Dara 2 Story Behind Scars

By Suresh Kundal

DARA 2 (Story behind scars)

 

Millions of secrets were lying hidden underneath the suspended morning mist. A pungent smell of Pine woods prevailed in the entire Shiwaliks of Himalayan range. It is his new posting. Dara continues his long pointless stroll towards a deserted military dairy farm. Just behind the two boys with white eyebrows, a peculiar halo-like smoke billows up into dark clouds of demise.

 

Dara and Ruda drift into another world and get trapped into the mystic woods of Deodars and Pine. They befriend the same two boys with the white eyebrows. Their senses are blown off on discovering wooden boxes with some texts scraped in devnagri.

 

Dara is the link to yesterday, today and tomorrow. His sister Beero is betrayed by fate. Illiteracy adds to her misery. No one understands the plight of a woman, not even women.

                                          O' Dara, the immortals know the core of my crying heart!

                                          O' Dara, let mortals know the stories behind my scars!"

 

He could not gather courage and look up. With dazzling bright moon suspended at the knot over his forehead, BHOLENATH smiled at him.. The dusts of ashes were falling down on Earth spreading Love & Compassion". By the grace of Nataraj - the cosmic dancer, Abhimanyu grows up as a Kathak maestro.

 

While crossing the highest battlefield in the world, the troops are lost in Siachin glacier. Love for their motherland keeps the troops moving. Air warrior Wg Cdr Alok rescues the mighty men in olives. On the contrary, Satan abducts the womb of a pregnant lady in her nightmare. The world is unaware that a Satan has become manifest to the living!

 

                                         An Evil will be born !!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Suresh Kundal
• Release date: Aug 30, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393836452

Book preview

Heaven on Earth

Gently sloping roads that steered along the hillside, gradually paved their path into a low lying valley. Thick forests were densely spread over the left side of the road. Like a thin sheet of milky-white cotton, the morning mist lay suspended, canopying the jungle from above. Mighty wildlife and its millions of secrets lay hidden underneath. Early chirps sent echoes in the entire valley.  The road was at a higher altitude which ran along the mountain wall. On careful observation, the birds dwelling in the deep valley could be spotted from above, especially when they trans-located their perch and hopped from one branch to another. The most charming and vibrant amongst them was none other than the Green Indian Parrots. When they found some fruit laden tree, they flew merrily around it, sending high notes of gladness on top of their pitch. Their long tails would spread depicting intense gladness.

With the advent of Monsoon, a thick blanket of Nimbus Cumulus began hovering over the Sky; keeping the area Sun ridden. The wind was comparatively harsh and blew with a whistle while it rubbed against the woods. The mighty Eagles glided smoothly against these thick packets of wind. The upward thrust was sufficient enough to keep them afloat in the air for quite a while, without their flapping the wings. The tail kept tilting from left to right keeping their aerodynamic body at a perfect balance. Due to the inertia of the wind, it was becoming difficult for the Eagles to take turns. Expertly using their inherited techniques, they obeyed Lamarckism and smoothly continued with their sailing.

Dancing through the valley and totally unaware of the hungry Predators wandering overhead, the shy rivulet arrived down. The stream stroked against the stones and pebbles on their course generating a soothing melody. Her meandering path struck the romantic strings of the living nature when she gradually took turns obeying the laws of gravity. Getting drifted away in an intense passion, the waves kissed the rocks that encountered on the way, making the pebbles roll merrily over her bed. But she could not conceal her identity for long. The splashing noise revealed her presence. Its running water was crystal clear and sweet if tasted. Moss laden rocks lazily laid on the banks of the river and provided shelter to several aquatic creatures, viz. toads, tiny fishes, insects, creepers, algae etc. 

Keeping one of the ears an inch away from the surface of the running water, the shooting stream could send thousands of soothing vibes into one’s fatigue brains and melt heavy hearts. On quietly observing from anywhere near the banks, one could get acquainted to red, pink, yellow, green, brown and grey dragon flies, tumbling caterpillars somersaulting head over heels and several other vibrant tiny creatures which mostly are found in wild and are forgotten by Homo sapiens.

Pungent smell of wet bark of the trees was a delightful experience to ones nostrils. Just beneath the dry fallen leaves were found the huge colonies of least known insects in varied colors and characters, broadcasting a rare evidence of enriched bio-diversity. 

The orange Sun had lowered. Kissing the horizon it was about to bid a farewell in next few hours. Birds looked beautiful when they flew back home in flock, making a proper symmetry. A pungent smell of Pine wood trees prevailed in the entire valley.

Neat markings in black and white indicated the proximity of cantonment area. The entrance gate was guarded by sharply dressed soldiers. Turra on their beret which was made out of hen feathers stood erect, beautified their Forest Green Beret, as if conveying a message of honor and greet. They wore stiff and starched uniform and their crease looked sharper than a blade. Lanyard, nameplate, the glittering medals, regiment emblems attached to their uniform were richly shined with brasso, white cross-belts, combat knife on one side and water bottle on the other, properly serviced LMG was hung on their shoulder, dyed anklets and mirror-shined toes of military boots gave goose bumps to the onlooker. And when they marched or delivered a salute, the clinging of horse-shoes against tar road below, electrified the entire arena. The uniform in itself was symbolic to a complete discipline, agility and patriotism.

It was his fresh posting. Instead of moving towards his military barracks, Dara headed northwards in an opposite direction and continued his long pointless walk towards a deserted military dairy farm of which he was totally unaware. The winter evening turned the tips of his nose and fingers icy cold. The wind was remarkably strong and sneaked into his shirt through the top buttons. Dara halted for a while, un-tucked his shirt, pushed a newspaper from above and covered his chest against the chilling thrust of the winter wind.

From the higher hills around, the military farm was at a lower elevation and was easily visible. It was a prominent area built on a flat ground, surrounded by white buildings on the outer periphery and cow sheds built in the middle of the ground. On the periphery ran a thin meandering road that touched the main gate of the military farm and then taking a steep turn brisked towards the left and vanished into the connecting hills. The road was clean and looked least travelled, neither by humans nor by vehicles. Dara’s lethargic steps were pointlessly carrying him ahead without any known reasons. He heard a noise of engine and looked at the direction of the source. He saw a milk-van flashing its gate pass and heading towards the cantonment.

It must be the morning milk supply for our regiment, he said to himself. He felt hungry.

The sound of its engine was very prominent and easily audible in these quiet hills that seemed to be resting in peace. A few crows in the adjoining pine trees started cawing and hitting the driver with their tiny claws. Dara was sure that the crows must have nested in the trees. Dara could hear the mooing of cows too.

The noise of the truck must surely have been heard far off, he thought.

While walking on the isolated road, Dara couldn’t help admiring the naturally growing teeny-weeny bushes on the banks of the road facing the valley below. The bushes safeguarded themselves with a self protective system of tiny thorns. These wild bushes were laden with black Gooseberries guarded by poky shields. He extended his hand on one of the bush but soon dropped the idea as they were way out of his reach. Wild bushes were decorated with tiny yellow and orange flowers. They were tied together like a bouquet. And several bouquets were center to fluttering insects and beautiful butterflies. Flowers were laden with juicy native Cherries at their center. 

From a distance, the entire area resembled oil painted canvas in Green with Orange and Yellow tipping. The green grass had spread its cover underneath the lofty Deodar trees and the mighty Pines. Dara’s eyes were once again drifted back to the richly painted Canvas and he was desperate to taste those mouth watering Gooseberries and native red Cherries. The bushes along the road sides seemed to have been already raided, probably by some daily passer-by. 

Must be some animals or children, getting engrossed in his thoughts, he smiled and continued thinking

He noticed the scattered leaves beneath the bushes on the roadside.

The loot looks quiet recent, he thought.

Those delicious looking fruits, he thought. I now will have to reach those far off bushes in order to pluck them.

It was a challenge for an adult to reach the fruit laden bushes, as they hung a little downwards, into the sloping valley, where a single wrong step could be fatal. A row of apple trees facing the road were easier to access. But he didn’t want to eat them. Dara climbed an apple tree and slowly shifted his feet towards his target. As the branches of wild apple trees weren’t so strong, he remained calculative as to up to what length he should move. His legs were shivering but he continued to stay strong. The point arrived when the branch had bent too much and he stopped at once. Holding the tree firmly with his left hand, he extended his right one to reach the bushes.

The wind was cold and was blowing softly. Panoramic scenery prompted Dara to look down into the valley and he was really terrified to find himself hanging like a Baboon at such a deadly height. Reassuring his grip; he continued shifting towards the bushes. With his left hand he held a branch above and with the right he began plucking the Gooseberries one by one. Soon he filled his pocket. Then he looked at the native Cherries. His left hand was tired by now. He changed his position and started filling his other pocket now. He stuffed Gooseberries in one pocket and Cherries in the other.

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Chapter 2

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Impromptu

Before jumping back on the road, he looked here and there to ensure no one was around. Having a feel of his bulging pockets, he started whistling in contentment while he paved his path back to his regiment. On the way he observed a peculiar movement in the bushes along the roadside. Assuming it must be some wild animal; he picked up a twig and moved closer to investigate further. He shook the bushes with the twig and the movement stopped momentarily.

To his surprise, after a few seconds two school boys came out shouting, it’s us uncle.

Both of them were busy plucking the same stuff that had kept busy since the last few hours. Wild thorns had got stuck to their school dress. They had soiled it at several places which assured him that they had bunked their school and were roaming in these bushes all day. Dara’s eyes stopped at their eyebrows. Both of them had peculiar eyebrows which were golden in color. Their curly hairs were golden too. They didn’t have a much age difference between them. They looked very cute and innocent when they moved their hazy eyes between those golden eye lashes. Their skin looked somewhat tarnished with burns which confused Dara and raised questions in his mind.

Dara wondered how come these Hindustani boys had partial European features.

He could hold himself back and asked them, What has happened to your skin?

None of them replied.

He saw that the younger boy was limping while he moved.

Hey, why are you limping? Are you hurt? he asked.

At this, the facial expressions of the boy changed. The boy looked dejected. When he looked up, Dara felt as if the boy was piercing his sharp gaze into his eyes. Instead of replying to his question the boy clenched the elder one’s wrist and passed a queer smile.

Dara discerned a discomfort and disengaged his eye contact. He somehow felt that the boy was beyond his own control. For a while, both the boys looked mystic in their behavior. Thinking may be his question offended them, he changed the topic.

Switching over to talk on topics that would interest them he asked,"Hey kids, were you able to collect these fruits today?

The younger one smiled and answered at once, Not much uncle because we pass by these bushes everyday and have already had most of them. 

But we always keep searching new bushes. They are so delicious, he added. This time his eyes looked naughty when he spoke. 

Tell me what else you have had from this jungle? he asked

We want to tell you a lot of things about our past life related this jungle, the younger boy told in vengeance.

Dara was confused. What!!! What do you mean by past life? he mumbled.

The elder boy pulled the younger one back and intervened, He meant about the life in this jungle.

Dara heard some noise behind them. He was suspicious. He drew closer to them and heard someone sobbing. The source of the noise was behind those bushes from where they were plucking the fruits.

He noticed a formation of a peculiar halo-like smoke. The smoke billowed up into a vague lady’s face. He noticed that both of the boys hadn’t winked their eyes for a long duration. He was horrified. He withdrew at once and took a few steps backwards.

At the very moment, a large boulder under his feet got dismantled, moving the Earth below. When he looked down, his left heel was living on the edge. The turbulence caused uprooted a few more stones giving rise to a tiny landslide under him. Due to fear and anxiety, he felt a million bees buzzing around him. His brain had stopped to function and he felt as if dark clouds of demise had arrested his senses. He couldn’t see anything. He was left startled and did not know what to do. He heard sliding of the mud and falling of the tress that perpetuated along the roadside. He had a sensation of a cool mist touching his skin all over. He began falling into the valley, falling down like a lifeless leaf. He felt a force of buoyancy acting upon him. Something stopped him from falling down further and plunged him upwards. An upwards thrust put him back on to the road. He saw the white smoke emerging through him, the same white smoke that had billowed up into a vague lady’s face.

The younger boy broke the silence and said, Uncle, you are staring at us as if we are daemons.

Was it a hallucination, he thought.

He wanted to cross check. On looking down, the imprints of uprooted trees and boulders still existed. What had happened, why it happened, he didn’t want to think about it. Finding an amusement and pleasure in his own clumsiness, Dara laughed briefly. Soon he was back to a normal mood.

He wanted to know about them and developed an affinity towards the boys. In a state of joy, he took out few fruits from both his pockets and decided to offer them. The younger one was clever enough to quickly read his mind. Grabbing the opportunity he said, Uncle, I want to show you a trick. Take out all the fruits frod m both of your pockets and pass them to me.

The elder one had an intuition about the mischievous plans of the junior. Holding his hand, he signaled not to misbehave, but the younger boy was desperate to show the trick. He moved closer to Dara. The boy had put the ball in Dara’s court. Being an elder, he was supposed to oblige and take the honors. With a half heart, Dara put his hands in both the pockets and gave them to the younger boy.

The boy passed on the fruits to the elder one and said, Uncle, the trick is that the Cherries and Gooseberries have different tastes; hence they should be eaten separately. Never eat them one by one.

Like those baby birds waiting in their nests to gobble the fresh catch, he opened his mouth wide and unloaded all the blackberries into it. Hastily, without wasting another second, he quickly began munching them. His tiny mouth bulged from both the sides, as it could not hold such a large amount of blackberries. Purple juice came out from both the corners of his mouth making him look like a kid Dracula.

Wiping the oozing liquid, he kept chewing them and continued to talk, Uncle, it’s even tastier if you chew the seeds and eat them along. In no time he was finished. He then opened his mouth again and unloaded all the cherries". The elder boy was embarrassed and briskly drew away from the role-play.

Dara stood pointless, imagining how delicious the fruits would be.

Alas! The ones I had plucked from those risky spots are sabotaged now, he sighed.

When he saw the cute little boy eating and enjoying the fruits, he felt nice. Dara stood in admiration and kept smiling. He then started drafting a new plan as to how to