art of evoking more than one expression in the readers, simultaneously! This, makes one cringe in disgust at the disrespectful undertones, and frown in cautious curiosity at Khalil's second thoughts about killing an adversary. It's too high a standard for the terms of Khalil, even! Maybe, his pride just can't take it to leave an enemy unfigured.

She cried, frightened and uncertain. She cried for her people, for poor Gokul, and for her jiji. And she cried about the unresolved doubts and feelings about Khan Sahib that simply refused to go away.

Who says, the brave don't cry, they cry, they certainly do, but not bowed down with the burden of submission, but they cry out in fatigue, of those lost, and troubles unsolved! Dear lady Heera!

This was the best chase ever, the palpable tension as Ustaad galloped on, his despair at failure, tense moments on the, faintest hint of an approaching familiar, the chase afresh and the burst of talent in display of humongous skill both by the Ustaad and the author in handling the radar on the turbulent tides!

The most profitable investment of Durga bai, as I had mentioned earlier is clearly bearing fruits, she keeps watching over her darling sister thru this silent messenger,

But when he came to his third gulp, he froze. His eyes remained shut, the drink sitting in his mouth. His senses had just picked up on a faint difference in Bahadur's soft whinny. It was faint, but it was 'different'.

Even thoughts came to a screeching halt, else they missed their guesses coming true. I could have skipped the next few lines and directly scrolled down to the real happening, but somehow I didn't. I couldn't. I was a part o the story. Heera had waged a war against her strength and her situation to convey this bit - could it, or not save her! Heera is a second time survivor from Khalil now, and it's the Marwari which did her bidding both the times!

One...

Two...

Three...

Four...

Five...

By the time the young man's fingers had counted to forty, Bahadur was visible again, returning with another steed by its side.

It's said, tension is abstract, we can't see it... But here I could SEE tension, literally! Clearly thru the words!

The last lap of the marathon that ensued was hair raising, spine tingling with the butterflies and the other arthropods creeping, crawling and fluttering about my intestines. When the Ustaad took a clear aim in dark, plunging up a boulder, the situation showed the hundred hurdles he crossed as the distance, the huge leap of risk as the jump on boulder, the darkness as depressing failure, and the skilled manoeuvre of arrow, as the desperate manipulations of Ustaad, using all his skills and strength! And then a split flash before the boulder came, before his legs tightened around the saddle to make the leap, his fingers let go!

TWAAA NNN GGG!!!!

It wasn't merely a tug at the bowstring, it was a pull at his heartstrings, as his heart flew to his lady with the, arrow. And it was back to him only with those last ten steps!

'Recall what happened between us?' he sighed a bittersweet sigh - as caged emotions that'd been banging away at the doors, finally broke free - soaring upwards, taking him along, for a brief yet beautiful journey 'Sahiba, there's nothing else that I've been able to recall so fondly, ever since...'

Thank you dearest Author for letting us in to this brief, haven of warmth and composure, and leaving us here, till you're back again! Here we shall be with unsaid confessions far far away from the spiteful glances of Khalil, shocked gazes of the Parnagarhis and worn out of the chase out of nightmares!!

Cheers to HBAS!!!

Edited by durgeshnandini - 8 years ago