| kusume rumal |
Posted
on 19-Apr-04 07:10 AM
Nidhika is back to her country after a long long time. How she missed those green fields, the smell of those fresh muddy paddy fields. It was green and pleasant everywhere. Suddenly lush green field changed into blood red. Sky looked like it was vomiting havoc.
Nidhika finds herself surrounded by a blazing fire. The deafening noise, shrills and chaos are heart rendering. Amidst this naked dance of death, she sees a tattered lady looking at her, drenched in blood.. She freezes there unable to move. There was something in those eyes captivating her; locking her eyes. Those dark intense pupils held so much pain and so much love like the small little rose holding thousands of pearly dew drops during dark nights. Small may have been the pupils of that distant figure, it had the world in it; of hope; of love; of hopelessness; of loss. It was the mirror of an ailing heart.
Nidhika felt drawn towards those eyes but the distance felt like an eternity and her feet seemed to weigh like a ton each. She walked closer lured by the pain of those haunting eyes, by the charisma of that tattered yet illuminating feminine figure. The brief fraction of second of their encounter however, gave her ample time to notice the unmistakable familiarity of her face. She tried hard to remember where she had seen that face before but she couldn’t.
Nidhika’s gaze moved down to the woman’s feet. She almost gasped out of breadth. Trickles of blood were running down from that woman’s ankle. She was shackled. There were dark deep red marks around her ankles.
The strong feeling of closeness and acquaintance to the figure was beginning to drive her insane. It was pushing her deep into the ground making each step even more difficult.
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| kusume rumal |
Posted
on 19-Apr-04 07:14 AM
Suddenly there was another explosion; she heard the noises of footsteps, animals and human cries alike. People were running in all direction, everything was dark and smoky. Pale faces were lit radiantly. The only difference of those radiantly lit faces was that it wasn’t from the effect of oil lamps still used in remote areas of the country nor was it from electric lights available for the more fortunate ones, it was from the dreadful flames engulfing the whole world; her world.
Nidhika was speechless as she saw a heavily built man coming towards her. The guy running towards her with a shining khukuri in his hand was unforgettably one of her own teacher.She couldn’t move. Her teacher’s eyes were fixed on her, spitting hate and no sign of recognition for the girl who he had once taught to be wise and patient. It was the cruel irony of her life.He smelled of hatred and blood of her loved ones. His khukuri was covered with blood which looked like her own .It must have been the blood of hundreds of her brothers who died fighting for her and alikes.
Nidhika had recently heard how the girls in those remote areas were brutally raped by the beasts of the same soil. He smelled of that stench too.
She squeezed her eyes tight to shut these images. It was hard to imagine a pen instead of khukuri and ink marks instead of blood on his back; ink that had been splashed by some mischievous student without his knowledge. She wished it to be someone else when she opened her eyes but to her dismay, it was still him blinded with hatred, corrupted by animalistic power.
She waited for her fates he could feel a chill run down her spine. It dawned to her as a lightening at that moment that the dying helpless lump of flesh in tattered cloth with haunting eyes was no one else but herself. It was her ragged conscience, her self respect and her dreams dying a slow death of hopelessness.
The image of her dying hope and the teacher with khukuri in his hand stood right infront of her. Nidhika surrendered to her fate which could possibly have been the fate of thousands like her. She silently waited for her fate to come to an end still hopelessly hoping for a miracle to happen.
For one last time she wanted to think about those lush green hills, shinning snow clad mountains and millions of deities who were supposed to protect her and her people.
With her eyes tightly shut, she let herself drift back with time when there was peace, when there was brotherhood between her people.
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