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Thread: The White light Calling - 10

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    The White light Calling - 10

    Note: The next two episodes are dedicated for those who love historic novels.


    Episode: 10


    She was perspiring. Her silk ‘sarai’(pants) stuck to her body like a second skin.
    'Oh! Why do I have to wear only silk? Why can’t I wear cotton like the maids?' She thought irritatingly.

    She pushed back the sticky strands of hair that kept falling down on her forehead. Her long braid trailed her crawling form into the tunnel. This thing is endless, she thought.

    Suddenly she felt the warmth in darkness. She crept closer and stretched her hand before her. She could touch the cool stone. “Good ! since I am already here, let me better get out before I bathe in my own sweat”, she moved her hand along the stone wall and found the knob. She twisted and pushed it.

    It gave out a grating noise before giving away an inch of leverage to the outside world.

    “Good heavens, why am I even coming in this path?” She heaved a long breath. She then pushed harder and the opening expanded. She pushed and pushed until it moved out of the space and she could see the dim lighting of the oil lamps lit along the corridor.

    She smelt the ‘agil’ (herb added to incense) and the fragrance of the incense still mixed in the breeze.

    “Mmm..” she breathed in the fragrance and jumped out of the small hole. Now she had completely come out of the secret tunnel which was behind the statue that partly covered it. From outside it was just another stone wall. She looked at the statue.

    It was a statue of Ravana standing with hands scooped in ‘namaskar’ and head bowed. But he still stood in a majestic manner. The expression of intense happiness on seeing the lord in front of him was captured beautifully in the face.

    “ Oh Ravana! You kidnapped sita once, and now you are helping me kidnap myself”. She giggled and patted on the statue saying “good boy”. She quickly readied herself and started to walk on the corridor.

    In a few feet distance she could see the open corridor and the ‘Nellaiappar ’ (lord’s temple) temple*** ‘gopuram’(tower). She was right now standing in the corridor which was called ‘sangili mandapam’ (chain hall) that connected the separate temples of the lord and the goddess.

    This mandapam was newer than the temple itself, which has inscriptions dating back to 500 AD. She smiled at the ingenuity of the mind which constructed this particular hall. Everyone thought it was to facilitate the public to reach both the temples easily. But only few elites (like her) knew the other important reason behind it.

    The ‘Nellaiappar’ Temple gopuram was a gigantic black silhouette in the washed out gray denim background of the sky. The moon was shining its silver rays over the temple complex which left an eery glow all over the open corridors. The creeping shadows of the ‘yaazhi’ (a mythical animal)and other statues looked demonic at this time. All the life size status looked like they were just waiting to gobble you up and it seemed like their eyes followed you and looked straight at you.

    Even the usual pigeons who wander about in the tall pillared halls were not there tonight. The whole temple complex looked totally deserted at this particular night. But she was not scared. She never was. She walked with her face tilted up, a genuine posture of a royal blood or that of a confident woman. And conveniently she was both.

    The small bag which had all that she needed was straddled at her back and her braid as usual swayed like a pendulum on her back in perfect rhythm of her walk. She liked it that way. When her mother and aunt always scolded her to wear it in a bun like all the other royal women, she preferred to braid it and leave it long. The swaying motion calmed her mind.

    Yeah she was a rebel. She was the spoilt child in her household. Oh! She cannot call her house as normal house hold. It is a royal household.

    “Yeah! Some royalty!” She muttered under breath.

    “Who cares for royal titles when you cannot just freely walk under the sun or ride into the breeze or even swim in the silver cold water of 'ThamiraBharani' river. I should have been born as a maid or even a milk woman.I would have lived happily” she thought to herself. Her gold anklets chimed subtly as she walked but it echoed along the wide and long corridor and sounded like a hundred bells ringing together.

    “Oops.. I forgot this little thing”, she cursed herself and sat down in a corner to remove them.

    “Thud..thud..thud..”
    Somebody came running.

    “Did you hear it? Did you hear it?”

    “Oh yes. I heard it loud and clear.” Venu sasthrigal was wiping his forehead which was sweating profusely.

    “What or who could be it?”Maniappar had his wide eyes open wider and his hands gripped the huge ornate box that perched on the top of his head very tight.

    “Do you even suspect who that could be Sir? Of course it’s the ambal herself. She is coming. Oh my god, we shouldn’t be here anymore Sir.”
    Venu sasthrigal the temple pujari looked pale. He was still shivering all over. Treasurer Maniappar was another case. His majestic posture had turned into one of a mouse. His eyes darted in all directions.

    “I know sasthrigal, but what if it was someone else? What if it was just a man?”

    “Oh please don’t talk rubbish. What man would wear an anklet? And who would dare to come into the lord’s abode at this time of the hour? I knew this would happen. You should have made it faster when you counted that ‘ponmudi ‘(a cloth bag of gold coins).”

    “Oy.. what is this? Why are you blaming me? It’s my duty to check all the credits that have come to the temple this month and checking the lord and goddess jewels.”

    “Oh really? you did your duty? Then you should have stopped just at that. Why did you take all that diamond and ruby necklaces and the crowns and that big emerald 'haaram' and and ..all other precious jewels and swap them with duplicates. I think ‘amma’(goddess) is going to punish you for that.”

    “Stop it man. We haven’t yet closed the ‘madai palli’ (temple kitchen) entrance. Somebody must have come in that way.”

    “Oh you didn’t listen to it properly did you? It was the sound of anklets. Not just any anklets but golden anklets. Only they would sound like that. And I can only think of three women who wear golden anklets. Two belong to the royal family who wouldn’t come at this wee hour and certainly wouldn’t come alone. The other one is ‘Ganthi mathi’ amman herself whose jewels you are stealing right now. To think that I was with you all along, I can’t imagine what wrong is going to happen to me and my family.”

    “So you really think it is the amman?” Maniappar looked stricken now. At first he thought that it was somebody who came in and listened or watched what they did and now knows everything, thanks to the big mouth pujari. That will do a great deal of damage tomorrow.

    This stupid sasthrigal is such an idiot; he has been reciting everything like he does in the shrine. It was a mistake that he took him into confidence. But his thoughts took another route when sasthrigal convinced him that it was not somebody but ‘saami’ (God). His fear of punishment changed to fear for life. Could it be real? He had heard of similar stories about people like him punished by the lord himself, but he thought all that were exaggerated tales just to scare off people like him. But now…

    His silk ‘angi’( ceremonial long shawl) felt like a snake throttling him. His jewels weighed him down and he started to sweat.

    “Sasthri. Is there a way to go out without passing through the corridor?”

    “No way, we have to go through it to reach ‘gandhimathi amman temple’. The madai palli entrance which I have kept open for us is there only.

    “Ok..lets walk then” maniappar made himself brave, for the treasure he is carrying weighs far more than his dear life. He took a step forward..

    “Aha..ha..aha..” a shrill laughter of a woman echoed through the walls and ceiling and reached their ears in thousand decibel range. They both stood rooted to the ground, spine chilled to the core.

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  3. #2
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    Part 2:

    “Oh you silly humans.. you are never satisfied with what you have.Are you?” the voice asked. The echo made it sound eerily inhuman.

    They couldn’t find the source of the voice. It sounded like it came from everywhere. The voice laughed again and then silence.

    They started to shake all over. Maniappar looked in all places when it spoke again”Maniappa..i gave you several excuses. But still you persist to be this shallow. And you Venu, what is the use in doing everyday pujas and cleaning the shrine when you don’t do it within you?”

    “You both thought you can escape right out of my eyes. Didn’t you? Ha..haa…”

    “Amma…ammaa...please spare us. We will never ever do this again..please..”Sasthrigal started to sob uncontrollably. He fell to the ground and started to pray with head bowed to the floor.

    Maniappar looked like he was going to faint.

    “Mm.. Then leave the box right there and run out of my place right away. Beware.. don’t you turn back and see..” the voice echoed more dramatically and it scared the hell out of the two culprits.

    “No.no..no... we will never do it..amma we will never do it” Maniappar slowly brought down the heavy ornate box from above his head and put it on the floor carefully with shaky hands. Even that huge man seemed to put it down with some effort, which meant that the box must hold quite a treasure.

    It was after few minutes since they left and only after the sound of a door banging shut which echoed along the corridors did she come out of her hiding.

    She laughed again and walked towards the box. She bent down and opened it carefully. When she did she gasped.

    “Good lord, Almost all the jewels the temple has is here. If he had really faked everything, he should have been working on this for quite a long time and how the hell did he bring in the fake ones? I knew something was wrong with this guy when I first saw him in the ‘thiruvathirai’ festival. Such a thief”. She looked down again and sighed.

    Now she has to return it to the rightful owner and also get out of this place. Could she handle that? Thinking the same she slowly closed the lid and tried to lift the box.

    “Hold it right there. And don’t move a muscle, else you will know what will happen” a clear and deep voice demanded her from behind. Her heart skipped a beat. Who the hell is that?

    She couldn’t turn back. Something sharp tinged the soft flesh of her hip. Oh! Now she knew what will happen if she did turn.

    “what do you expect me to do? Bend down like this for all eternity?”she spoke in an irritated voice.

    The other person took some time to respond for he was totally shocked at the boldness of this woman.

    “Ok. Get up and turn around slowly. Don’t you dare do anything stupid”

    “I don’t intend to do anything stupid, which is just not my habit” she slowly stood up and threw her braid that went back in a whisk. He gasped.

    She turned slowly and looked at the man before her with a raised eyebrow.

    He was stunned. She was speechless.

    Silence prevailed for a long time.

    They were totally lost. Poongodi looked with unfaltering eyes.

    Under the shining moonlight she saw before her a man almost taller than that Ravana statue. He looked lean and yet gave a sensation that having a fight with him is like having a duel with the death itself. His strong masculine jaw line and sharp features suggested that he might be a royal blood. His dark hair glistened in the moon light. His sharp nose had a small cut on the side and the thin line of mouth looked permanently curved for a smile. His eyes..Oh she just couldn’t take her eyes off of it. They looked hypnotizing.

    His fair complexion glowed a little with the help of the nearby oil lamps. It made a soft edge all over his handsome face and he looked like the Manmadhan(Cupid) himself who had just jumped straight from the heavens.

    “Are you even human?” he asked in a croaked voice.

    “Ha…haa..” she laughed melodiously. He shook his head to bring in reality. He looked at her again.

    Brahma must have taken a long time to create this woman, he thought. Or it was ‘Mayan’( the chief architect of heaven) himself who made a statue in gold and brahma just gave life to it. How could a woman be this perfect and this beautiful?

    Her face which was shaped like an inverted jasmine bud shimmered like gold ground with pure sandal. The thin strands of hair which fell on the crown of her head pulled his eyes further down to a beautiful pair of arched eyebrows.

    It was a perfect ‘moonrambirai’(third day crescent moon) eyebrows. And the pair of eyes that stood below them almost pulled him like a magnet. Could she be the goddess Gandhimathi herself with the brightness of ‘gandhi’-(sun) and the coolness of the‘mathi’(moon) together in her face.

    The still smiling full lips reminded that he hadn’t had his dinner. It was as supple as a freshly peeled orange. He gulped. To check whether she was human he looked down at her feet. Oh well she did have feet. She had the very beautiful feet with golden anklets on them which played peek- a - boo in the shadow. He wasn’t quite sure whether the anklets made her feet beautiful or the feet made the anklets beautiful.

    He smiled and his eyes darted further up.

    “Stop it..what the hell do you think you are doing? How dare you?”

    The same eyes which he thought to shed rays of moonlight now looked like it was burning fire. He was totally amused. The sword he held on her hip was slowly loosing it’s grip on the target. He looked at her and smiled.

    “I am admiring you” he said coolly.

    “Oh I can see that very well. But how dare you do that, do you know who I am ?”

    “I certainly don’t know who you are but you are the most beautiful woman I have ever laid my eyes on”.

    “Oh . How shameless. You have no culture? How could you behave like this to a woman whom you only met seconds ago.

    “That depends on who and how you meet one. Who are you anyway?” he asked in a clam voice his sword still in position.

    “I am Poongodi, the princess of Madurai. The nicest niece of the great queen “Shreela shree Rani Mangammal ” with her hands to her hip and head tilted in an angle, she announced. In a flash his sword went down and so did his head.

    “Sorry.. devi (a respectful way to call a royal woman) please forgive me for my disrespectful behavior” he said in a small voice. She softened in an instant.

    “Ok.. now tell me who you are”she demanded.

    “I am..I am..” he faltered at that.

    “Mm..you are?”

    “I am Mahendra Boopathy.” he said shortly. She looked shocked now.

    “You..? you traitor!” In a flash the sword in his hands moved to her hands. She looked at him fiercely with the sword raised above, its edge glistening in silver moonlight.

    will call...

    *** Nellaiappar Temple in Tirunelveli and the story behind it is quite true to the extent that there is a legend that says there is a secret tunnel behind the Ravana statue in the corridor.
    But the Characters other than Rani Mangammal are of my imagination.

  4. #3
    Senior Member Seasoned Hubber AudazJay's Avatar
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    Welcome back Iniyamalar! I thought you have long forgotten about us . But you gave me a big surprise by making a grand re-entry with three episodes in a stretch!
    Needless to say, you've once again thrilled me with your wonderful narration on the adventure..and on top of that, you've even brought in a historical segment as well

    Can hardly wait to read the rest of the story now. The Poongodi-Mahendra episode sounds even more exciting than Chemba-Madhan episode! Nevertheless, based on your previous episodes, I'm guessing that there must be a connection between both the couples. Reincarnation, perhaps?

    Anyway, do keep writing! Looking forward to your next episodes
    "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." Aristotle.

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    Senior Member Platinum Hubber pavalamani pragasam's Avatar
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    Feels like watching a well-cranked cinema! Oh! The charming jenma-jenmamaay thodarum kaathal concept!!!
    Eager to watch the trends of the world & to nurture in the youth who carry the future world on their shoulders a right sense of values.

  6. #5
    Senior Member Veteran Hubber Querida's Avatar
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    Iniyamalar, please excuse me for not commenting on your other two episodes
    the fact is that once I read one, it was pure joy to race onwards to the following two episodes
    certainly you are very kind to us readers to post all three episodes one after another...
    the avid bookworm in me thanks you very much

    Certainly, I must commend you on not only keeping the plot riveting as ever
    but how you concentrate on the small details of gesture, emotion, the nature that surrounds them...beautiful yet dangerous as ever, the searing one-liners
    and how expertly your tone changes when going back into history, the present, the flashes into the past, and your descriptions of their hallucinations...truly great! Can't wait to read more!!!

  7. #6
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    Dear Jay

    Quote Originally Posted by AudazJay View Post
    Welcome back Iniyamalar! I thought you have long forgotten about us . But you gave me a big surprise by making a grand re-entry with three episodes in a stretch!
    Needless to say, you've once again thrilled me with your wonderful narration on the adventure..and on top of that, you've even brought in a historical segment as well

    Can hardly wait to read the rest of the story now. The Poongodi-Mahendra episode sounds even more exciting than Chemba-Madhan episode! Nevertheless, based on your previous episodes, I'm guessing that there must be a connection between both the couples. Reincarnation, perhaps?

    Anyway, do keep writing! Looking forward to your next episodes
    Thank you so much for the wonderful support.
    yep..i too enjoyed the poongodi madhan episode when I wrote it.
    I am glad you like it too.
    Keep coming.

  8. #7
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    Dear pavala mam

    Quote Originally Posted by pavalamani pragasam View Post
    Feels like watching a well-cranked cinema! Oh! The charming jenma-jenmamaay thodarum kaathal concept!!!
    gee..that was a sweet compliment. Thank you so much

  9. #8
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    Dear querida

    Quote Originally Posted by Querida View Post
    Iniyamalar, please excuse me for not commenting on your other two episodes
    the fact is that once I read one, it was pure joy to race onwards to the following two episodes
    certainly you are very kind to us readers to post all three episodes one after another...
    the avid bookworm in me thanks you very much

    Certainly, I must commend you on not only keeping the plot riveting as ever
    but how you concentrate on the small details of gesture, emotion, the nature that surrounds them...beautiful yet dangerous as ever, the searing one-liners
    and how expertly your tone changes when going back into history, the present, the flashes into the past, and your descriptions of their hallucinations...truly great! Can't wait to read more!!!
    Thank you for your detailed and straight from the heart comment.
    It makes all those sleepless hours worth when i read comments like these.
    Thanks again..

    Keep coming

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