AMEETHYST

Chapter 14: Brainstorming Life’s Ambitions After the brief meal, I was relaxing on the terrace watching the view of the twilight sky. The orange-ish blue horizon formed a magnificent gradient as the background for the resplendent Taj Vivanta which was right across our apartment. The invariable cacophony of the trains at Yeshwantpur railway station, traffic on the busy Tumkur road , and the excruciating noise of Namma Metro flyover construction work, all added up to exterminate the tranquillity I came searching for. I took out my camera and started clicking pictures of the sky, and everything that bothered me and pleased me. I can still enjoy this evening . I consoled my conscience. “Abhi... What are you doing up here?” Divya came up searching for me. Her eyes were eager and they had a questionnaire ready. “Shoot me.” I said. “What???” She asked with a surprise. “Take a picture of me.” I said. She didn’t get it for the first time. “Oh!” She carefully handled my equ...

Chapter 13: Smile Distributions Whatever happened last night, I didn’t want to carry forward the next day and spoil my mood. As we departed from the Shiva’s Land , I bid adieu to His glorious seashores and welcomed His revelation of bitter truths about Anusha. I was strong enough to digest this fact, but I prayed hard to give a lot more courage to Vikram. “Are we going to Divya’s home?” I asked mom. “Yes Abhi. I called her. She’s cooked lunch for us.” Mom replied with a smile. It was 6:00 am and the sun had risen on the other side of the sea. I wish I could have seen another sunset . I just threw away a wish staring at the glowing skies. “Abhi. What happened? Why are you so dull today?” Sakshi asked with a concerned look in her eyes. “Nothing... It’s just that everything got over so soon.” I said, without a smile. “Did Anu say something?” she whispered as she captured my fake expressions in a jiffy. “Let’s talk about it later sweetheart.” I gave away a consoling sm...

Chapter 12: Contagious Emotions All of us safely reached our rooms while Shrushti was still fanning her mouth. Anusha seemed to be in a composed state of mind, but her feelings seemed quite decomposed. “Can I talk to Anu for a while?” I asked Sakshi with a serious concern. “Sure Abhi. Please do.” She agreed. “In fact, I was about to tell you the same.” She smiled and approved my request. Anusha was standing in the balcony of her room, silently staring at the blank cloudless skies. The air grew colder and the moonlight shone on her radiant face. A droplet of tear formed in her eyes and it glittered like a blue diamond. It was greedy enough to grab it before it rolled down her silky cheeks. “So beautiful. Isn’t it?” I stood beside her watching the blank sky along with her. “Huh?” She didn’t listen to what I was talking. “I said... You were looking beautiful today.” I changed the subject. “Hmmmm.... Thanks Abhi.” She looked away from me while she still tried to find ...

Chapter 11: The Overnight Assignment After a long spiritual conference with Lord Murudeshwara , we all returned to our rooms. All of us were hungry and dad with his usual commanding voice said, “Let’s go to temple. Dinner is being served.” All of us leaped in a sense of urgency as if the dinner would get exhausted. “Abhi. You need to wear this.” He again handed over the panche . This time I was more conscious. “Dad... Give me the cotton one.” I said, exchanging the same panche with dad. He was an expert in wearing all types of panche’s , and I wanted to wear it like a simple lungi . I wrapped it around my waist and tied a tight knot on the side so that it doesn’t collapse in front of the ladies. We entered the huge dining room of the temple where prasadam was served. The hall was huge enough to easily feed about three hundred devotees at a time. The hall looked like an American flag with alternatively lesser stripes of black tiles sans the square block of stars in the co...

Chapter 10: Faith Consultants Sakshi was the only girl in the whole tour with full of enthusiasm. Shrushti newly broke up with her boyfriend and her wounds were still very fresh. She had come with us to get over it and her purpose was well served. Anusha was not the one who’d have fun openly with us though she had it all dancing in her mind, she wasn’t letting it out because of her Connubial leash she had in her neck. And of course, the presence of my parents made her feel much more conscious. We all gathered our paraphernalia and loaded them on top of Tavera . Dad sat in his reserved front seat and I sat behind the driver’s seat near the window. Sakshi sat beside me and mom was on the other side, behind dad. Shrushti and Anusha took the back seat and sat comfortably stretching their long legs. As far as the attires for a semi-religious tour was concerned, dad wore his simple white cotton lungi and a half-sleeve cream coloured shirt. He looked super-normal and quickly mad...