CHAPTER 11
The great escape
My guru, belonged to a very rich family from Kerala, he ran away from his house at a very young age when he started hearing the ‘Pranav mantra’continuosly in his ears. Just like a nomad he wandered in many forests for years.At last he reached the Agasthyakoodam forest. After many years of continuous penance, there he got enlightened. Some forests are very divine and in these forests tiger and deer will drink water in the same pond. He was so amazed by the power of nature once he told me that carnivorous animals like lions and tigers will eat only dead animals in these divine forests.
Kottarathil Sankaran.
Lakshmipuram!
Anand's car entered the Lakshmipuram village. He could find only greenery everywhere. Everyone from the farm laborer’s to petty shop keepers were staring at Anand’s car. Anand was looking like as if he was coming straight from Srilanka by car. Anand with his cooling glass and cap looked ultra-modern for the villagers.
Anand looked out through his car window and removed his cooling glass and parked the car in front of Varma's bungalow.
It was Meenu who saw him first! He peered at her as she was quiet new to him.
“Hey Mister, Who are you... what do you want? ”Meenu asked.
“Want to meet my uncle! "
“Uncle... Whose uncle?”
“Who are you... you are asking too many questions to me.”
When things got baffling between them, the house servant Kanaran peeked out and came running towards him.
“Oh...Anand Ji, come...come...Meenu Mam he is Varma Ji’s sister’s son. He was in Srilanka…” Kanaran introduced Anand to Meenu.
Meenu looked at Anand lustfully. Anand was evaluating her in mind by looking at her piercingly. Varma was playing cards with Sree. When Anand came inside Varma smiled at him without any specific emotions in his face.
“Who are you?”, Sree asked.
“Mam,he is Varma Ji’s sister’s son Anand”, answered Meenu who came behind Anand.
“ Oh, come...come!”
Anand looked at Sree sharply!
“Please sit Anand ”Sree showed him a nearby sofa.
"Uncle, how are you?” Anand looked at Varma and inquired about his health. Varma looked at him and again smiled like a just born child quite innocently.
"Uncle, why are you so silent?"
“Anand, he is not feeling well for the past one month. How is everyone at home?” Sree enquired.
“Fine, by the by, who are you... where is.. my aunty?”
“I am also your aunt ... "saying this Sree got up and started collecting the cards.
“Aunty? How?”
“Dear... please tell him “- Sree looked at Varma and said.
“Yes Anand... she is also your aunt.” Varma spoke like a robot.
“What are you saying, uncle ...?”Anand did not forget to show sufficient shock to make them believe that he do not know anything about what is going on there!
“Anand, I told you, your uncle is not well. Please do not disturb him. Please go and refresh yourself and come for breakfast.” Sree said trying to avoid him and send him from there as early as possible. Meenu and Kanaran were standing beside her watching everything silently.
“Everything, what is going on here seems to me very strange! Where is Ashwini?, What is all this....?”Anand started his performance.
“Anand Ji, That is…”Sree did not allow Kanaran to complete his words.
All of a sudden her face turned reddish and she exploded,
“Why are you questioning him? I told you that I’m everything for Varma Ji now. Ashwini is married and is well settled now with her husband and is living very peacefully. What more do you want to know,Anand?”Sreeksha’s words were very sharp but Anand did not react as he expected this..
“Ashwini… married! when?”
“A month before.” Sree replied.
“How come... she was fixed for me!”
“Maybe. But she was in love with my brother and we arranged their marriage.”
"I cannot believe it...uncle, how did you agree for this?”
In response, Varma could give back only a pasted smile. He was very weak by mind and body, looking at the roof, he was meddling with his fingers as if something was glued to it.
"Kanara ... show Anand his room and come back fast…" said Sree.
While moving with Kanaran, Anand’s eyes were focused only on Sree.
“Anand Ji, please come with me, I will show your room ”Kanaran lead him to a room in the upstairs.
After keeping Anand’s luggage in the room Kanaran said, ”Ji,I will be back in a moment please..”and turned back to go.
“Just a minute Kanara. Please answer me and go, what happened to my uncle? Who is that lady.....?
“Anand Ji, please...that lady will hear.”
“So what...who is she? Where is my aunt?”
“Alas, Anand Ji, please don’t shout like this. You do not know what is going on here. Please wait here until I come.” Kanaran swiftly moved away from there.
In Varma’s bed room Sree asked Kanaran…
“Hey...Kanara,did he ask anything about me?”
“Yes…Mam”
“Don’t tell him anything about me. Is it true that he my nephew?”
“Yes,Mam…”
“Has he got any properties in this village? ”
“Yes,ofcourse Mam,he has. Actually it is he who has to marry Ashwini because in this family, it is a practice to marry within the family circle only as they do not want to part with their properties or share it with a third party who is unknown and a stranger!.”
“Ok ... How much property does he have? "
“A lot. There will be a minimum of five hundred to six hundred acres of land along with the farm house and the bungalow in it”
”Oh, that much? Sree’s eyes widened.
Her mind immediately started planning about how to snatch away those properties from Anand. At the same time she heard the ding…ding…ding sound of the bell from the pooja room.
“Oh,My God, Mayamma has started her daily Pooja, I should be there by now with her otherwise she will get wild! “saying this Sree went running towards the pooja room.
Anand , who was observing all these called Kanaran. He came and stood before him trembling.
“Kanara,what is going on in this house... why does uncle sitting like an enchanted chicken…?”
"Anand Ji.. that is…”
“What ‘that is’ ..?”
“What you said is true Anand Ji, by all means, at present he is an enchanted chicken only.”
“Kanara,I said it as a joke only!”
“So, you don’t believe what I said, did you heard those ding…ding…ding bells?”
“So what, may be aunty is doing some pooja! "
“Aunty...Don’t say it out loud. She has come to gobble our entire property”
“Kanara,please explain in a way that I can understand you.”
“Anand Ji, so many things has happened when you were not here.To tell you the fact everything is Varma Ji’s fault. He desired for something which he shouldn’t. Now, the entire Lakshmipuram is suffering because of it and no one can save us from this...”
A deeply upset Kanaran expressed his feelings emotionally right from his heart of hearts. Now again they could hear the ding…ding…ding sound of the bell. Anand got ready to go and check what was it?
Noticing this Kanaran immediately said,
"Anand Ji, please do not go there now…”
Anand just smiled and started walking towards the pooja room from where the sound has come..
In the Pooja room
Before a black stone which was fully covered with blood red sindoor, Mayamma was sitting chanting some mantras, from a hand-made earthenware pot near her,smoke of sambarani was coming, filling the air with a typical fragrance.
Sree entered the pooja room and locked the door from inside so that no one can enter…
She kneeled down before Mayamma with fear and devotion. Meenu was standing beside Mayamma with folded hands...
“Mayamma…”
“Sree...who is that new comer to this house? Mayamma asked.
“Varma Ji’s sister's son Mayamma, he has come from Srilanka. He is asking too many questions.”
“Hmm…?”
“Ashwini is Anand’s fiancé, it seems”
“So what…?”
“Anand possess a lot of property in this village... !”
“So... ?"
“If you permit, we can make him marry Meenu. She is also like a daughter to me now, right? Sree said.
"Do you mean that we can give Meenu to Anand?"
“Yes…Mayamma”
“I can't, do it now Sree”
"Mayamma, please don’t say like that we are fully dependent on you, I know that there is nothing impossible for you…”
“Haven’t you heard about the Asian proverb ‘even elephant can slip’?”
“What are you saying, Mayamma?”
“Sree, first, I should retrieve the missing green wooden box from wherever it is, as my entire power is in it….”
“But, Mayamma we have searched the entire bungalow for it and we could not find it anywhere. There isn’t a single place in the bungalow where I haven’t searched for that…”
“Sree, you fool, how many times I have to tell you that, if we do not get it then I am mere zero only without any power!”
"I am sorry, Mayamma but can’t you find it with the help of your Mayakutty?"
“Even to summon Mayakutty I need that wooden box as I placed my magical pearl necklace inside it by mistake. Now I’m a corpse without any power. “
“Oh,god, is all your power in that pearl necklace?”
“For black magicians like us, It is like a protection. In the skull of a black magic guru who has lived for twelve generations, we apply the holy ash that we get from performing different homas like Chandi, Mundi, Chamundi and then we will take the pearl beads which we have kept in pooja for 4428 days and will make it as a pearl necklace and will wear it to get unique powers so that no other force in this world or in nether world can touch us…”.
Mayamma continued…
“Then we will summon negative forces like Mayakutty and will ask them to swear on that pearl necklace that they will obey us as long as we wear it. Like an elephant which is afraid of a ankusa, the negative forces will be afraid of this necklace and will obey us. Without it, you cannot summon them or ask them to do anything. Sometimes they may even work against you! It is better not to summon them at this juncture when things are not in our favor.”
“If so, what will happen to Varma Ji, who is bound by me and listens to whatever I say now. "
“As long as Agasthyakoodam black jasmine is with you, Varma will be under your control. Once that black jasmine loses its power everything will change and Varma will become normal...”
"Shits ... then what we will do?"
“Don't worry Sree, ... the only way out from this is that I have to go to Agasthyakoodam forest immediately. From there, I will keep on sending you the black Jasmine covering it with a black cloth and Varma will be under your control until you have the black jasmine with you! But I will return only after I have made the Ashtamasiddhi oil to retrieve my powers to a certain extend.”
”Mayamma, what is Ashtamasiddhi oil? Sree asked with curiosity.
“You will not understand if I say, read this manuscript in the palm leaves.” She said.
Mayamma gave Sree a manuscript in palm leaves to Sreeksha and she started reading it…
Anand who was watching all these through the key hole of the pooja room door could not believe his own eyes.
Sree started reading the manuscript with much difficulty as the language in it was very weird.
“Get the body of a person who was impaled and bury him carefully in the burial ground, build a wall around that place and do not forget to make it look grand. Humans should not be allowed to roam or enter that place. After 48 days, take that body out, deodorize it and dry it in the sun, then place the body which is shrunk now in a mud pot and keep it safe. Then in another pot put crow's faeces, the hair less body of peacock, black cock and redhead bird dried similarly should be kept ready.”
Sree continued to read…
“Then take the blood of Slender Lois and the blood of a black dog dry it and mix it together and keep it in a mud pot as well after this put the ingredients in the three pots on a stone grinder and grind it well and put the mixture in another mud pot, cover it with a black cloth and bury it under earth in a 2 feet deep hole. On top of this pot which is under earth, keep another mud pot which is having a hole in it put shit of buffalo and goat droppings and ash taken from burial ground keep it like that for 48 days. After forty-eight days place fire woods there and burn it continuously for three days. Now the ingredients inside the mud pot will get heated and the oil will start appearing and will collect down in the small pot we have kept under it. Take it and add half a cup of lime with it and stir it well you will get a semi fluid liquid in the color of the snake fruit. Take it in a bottle, and do Bhairava pooja and Vaalai pooja and apply it in your eyebrows, you will get ashtamasiddhi. Whatever the person who has applied this will come true!”
Sreeksha finished reading the manuscript, her body was slightly trembling after reading it in fear…
“Mayamma, all this looks to me quiet abnormal. We need the corpse of a man who was impaled, crow faeces, peacock, redhead birds, slender lois, black dog and so on…and so many other process is also involved in this is it really possible to all this?”
“Yes,Sree,black magic is not a child’s play it is also a highly professional job for which one needs specific skills! Mayamma replied.
“Mayamma, why do we need the body of an impaled person once a person is dead all are same it is only a dead body is not it? Sree raised her doubt.
“No Sree, in the case of a person who is dies due to implement the death is happening due to sever sins committed by him. In this case the soul of the particular person will remain near the dead body to protect it.There are many more subtleties...like this”
Hearing Mayamma’s explanation and Sreeksha’s questions Anand stood frozen.
Anand who was listening to this conversation said in his mind, “Oh.god,still I have to learn and understand so many unrevealed mysteries in this world! "he continued to eavesdrop.
Sree asked,
“Mayamma, how can we get the body of a person who is impaled, I think it is impossible!”
“What's this Sree? We have many servants in this bungalow? We have to sacrifice one of them for our welfare!.”
Although Sree was not shocked on hearing this. Anand stood like a statue without knowing what to do!
“You witch...It is not our servant, but it is you that is going to be impaled, it is you and you only”. saying this in mind Anand just escaped from there silently.
