What’s for Dinner?

The Twins always had fun whenever Uncle visited because he was never as prim-and-proper as their parents. But this time, even the Twins were taken aback.

A Spontaneous Story 

Uncle was coming for one of his extremely rare visits and the Twins were looking forward to it. They had been very young when he last dropped by and obviously, they did not remember all that had happened. Mother and Father did, which was why they were the only ones feeling jittery after receiving Uncle’s call.

The fateful day arrived and when the doorbell rang, Mother went to answer it. Uncle, a lanky man with a ready grin and spiky hair that somehow made him look disorganized, hugged her and handed her a sack before turning his attention to the Twins and Father.

“What’s this?” Mother asked, with the tone of one having had previous unpleasant experiences when handed unidentified sacks by her brother.

“Something for dinner”, said Uncle and entered the house merrily, greeting everyone with a wave of his hand.

Mother carried the sack at arm’s length into the kitchen and placed it on the counter. Once Father led Uncle to show him the guest room upstairs, the Twins shot into the kitchen and placed themselves on either side of Mother who, having put on her apron, was looking at the sack. The mouth of the sack was secured with a raffia string.

“What’s for dinner?” one of the twins asked, expectantly.

“Go on, don’t just stand there, Mother. Open the sack! The suspense is killing me”, said the second Twin.

Mother gave a disgusted look at the two faces staring up at her and taking a deep breath and holding the sack upright, cut the string. When she let go, the mouth fell open and a tail popped out of the sack, darkly furry and a little spotty. This was followed immediately by a nauseating stench. Mother swooned and fell gracefully onto the thickly carpeted floor as the twins squealed. Continue reading “What’s for Dinner?”

Amitav & Susanna

Coming down the wooden stairs that rainy morning…

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Coming down the wooden stairs that rainy morning, she saw the dining table covered with papers marked with scribbles, arrows and coloured lines. Amitav glanced up when he heard the creak of the stairs and managed a weak smile. Susanna raised her eyebrows in lieu of asking him the obvious.

He answered her, “I was emptying the contents of my head onto paper, just in case,” he paused briedly and continued, “Not everything of course. Only the important stuff.”

“Just in case of what, Amitav?”

He let his eyes wander along the floor, as if an answer lay down there.

“Just in case everything important I know dies with me.”

With a sharp intake of breath, she sat down on the second last step of the staircase, feeling a sudden tiredness that went beyond the physical. Susanna, the only child of diplomats, had been educated in half a dozen countries that her parents were based in while she was growing up, and later finished degrees in Environmental Science and Literature. So beautiful was she, that they said she could have made it as a model in most countries, and instead of marrying any of the aggressive, wealthy and handsome men who had pursued her passionately, she choose to marry the man who had the ability to make her laugh every time.

Amitav stood only several feet away from her, across the table, but he may as well have been much further away. At times, she feared that the drifting was leaving him almost beyond her reach. She tried not to cry, not with him standing there, and casually wiped off tears that had welled in her eyes. And she thought,

When was the last time you had succeeded in making me laugh, Amitav?

 

Fall of the Sky Kingdom

Then the dark days of the hailstorm came. War raged like the sea tides, surging and receding. It went on, solar year after solar year until a new King choose to act differently.

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Prologue

The sky is a different place when you fly through it. Many times, I have sat on a plane and looked out the window and, it seems to be a different world out there than what we see from the limitations of our existence down here on earth. When you fly, the clouds are ahead of you, around you and most interestingly, beneath you. Majestic, mile-high cirrus and cumulus towers loom up, rose-tinted when the sun is low on the horizon. They look exactly like mountains, which in a way, they are.

If you are airborne during the earth’s late evening, a darker hue seeps into the crisp and clear blue dome of sky. The first star comes out – which one is it? And before you know it, a profusion of stars present themselves, forming constellations older than man and his limited knowledge.

Who is to say mountains can only be of the earth? Who is to say there aren’t other worlds or realms up there? I will tell you of the story I heard as a child.

 

1.

Some among us have long known of the fabled existence of cities among the clouds. These were the ancient sky kingdoms where generations thrived and vanished, disappearing completely from humanity’s collective knowledge, save for brief glimpses that remain in the near-forgotten literature of various civilisations. They were not Gods strictly speaking, but a pure race somewhere between humankind and divine beings in the order of creation, blessed with the ability to travel through the skies in their magnificent chariots. They lived, loved and died as did lesser mortals on earth. Only the lifetimes were longer, the carefree days more blissful while darkness, when it arrived, was entirely more crushing.

There came a time when the First Kingdom, blessed with lifetimes of bountiful harvests and benevolent leadership, had passed the zenith of its rule and was threatened with war unless it subjugated itself to the rule of the war-mongering Third Kingdom. Emissaries journeyed between both nations, intent was counter clarified, until it became abundantly clear that the First Kingdom was left with two clear choices – surrender or face annihilation. Continue reading “Fall of the Sky Kingdom”