*From To Sathish* - Thread 3 - Page 60

fusion

brown man on a brown shore staring at a brown boat
brown is the city,grey is the sea as it circles like a moat
brown and dirty is my city and it is my fort
three pieces of rooting wood and off he is fishing for food
I sit and watch his rudimentary raft wrapped in rotting coirs
I gaze as he bobs up and down balancing on the rough seas
as each wave passes him by,smacking him,caressing him
and i think my everyday life is so much like it
some good days,some rough days
it is a balancing act on a slippery slope
yet i rise daily with burning and shining hope
i am one tiny soul and yet i am my own star
and like the billions of galaxies and trilions of stars
i too shine for like them i too am my own reactor
i react to opinions,i react to criticisms
i react to a kind word and i shine with a gentle touch
deep in a star hydrogen is fusing into helium
and i am fusing love into hate and then hate into love
releasing both in equal measures,good and bad
and yet i have a few souls in my system
who are my planets and moons
and i their planet and moon in their system

Redemption 99

FLASHBACK-1985 PART NINE


"Love is another kind of power, which shouldn't surprise you. Magic comes from emotions, among other things. And when two people are together, in that intimacy, when they really, selflessly love each other it changes them both. It lingers on in the energy of their lives, even when they are apart." ? Jim Butcher, Blood Rites


Devarajan was taught astrology among other things which people tend to classify as Tantra and Black magic and he was taught well by his late father and this was a gift handed down generation after generation in his family and it went back a long way and even he in possession of all his family's records,transcriptions lost his roots somewhere in the 15th century.But in his heart he knew that his family and its fate had roots in something darker and deeper than the incident that was rumored to have taken place sometime during the early 13th century and things hadn't been the same for the chola dynasty and its descendants since then.

He sat quietly and wondered about all that must have happened on that fateful day when blood oaths had been sworn and two powerful kingdoms had gone their separate ways.He was among the very few who still stood by and shadowed the last king of the chola dynasty.Maybe there were many more of the cholas scattered around the world born through ties and bonds made by convinient alliances and marriages over the centuries.But to his knowledge only one true king of the chola empire and the true descendant of Raja Raja cholan remained and he was Raja durai.In his safe keeping were the famous jewelled sword and crown which were worn by his most famous ancestors and yet he himself had refused to be crowned and publicly acknowledged who he was and from which lineage he had his family had descended from.

Devarajan himself was in the dark about much that had taken place in history for every bit of information was kept under lock and key and hidden safely in a secret place and its whereabouts were known only to the members of the royalty.But his father had whispered something in his ears in his final moments as the cancer that had ravaged his body finally won its battle with his mortality and death proved immortal yet again.

Yet to this day devarajan could not make sense of the words that had been uttered by his late father for they were just too fantastic and just olain incredible for his mind to comprehend.

" Iyaa,someday there will be a judgement of all the atrocities that our king has committed and we will have to face our karma along with that of his fate.My great grand father Thillai swamy had told me that the judgement will come with fire and light and that we with our tantric powers will be able to feel the coming of the soul,the spirit who is going to sit judge over all our collective actions.He is a merciful one and if you beg for forgiveness and understanding he will look deep into your soul and know what truth lies there.There is no escaping for my soul tells me he will come,surely come and his eyes will shine and blaze green and he will carry a mark,for they of their kind always do."

Devarajan relived those words and those moments with his late father and he wondered what the sick man had actually meant to say.For many a time after that he had thought about sharing those dying words of his father with his leader Rajadurai,but something always prevented him from doing so and that something was the remaining vestiges of decency and his own instinct.

All the yoga,meditation and tantric practices he had been doing from the age of five could not prevent the advancing rigors of old age and he knew that soon he would have to hand over the mantle to his grandson who was groomed and ready.His only son had died many years ago, a casualty in the ongoing war between the cholas and the pandyas,although he and the king knew that it was not the pandyas that they were fighting but the clan called Suryavamsam.

There was no leader for this dreaded clan and most of its members had been hunted down and killed over the years and yet a few remained in hiding,waiting for the call of their leader.

Over the years he had been witness to members of this clan being tortured brutally and yet each and every one had willingly laid down their lives whispering the word " Azhagan,pagalon,Mamannan Kavin."

They worshipped the dawn and the first light of the rising sun and they looked and waited seeking the heavens for their legends carried tales that he always descended from the skies and that when he came,he came in the glory of light.

Long ago when his father had been alive,he had whispered to Devarajan that this war was more ancient than their races and that it had begun somewhere in the north,thousands of years ago.

Devarajan sat quietly waiting for the arrival of his ruler and benefactor for the summons had come and a vehicle had been sent to pick him up and as he sat staring at all the old and new paintings and photos from the late 19th century,he knew that tonight would be spent in the temple of the goddess of death and not in his home with his family.

Many a time he had thought of fleeing madurai but the fear of his rulers might and its incredible reach kept him chained in an invisible way to this land and to the evil that he and his master were unleashing on innocent children and their families.


A very tall man and who was one of the bodyguards of rajadurai came up to him and requested him to follow him and devarajan went along with him and halted in front of a door around which stood the rest of the bodyguards.
It never ceased to amaze him how huge and gigantic these men were and he knew that they had been bodyguards to the chola dynasty for hundreds of centuries.He also had heard the story in which a great warrior bearing light had single handedly killed ten of their clansmen and also their leader Moorkan in a matter of seconds.The story was still repeated in different forms among the tribesmen in and around madurai and only he and the men he worked with knew the real truth and most importantly that it was not just a story but a reality.

The enmity that had sprung that instant had run along with the hatred of their ruler and had forged a bond that nothing in this universe could break and together they had been hunting and murdering the remaining members of those who followed and worshipped the leader who came bearing light.

Devarajan entered the room and quietly bowed to Rajadurai who beckoned him and both stood before a huge frame that lay covered with pure white linen.

In one single movement,Rajadurai pulled the linen that covered the massive frame and revealed it and devarajan recoiled in fear for this was the first time that his king had given him access to the god that he had been secretly praying to.

In the frame stood a giant nearly seven feet tall and although his body was similar to that of humans,his skin was green in color and his face carried a ferocious expression.In his right hand he held a huge sword which was raised and in front of him stood a slim,young man who held a spear and incredibly also held a smile on his face as he waged a battle against the monster.

Rajadurai looked at devarajan " We are called the last of the cholas and yet that is not the truth for we are more than cholas and our roots can be traced back to more than three to four thousand years ago.The form in green is our god and our only god and that puny man is our enemy and the devil himself."

Rajadurai looked at the confusion that was in devarajans eyes " there is much that you don't know and much that has never been revealed and is known only to the inner circle of my family.But what you need to know at this moment is that we have two faces and as you will guess,that which is known outside to the public is a false one and it has always been so for the truth will literally blow them away.I am telling you this for i have been informed that the time is coming for our clan and this time we are going to triumph."

" But today is a day to swat a few pesky fleas that have dared to cross my path and even challenge me.So,go to the sirumalai forest estate and ready the fires for i will be bringing one or more heads to feed it."

Devarajan waited for his king to say more and realising that his king's attention had shifted to the painting,bowed and quietly left the hall,leaving him to his dreams,fantasies or worse,nightmares.


Rajadurai's eyes shifted from the huge green giant and traveled over the young man's face and as always was amazed at the bravery of the man for he smiled as he waged war and only rajadurai knew that in the end,the young man had slayed the green giant and chopped off his head.

He whispered " Not this time,not in my lifetime,for this time it will be your head that is chopped off if you come in my way."

But rajadurai knew that it had been many hundreds of years since anybody with the strange markings had been sighted and yet he knew that the legend was alive and working mysteriously somewhere,far away in a distant land.

My Morning Raga

It is three in the morning and yet the night that has left has forgotten to take its darkness and thankfully left behind a little bit of the milder temperature that it brings and that soothes the pains of summer days.

It is three and two minutes past the hour in the morning and yet the nocturnes of John field are softly whispering their lullabies in my ears and the volume is set to low for lest it disturbs the lives beyond my walls that lie around me and over me.

Redemption 100



It was late December in Perumalvaram and the stream that ran through the village was still swollen and overflowed the banks of its tiny original path.It had been like this since late July for the monsoon had been steady and strong and though it did not rain over Perumalvaram,it did so over the mountain ranges and the water made their own inroads in the soil and ran amok over the land below.Many such trickles,dribbles found each other after having parted ways at the bottom of the mountains and soon they ran entwined,gurgling through the forest making their own sweet noise and music.

Avini gently bathed her son and she cherished every touch of theirs for only through that she could feel and sense her child,Azhagan.

Azhagan used his left hand to hold on to his mother as the swollen waters of the stream tried to topple him with its new found power and looked at the dull sun as it slowly rose in the east.

" mother,I have heard the people in our village talk about treasures and riches in Madurai and in other lands of the Cholas and Cheras but i doubt if it will be as glorious as that sun which is rising,red as a ruby.They spoke about green emeralds and yet i don't think any green stone can compare to the green of our forests."

Avini stood up and gently felt his face with her hands and nodded her acceptance ' Azhaga,i have never seen or felt all those treasures that you mentioned but i have surely felt the red of the sun and tasted the green of our forest and i totally agree with you that no gold or precious stones will ever match to their glory and splendor."

Azhagan fell silent and Avini knew that he was trying to make sense and also making up his mind about the next question and it came " Mother,then why do people of our village covet this cold metal that is called gold and why do they preen so much with precious stones on their ears,noses and around their necks."

Avini was stuck for an answer " well son,i cannot answer about what others feel or crave but i can talk about you and me."

She gently caressed his cheek and then whispered "Azhagan,promise me this,right here and right now that you will never sell your soul for gold or other riches that normal and ordinary humans crave and seek."

Azhagan nodded and gently planted a kiss on her cheek " but mother,the temple priests wife told me that someday i will have to get married and then i will be forced to buy jewellery for the lady who will be my wife.What am i supposed to do then?"

Avini smiled and used her right hand to tap his head " when that day comes,i will deal with it and that day is very far away and yet somehow i am sure that the woman who falls in love with you and marries you will not want or trouble you for gold or jewels and will be happy with your love and protection."

Azhagan made a face ' chee,i don't want to get married.Because all the married people in our village or constantly fighting and screaming at each other and all though they fall silent when i happen to pass them,they do not realize the fact that i can hear them even from a great distance."

Avini filled the small clay bowl with water and poured it over her sons head and laughingly said " I promise you my son that the woman who will be part of your life will be a beautiful flower in your life and in your soul.She will be as brave as you and will carry herself with the dignity of a powerful queen and she will rule your heart with love and grace."


FLASHBACK-1985 PART TEN

war council -1

"The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins?" ? Edgar Allan Poe,



Deep inside the forest that surrounded Azhagar malai,the few of the clan called Suryavamsam stood watching the sun go down,its color the same ruby red that it had appeared with as it had rose in the east,earlier that day.

The oldest of their clan was just fifty years old and the youngest was his daughter Malar who had just turned seventeen.None from their clan had ever lived past fifty for most had died in battle against the darkness and countless had been murdered in their infancy.

The oldest survivor was called Koothan and he turned and looked at his people who stood before him.

" The forests have whispered a message and they have called us to bear arms and ready ourselves for battle.Tonight the full moon will reflect the red blood of ours and theirs as we go bravely to our death as thousands have done before us.There are a few who are carrying new light in their wombs and i want them and their partners to stay behind and i want a few warriors to guard them while and the rest go to protect the brave police officer."

Koothan looked at malar " child,you are my very heart that beats in my body and it hurts me to request you to go guard the mother of the police officer for you are already known to her and unknown to those who seek us out.I am sorry that i am placing you in tremendous danger but i see no way out and so what will be,will be."

Malar gently bowed her head and then watched as her father searched for their bravest and strongest warrior among them and then heard his lips form the question " Where is Jothi?"

Malar shyly raised her hand and Koothan nodded to her and off she went to fetch jothi who was also the light of her life.

Seeing Malar rushing off in such haste to fetch Jothi,the others including Koothan exchanged smiles and yet sadness filled their hearts for they knew what nights such as this had brought in the past.

Malar ran towards the tallest peak that towered over Azhagar kovil forests for she knew that it was the only place he would be at sunset and sunrise,regardless of heavy rain or other dangers.

Malar found him kneeling on top of the mountain staring at the west as the sun was in its final stages of departure.He turned as his sensitive ears picked up the noise of her anklets long before she came into view and it warmed his heart as his eyes filled themselves with her slender and beautiful form.

Malar ran into his arms and hungrily sought his lips and Jothi kissed her deeply and soon his lips gently trailed kisses to the soft spot where her throat dipped down and sloped into her lovely breasts and gently removed the cloth that covered her body.

Her beautiful young breasts were sweet and as shapely as the tastiest fruits that were borne by the trees of their sacred forest and he gently ran his tongue on her nipples and seeing her body bursting and trembling with passion mounted her and they made love as the sun vanished and darkness finally enveloped the land.

The forest fell silent as their screams and passions tore through the air and a little bit of it reached the ears of the people who waited for them.

Some of them whispered " there they go again and i hope they are done soon for we cannot wait all night for them."

But all of them were very fond of Malar and Jothi and it was well known and understood that Koothan had groomed the young man to assume the leadership of their small clan.

On top of the mountain,still buried deep inside her he gazed into her eyes and both read each others thoughts for they knew that there was a very strong possibility that they might not see or be with one another again.Their mouths joined in a tender kiss and with their minds made up,once again let their bodies unite in a sweet,soft passionate way.

He was more gentle with her and she felt his every push deep in her soul and tears of joy mixed with tears of sadness and the forests whispered along with fate and all life quivered in fear and in anticipation about what was going to transpire.

Later Malar led Jothi to her father and to the others of their clan who had waited patiently for them and in the flickering light of the few fires that they dared to burn heard her father reveal his plans for the night.


war council-2

It was nearly Nine in the night and Rakesh and Devaki sat at the table having just finished dinner although both knew in their minds what was going to transpire.

" Rakesh,this moment feels like those moments when your father had to go away during those wars with Pakistan and China and yet i feel that today you might be going into danger that is more lethal and scary."

" Mother,i am more worried about you than for my own safety and i am not going to lie to you about anything.What i feel guilty about is that in an attempt to solve this case,i have placed you in danger.Although i have placed a few constables around our house to protect you,i am not sure who to trust or distrust when it comes to the investigation of this case."

Devaki waited and Rakesh smiled and she knew that he was planning something and then he leaned forward and whispered to her.

" mother,i called dad earlier today and explained everything to him and did not leave out any detail.He has made certain arrangements and they will be in place any moment now.So,along with people from my department,there will be people from the army and knowing dad,he must have sent a group of elite soldiers and that should do for they are more than capable of handling what ever danger that comes their way."

Devaki clasped her son's hand " but what about you? are you going to go and meet those criminals all by yourself? Do you realise what kind of danger you are placing yourself in?"

" I know mother but there is no other alternative for i have been asked to come alone and if they get suspicious and see anyone with me,then there is a chance that they might not show up i will never know who or what is behind all these killings."

Devaki's eyes filled with tears " I don't know why god is punishing me like this for i have followed his path and i know that we are good people,kind people and yet here we are in this moment facing something evil.That holy man warned us to stay away from this case and told us that you are not capable of handling such evil which is beyond most men and yet you are going to go meet them.Please can't you wait for your dad to arrive with back up and then meet these men."

Rakesh placed his hand gun on the table and then bent down and removed a revolver which had been strapped to his inner calf of his left leg and then removed a hand knife from its hiding in his right leg.

" mother,i am your son Rakesh Menon but i am also a police officer whose goals are to protect and defend this country and its people.I love you more than anything else,more than my very life but right now in this moment my thoughts are filled with those two souls whose bodies i saw hanging today morning.I am sorry but i cannot stand by and watch,innocents being killed without doing anything about it,for then that means "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing" and smiled as both he and his mother quoted the very famous quote of Edmund burke in unison.

Time was slipping away,ticking away and soon it was time and forces of good and evil started moving towards a point in place,towards a moment in history where light and dark would meet,clash and wage war while fate stood by as fate and death always stands by.

Rajadurai stood facing his men " i want ten of you to go to the house of this pesky man and do what has to be done and don't hesitate if you have to take out those four constables who have been placed as security.Kill them all in such a way that hereafter people will even hesitate to think of us or dream of us.Gather all the heads of the dead and meet me at the firehouse.Leave."

He turned to the giants and nodded and together they got into their vehicles and headed towards the forest that lay outside Madurai.

The phone rang but the call came a few minutes too late for Rajadurai and his men had left for their meeting with Rakesh menon.

In the palace that lay deep inside Sirumalai forest reserve, Devarajan heard the voice of his queen telling him that the Chola king had already left and she had no idea when he would be back.

Devarajan thanked her and placed the phone back in its cradle and worried about what was going to happen for only a few minutes earlier his instincts had warned him and he had spread the tantric charts and from the chakra a voice had whispered that the light had descended and that their enemy Azhagan had arrived in another form.

But what filled his soul with fear was that the light appeared to be split and though it took even his expert mind a few minutes to decipher this strange light,he knew that they were two lights and that they were twins racing into a womb.

His heart quailed with fear for he could not even begin to imagine how his leader was going to react to this news.

Legends had been passed on to them over centuries and it told them that one light from the skies was formidable enough and had been virtually impossible to defeat in battle and here there were two lights and identical twins and even worse,they were boys.

Devarajan closed his mind and concentrated on the chakra that he had painted on the floor and then something strange and unexpected happened for he felt an incredible pain in his mind and soul and he screamed in fear for from inside the light two pairs of eyes stared back at him and he knew who they were and he knew they were coming for him and his leader.

Devarajan jumped up and ran out into the verandah and yet those eyes followed him and they would stay imprinted in his soul and he knew he had a date with them and his destiny.

He knew whose eyes they belonged to for he prayed to the very god everyday in secret.

He was the mountain god who walked alone in the forest.
He was the cosmic destroyer.
He was the one who came at the time of death which he himself was and he was called Rudran.

But along with him came another form that was even more scarier and violent and he was called Kaal Bhairav.

Hi all,

Redemption has written itself and touched 100 chapters and i think the going has been pretty decent until now and i can confidently say that another 100 chapters worth of story is yet to come.

In the last chapter that is redemption 100,i started with a brief scene between Avini and her son Azhagan and that was soemthing i did for the sake of the beauty of their timeless bond and just for the sake of history and i hope it does not confuse any of you for theirs was a story that took place long ago and they will not return again but will figure as the this current story has roots in both of them and others that came along with them.

For instance Malar,the mountain queen and Azhagan's lover and wife makes an appearance in the flashback of the current story in name only.

The clan of Suryavamsam are the followers of Azhagan,Avini and Malar and current characters will carry there name for they are devoted and followers of their gods and leaders.

Malar and jothi have no connection with the malar of the last story and yet they carry similarities to their bravery and strength of their legendary characters.

Koothan,the father of Malar and the leader of Suryavamsam is a new character and he along with his daughter malar,jothi her warrior lover all figure in Police commissioner Rakesh menons flashback which he is narrating to Rudran,Renuka and his wife Sharadha menon.

The two lights of Rudran and bhairav that enter the womb of their mother was a chapter that i told in chapter 79,please read it if there is any confusion.

Devarajan saw the lights descend over madurai but he does not know it is already happened that morning in kodaikanal.

The day rudran and bhairav fill their mothers womb is the same day that rakesh and the clan of suryavamsam will do battle with the clan of Rajadurai,the last king of the chola dynasty.

Thanks for clarifying the plot, Satish.

Thank you spain. All the best.

All the Best Satish! It is indeed fascinating to read Redemption.

Thank you durga. Well since you,spain and maghu who seems to have disappeared are the only official readers on this forum,the credit then goes to all of you for encouraging my fantasies and dreams as i take stories,their characters along with you across realms and universes.

Aliens,space ships,time travel,immortality,super powers and yet all the stories are about love,loss,betrayal and Redemption.

Love of a mother in the form of Avini and Aashritha,Love of a brother in the form of rudran and bhairav,love in the form of dhana shekara pandyan and Balaji,love in the form of a father and son between Azhagan and Kulashekara pandyan.

Love is the answer and in the end Love is Redemption for it is only through love that we can heal and we can tell our stories.


"We don't become gods because we think we are gods. That is only a sign of ego. We become gods when we realise that a part of the universal divinity lives within us; when we understand our role in this great world and when we strive to fulfill that role. That makes you a God. And remember, gods don't fail. You cannot fail."