Go God- part 2

An uncertain second part to an uncertain story...i jus wanna let it free, combine every element of arbitrary info that's been swimming in my mind...so this might not make even the remotest sense...but then, life sometimes does that doesn't it? sorry fr that word in the end, i never usually incorporate them, but i'd been buildin up fr this effect :P..

'That's my man' said Vin, not sure whether to be happy or worried that Sid had agreed to search for the answer to their lives, which was under a certain rock, as told by the flying cow that had almost killed them. He decided to go with the flow.

'Let's go then, 7th cross.' They broke off into a jog, running on the pavement beside the road, drawing curious glances from the others, two old-looking boys, with their bags flapping behind them. They made their way to the 7th cross and set themselves to the task of counting the 7th tree. If there were indeed seven stones under that tree, then there would be some thinking for the two of them to do. As of now, they were just heeding the cow's words for want of anything better to do.

They found the 7th tree and indeed there were seven distinct rocks strewn around it. They could not believe their eyes and immediately set to prying aside the first rock from the right. Sid could not contain himself.

'Dude that flying-cow thing was right man. But, but what the hell is happening here? What are we hoping to find here man? I mean this could be just any rock, and I mean, I still can't believe a cow just spoke to me. I mean, I mean, what the FU-'

He could not complete his sentence, because at that exact moment, two very big stray dogs pounced upon them and pushed them away from the rock. They then stood guarding it, flashing rows of very sharp teeth at Vin and Sid, daring them to come any closer. Vin and Sid stared at them for a few seconds, not knowing what was happening. Then the dog to the left spoke up.

'What do you think you're doin 'ere sonny?' It had a thick cockney accent, and spoke with a lazy drawl, obviously in no hurry. There was a growling tone to its voice, seeing as it was, at the end of the day, a dog.

Sid had had enough of a day of talking animals telling him what to do, and hence his mind refused to respond, throwing one of its tantrums.Vin was more accommodating, or perhaps his brain was slower to respond to the newer developments they were encountering. The other dog chose this moment to speak up.

'Marty's askin you a question there. 'Ow about you answer him eh?'

Vin stammered, words tumbling out of his mouth before he knew it. When he would be asked to reflect upon this moment in the future, Vin would merely say he was thinking about why the product of pressure and volume was proportional to the temperature in an ideal gas. Your CET teachings would come to haunt you only in moments of extreme shock, apparently.

'Well there was this cow that came flying at us sir, it told us the answer to our lives and our problems were buried under this rock', he said pointing to the rock they had dug up. 'And so we thought we'd come and check it out. You see, our lives are going to be a taking a turn for the worse tomorrow, and we wanted to do something to change that.'

After a poignant pause, in which the dogs considered their answer (and Sid would berate himself forever for phrasing it thus), they seemed to smile with something that resembled benevolence, and Marty spoke up.

'Oh I see. So you've spoken to Harold then. All right then. But I need you to do this fer me. Answer this riddle and I'll let you pass. Who do we know as Broda?'

'What?!' Just as he was coming to terms with the fact that he was being questioned by a cockney dog, the riddle was a bolt from the blue for him. What the hell was a Broda?

'Oh and did we mention that if you answer wrongly, Marty'll rip yer throat out' the second dog stated, as if were discussing yesterday's weather with them.

Sid gulped. The word Broda stirred some deep, long forgotten memory. Something he'd seen or heard. And then the answer struck him. His brain was in a tussle.

No way, too ridiculous to be the answer

Do you know any other answer?

But this can't be it

Yes it is

Okay

'Uh are you by any chance talking about Barney Stinson, the time when he tells Marshall he's like Yoda, only he's like a bro, and therefore Broda?'

There was a long silence, in which Vin looked at him, ready to high-five him if he were right, and to hit if he weren't. The hesitant voice in Sid's head shouted, 'Ha! I told you so!' and then whimpered, 'Oh damn, we're screwed'.

The dogs nodded their head, and then bounded around joyfully, expressing their approval and joy.

'So you watch 'Ow I Met Your Mother too eh boy? Man that Barney Stinson's the man I tell ya. 'E really is! Anyways, you can pass. Muck around if you want. We'll be right 'ere if you want us, and if you're free, we can watch an episode or two eh?' Marty winked at him and the two of them trotted away.

By now Vin and Sid had been hardened to all the talking and winking and ukulele playing that the animals could throw at them, so they weren't shocked anymore. The fact that the dogs watched that show wasn't surprising either. It was that good, wasn't it?

So anyways...they got back to getting the rock and soon struck upon a small metal box, upon which were engraved the words, 'The answers to Vin and Sid's problems'

They hurriedly took out the box and read the note that was placed in it. I won't try to build up the suspense by writing long sentences here. To get to the point, it simply said:

'Sorry for the inconvenience. You guys are screwed.'

They both sat down heavily upon the ground, not doubting the veracity of the note, accepting that they were done for. Sid fired up at Vin.

'Well so much for your theory. Go God, apparently. I say fu-'

He woke up with a jerk. Sid was in his bed, at home. There were no talking animals, no hidden answers. He still had the CET test in a few hours, and he still had one chapter left, but the rest of it was fine. He got ready for the day and left his house on time. On the way he stared at a cat that did something that had looked suspiciously like winking at him. He ignored and made his way to the exam hall.

When he got the paper, and went through it, he knew that in some way or the other, that message in his dream had been true. He was sure he was not going to do well. So what now?

Go God?...oh well, fuck...

Go God- part 1

Inspired by events concerning two of my friends...also by Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker series, which has events not even remotely concerning two of my friends. My first attempt at a funny-ish story, hope u guys at least chuckle...actually, its kind of a weird story, i myself dunno where it's leading...i jus know that i had to write it...

'What the fu-' Vin started, then left it hanging mid-air, as his mouth was in the exact same situation. His name could be Vineet, Vinayak or any others you could think up. He was sitting at a cafe with his friend Sid. Now again, he could be Siddharth, Sidhant, Siddesh. How does it matter? This story is beyond mundane issues like the protagonists' names. This, my friends, is a story about two guys encouraging God.

'Ya dude, we do have applications of integral calculus for tomorrow's math exam' Sid said in an alarmingly offhand way. Now you might think, what's so alarming about having skipped a chapter for a math exam? Well the exam in question is the CET. The Common Entrance Test, for admission to the engineering colleges in the state. Every sonofagun that ever dared dream of becoming an engineer, and too many do nowadays, knew that this exam was his one chance to go big. Of course there were many types of people who wrote the exam:

1. The not-so-bright hard workers, who would be aghast at getting a 4-figure ranking. There were all too many of these, and therefore many of them did end up being aghast.

2. The really smart ones, who didn't really study hard, but were sharp as hell. They'd bunk college to meet their girl, but still top the exams. Honest truth is they did study, but just hid it better. Many of these guys were responsible for those hard-workers being aghast.

3. The really stupid ones, who unlike the first type, had given in to it. All they cared about was which new hookah flavor had been introduced in their cafe, and who was making out with whom, while they were at that cafe.

4. Now we come to the real tragic types, and the focus of this story. The smart guys, not quite as brilliant as type two, but they could've had it all if they wanted to. Only they seemed to have decided not to want it, rather roaming around aimlessly over bridges, listening to music in nondescript lanes, and generally just ruining their future. Vin and Sid most definitely belonged to this group. Both had been among the top 3 in their schools and everyone expected of them. Fate had now found them, sitting in an ice-cream parlor, a day before the CET math test, realizing that they had not studied it all.

'How important is it man?' Vin asked.

'Very. Comes for ten marks. That's like 3000 ranks man, more' Sis replied

'Oh great, so basically what you're saying is that we're fu-'

'Unless you want to rush off home and brush it up now?' Sid interrupted him.

Vin considered it. Really did. ' All right man. Toss a coin. Heads we go, tails we stay' he said placidly.

And placidly Sid flipped a coin. It turned up heads. He looked up at Vin quizzically.

After a pause Vin said, 'Oh alright, best of three!' They both laughed, and Sid flipped it again. It turned heads again. Vin thought for a while, and finally managed to piece together an argument.

'Look, we left our decision to chance because we didn't know what we wanted. But when we saw the outcome, somewhere within us we disagreed with it. That means we do know what we want. So what was the point of this exercise? Obviously we don't want to go home, so should we, just because a coin said so? Chill man, let's just relax and make sure we do the other parts well. Anyways we can't finish a chapter entirely in a day'

'I knew you were going to say that Vin. I'd have been surprised if you would have agreed to go on home' Sid sighed. 'So what do you plan we do now?' he added tiredly, as they paid the bill, got up and were getting out on the street.

'We've got to think about how we can still ace this exam without learning that chapter. You know there's a possibility that we might unknowingly tick the right answers for the questions they ask from applications? There's no negative marking anyways...' Vin offered.

Sid did not like to fantasize about improbable things. He did not think that he could do well without studying. Unlike Vin, he had reconciled to the fact that he had indeed wasted an opportunity and was heading for a disaster tomorrow. 'Dude it's pissing off when you sometimes talk crap like that. You know there's not a chance in fu-'

'Unless you know, we really encouraged God to help us' Vin halted him mid-way. 'You know how people always pray to him and ask him stuff? See maybe, he doesn't want their pleading, their whining, their constant requests. You know, maybe somewhere deep within him, he just wants someone to reassure him, to encourage him, to tell him that he can do it. That's what we need to do, encourage God'

'Do you have any idea what you're talking? No I mean, you're blabbering some utterly incomprehensible crap. Where the hell did God come into this? And encourage Him? Dude are you okay?'

Vin had a faraway look in his eyes, as if he was seeing something that Sid wasn't. And then slowly he muttered.

'Go God! Go God! Go God!...seriously man, all He needs is a little push, a little reassurance. See how he'll make sure that we own the exam tomorrow! Come on, join me'

'Yeah man, we're going to own tomorrow's exam...and then there'll be cows flying, giving us the answers about our future uh? Now stop this shit, and let's talk about how we're going to get out of this fu-'

He never got to complete his sentence, because at that very moment, something big and white crashed into the house they were walking past, kicking up a big cloud of dust. They jumped back, waiting to see what would emerge. And out of the cloud, walked out...

A cow. Dusting its body, as it muttered to itself in perfect English, '...knew I should have veered the tail a bit more to the right...Oh hey you two! I'm Harold. What's up?'

It looked at their faces, open in wonderment and shock, and laughed. 'Okay seriously, you guys need to get over the flying cows bit. We've been doing that for a long time now, only every time a human sees it for the first time, it's like his world crashes around him. For devil's sake, why don't you notice things a little more? Not only can cows fly, they can hear others' thoughts as well, especially the really strong ones. Fact is, every animal has certain qualities that you guys haven't figured out. For example starfish are excellent ballroom dancers, the meerkats can play a mean ukulele. And don't even get me started on squirrels...'

'Say what?' was all Vin could manage, before his mind got all muddled again.

'Well didn't your friend here say he wanted to see flying cows and answers about tomorrow's result? Well here I am. Come on then, I don't have much time. Listen to me carefully: The answer you seek lies under the seventh rock under the seventh tree to the left side in the seventh cross road, on this main road. Isn't this where you guys hang out all the time, while you should be in class? Well it should be easy to find it then. You got all that down? All right then, got to get back to the farm, the old man's got to milk me again...toodles!'

And it took off, just like that, with a blast of hot air from its behind propelling it forward.

Sid looked at Vin and after a long time, finally asked. 'Did that just happen?'

'I think it did. So do you want to check out that place it spoke about?' Vin just realized that he had mentioned a speaking cow, and at present his mind wanted to focus more on the message than the messenger. Something told him madness lay that way...'What say Sid?'

After a long pause, in which Sid's mind had made the same decisions as Vin's, he said,

'Go God...'

Has she, hasn't she? - part 2

now to the meat of the matter...i've left the ending a lil unclear, open to interpretation...hope u guys like it...jus leave a comment abt how u liked it, or atleast write that you were here, so i know who's visited..

Vineet could not believe what had just transpired. He took out his hand from under her head and saw a redness spread all over it. Her body was still warm, and there was feeling of life about her. She could not have died! For a moment there was confusion in his mind, 'has she, hasn't she?' But the faraway, dead look in her eyes convinced him.

In just a second's outburst, he had killed his wife, the mother of his child. What was he going to do now? After a couple of minutes, the thought that he would go to jail for murder struck him, and he sunk lower. For about ten minutes, he just leaned against the wall, not crying, not panicking. Just staring out in front of him, breathing but not alive, hearing but not listening. Then he got up and walked to the bedroom. He brought out the sleeping bag that they had bought last year for a camping excursion. He slowly stuffed her body in the bag and making sure that there was no more blood dripping, he dragged the bag out into the living room. Then he went back and cleaned the kitchen floor with a mop, making sure nothing looked amiss, and then threw the mop away.

He quietly took the bag with him, huffing and puffing as he coped with the dead weight. All the while his insides were twisting about, thinking about what would happen if someone caught him now. When he reached his car, and put the bag in the boot, he heaved a huge sigh of relief. He went back up and changed his shirt, wet with perspiration. It was fortunate that Sunil was staying at his grandmother's today and wasn't here right now. Vineet decided he would drive all the way to the place they had gone to camp. It was about six hours away by drive, and he distinctly remembered seeing swamp patches amidst the jungle. It was nine in the night now and he could be back by morning.

He got into the car and drove away, trying to hide under the night's dark cloak. The drive to the place had been the longest of his life. It was cloudy and there were no stars in the sky, whose absence increased the intense loneliness Vineet was feeling. The moon was trying valiantly to shine through now and then. It was silent as the grave and the halo of the street lights threw disturbing shadows on the road. Vineet zipped across the empty roads and made it to the swamp on time. He cruised by some of the forest land slowly, looking for a good spot. He found one, and slowed the car to a halt. He got out, looking around to see if anyone was there. Satisfied, he took the bag out of the car, started lugging the load over his back and entered the foliage. Everything was wet and sticky, and the creatures of the night were making all sorts of noises, as if it were a concerted effort to unnerve him. Let him know that they knew...

Vineet snapped back to the present, and noticed that he was an hour's drive from home. He shook his head, trying to get rid of that sound that rang softly in his ears, then the deafening silence that followed. Familiar sights started to pass by as he got nearer and nearer to where he lived. His mind was brimming with confusion, guilt, fear, sorrow, but mostly uncertainty.

What would he tell his son when he got home? He would come soon, and he was bound to ask. How long could Vineet hold up his lie? What would happen if Sunil knew? Why did this happen? How could it?

He tried to stop thinking, knowing it would lead nowhere. He looked at the blurring roadside, trying to distract his attention. That was when his eyes fell upon a single figure and every cell in his body decided to turn itself off.

There was his wife! Right under a banyan tree on the left side. She was standing right by the road, dressed as she was when she had died. Her hair was blowing in the cool morning breeze and her eyes were wide-open and staring, at him. There was accusation and all the anger in hell in those eyes. Her mouth was open in a big 'O', noiselessly screaming, and she was pointing at him. For a moment every sense of his went limp and he was unable to tear his gaze away from the apparition. Unbidden, his car veered to the left towards a large clump of trees. Still looking at the place he had last seen her, he crashed hard into a particularly thick bark and hit the dashboard hard. In a daze, he tried desperately to clutch on to the last threads of his consciousness, and in doing so, triggered the final bit of memory imprinted on his mind...

He had reached the perfect spot. There was a bubbling pool of green-brown slime in front of him. He laid the bag onto the ground and took a breather. He then lifted it and proceeded to lower it into the pool. He hesitated, and at that exact moment, an eerie sound pervaded the hush air.

It was low, muffled moaning coming from somewhere nearby. After a moment, Vineet looked down in horror to see that the bag was moving and it was the source of the sound. He had laid her body in the bag and had zipped it right up to her face, covering everything except the eyes.

Eyes that were now staring up at him wide and angry, but also full of fear. Eyes that were pleading and running with tears a moment later. She was begging him not to do it. She tried to move her hands, but there wasn't enough room. She opened her mouth but no sound came out. Vineet yelped in fear and shock and before he knew it, he had dropped the bag with his alive wife in it, into the pool. She had not died, but had merely been knocked out.

He tried to get to the bag and pull it out, but the surface of the pool was a good five feet below him and the bag was descending in it pretty fast. He could only lie over the edge and look into those eyes as they sank into the murky depths, and listen to the constant, helpless moaning. He ran from the place. He now realized what was chasing him. Not an animal, not a thing, and not judgement. It was merely that haunting moan that was ringing in his ears, and would continue to do so for the rest of his life...

Back in the wrecked car, Vineet was teetering on the edge of consciousness and his last thought before he blacked out had been that no matter what; whether he was to die now or survive, whether he'd do a thousand good deeds in his life, or even if he confessed it all...Vineet was no longer going to ever be happy in his life, never smile again or feel unburdened. He was doomed...

A small crowd rushed to the spot to check on the injured and seriously bleeding driver. No one could tell if he could make it through. Within the crowd was a small boy of five, confused and agitated by the bustle. He looked around and his eyes fell upon a woman dressed in a white gown, standing under a banyan tree and looking at him. She was slowly turning around and walking away.

He tugged at his mother's dress to draw her attention, but she only admonished him for disturbing her when there was something more interesting happening here...

Has she, hasn't she? - part 1

Its funny how sometimes a song, or more specifically, its guitar solo can inspire a whole story...sitting in my friend Keshav's house, listening to 'Arriving Somewhere but not Here' on his humongous system for the nth time, bobbing my head with closed eyes to the solo, this story just walked itself into my head. Hope u like it...

It was a crimson sky. Liberally splattered with shades of pink and more orange and the odd violet. That was how the sky always looked here at dawn. There were various exotic shapes floating in the sky, as the wind chose to shape the malleable clouds as they willed. It indeed looked like a giant canvas, subjected to the eccentric ravings of the maddest artist of them all.

And it was cold. Not the cruel, wintry weather that kept you at home, numb and bored. It was a lilting chill in the breeze, lingering just long enough to prick your nose, and then passing by. The fog hugged you just long enough for you to pass a quick shiver, and then left you alone. There was a peace in the sheer emptiness of the roads and the footpaths surrounded by trees; as if nature had finally had its way, and had managed to put the bustle to permanent sleep. But among all these niceties, the solitude and the silence carried with it a hint of loneliness, of hesitation and of menace. It was in the dark after all, that all evil and fear resided.

And Vineet was feeling the evil and the fear very strongly in particular. He did not care for all the poetic beauty surrounding him. He did not care for the pictures the sky painted, the games the wind played. In fact, he did not even care about the fact that he was driving at a hundred kilometers per hour with barely a glance on the road. He drove on, wide-eyed with shock and terror, looking but not seeing the path ahead. He barely blinked, and did not hold back the tears that leaked from his eyes. He was clutching the steering wheel with all his meager strength, till his knuckles had turned white. He was sitting rod-straight, and shivering at intervals, although it had nothing to do with that romantic chill.

Although Vineet was actually driving down NH-17, back into the city, in his mind's eye he was still at the swamp, three hours back in time.

He had just laid down the bag in the bubbling pool, his hands shaking violently. Then that had happened...

...now he was running through the undergrowth, the wet fronds slapping across his face. The slimy surface he was running on threatened to yank itself from under him. He knew he was being chased. Whether by an animal, a thought, a memory or retribution itself, he did not know. He had never been as scared in his life, his heart already having settled itself down in his mouth. He ran on, tumbling through the foliage blindly, and finally reached the car. He flung open the door, and was tearing down the road in a second.

Now he was back again on the road, driving at a hundred clicks. He was entering the city again, the traffic was thickening again, and he found the first traffic light after a long time. He slowed down to a halt, trying to hide his face, as if the whole world knew what he had done. He looked out of his window at the road. The wind was playing with two birds' feathers, blowing them in circles, as if they were catching each other's tails. Abandoning them, the wind came to play with him, caressing his cheek. He merely shuddered and resumed his abject look of terror. He wiped his tears once and looked around again. To his right was a woman in her thirties driving a brown Civic. She suddenly turned in his direction and gave a solicitous smile. He trembled at that, and quickly turned away. He had just rolled up his window, when a dirty, rough hand fell upon it. A poor, old lady, begging for alms. He shook his head at her and shuddered again. Trembled and shuddered, trembled and shuddered...

Again in his mind he dived. He was at home with his wife now, and she was shouting at him as usual.

'Don't complain about how I cook or clean all right? What right do you have to say anything? You couldn't even get me that gold necklace for our anniversary, despite slaving like a donkey in the office everyday. You probably are as stupid as I think you are then...'

She went on, as he stared resolutely at his plate, eating in silence. The first few times she had rebuked, he had said nothing. That had led slowly to this...

The signal turned green. He started his car, and once again the empty road was in invitation to let his mind drift. He was back at the dining table, only this time, while his wife's nagging voice bombarded his ears, he was thinking about the dressing-down he had received at his boss's hands that morning. Simultaneously, he switched between both voices.

'Do you expect to achieve anything in the workplace with some mediocre work Vineet? This is the most lousy presentation I have seen in a long time.'

'My mother was right, I never should have married you. Only I was blind enough to fall in love with you then. Look at what our son is having to go through everyday now.'

'This really is your last chance Vineet. I haven't forgotten you bungled up our last client as well.'

'Sunil needs a new set of uniforms, but we can't get it now, no money. His birthday's coming up, but...'

'And I hear from your colleagues that you have been spreading some rumors about them? What the hell are you doing all that here? Are you in high school?'

Vineet got up from the table and went to the kitchen to keep the plate. He had not spread any rumors, he just didn't get along with them, and they had said that about him because they didn't like him either. He tried to keep the plate, and walk out of there without further incident. But she stood in his way; it was not to be.

'Where do you think you're going that silently? Look at me!'

'Why are you standing silently like that? Say something! Why am I hearing all this about you?'

'You thing you can walk away from all your problems like that? Honesty hurts when it's flung at you doesn't it?'

'You think silence will help your case here or something? You can just walk away from it?'

'Look up, face me, my dear husband.'

'Speak up, I don't want that from you.'

'Act, you coward!'

'Act, you coward!'

'SHUUTT UP!!' he said, in a voice that sounded like a cross between like a sob and a roar. Without his knowledge, his hand rose as a fist and connected with his wife's jaw with a strength he knew not that he possessed. The force of the blow knocked her right off her feet, and she flew and her head hit the marble platform with a sickening thud.

Vineet ran to her, alarmed, and bent down over her, apologizing and asking if she was okay. She barely moved; it was only her eyes that were bug-eyed with terror and shock. She had never expected her husband to do something like this. After a few moments, she turned limp.

That was when the magnitude of the grave truth had washed itself over Vineet.

He had just killed his wife...

A long pending thanks...(no its not a story :P)

Hey hey...hello ppl..

thought i'd write this down to thank those few readers who've read n actually liked my work!

Ganga man, sorry i read that comment today, haven't bin on the blog myself for ages! 5.10?? Really? Even i'm not so committed to it :P..thanks a ton dude..

Apoorva, i'm sorry but maybe I dunno enough or maybe too many Apoorvas, but I don't remember, have we met?...but i'm really glad u liked the stuff, hope i can get in touch with u for some feedback :)...like i said, i'd taken a sabbatical, so all this has been a long time coming...

Nitin, the man, the macha, he will not stop praising this till i'm embarrassed...thanks for all the encouragement, u make me think i'm better than i actually am :P...

Ashish, nice to know u liked it, jus hope that i can keep it up..

Sanju, dude first thing, write ur name on ur profile! :))....thanks anyways man :)..

N last but definitely not the least (bloody hell no!)...my bros Keshav (Mama), Ashwin (Midget) n Rahul (Thangi)...the 3 asses who walked 'the walk to remember' with me that fateful day :P...

Don even need to say thanks (we're not used to it!), jus keep visitin like u guys always do...

N one thing to say to everyone: Although i write only to release my thoughts somewhere n for my pleasure alone, a lil recognition n praise is always welcome yaar :P...so if u guys like this, i want u to tell ppl who u think would like this kinda writing, make a mention on ur profiles or something, jus generally spread the word! N keep visitin once in a while, jus so u can read if there's something new i've posted...thanks again

Cheers,

Rohit