Posted:
Hi all, surprised to see me? Well, don't be. Though I'm still very much busy, I've been putting honest attempts to update my FFs for past 2 weeks. But the thing that bothers me is that, I can't write. It might sound stupid, but recently I found out that my creativity level has almost jumped down to 0. Everytime I tried to write an update of Heavy Heir or A Walk in the Rain in the past 2 weeks, I ended up falling asleep over the keyboard. Blame me, but I can't help it.'
Bani had been protesting the idea since the start. The lonely bungalow, surrounded by heaps of trees and a lovely pond was surely a heaven to reside once. Now, the lovely garden was full of weeds and the walls of the once spectacular house was covered with algae. It stood there as a general symbol of abandoned house. Still, the house had it's own charm. Moreover, it was very spacious â ideal for establishing "Mt. Abu Women's Welfare Club." The sole idea of establishing the club was Bani's. But she never approved the idea of using the abandoned house, which was called as the "ghost-house" by the local people.
Pia had tried to make fun of Bani, "So, you're scared of ghosts? That's why you don't want to use the 'ghost-house'?"
Bani had scowled. "No, off course not. But we don't know who owns the house, do we? How can we use it without the owner's permission?"
Seema groaned, "Bani, we know that your father is an idealist. But that doesn't mean you've to be so proper in every aspect. The owner of the house certainly doesn't bother about the house...so why should we care about his feelings? We need a house and it's free. So we're using it. What's wrong it that? And if he comes back sometimes and wants his house back....."
Anu and Sheila didn't let her finish. "We won't get such a beautiful house anywhere else Bani, look, this room will be the office. That was will be adult literacy centre. And see the shade? That will be sewing class for women."
Pia sat on the bank of the pond and dipped her legs. "Bani, you are too much. See, what a lovely pond. Sometimes, we'll be able to picnic here."
Later, they finalized it in their school common room. Bani tried to reason them out of the idea once more. "Listen, we should take permission whoever the owner is. He might not care about the house now, but he might later. Then we'll face a nasty situation."
Sheila's brother was the head of the young political gang of Mt. Abu. She said proudly, "Don't worry. If they try to do something nasty, all we have to do is to call Ranveer Bhai. He and his boys will then take care of that."
Anu and Pia were whispering among themselves. Seema scolded them, "Hey, this is an important meeting, what are you too gossiping about?"
Pia giggled, "Anu says that she feels a strange sensation everytime she steps in the compound of 'ghost-house'. Seema smirked hearing this, "What? You feel like falling in love?"
The girls burst out laughing. Once the laughter subsided, they elected the club committee. Bani's protest about using the house were voted out. She tried one last time. She went to talk to the real estate manager of the town. He scratched his head and said, "This house belong to Anand Singh once."
"But he's dead." Bani replied solemnly.
"Yes, he is. His son sold it to someone else, as far as I know."
"Who bought it, uncle?" Bani held her breath.
He shrugged, 'Can't remember his name. He's a very rich and famous man. He lives in Mumbai. He's at least 7/8 houses like this."
Bani sighed, "What do you say? Should we use it?"
the manager shrugged once again, "You can use it, I guess. After all, he doesn't seem bothered by the hosue at all. If the owner comes back, you'll have to leave the house immediately though."
All in all, the club started with full enthusiasm in the very house. They found four teachers for the adult literacy centre. The sewing class started off with twenty students, most of them were housewives. Some were left by their husbands and some were widows, determined to make their own way of life. But after few days, "Mt. Abut Women's Welfare Club became deserted. The girls came to know that the families of the students were dead against the club. It took Bani and her team quite a few weeks to gather their students back and bring back the buzzing activity of the club. Anyway, the club was doing really well and was being appreciated by the elders of the community when they received their biggest blow.
One day, Sheila was discussing with a group of landless women labourers. She suddenly stopped in between her speech as a huge expensive Jeep entered the compound of their club house. The jeep was not the cause of her distraction though. The disturbing fact was the rider fo the jeep. He was pausing every now and then, observing the trees, the house and the pond with sharp, grey steely eyes.
The jeep halted beside the pond. Meanwhile, Bani, Seema and another girl came out of the office hastily. The stranger hopped out of the jeep. He was taller than any average Indian with sharp nose, gorgeous eyes and a perfect built. The hair of his chest was just visible through the opening of his designer shirt, where he's left two buttons undone casually. The heavy mass of his hair was a bit unruly, maybe because of the wind. His eyes were full of determination. Arrogance was clearly visible on his face. But that suited him well. He's a person I don't want to cross roads with. Sheila thought.
"Hey Kid! Come here!" he called Sheila with his deep booming voice. Sheila, who's just completed her 12th grade, felt murderous on being called 'kid'. But she didn't have enough gut to argue with the man. So she remained quiet.
"What happened? Are you deaf?" The man called again.
"Yes?" Sheila gathered all her strength and spoke up.
"What the hell are you doing here?" He asked with a voice full of authority. Sheila became nervous. What if he's the new owner of the house?
"We're members of this club." Sheila finally found her voice fully and pointed towards their signboard. "It's a social welfare Club."
A small smile appeared in his face and vanished immediately, "Hmm, now I understand. It's the latest trick to snatch other's property."
Sheila tried to protest, "No, you are misunderstanding...."
The man stopped her rudely, "Where's your leader?" Sheila pointed towards Bani. "That's her, Bani Dixit, General Secratary." Bani came forwared, "What's wrong Sheila?"
The man looked at Bani from head to toe with his dangerously piercing eyes. Bani felt naked in front of him. She felt that he was taking a look inside her head, inside her heart......reading the innermost sentiments kept there....She tried not to blink. But it was impossible to keep looking at his eyes. Tehy were like knives, penetrating her over and over.
"So, tum hi ho Gang Leader." he finally said.
What the hell! Bani fumed. In general cases, the high school students hated to hear 'tum' from strangers. And she was so used to hear 'Didi' and 'Aap' from the general people of Mt. Abu, thanks to the club. And how dare he bad-mouth her? She's working on a good project, she's not a thief or a con. From where did the word 'gang-leader' appeared?
Bani replied in a shaken, angry voice, "My name is Bani. But who are you? I don't think I know you."
"Oh, so what if you are Bani?" the man said, completely ignoring her question. "You didn't answer to my question. What the hell are you doing here?"
Bani flinched. The signboard says clearly what they were doing. Can't he read? Or was he blind? She thought bitterly. But she was unable to utter the words. Someone inside her said, "Bani, don't loose your head, you'll loose your head!" Bani took a step forward, "We're not doing any unsocial work. Don't you understand? We've formed a club. We are trying to..........."
The man raised his hand impatiently. "I'm not here to listen to your lectures. Do shut up!"
"You haven't told me why you're here." Bani said coldly, "how am I supposed to know that you are not here to listen to my lectures?" Their staring competition began and ocne again there was silence. Sheila took a step forward and tried to put a brave face, "What's your name, Sir?"
The man didn't even bother to look at Sheila. He said coolly to Bani, "Miss Leader, tell your side-kicks that I'll speak to you only."
Bani was unable to control herself this time. He was testing her patience. "You are really crossing your line, Mister."
"No, I'm not. I'm seeing a lot of side-kicks here. If I talk to one, the others might jump in with their own share of ramblings. Now, the Mother Teressa of Mt. Abu, tell me who permitted you to violate someone else's property?"
Bani's face paled. That's what she was afraid of. "That means....you...I mean, you're the owner....er..."
He snapped, "Have you learnt to speak a full sentence, kid? Have you even passed 5th grade?" A colour of red dusk covered Bani's face. "I've passed 12th this year."
The man looked at Bani with a frown. "You mean you've passed school? How old are you? 13? 14? Hardly 15? Have your dad paid the school to let you pass?"
Bani raised her hand to slap him but he was faster. He gripped her raised hand in a stone grip and twitched it down. Tears formed in Bani's almond eyes in pain. She blinked them away. She knows she's only 18, but that doesn't give him the right to insult her and her father like this. She looked at him, challenging him. Slowly, he let her hand go. Bani's other hand immediately started to rub the place where he's grasped. It was already turning purple. She felt lost. In a numb voice she asked, "So, you're the owner of the hosue? You should've told us earlier."
"Listen Miss, you've done a grave mistake by entering my house without permission. Don't know whether you've done anything worse than that, yet. But I'll soon find out. You should be punished. Tell me, what should I do? Should I call the police? Or find some more entertaining way of punishing you myself?"
Bani felt that her tears were out of control now. It raked her body. She was feeling so insecure, so embarassed, so insulted. "You are behaving too harshly." she manged to say. He snapped back, "You are trespassing my property. Do you know the 'trespass' law? I'm being kind with you."
Bani tried one last time to make him understand, "You are not giving me any chance to explain."
"Explain at the police station."
Bani turned at Sheila and said roughly. "call you Ranveer bhai at once, Sheila. The man thinks that we're helpless!"
for a brief second, the arrogance left his handsome face and a genuine smile appeared there, making him look incredibly dashing. "Are you talking about Ranveer, the upcoming political leader of Mt. Abu?" Good. I met with him on my way. I asked him to come here but he refused saying that, "Just give me a call if someone bothers you." Do you think he'll come if you call him? I'm really looking forward to have a nice chat with him."
Bani licked her dry lips. So, he's came prepared. Sheila stood there transfixed. Now it's time to give up, Bani thought.
"We're doing some beneficial work to help the poor. Anyway, since you are claiming that you own the house, we'll take away our signboard right away." Bani sighed.
"What do you mean by 'claiming'?" He barked, "You don't believe me when I say I own the house?" The arrogance was back.
"Does it matter whether I believe you or not?" Bani said coolly. "We don't own the house, and we're not it's keeper either. If you'd bother to be a bit polite, we'd have happily left without a word."
"I know exactly how much polite I have to be with trespassers." He growled, "The mango tree there is standing without a single mangoo, the other tress are more or less in the same state. The water of the pond is extremely dirty."
Bani replied dryly, "We don't know anything about these things."
"Yes, how will you know? You were busy inside of the hosue, 'serving' the 'mankind'." he said putting extra emphasis to the words 'serving' and 'mankind'.
"Stay wtihin your limits!" Bani screamed in fury. Two birds flew away hearing her angry voice. In fact, she herself got scared of her own voice. From where did she get the courage to yell back at him?
Bani trembled slightly at the intoxicating gaze of the stranger in front of her. Even the dumbest of girls' can recognize that look in a man's eyes. She felt herself shivering.
"Sorry. That became a bit harsh." the man said though he didn't sound sorry a bit. "Now get out of here."
"There is our things inside the house." Bani said.
"I don't have any intention to use any of those. If they are too much unbearable, I throw them out in the road, collect from there. And if I can bear them, I'll let them stay. Take them away tomorrow morning." Bani nodded and for the first time realized that Seema and Sheila were long gone. So was the new girl that they appointed few days back. She sighed heavily and turned to leave. She stopped in her track as she heard, "Hey young lady!"
"Why do you keep calling me 'young lady'? My Name is Bani."
The man said sarcastically, "What? Nowdays, the older women feel insulted if they are not refered as 'young ladies'. I see you're completely opposite?"
"You're a!...You're a..!" Bani stammered.
The man laughed suddenly. His laugh erupted a warm glow in his face. "Oh God, you don't even know how to curse! Say, "you're a improper, rude, cold pathetic beast." My name is.."
"I don't have any intention in your name." Bani replied haughtily.
"Your side-kicks have all fled. Can you go alone, or should I drop you home?"
'Many thanks, I can go alone."
"Before you try to violate someone's privacy again in future..."
Bani didn't wait to hear his last words. She walked fast to get away from him. She felt miserable. Tears welled up inside her once again. Can any human behave so roughly with a girl? Beast is too nice word for him. He's worse than a beast. No adjective is bad enough to describe him. Soon she came in front of the gate. She felt an unknown attraction towards the house. Who knows, maybe she'll never come back here. She turned to take one last glance at the pond. The man was still standing there. There was a strange longing look in his eyes. No, it was not only look, there was fire in his eyes. It was not there few minutes back. Bani felt that her own eyes were caught it fire. Otherwise why would she find fire from such a distance in a strange beast's eyes?
So, to boast up my creativity level (and also the confidence level) I thought of writing a short story before I get back to my regular FFs again, just to bring the speed back in my writing (and typing đ). I think by the end of this story, I'll be able to update HH again.'
Tell me how do you feel about this 'filler' story. I'm in my worst form now, so it might not be that good, but still, let me know where I have to improve.đł
Spirit Rider
Part One
Bani had been protesting the idea since the start. The lonely bungalow, surrounded by heaps of trees and a lovely pond was surely a heaven to reside once. Now, the lovely garden was full of weeds and the walls of the once spectacular house was covered with algae. It stood there as a general symbol of abandoned house. Still, the house had it's own charm. Moreover, it was very spacious â ideal for establishing "Mt. Abu Women's Welfare Club." The sole idea of establishing the club was Bani's. But she never approved the idea of using the abandoned house, which was called as the "ghost-house" by the local people.
Pia had tried to make fun of Bani, "So, you're scared of ghosts? That's why you don't want to use the 'ghost-house'?"
Bani had scowled. "No, off course not. But we don't know who owns the house, do we? How can we use it without the owner's permission?"
Seema groaned, "Bani, we know that your father is an idealist. But that doesn't mean you've to be so proper in every aspect. The owner of the house certainly doesn't bother about the house...so why should we care about his feelings? We need a house and it's free. So we're using it. What's wrong it that? And if he comes back sometimes and wants his house back....."
Anu and Sheila didn't let her finish. "We won't get such a beautiful house anywhere else Bani, look, this room will be the office. That was will be adult literacy centre. And see the shade? That will be sewing class for women."
Pia sat on the bank of the pond and dipped her legs. "Bani, you are too much. See, what a lovely pond. Sometimes, we'll be able to picnic here."
Later, they finalized it in their school common room. Bani tried to reason them out of the idea once more. "Listen, we should take permission whoever the owner is. He might not care about the house now, but he might later. Then we'll face a nasty situation."
Sheila's brother was the head of the young political gang of Mt. Abu. She said proudly, "Don't worry. If they try to do something nasty, all we have to do is to call Ranveer Bhai. He and his boys will then take care of that."
Anu and Pia were whispering among themselves. Seema scolded them, "Hey, this is an important meeting, what are you too gossiping about?"
Pia giggled, "Anu says that she feels a strange sensation everytime she steps in the compound of 'ghost-house'. Seema smirked hearing this, "What? You feel like falling in love?"
The girls burst out laughing. Once the laughter subsided, they elected the club committee. Bani's protest about using the house were voted out. She tried one last time. She went to talk to the real estate manager of the town. He scratched his head and said, "This house belong to Anand Singh once."
"But he's dead." Bani replied solemnly.
"Yes, he is. His son sold it to someone else, as far as I know."
"Who bought it, uncle?" Bani held her breath.
He shrugged, 'Can't remember his name. He's a very rich and famous man. He lives in Mumbai. He's at least 7/8 houses like this."
Bani sighed, "What do you say? Should we use it?"
the manager shrugged once again, "You can use it, I guess. After all, he doesn't seem bothered by the hosue at all. If the owner comes back, you'll have to leave the house immediately though."
All in all, the club started with full enthusiasm in the very house. They found four teachers for the adult literacy centre. The sewing class started off with twenty students, most of them were housewives. Some were left by their husbands and some were widows, determined to make their own way of life. But after few days, "Mt. Abut Women's Welfare Club became deserted. The girls came to know that the families of the students were dead against the club. It took Bani and her team quite a few weeks to gather their students back and bring back the buzzing activity of the club. Anyway, the club was doing really well and was being appreciated by the elders of the community when they received their biggest blow.
One day, Sheila was discussing with a group of landless women labourers. She suddenly stopped in between her speech as a huge expensive Jeep entered the compound of their club house. The jeep was not the cause of her distraction though. The disturbing fact was the rider fo the jeep. He was pausing every now and then, observing the trees, the house and the pond with sharp, grey steely eyes.
The jeep halted beside the pond. Meanwhile, Bani, Seema and another girl came out of the office hastily. The stranger hopped out of the jeep. He was taller than any average Indian with sharp nose, gorgeous eyes and a perfect built. The hair of his chest was just visible through the opening of his designer shirt, where he's left two buttons undone casually. The heavy mass of his hair was a bit unruly, maybe because of the wind. His eyes were full of determination. Arrogance was clearly visible on his face. But that suited him well. He's a person I don't want to cross roads with. Sheila thought.
"Hey Kid! Come here!" he called Sheila with his deep booming voice. Sheila, who's just completed her 12th grade, felt murderous on being called 'kid'. But she didn't have enough gut to argue with the man. So she remained quiet.
"What happened? Are you deaf?" The man called again.
"Yes?" Sheila gathered all her strength and spoke up.
"What the hell are you doing here?" He asked with a voice full of authority. Sheila became nervous. What if he's the new owner of the house?
"We're members of this club." Sheila finally found her voice fully and pointed towards their signboard. "It's a social welfare Club."
A small smile appeared in his face and vanished immediately, "Hmm, now I understand. It's the latest trick to snatch other's property."
Sheila tried to protest, "No, you are misunderstanding...."
The man stopped her rudely, "Where's your leader?" Sheila pointed towards Bani. "That's her, Bani Dixit, General Secratary." Bani came forwared, "What's wrong Sheila?"
The man looked at Bani from head to toe with his dangerously piercing eyes. Bani felt naked in front of him. She felt that he was taking a look inside her head, inside her heart......reading the innermost sentiments kept there....She tried not to blink. But it was impossible to keep looking at his eyes. Tehy were like knives, penetrating her over and over.
"So, tum hi ho Gang Leader." he finally said.
What the hell! Bani fumed. In general cases, the high school students hated to hear 'tum' from strangers. And she was so used to hear 'Didi' and 'Aap' from the general people of Mt. Abu, thanks to the club. And how dare he bad-mouth her? She's working on a good project, she's not a thief or a con. From where did the word 'gang-leader' appeared?
Bani replied in a shaken, angry voice, "My name is Bani. But who are you? I don't think I know you."
"Oh, so what if you are Bani?" the man said, completely ignoring her question. "You didn't answer to my question. What the hell are you doing here?"
Bani flinched. The signboard says clearly what they were doing. Can't he read? Or was he blind? She thought bitterly. But she was unable to utter the words. Someone inside her said, "Bani, don't loose your head, you'll loose your head!" Bani took a step forward, "We're not doing any unsocial work. Don't you understand? We've formed a club. We are trying to..........."
The man raised his hand impatiently. "I'm not here to listen to your lectures. Do shut up!"
"You haven't told me why you're here." Bani said coldly, "how am I supposed to know that you are not here to listen to my lectures?" Their staring competition began and ocne again there was silence. Sheila took a step forward and tried to put a brave face, "What's your name, Sir?"
The man didn't even bother to look at Sheila. He said coolly to Bani, "Miss Leader, tell your side-kicks that I'll speak to you only."
Bani was unable to control herself this time. He was testing her patience. "You are really crossing your line, Mister."
"No, I'm not. I'm seeing a lot of side-kicks here. If I talk to one, the others might jump in with their own share of ramblings. Now, the Mother Teressa of Mt. Abu, tell me who permitted you to violate someone else's property?"
Bani's face paled. That's what she was afraid of. "That means....you...I mean, you're the owner....er..."
He snapped, "Have you learnt to speak a full sentence, kid? Have you even passed 5th grade?" A colour of red dusk covered Bani's face. "I've passed 12th this year."
The man looked at Bani with a frown. "You mean you've passed school? How old are you? 13? 14? Hardly 15? Have your dad paid the school to let you pass?"
Bani raised her hand to slap him but he was faster. He gripped her raised hand in a stone grip and twitched it down. Tears formed in Bani's almond eyes in pain. She blinked them away. She knows she's only 18, but that doesn't give him the right to insult her and her father like this. She looked at him, challenging him. Slowly, he let her hand go. Bani's other hand immediately started to rub the place where he's grasped. It was already turning purple. She felt lost. In a numb voice she asked, "So, you're the owner of the hosue? You should've told us earlier."
"Listen Miss, you've done a grave mistake by entering my house without permission. Don't know whether you've done anything worse than that, yet. But I'll soon find out. You should be punished. Tell me, what should I do? Should I call the police? Or find some more entertaining way of punishing you myself?"
Bani felt that her tears were out of control now. It raked her body. She was feeling so insecure, so embarassed, so insulted. "You are behaving too harshly." she manged to say. He snapped back, "You are trespassing my property. Do you know the 'trespass' law? I'm being kind with you."
Bani tried one last time to make him understand, "You are not giving me any chance to explain."
"Explain at the police station."
Bani turned at Sheila and said roughly. "call you Ranveer bhai at once, Sheila. The man thinks that we're helpless!"
for a brief second, the arrogance left his handsome face and a genuine smile appeared there, making him look incredibly dashing. "Are you talking about Ranveer, the upcoming political leader of Mt. Abu?" Good. I met with him on my way. I asked him to come here but he refused saying that, "Just give me a call if someone bothers you." Do you think he'll come if you call him? I'm really looking forward to have a nice chat with him."
Bani licked her dry lips. So, he's came prepared. Sheila stood there transfixed. Now it's time to give up, Bani thought.
"We're doing some beneficial work to help the poor. Anyway, since you are claiming that you own the house, we'll take away our signboard right away." Bani sighed.
"What do you mean by 'claiming'?" He barked, "You don't believe me when I say I own the house?" The arrogance was back.
"Does it matter whether I believe you or not?" Bani said coolly. "We don't own the house, and we're not it's keeper either. If you'd bother to be a bit polite, we'd have happily left without a word."
"I know exactly how much polite I have to be with trespassers." He growled, "The mango tree there is standing without a single mangoo, the other tress are more or less in the same state. The water of the pond is extremely dirty."
Bani replied dryly, "We don't know anything about these things."
"Yes, how will you know? You were busy inside of the hosue, 'serving' the 'mankind'." he said putting extra emphasis to the words 'serving' and 'mankind'.
"Stay wtihin your limits!" Bani screamed in fury. Two birds flew away hearing her angry voice. In fact, she herself got scared of her own voice. From where did she get the courage to yell back at him?
Bani trembled slightly at the intoxicating gaze of the stranger in front of her. Even the dumbest of girls' can recognize that look in a man's eyes. She felt herself shivering.
"Sorry. That became a bit harsh." the man said though he didn't sound sorry a bit. "Now get out of here."
"There is our things inside the house." Bani said.
"I don't have any intention to use any of those. If they are too much unbearable, I throw them out in the road, collect from there. And if I can bear them, I'll let them stay. Take them away tomorrow morning." Bani nodded and for the first time realized that Seema and Sheila were long gone. So was the new girl that they appointed few days back. She sighed heavily and turned to leave. She stopped in her track as she heard, "Hey young lady!"
"Why do you keep calling me 'young lady'? My Name is Bani."
The man said sarcastically, "What? Nowdays, the older women feel insulted if they are not refered as 'young ladies'. I see you're completely opposite?"
"You're a!...You're a..!" Bani stammered.
The man laughed suddenly. His laugh erupted a warm glow in his face. "Oh God, you don't even know how to curse! Say, "you're a improper, rude, cold pathetic beast." My name is.."
"I don't have any intention in your name." Bani replied haughtily.
"Your side-kicks have all fled. Can you go alone, or should I drop you home?"
'Many thanks, I can go alone."
"Before you try to violate someone's privacy again in future..."
Bani didn't wait to hear his last words. She walked fast to get away from him. She felt miserable. Tears welled up inside her once again. Can any human behave so roughly with a girl? Beast is too nice word for him. He's worse than a beast. No adjective is bad enough to describe him. Soon she came in front of the gate. She felt an unknown attraction towards the house. Who knows, maybe she'll never come back here. She turned to take one last glance at the pond. The man was still standing there. There was a strange longing look in his eyes. No, it was not only look, there was fire in his eyes. It was not there few minutes back. Bani felt that her own eyes were caught it fire. Otherwise why would she find fire from such a distance in a strange beast's eyes?
So, what do you think of it, should I continue? đ
