The white Light Calling Episode - 6

**iniyamalar** · 6th April 2011, 10:08 AM

Part - 1

How quick could this nature change its facade? One moment it was lush green and an all glowing fantasy land and the next it turned out to be dark and gray with shadows hanging everywhere. The warmth had been replaced by the wet and chilly hands of the breeze which indicated the incoming storm or rain or probably both.

The mood of the weather replicated in their faces. All had turned dull and gray of fear and confusion.It was already getting dark when they met the kani men, and now with the storm clouds coming in, it looked much darker. Madhanan was worried about the girls. Will they take the harsh situation easily? He looked at them and was answered by Chemba’s look.

She had taken the girls under her wing and had already found an alcove near the foot of an ascending cliff to settle down. With a leg poised over a rock and her hands folded, she was looking at the sky thoughtfully for some time and then seemed to be sure of herself when she turned towards the girls.

“Buckle up girls! we need to be all ready for another rough hour.” She looked like a warrior princess just then to Madhanan.

He smiled to himself thinking ‘great selection dude’.

The kani people had run off as soon as they heard the thunder. They asked Madhanan to be careful and to take everyone outside the forest as soon as possible. They even asked them to join them to their kani kudiyiruppu (native colony). But Vikki and Vangs were totally against it. Since the kani had told that the storm might abide by in few hours, vikki said that they would take shelter in some place for the rest of the night and then continue on their trekking backwards –so he told the kanis just to pacify them.

Shekar and Vangs had checked the weather reports for that area using their satellite phone and was pretty sure that the coming storm will leave them alone in an hour or so.

It was getting cold. Everybody could feel that. Chemba was feeling something different. It was cold mixed with something else, fear? Anticipation? Confusion? Excitement? What the hell was it? She tried to pick out a reason. But she couldn’t stop her thumbing heart rate to slow down.

Madhanan came near her. “Hello princess.”

“What?”

“You are definitely a princess. At least that’s how you looked to Me.” he smiled at her.

“Oh please. I am not in that mood. Leave me alone ok?”

“What mood?”

“What?”

“You said something about mood..” she suddenly felt warmer, oh lord please don’t let my face turn pink now, she thought. He laughed.

“Pink too, looks great on you.”

“What do you want?”she asked impatiently.

“Wow..very straight forward.mm.. would I get what I want, if I just asked?” he grinned with twinkling eyes . Now she really turned pink and was speechless. His eyes bore straight to her heart and she could literally feel some kind of force pulling her towards him.

“Chemba” smitha called her from behind.

“Yes, smitha.” she turned too eagerly, happy to be interrupted.

“Look at that” smitha was pointing outside.

Chemba went to the entrance of that alcove. It was a pretty big cave kind of opening. Big enough for four or five to stretch and relax. Perfectly covered from the open wilderness, it was a cozy place to settle down for the evening.

It had started to rain. It was not drizzling. The rain was thrashing down the rocky surface harder. The entire view which was now behind a gray translucent screen of rain, looked magical and almost scary.

“Chemba will it be ok?” she asked in small voice.

“Hey, relax. We will be alright .Nothing to worry.” she patted her shoulder and Oviya went closer to them.

Suddenly she saw it. The pure white beam of light spark(l)ing from somewhere in the mountain very near to them and rose above them vertically into the clouded sky which in itself looked dangerously close as if it was coming down on them. so bright yet so silent.

Oviya screamed instinctively and smitha started shivering.

“Damn was that a lightening? It looked too close man. Did you click it? What the hell where you cleaning your nikkon for? It was so beautiful.” Vangs was all excited. Smitha was still shivering and was hugging oviya momentarily.

All but chemba was involved in some or other activity. She stood there like a statue. Looking at the place where they saw the light beam, totally transfixed.

“Chemba are you alright?” Madhanan asked in a soft voice.

“I…”only hushed voice came out. She cleared her throat “ I am alright thank you.” She said and turned towards the girls, concerned about their safety.

“So this was the white light the kani people were talking about?” shekar was mesmerized.” What could have that been?”

“It was a simple lightening man. In a place like this, it looks so real and close.”Vikki suggested while he stirred the tomato soup mix in a kettle kept on the battery hot plate. Everybody took out their flasks form their side pouches and Chemba brought a packet of bread sticks. A frugal, but a hot meal.

In a while the place became warm. Having taken warm soup and squeezing inside their warm sleeping bags beside a still burning camp fire, everyone felt safe. Even the rain looked like it had had enough and had taken off for the day. It was just drip drops now which sounded like a superb lullaby to the group.

**Google Adsense** · 6th April 2011 10:08 AM

**iniyamalar** · 6th April 2011, 10:09 AM

Part - 2

Chemba was lying sidewise in her bag. Oviya still held her hand.

“Was that really a lightening? I never saw one this big in my life.”She asked in a shattered voice.

“It’s ok Oviya. None of us are used to it, except mathanan. Mathanan used to say a lot about lightening.” shekar wanted to make the conversation light.

“Oh Yeah, remember our bike trip dude? The whole road towards his place was like a 360 degree view of sky, totally uninterrupted clean land and sky. Man wasn’t that awesome? Now if he had seen a lightening there, it would have been more fantastic than this one.”Vangs relived those moments.

Vikki said “ the pity is that before I could get ready with my camera, that thing flashed off”.

“Don’t worry. You will see more soon. You can click away then” Chemba said matter of factly. “And I might not be near you the next time” she almost said that aloud but controlled. What the hell was happening to her? she trembled inside her bag. She had that feeling again. Like blood rushing to her brain from all directions, she thought.

“So have you seen more lightening like this Mathan?”Smitha asked him.

“I have seen many, but nothing like this, because..”

“Because?”

“This thing we saw today was not a lightening.” he concluded.

“Oh come on buddy. Don’t give me bluff ok?”

“It definitely was not a lightening.”

“ Ok why do you say so?”

“Because it originated from below and stretched to the sky, not the other way around. And besides, it was not the veined screech of light but a thick clean shaft of light, almost like a flood light or search lights or the ones they use in carnivals and circus grounds. And most importantly,” he paused before saying “it was not followed by a thunder.”

It was dead silence now.

“so mr. agathiyar is running his own circus in his grounds. We should probably not miss that.” Vangs said seriously and everybody laughed. Everybody except chemba and mathan.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She was riding faster and faster now. Her heart jumped up and down every time. The wind and the slimy dewed leaves and branches were brushing past her, leaving behind a trail of wet marks on her face. She was like an arrow out of bow. Her destination was coming close. She could see that huge tree and yes he was standing beneath the tree waving hands for her.
“Wh..ip” suddenly someone or something stopped her with a blow and off she fell on the ground. The hard rocky surface braced her face with a blow to her jaw. It felt like hell.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chemba woke up suddenly. She was still inside her sleeping bag. She knew it was just that dream but somehow she thought that she could feel the pain in her jaw.

She tried to look around her. It was a scary yellow glow in the cave. Surprisingly the fire was still burning but very low. Everyone was asleep. She slowly closed her eyes. Very close to her face she heard the sound. A kind of roar. A picture of a tiger waiting near her very face came like a flash to her mind. She blinked open her eyes and saw. Nothing there. But she could feel something weird about the whole place now. She could smell something. Something primal. Could this have been a shelter for a tiger or something? Oh my god.

“Guys.. girls. Get up.” Everyone woke up with a start.

“What happened?”

“What now?”

“Is it morning already?”

“Everyone please wake up. We are in danger”. That was enough for everyone.

“what is it chemba?”Madhan walked towards her. She felt foolish. How could she say that she dreamed this place to be a tiger’s cave.

“What danger?”Oviya was starting to shiver. Whether it is due to cold or fear she knew not.

“Mm.. Why don’t we start climbing? This place looks like a tiger cave or something” she said.

“What? Oh please don’t tell me you woke us all up because of your silly fears.”

“I am not afraid. Ok. I was just concerned” she said indignantly.

“Wait you guys” mathan motioned everyone to stop and turned towards chemba. “why now? Why suddenly you got that thought chemba. Can you share it with us?”

“Uhm.. I donno. It was that weird smell. Kinda primal.You know what I mean? Don't you guys smell it ?” she pleaded with her eyes. Madhan looked sharply at her.

“Oh yes we do Dr.Dolittle.” Vangs said sarcastically.

“This was just my suggestion ok. Take it or leave it".Chemba spat back.

“Oh next time will you please do all your suggestions in bright day light instead of doing it in the middle of the night?”

“Vangs, enough. It’s morning already.”

Only then everyone moved their eyes towards the entrance. It was still dark but a few thin streaks of yellow seemed to have come up on the otherwise washed out dark gray sky.

“some wakeup call” Vangs muttured to himself giving a sidewise glance at chemba. “Just don’t mind his ramblings. Other than that he is a perfectly good soul.” Madhan smiled at chemba and turned towards all.

“Alright people, let’s move. So I am asking the last time, are we going forward or backward?”

“Forward” said the boys. The girls looked at chemba. She looked at them took a deep breath and said “alright forward”

They packed up everything and started out. They had decided to stop somewhere else for all their morning duties. It was Madhan who had been stern on not neglecting chemba’s instinct.

They walked for more than an hour and still the sun hadn’t come up fully.

They walked under that 'eery' gray light of early morning sky. It was perfectly cold and everyone had their jackets on. As they neared a clearing chemba’s heart started to beat faster. 'Not again' she thought.

It was a beautiful spot and the sun had finally shown its face. The place looked glorious with green tree tops on the right, and huge plateau to the left and a stream just before them. A big clean looking pond sat next to it. They settled down there. Vikki and smitha were preparing their morning ragi malt while others just helped or roamed about. Chemba was looking at the pond and the tree near it.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
“It tastes like honey.” He said and she smiled. Her long black braid fell down on her front like a snake thirsty for water. Her white silk was sticking to her body. The red silk she had on top was neatly piled near her. She looked down in the water and saw him standing behind her with a smile. His face looked distorted by the ripples in the water.
---------------------------------------------------------------------

“Chemba.. Chemba..” Mathan shook her. “You alright?”

“Am.. yeah.. I guess so. I was just watching the..”she shivered a little. How could one get dreams when they are awake, she debated to herself. “The nature” she completed. Madhan still looked doubtful.

“Oh my god..” Vangs shouted from near the edge of the cliff.

“What is it?”

He just pointed out somewhere below him. Everyone rushed to him and followed his gaze.

There below him, they could see the cave where they had rested just an hour ago. A huge tiger and a tigress were walking lethargically into the very cave. Following them, a smaller male tiger dragged with it a half eaten portion of a deer or something.

A moment passed without anyone speaking. And then everyone turned towards Chemba.