Chapter 2
The curse follows
Believe it or not
We are not free to choose what life throws at us but we are free to decide what to do about it!
Vignesh locked the bike and entered inside the house.
“Vignesh, my son you have come?”
“Yes, Mom!”
“How was the office, dear?”
“Fabulous… A big company of more than hundred acres. It is the first Windmill company in Kerala ...”
“Are the people there friendly? How is the work?”
“What is this mom? First, give me a cup of coffee to drink. There are a lot of things I have to tell you. I will say it only if you give me a cup of coffee…” Vignesh said as he changed his dress.
Hearing Vignesh’s words, she hurried to the kitchen to make the coffee.
Vignesh began to talk about the days happenings when she returned with the coffee. As he told, her facial expressions changed gradually. When he finished saying,
She asked, “What? Did that snake come to bite you?”
“No, mom. It looked with anger. That's all. If I have got something in my hand, I would have hit it. It is sheer luck; it had a narrow escape from me...”
“No son, please don’t do anything like that. It is a big sin!”
“Sin? What is this, mom? Why are you scared of snakes? It is just a poisonous animal? That’s it…”
“You are very young that is why you are talking like this. But there are many unrevealed truths behind the snakes…”
“Oh, god! I should not have told you about this. You are a mythological woman…”
He said as he drank the coffee. But it hurt her very much.
“Vignesh… I warn you again...among all the animals, serpents have a very special place in the human life. A living thing without any hands, legs or feathers, only with its two teeth it is hunting the prey as well as protecting it from the predator. It is not a normal being. The fear that comes the next moment when you see a snake is not normal. Among our gods, Lord Vishnu use it as a bed and lie upon it, Lord Shiva adorn it in his neck and Shakti wears it as an ornament. There are a lot of unknown truths behind it…”
Parvathi finished a mini-lecture. Vignesh himself was a little amazed at her speech.
‘Mom, these are our mindset. Chinese won’t fear snakes. On the contrary, they eat it as a soup.’ he thought to say. But thinking that she would reply to some other thing for that, he said, “Okay, mom. What is your conclusion?”
“You should not go on that side. If so, go with devotion and fear…”
“Oh! If not, will that snake bite me?”
“Not like that... I am afraid of that trident.”
“It is just a metal piece … It is a non-living thing. It will never walk, come and stab me… Mom, I promise you, we will never fight with each other…”
Parvathi no longer wanted to argue with him. She just stared at the photo of her husband and father in law, Radhakrishnan that were hanging on the wall.
So many meanings untold were there within that stare!
In the office, short films were screened in the training centre. Everything was Windmills! Those were the films relating to the Windmills from all over the world. From Switzerland, Ireland, Nigeria, San Francisco and so on… The length and width of each windmill, the capacity of its power generation, the speed of the wind that blows, technical niches that can occur, ways to fix them, which of them are suitable for Kerala. A young woman was describing everything in detail about all these. She has a lovely name called Anu… Her accent and voice both were very attractive. She was tall and had a rose-colored skin tone like a foreign lady.
In this generation, girls do not like to plait their hair. They love to set it free in the air and think it is a trending style. As far as they are concerned it may not be awkward for them, but it is not the same for all those who see them..
The same was applied for Gajendran at that training centre. Finally, after explaining about the Congo’s Windmill, the lights were switched on. The whole room was filled with electric light.
“Any doubts?” Shivani asked, looking at everybody.
“Yes, I have one.” Vignesh said.
“Yeah, what is your doubt?”
“When will you plait your hair?”
Everybody laughed hearing this. Shivani too laughed. Soon then she plaited her hair in front of him. Then everybody started to disperse to their work spots. Vignesh was also getting ready to leave but Shivani stopped him.
“Mr. Vignesh...Are you going to your cabin?”
“Yes, why madam?”
“Please! Call me by saying my name.”
“Oh… Okay, then. Why does your name seem mythological?”
“What can I do? You should ask my mom and dad.”
“Ok, Shivani we will discuss this while going to my cabin!”
“With pleasure!”
“Are you a fresher?”
“Yes, Shivani. Where is your native? Is your real name Shivani?”
“What is the doubt in that? My father is a devotee of Sree Lalithambika and is from Palakkad. That’s why he has chosen a name from the ‘Sree Lalitha Sahasranama.’
“Probably, you might have born in Himalayas!”
Hearing that, Shivani laughed hard. By then, both of them had reached the neem tree under which the trident is placed. A woman was worshipping the trident. Shivani giggled looking at that.
“What, Shivani? Don’t you believe in god?”
“I believe. But placing a trident wherever you like and worshipping it is too much.”
“Exactly. We both have similar thoughts in this…” There is no chance for that woman to hear what they talk. But her body shivered as she went into a trance stage.
“Hey…” as she howled, she pulled the trident and held it in her hand.
In the same way as we might have seen in some movies how Maa Kali coming ferociously with a trident to kill the demons.
She came running towards Vignesh with the trident.
“Hey...You are making fun of me by asking questions. See! What I can do.” as she said,
she threw the trident at him. It pierced his stomach.
Everything happened within a fraction of a second and Vignesh fell down bleeding!
