09— A Brief History of the city Varanasi. “If I say peace— ultimately think, I am talking about Banaras.” —Saumya Tripathi The cold wave of air swept past me as I stepped forward another step before me. The night was silent; too silent at that. It was so quiet with only discreet voices of unknown organisms yelling now and then along with the sound of heavily flowing air swivelling around us in the immensely silent vicinity. With the cold air skirting us in its confinements, I barely concentrated on the projected task before me, however. The silence felt soothing yet appalling. "You should probably get going," she accentuated, glancing back over her shoulder, breaking the captivating silence between us. She seemed pensive as well as alarmed when motioning me to proceed outside with a nod of her head over her shoulder. Showing me that I didn't have enough time to waste even a single second on flapping about the things that hadn't happened yet but probably it could if I wouldn't hu

Part two. "Hello—?" A very faint but exhausted voice quivered from the other line; what I could only do was sob loudly for quite a time at the vulnerability of the tone. "U-uncle.." I rasped out from my dry mouth, still crying. Although trying to restrain my quivering mouth from crying more than I already was. I tried to speak out but nothing came out. "R-radhika...? Where are you, my child? I could not find you anywhere! Where have you been? How are you, child? How is Shaurya? Are you two alright? Is Shaurya with you? Tell me where you are and without delay, I will come at this instant!" He inquired hastily in his turned-up voice. Questioning me non-stop. He was panicking. "U-uncle h-he took us and shot Awadhesh! And he was n-not allowing us t-to go home. He-he; I don't know who he is. Uncle take us h-home please-please. I am scared," I stammered horribly at every word but I prayed to shiv Ji that he would make him understand and specify my incoherent sentences. "Child, Sssh. C

Part two. It was now beginning to drizzle slightly after the full-blown downpour, however, not after a long period, it started to downpour heavily yet again with a bellowing cold- chilly wind, promptly. It was too cold and the downpour was not making it any better with the chilly climate and cold air. Despite my layers of clothes, I shivered. Oh, how I had loved the rain when it used to pour on our foyer with my parents sitting by my side sharing cheerful movements of nostalgia. Bringing my hasty mind out from the rejoicing thoughts which I had shared with my happy family back to the ugliest truth of life, I blinked rapidly trying to change the vision that had me breaking into even more little pieces. Venturing my groggy eyes to look outside the window for the familiar face of my uncle, but to my dismay, I met with unknown faces of the group of people that were already buzzy in their own little world. I sighed deeply. My shoulder slouched at the desperate attempt to glance out of th

13— Unbidden departure! (Part- 2) “The fact that people do not learn from the mistakes of History is the most important lesson of History.” — Aldous Huxley “Try to hurry up, little bird,” he had said before leaving. “No,” I shook my head a little. Sometimes when we think we have choices, is the very time we realise that we have none. Because what is lotted cannot be bloated. We have our ups, and we have our downs yet we stick together in the hope of coming out from such disquieting situations. Blinking several times, a soft gasp left the space of my lips. Although my mind bolted with questions and disbelief, there were certain parts where I already knew what had happened yet I was too late to accept it. I was just in the phase of denial of what actually had happened. Because at the end of the day I was nothing but a human with a tormented head. “Actually we both will be waiting for you. Come soon.” His voice kept on reverberating inside my head. What? What happene

15— Talks and beseeching! (Part-2) “We judge people as it is obvious psychology of humans to do so. But the question is: is it worth it? To judge everyone based on how they look? By how do they present themselves? By how do they choose to act? Because some people ought to be felt rather than observed. As you truly cannot judge people by their outer layers, that would be so unfair, some people should only be gazed upon by their hearts instead of eyes.” — Saumya Tripathi “However, if I have to, I will. But you already know that. Don't you?” I did. His deep, uncaring tone sent chills down my spine. “It totally depends upon what you choose.” He waited. “Either it is your way or mine but the path needs to be the same.” Anger spiked in my stomach as if molten lava had been kept in it. I needed to get over this. I needed to get away from him. I had to get over it as quickly as possible. I had to! Because I didn't have much of a choice. As if knowing my state, the breeze picked up.