From & To Sathish #5 - Page 62

Time traveller- no time to die

When I look up at the night sky, I know that, yes, we are part of this Universe, we are in this Universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts is that the Universe is in us. When I reflect on that fact, I look up — many people feel small, ’cause they’re small and the Universe is big, but I feel big because my atoms came from those stars.” Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Ponderous, preposterous, purposeless but perpetual.

The most abundant elements in the Universe such as Hydrogen, Carbon, Oxygen, and Nitrogen are all present in you and me.

Lest we forget, Iron which is so important for it is a mineral that the body needs for growth and development. Your body uses iron to make haemoglobin, a protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen from the lungs to all parts of the body, and myoglobin, a protein that provides oxygen to muscles. Your body also needs iron to make some hormones.

Where did that iron in our blood come from? From the bodies, the explosions of the cores of giant stars in a light show called Supernova. See, we are all stardust and we all are really superstars. Literally.

The universe is supposedly 13.5 billion years old. Our Earth is 4.5 billion years old and life first started about 3.5 billion years ago. But, our species came about 100 million years ago.

Okay, agreed that Mother Nature took her own sweet time with life and evolution and maybe got it right only after several or thousands of failed experiments. Still, a further 3.4 billion years for our species to finally evolve and stand upright.

I wonder if she was experimenting or if she just kept delaying our presence and maybe she was right.

Crap, Just imagine the situation if humans had evolved a few billion years or just half a billion years earlier than that 100 million years timescale.

Destruction. Extinction. Do you concur? Sadly, those humans would have made the planet uninhabitable for all lives that call this rock their home and the only home they know of.

I bet, man would have mastered near-speed light travel or faster than light travel and would have travelled to the nearest stars and maybe to the nearest galaxies.

In that same breath, I concur that they would have buggered those places and would have messed with even stars, leave alone planets.

It makes you think, right why our species is so diverse in their behaviour and so diverse in their thoughts and dreams.

Diverse, maybe because Mother Nature, our true and original parent felt she needed choices and variety in all her babies. If not that, maybe she is still experimenting to reach some goal that she has set herself and which could be creating the perfect specimen of human who carries in it some strange and superhuman DNA that will eventually lead us into the stars. Maybe, one day we will be able to fly, master gravity and do death-defying jumps and leaps like all those superhero characters in Sci-fi and fantasy comics and movies.

Instead of Kal-El coming to earth from Krypton and gaining superpowers, maybe in the not so distant future, Adam and Eve will stand tall and mightily powerful and lord over other species and beings on an alien planet.

Every atom, molecule, cell, and body is linked to another and held together by Gravity.

You and I and all of us are linked in known ways and in a myriad of unknown ways and held together in orbit around each other by the same gravity and by emotions.

Compare the puny times of our lives with the age of the universe and with the age of our home planet even and you will realize with shock how little time we have and then you will understand that there is a preposterous purpose beyond this perpetual cycle, recycle of life and death.

For, in that given time, little time, Albert Einstein made quantum leaps in physics and quantum mechanics. Within that little human span, Shakespeare wrote all those classics.

Time. So little time. So much to live for and so much to do before our time is up. Surely, there is no time to die. Not while we are still breathing and alive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzHJJHqwmx4

Avan, Aval Adhu 200

Great oaks from little acorns grow. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. You must have heard these sayings several times in your life and if not with oaks and acorns, I am sure that you will know all that needs to be known about journeys, miles, and steps.

Every movement, every action, every word is a journey. I use the word journey here in the context of the distance between our souls, minds, and bodies and the crossing of them to come together. To be specific, I am talking here about love and its first frail but intense flap of wings when the one in love or both who are in love look at each other.

Love. What is this feeling of love? How do you capture all that you feel in that moment of love?

Gayatri stared into his eyes and saw him and in him saw herself. Dropping her hands that were cupping his face, she slowly stepped back, making space between them and also giving him enough space to breathe to be himself and not feel crowded.

She looked at him and said in a sad voice, ' Ravi, look at that tree again and tell me if I am right or wrong when I tell you that almost all of us are like it. Maybe, not exactly like it but still, almost all of us face this situation once or twice in our lives. Sadly, there must be so many in this world who live out their lives in some kind of limbo.'

Stepping closer, she took his right arm in hers and kissed it gently and said, ' Look at me. Please, really look at me and hear me speak from my heart. All that is in my mind and soul right now is you and your welfare and safety.'

The shutters, the blinds that he used to mask his eyes and thoughts parted a little and he looked at her with strange and soft eyes and then he asked, ' But, Gayatri. Why me? Why?'

Her eyes opened big as if they were trying to take in his question and the intent behind it through them and directly to the brain, rather than circumvent through the ears on the sides.

She smiled and chuckled in a soft and gentle manner and looked at him with searching eyes and whispered, ' Correct, Why? Why am I here with you and why do I feel so much for you?' and looked at him as if she was looking at him for the first time in her life.

Ravi realizing that he had put her in an awkward situation with an awkward question, apologized to her.

' I am sorry, Gayatri. Please forgive me for asking that of you. I have no right to ask a question of such sensitive nature and in my opinion, a question that should never be asked by anyone.'

' Why do you feel that way, Ravi? What do you find wrong in a person asking another and that too who is in love with that person why they feel what they feel or are feeling?'

Ravi did not fumble, or search for an answer and immediately answered her question.

' Because it is not decent. It is not courteous or proper manners to subject a person to such questions that concern matters of the heart. It is a sign of weakness and maybe in a subtle way of torture and maybe even arrogance.'

' All right, then why did you ask me that in the first place? Why ask me that when you feel so strongly about that?'

Ravi turned his face away as if he lacked the courage to face her when he spoke and speak he did.

' Because I am broken. I am a haunted man. I have a ghost in me and over the years I too have become a ghost.'

He slowly turned and looked at her and she saw tears suddenly rear their heads in his eyes like the head of a newborn making its first appearance to the outside world and outside its mother. She felt a tear in her core, a rip in her soul and she felt her knees buckle seeing him cry and seeing his soul begin to unbuckle themselves from the laces that had strapped them and she nearly died feeling his pain as her own pain.

' Because I am scared. I have lived on my own and within myself and I am scared of what I will say or won't say and what I will do or won't do properly. But more than anything....'

She heard his gasp, his sob break free of its cage and along with her, the tree and the whole forest heard his wail of pain as it tore open and broke free.

' I am scared to love again because I am sure I will die if love fails me again. I will cease to exist if I am abandoned again. Because I don't have the strength to bear the pain of being alone if I am abandoned again.'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iN9CjAfo5n0

When I was young

I never needed anyone

And makin' love was just for fun

Those days are gone

Livin' alone

I think of all the friends I've known

But when I dial the telephone

Nobody's home

All by myself

Don't want to be, all by myself anymore

All by myself

Don't want to live, all by myself anymore

Hard to be sure

Sometimes I feel so insecure

And love so distant and obscure

Remains the cure

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKNRFQT6rXo

Avan, Aval Adhu 201

“Water is fluid, soft, and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. This is another paradox: what is soft is strong.” Lao Tzu

How and where do I start singing and chanting about water and its power? Is it possible to describe all that I feel about water in one word?

Yes. and the answer is life. No water. No life. No nothing. Zero. Water, I think is the blood of God, the tears of God, the life and love of God that it poured all over this earth and empowered it to find its way into even the hardest rock and to make its way into the deepest and darkest chasms. Scientists have found the presence of water deep down in the earth's mantle, some 250 to 400 miles down but in a form not familiar to us. It is not liquid, ice or vapour form. This fourth form is water trapped inside the molecular structure of the minerals in the mantle rock. The weight of 250 miles of solid rock creates such high pressure, along with temperatures above 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, that a water molecule splits to form a hydroxyl radical (OH), which can be bound into a mineral's crystal structure.

Researchers say just one per cent of the weight of mantle rock located in that zone would be equivalent to nearly three times the amount of water in our oceans.

There is another force that is nearly equal to water, in its miraculous powers. Like water it to breathes life. Like water, it manages to erode and break down the hardest and toughest barriers in its path and eventually reaches its goal and brings to life that which was once dead or worse in a state of limbo.

That force goes by the name Love. Like water in its various states, love too, exists in several states in different relationships. But, regardless of the points between which it travels to and fro, and even if it is a one-way journey, love remains precious for like water it too can become Christ, The Redeemer and Christ who raised the dead by bringing back Lazarus to life.

Like water finding its way by flowing into a dry and parched desert, love will find its way into a barren soul and command it to bloom into life again.

She stood watching Ravi slowly sink to his knees. She witnessed his soul slowly collapse and give way unable to carry the immense burden any longer. She saw him bury his face in his hands and felt like burying herself alive for the pain that arose from seeing his pain was terrible.

She ran to him. She flew to him. Like a parent bird nestles its chick under its wing, she threw her own wings, her arms around him and she crushed him into herself.

She kissed his face several times and tasted the salt of his pain and hushed him, and soothed him down saying, ' It's okay, baby. It's okay, sweetheart. Just let it out, let it all out.'

They stayed like that for several minutes. She held him close to her soul and heart and thought, ' I wish I could shrink him down and place him deep in my heart and protect him forever.'

The air, the forest and all that lived in it fell silent. Even the persistent and dark creepy fog slowly moved away as if it wanted to give them a wide berth fearing the light, the life that lay in the power of love that had erupted between them.

She heard him whisper into her heart, ' I am okay now.'

She slowly released him from the prison of her arms and both remained on their knees and remained looking at each other.

Ravi saw a naughty smile come into being on her lips and quiver its way and thought to himself, ' A bud released into full bloom to become a beautiful rose'

' Master sir, I don't know about you but I cannot remain like this on my knees for another moment.'

Ravi glanced worriedly at her knee and Gayatri hurriedly said, ' my knee is okay. Just that there is sharp pebble right under it ' and stood up and Ravi too slowly got up and both looked at each other.

She saw a spirit dance in his eyes and instinctively placed her hand on his lips and said, ' Please, don't say anything. No excuses I beg of you. I think we both know each other pretty well. So, please no formalities and no apologies.

' I hugged you to comfort you for above all you are my friend and fellow soul.'

She looked away into the receding fog as is seeking more words and stepping closer, ' didnt you do that last night when you held close to you until i drifted off into a deep and peaceful sleep.'

Avan, Aval Adhu 202

I know you've been hurt

By someone else

I can tell by the way

You carry yourself

But if you'll let me

Here's what I'll do

I'll take care of you

I, I loved and lost

The same as you

So you see I know

Just what you've been through

And if you'll let me

Here's what I'll do

I just have got to take care of you

You won't ever have to worry

You don't ever have to cry

I'll be there beside you

To dry your weeping eyes

So darlin' tell me

That you'll be true

'Cause there's no doubt in my mind

I know what I want to do

And just as sure

One and one is two

I just got, I got to take care of you

' Ravi' she said his name and he looked at her for he felt her voice in his soul and it evoked a strange and new but pleasant sensation in him. He looked into her face while his eyes probed the reason for the way she had called him. It felt new. It felt good and it made him feel better.

' Ravi, it is pretty obvious and that very same obvious becomes clearer when one has been around you even for a few days.'

He stood with his head bent as if in prayer and offered nothing. No words. No reactions.

Gayatri sighed tiredly and decided that it was better to give Ravi some space stepped back and stopped when he turned and said, ' It's okay. I am feeling better now. A whole lot better than yesterday and all the days before it.'

Seeing his eyes in sync with his words and which meant that he was speaking the truth, Gayatri saw the same look in his eyes that she had seen before he had left her and walked into the Fog.

He smiled and his eyes brightened visibly and he said, ' Ask me anything and I will answer them and maybe you should start with that question in which you repeated the word obvious twice.'

Seeing her hesitate, ' I am serious. I mean it.'

' Okay' , Gayatri said and smiled and asked him, ' Ravi, all of us feel love in our own unique ways and eccentric ways. But, even after taking that into consideration, I am unable to wrap my head around you and your life and your love story. It feels like William Shakespeare's final act and his final masterpiece in which he poured both love and tragedy in equal portions and then added a large portion of macabre and horror to it.'

He looked at her with that strange expression and asked her, ' Why is it that you see so much in me and why do feel so much empathy for me?'

' Because I see greatness in you. I see something special in you. I.. and I....'

Ravi stepped closer and urged her with his whisper, ' Go on. And I'

She stood with her head bent as if in prayer but in contemplation. Ravi used his fingers to slowly and gently raise her chin and said, ' Say it please.'

' promise me you won't laugh.'

' Promise.'

He kept her chin raised and looked down into her eyes and she looked up into it and said shyly, ' I have never heard it before. I have never felt it before. But, I heard it and felt it at the same time.'

He stared at her and she stared back at him.

Two now stood nearly as one. Two broken halves began to align themselves into their respective broken places that stuck out of the other in jagged edges.

' Heard me and felt me? Where?'

He felt her chest heave in emotion. He felt her fear and angst in the way her body trembled against him.

' What did you hear and where did you feel, Gayatri?'

Tears broke free from her eyes and began to slide down like spring water breaking free from their thawing ice prisons high up on the mountain glaciers and running down the slopes like merry children.

She took his hand and placed it on her chest, pressed it hard and said, ' Here. I felt all this here in my beating heart. I felt your presence here in my heart in that very first moment when you came out of the dark and into the light of your house and ..'

' Again, an and?'

She smiled but the tears were now more like volcanic eruptions in which Lava that had lain imprisoned by the earth's crust had finally broken through and nothing would stop its flow.

' And I knew that I had come home. That home was not one that is made of brick walls and a concrete foundation. A home is made up of flesh and bone and is made up of embracing arms and a soul that beckons with its light. I knew the moment I saw your eyes that you were my home and that I had travelled all my life to meet you. To come home in the end.'

Gayatri tried to say, talk and express more but failed to do so. She failed because Ravi covered her mouth with his and took her breath away.

A home is about two souls that breathe as one. A home is not about squares, floors, brick and mortar.

A home is a circle. An infinite and eternal circle. A circle of love and no matter where you go, you will eventually return home to the One.

The two broken halves aligned themselves perfectly and became one. The cracks disappeared and the broken healed and became unbroken and new.

Oh, why you look so sad?

Tears are in your eyes

Come on and come to me now

Don't be ashamed to cry

Let me see you through

'Cause I've seen the dark side too

When the night falls on you

You don't know what to do

Nothing you confess

Could make me love you less

I'll stand by you

I'll stand by you

Won't let nobody hurt you

I'll stand by you

So if you're mad, get mad

Don't hold it all inside

Come on and talk to me now

Hey, what you got to hide?

I get angry too

Well I'm a lot like you

When you're standing at the crossroads

And don't know which path to choose

Let me come along

'Cause even if you're wrong

I'll stand by you

I'll stand by you

Won't let nobody hurt you

I'll stand by you

Take me in, into your darkest hour

And I'll never desert you

I'll stand by you

And when

When the night falls on you, baby

You're feeling all alone

You won't be on your own

I'll stand by you

I'll stand by you

Won't let nobody hurt you

I'll stand by you

Take me in, into your darkest hour

And I'll never desert you

I'll stand by you

I'll stand by you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW3OrLHj0lQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLpmj059JFA

Avan, Aval Adhu 203

One day you will kiss a man you can't breathe without, and find that breath is of little consequence.

She felt explosions all over and inside her body. Every cell in her body felt like a Nuclear bomb being detonated and all at the same time. Her mind swooned and her body felt light and seemed to just weigh a feather. She forgot to breathe and instead let him and his lips breathe for her. She felt his tongue on her and moaned in his mouth and when he pulled back realizing what he had done, she shook her head wildly and begged, ' No. Don't stop, please. Kiss me for I have never been kissed like this before.'

She pulled his head down roughly and planted her mouth on his and both drowned once again in their wild passions. She hurriedly unbuttoned his shirt and quickly slipped her right hand into his naked skin and at the same time, her left hand slid down to the big bulge in his jeans and began to stroke it. She felt his body suddenly stiffen and move back and not knowing what was going on, she looked at him with eyes full of love, lust, passion and desire and moaned, ' why? Why are you moving away?'

Ravi smiled shyly and asked, ' I just want to be sure that you want me and also..'

She moved closer and began to slowly kiss his naked chest sending shivers and quivers all over his body. His usual strong, deep voice quavered and trembled as he said, ' I. I, I mean..'

Gayatri looked at him with confusion and slightly irritated growled in a voice full of passion and anger, ' What is it, Ravi?'

' I have never done it before. I mean. What I mean to say is.. mean to ask is that..?

Astounded was the best expression for what she felt hearing him say that he was a virgin. But that changed instantly when her soul realized what his words really meant to her.

She wanted to say a million things, a million words to express all that she felt seeing him but she did not.

Ravi looked down at the ground and shyly kicked a small stone away with his right leg and even though it was an inconspicuous act. An unconscious act, that was cute and very endearing.

' I don't want to disappoint you by not doing it properly. Partha himself told me that the first time he did it, it was a huge failure for he was so nervous and anxious that he..that he could not. I mean...'

' The right word and the word you are searching for is performance anxiety.'

She slipped her arms into his unbuttoned shirt and said, ' I want you. Do you want me?'

Ravi nodded shyly and then gasped with pleasure when Gayatri unconsciously pursed her lips and suddenly let loose a burst of air to dislodge the strands of hair that were irritating her cheek.

He nodded deliriously, ' Yes. I want you.'

All sense of control had been lost the moment he had kissed her and now even the semblance, remnants vanished and were borne away by the Kodai fog.

She removed his leather jacket and spread it on the dry leaf-strewn ground making a makeshift sheet for them.

Then she slowly began to undress and stood totally naked in front of him.

Ravi's head felt like it was going to explode and he mumbled, ' OMG, you are so beautiful.'

Gayatri helped him remove his shirt and then she unbuckled his belt and helped him slip out of his jeans and shoes.

It was her turn to gasp seeing his huge erection and she could not help but whisper, ' OMG, you really are a master in all ways.'

Then words failed and words stopped. They grabbed each other and fell to the ground and she spread herself and took him in.

She gasped as he entered her and for a moment thought that he was going to tear her open with his passion and huge c.ck, but he slowed as if he had read her thoughts and waited for her to open even more and then he slowly entered her.

If being kissed by his mouth had made her delirious and had nearly made her heart implode in pleasure, this was more. A million times more of the same and then she was lost as he began to slowly move in and out of her.

It took just a few thrusts of his strong hips and nothing was the same again and the world would never be the same again for her.

The screams of pleasure that escaped from her mouth felt more like her soul had finally been released from some secret hell and had finally risen up to reach heaven.

She threw her legs around his back and spread herself more so that she could take all of him into her.

She lost count of her orgasms and her thighs were soon wet and slippery with her juices. After several minutes, she felt him moan and she felt him tense as he began to arrive inside her. She felt his body stiffen in excitement as he was about to release his own orgasm into her and then he came.

She felt his huge spurts inside her and without even realizing it, she too came with him and then both held on to each other as wave after wave swept all over them like a giant tsunami.

"A man and his wife went to the zoo. They found a Monkey who was passionately playing with his female. His wife said to him, "What a romantic animal."

Then, they found a Lion and his Lioness separated from each other; the silent Lion sat alone in his corner as if the Lioness doesn't exist. His wife said to him, "What a sad scene without love."

Her husband then said to her, “Throw that stone at the Lioness and watch.” When she threw the stone at the Lioness, the Lion roar to defend his Lioness, then she was asked to repeat it with the Monkey, the Monkey then jumped up and climbed the tree and abandoned his female to save his own skin.

Her husband then told her, “Do not be deceived by what you see as romance in outward show, often times, it is a deceptive appearance just to hide an empty heart; there are others on the contrary who are relaxed, but their hearts are full of sincere love."

Avan, Aval Adhu 204

Life feels very different after the first real, deep, passionate kiss. Life surely feels vastly different after having sex for the first time in your life. Be it the first kiss or the first sexual encounter, you can take it the bank that it is not the same experience for everyone and a whole lot of them will tell you that it was one experience that they are not very proud of.

He lay buried deep inside her with his face buried in the side of her neck. She lay under him with her arms and legs burying him and unknown to both of them, love, life and the thick dense Kodai Fog buried them with their own plans for the future.

' Ravi' she whispered his voice huskily, high and totally drunk with his sex, sweat and musk all over her and inside her.

He slowly raised his head and looked with drugged eyes at her and answered, ' Yes.'

' Ravi, be honest and tell me the truth' she asked him and saw his eyes slowly swim back to focus and his lips mutter, ' what truth?'

' This is not your first time?'

His forehead creased down forming wrinkle wings and his eyes squeezed hard as if was trying to fathom the question and losing the quest for an explanation, he shook his head, ' Please, elaborate for my mind feels fuzzy and my memory very hazy.'

She opened her mouth to elaborate but he closed it with his and they kissed, breathed and inhaled each other for several minutes and only taking a second to breathe in the outside world too.

' This is my first time. But, that does not mean that I don't know anything about sex and where what goes on. I have read a lot about what sex is and what it takes to be a good lover and how to satisfy their woman.'

He smiled shyly and she realized the reason for that as she felt him grow and grow large and fill her completely and the he said, ' Well, theory classes are all very good but nobody told me that practicals is what it is all about and covering her mouth with his, he made love to her. Again and again and each time was a new experience.

They lay naked under the tree called Miracle and Ravi pointed to the sky and said, ' what do you see Gayatri?'

She looked up and said, ' Nearly nothing for this Fog is blocking almost all sight.'

' Look again and tell me what you see.'

' Nothing, Ravi. I see nothing ' and turning to him, ' why are you asking? Did you see something?'

Ravi smiled and lifting her right hand that was on his chest used his left hand to point to the sky and said, ' The sun is directly overhead us and that means..'

Worriedly she asked, ' what? what does it mean?'

' It means it is noon and Partha and Daksha will surely be worrying about us. It won't look good if they come searching for us and find us like this.'

She looked at him worriedly and whispered, ' That means that I have very little time to do what I have been wanting to do.'

It was his turn to worry and he asked her hurriedly, ' What do you have to do?'

She sat up with a twinkle in her eyes and a twinkle in her smile and crouching between his legs, took him in her hands and said, ' I have been wanting to take you in my mouth and taste you ' and saying that placed her lips around him and all Ravi could do was groan loudly as if he was in some major physical agony and then his groans turned into moaning as she took his large erection and begin to move her mouth up and down on it.

Far below in the land of Madurai, Pandiyan and his man Friday Dindugul Raja stood quietly watching Meenakshi

who was staring at the dark hills of Kodaikanal that loomed on the distant horizon as if she was trying to glean an answer from them?

' It is getting late. The men are all ready and waiting for their instructions. It is already noon, Meenakshi and they have to leave right away and get into positions or else they might face problems at the checkpoints that will be placed any moment now. Our Police friend already warned us about it. So, why the delay?'

All of them turned hearing the door to the office cabin open and all of them saw a short, squat, dark-looking man enter their space.

Meenakshi smiled and greeted him, ' Come in Muruga.'

Murugan came towards her and to their surprise, fell prostrate on the ground and touched her feet.

' Amma, You are our Goddess, our benefactor, and our protector. Give me your orders, mother, and your dog will do it.'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlEfO6g0lZ8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yLxo5XPnDs

'

Avan, Aval Adhu 205

The short, squat, dark-complexioned man whose name was Murugan got up with great obedience and stood with his hands folded and with his eyes cast on the ground.

Meenakshi's husband Pandiyan looked at her with anger and frustration and pointed at Murugan, ' But he is a Paliyan. What is he doing here?'

She glared at him angrily and said, ' Yes, Muruga belongs to the Paliyan tribe and he is here heeding my call and because we need his help ' then her voice softened a bit but became deliberate in its intent to convey her message and the meaning behind it.

' He will be leading your Northie men up the Kodai mountains and will guide them and place them right where they need to be, to finish their work.'

She smiled and looked at Murugan, ' He is here because he is the best tracker in his tribe and also the best hunter in this area and maybe even in this entire Western Ghats and he knows every nook, cranny and crevice of the Kodai mountains. But, apart from that...'

Gayatri smiled and said, ' Muruga, please' and in a blink of an eye Murugan's both hands moved in a blur throwing two sharp knives in the direction of the Pandiyan and Dindigul Raja.

All they had seen was a blur of hands and all they had heard were buzzing sounds that angry bees make when threatened and then all of them heard the knives sink into the wooden walls behind them.

Meenakshi watched her husband and his manager slowly turn and look at the large knives that lay half-buried in the wooden walls with morbid fascination and smiled as they kept watching as the handles still quivered from the force that had unleashed them from their sheaths.

' My friend Muruga is not only a guide, hunter, tracker but an assassin who will answer to me and to me only.'

She raised her left hand and pointed it to her side and the Paliyan called Murugan rushed to her side and stood a few steps behind her with his hands folded and with his eyes looking down.

' Call your men and let's get this show on the road ' Meenakshi commanded and then taking her phone out, showed a few pics to Muruga and whispered something to him and that was heard only by him. But also by us.

' She is the priority. She needs to be dead ' and pointing to the other pics, ' these two if the situation calls for it.

Then she showed him a photo of Ravi and said, ' This man stays safe and untouched. No matter what the situation is and no matter what the consequences that may ensue. No harm and I mean, not even a scratch should fall on this man. Do you follow me, Muruga?'

She called him closer and whispered even softly, ' Once it is done, leave no evidence behind. Nothing should be tracked to my door by the police dogs and their dogs.'

' Mother, I hear you and I promise that I will carry out your orders.'

She and her Paliyan tribal stood staring at the six North Indian men who stared back without any fear and then the one she knew would be the leader of the group, stepped forward nonchalantly and asked in a bold voice about the money that they had been promised.

Meenakshi looked at Pandiyan who nodded and placed a large red duffel bag in front of the man who had asked about the money.

She looked at him and he looked back at her arrogantly into her eyes and both stood staring at each other. The man blinked first and turned away and then he turned back his face full of surprise and fear hearing Meenakshi speak in Hindi and convey her threats loud and clear.

' Maadarchod, kaan khol kar acchi thara sun lo. ( Mother.ucker, open your ears and listen carefully) I would have happily got your eyes poked out for staring at me and your tongue cut out for even raising your voice in my presence. Consider yourself lucky and disappear once you have finished your job.'

Saying that she took slow and deliberate steps and stood menacingly in front of him and whispered, ' Chutiya, sun liya na. Jho main bhola, woh achi tara sun liya na. ( ass.ole, you heard me. You heard my words loud and clear, didn't you.'

The man nodded and looked away.

Meenakshi turned to her husband and said, ' Let them count the money and then send them on the way with Muruga here and tell them to do he tells them to do and to follow his every word to the last detail.'

She walked out of the door yelling, ' Muruga, one moment.'

Meenakshi kept walking towards her BMW and her Paliyan assassin followed her. Stopping near her car, she whispered, ' Muruga, that 25 lakhs in that bag is your payment' and turned and looked squarely into his eyes and said, ' Call me after it is done on the new number that I used to message you.'

' Okay, Mother' Murugan said and bent his head again and stood watching the car carrying his master leave the Granite quarry leaving behind a trail of dust in its wake.

Then his sharp black eyes telescoped onto the Kodai hills and stared at it thinking, ' Good. That nasty fog that has been haunting the hills from last night will last until tomorrow morning. Ample time to get the job done and vanish into the fog.'

The five north-Indian men stood quietly as their leader gazed out of the windows and locked eyes on the dark lower caste man and he whispered in a strange Hindi dialect, ' friends, stay sharp and stay alert for we are not just the hunters for my instincts tell me that we might end up becoming the hunted by the time this night is over.'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paliyan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK7aTU6fTKU