King Pathur

By Anitha Thevie

Violating a promise made to the Lord has caused the entire island to revolve their world around a child born from a lonely mother. An unexpected health crisis made her make a vow to the Lord of the Snake, which turned out to be the biggest mistake she had made in her life. The day her child was born, everything turned sour in the family and Calama, an island that has been populated with Hindus who has a mixed Western culture. With a strong support by her brothers, Nara and Bada, she held herself strong to keep her daughter with her. Her child’s supernatural power questioned the power of King Pathur, the king of Palamania. He came to know the devilish power that had manipulated the whole history of Calama and Palamania, which led him to risk his life to save the world. But when the good Lord turned revengeful as well, King Pathur’s mission became a question mark. This story moves around to whether King Pathur will own Nagima and save the world from her.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Singapore
• Release date: Jun 3, 2019
• ISBN: 9781543751048

Anitha Thevie

The book will be able to take readers in their visual world touching the Indian tradition and culture. At the same time, they can also see how the Indian and Western culture blends which leads to a beautiful love story despite many obstacles.

Book preview

Copyright © 2019 by Anitha Thevie.

ISBN:                Hardcover                        978-1-5437-5106-2

                         Softcover                          978-1-5437-5105-5

                          eBook                               978-1-5437-5104-8

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

www.partridgepublishing.com/singapore

CONTENTS

The Storm

Curse of the Lord

Naming Ceremony

The Newcomer

The Supernatural Battle Begins

The Ceremony Day

The Untold Story

The New Visitor

Confusion in the Palace

The True Face

The Journey of King Pathur

The Heartbreak

The Journey to Calama

The Tension Rises

A Day Before

The Wedding

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THE STORM

One evening, on a land where it has dust swirling around, trees shivering due to the threat of an unhappy wind, people grabbing their old cotton cloths to wrap their dented silver utensils with food to relocate themselves in an old church hall made of bricks during the British time. It was predicted that the wind and storm would destroy their house, which was made of dried palm leaves; and therefore, finding a shelter was a priority. In a small village beside the sea in an island called Calama, majority of the people lived a life where they only knew farming and fishing. Children started their days following their parents to go fishing, farming, and doing carpentry. They then went to school to study and play around. They had no idea of what worry actually meant.

Among the ones who had explored beyond Calama for education, only a few returned home to serve their community by giving at least a moderate level of medical and educational facilities. Their love for their land and their people had been lost due to the presence of skyscrapers and technologies that encouraged the least physical exertion.

The ironic thing is that the children who left the land to further their studies for years in more well-developed countries made sure they came back to serve their community even though Calama did not have a lot of facilities. The ones who went over to places that had sufficient facilities stayed put and changed their identity.

Although they followed some Hindu tradition, their entire culture seemed a little different from the rest of the world. They spoke English with some Sanskrit words when it came to certain ceremonies or names that had been upheld despite the British colonisation.

The storm and wind started demolishing houses, plants, trees, and whatever it could while passing by. From the old rusty window of the church, Janaki could see that her people would need to work harder to bring back the same life they had before. While she was looking at the dried palm leaves being scrapped off the rooftop of a house far away and swirling around due the strong wind, Janaki started feeling the kick inside her stomach. She said, ‘I know you are afraid my child, just stay calm, all will be gone soon.’ Soon after Janaki said that, she felt her stomach squeeze. Ahhh, I think my child wants to touch the earth! Janaki screamed and woke all the people who were just lying down on the cement church floor with their families while waiting for the horrible weather to dissipate.

The ladies from each family started looking for saris and cotton cloths to help Janaki, who was in labour. Madam Radha’s son, Dr Rama, was called in to assist. Within minutes, the ladies covered an area with saris and brought cotton cloth dipped in hot water using their silver utensils. Dr Rama, with his two lady nurses, started placing themselves in a position to bring the baby out successfully.

After several attempts of pushing hard, Janaki’s child touched the earth without taking her mother’s life as well as hers. While this commotion was going on, Janaki’s husband, Mani, was walking restlessly a few steps behind the saris surrounding Janaki. The sweat on his head was obvious even though the breeze of cold wind was strong due to worry.

When he heard an infant cry, the stress on his face toned down; but not until he knew his wife was safe, he felt the stress. ‘Sir, your wife and kid are safe and sound. Congratulations, you have a baby girl!’ said Dr Rama with excitement.

Mani felt relieved after hearing the baby had been delivered safely, but he was not that happy since it was not a boy. He always wanted a boy, but Janaki’s wish was the one that came true.

Janaki was born from a middle-class family. Govin and Hachi, the parents, had not only Janaki but also thirteen others. Janaki’s childhood was not a happy one as she was born of Hachi, who is the second wife of Govin. Govin had eight children before marrying Hachi, who had six children, including Janaki.

Born as the third child of the family, Janaki decided to not continue her studies after middle-year education due to the financial burden that she could see as she was growing up. She sacrificed her education to help her mother bring in some money and release her from the torture that was given by Govin’s first-wife children.

Govin passed away when Janaki was still in school, and the family responsibility was taken over by her half brothers. Only two out of the eight children of Govin’s first wife were good-natured, and the rest were abusive towards her mother. Hachi took all the pain to bring up her six children until they started working.

Since Janaki’s childhood was hard, she started making decisions on her own. She was also not brought up in a family where table talk was common to discuss any emotional issues. When she started working as a waitress selling Indian cuisines, she fell in love with Mani, who was the owner of the stall. Their love affair went on for two years, and they tied the knot after they were caught by Janaki’s brothers.

Even though Janaki had ten brothers, including her half brothers, only her two younger brothers Bada and Nara made sure to consistently give support and show love to Janaki. Bada and Nara were not doing so well due to lack in education but were able to manage their family by doing carpentry work.

At Calama, the most successful industry was the manufacturing of household furniture. This is because, at Calama, there are plenty of sandalwoods and other valuable woods Westerners would love to buy. Usually, the Calamanians did not get much out of it, but the Westerners did the reselling to the Asians with money because of the demand. Even though their earnings weren’t much to make a family live in luxury, they made sure that they brought home their wages to support the family. The rest of her siblings, including her half brothers and sisters, left Calama for good as they had a lot of disagreements with one another.

Mani was doing well when Janaki knew him. He was known as a highly spiritual, honest, and helpful man. But he was also a stubborn man. He always believed that what he does or say is always the right thing, and other’s opinion is always against him.

Janaki fell for his honesty, spirituality, and hardworking characteristics. Unfortunately, Janaki’s life continued to be miserable after her marriage. Mani started going through hard time a few months after marriage.

He was not doing well in his business. He became aggressive and controlling. Janaki became pregnant after three months of marriage. Mani and his family started blaming her for the bad luck and all his wrongdoings.

As a Hindu, seeing and evaluating one’s astrology to predict the future was common. When Mani went to check for compatibility between them after marriage while Janaki was expecting, he found out that her luck was extremely bad for him. This was a continuous topic for Mani and his family whenever time was getting tougher.

Janaki took on this entire burden and stood strong and independent. She started working for a small food factory located about three miles away from home while she was pregnant. Mani, on the other hand, was still stubborn to move on for a better option. He decided to stay where he was and fight for his way.

At one point of time, Janaki decided to stay in her mother’s place until Mani stabilised. Days and night passed. Janaki became stronger, but at the same time, she felt pain inside her. She never had a good life when she was a child, and she thought Mani would be the one to give her happiness.

‘Nara, Nara, wake up. Your sister, Janaki, has delivered her baby,’ Hachi said with full of excitement even though they were all stranded in the hall. Nara was exhausted as he and his brother Bada were helping the others to relocate to the hall due to the storms and wind. ‘Oh, where, Amma? Where is she? Where is the baby?’ Nara asked Hachi while trying to get up from his deep sleep on a cold cement floor. Bada came and pulled him up and started running towards their sister.

The first thing they saw was Janaki already exhausted and unconscious. Then, as they were looking for her baby, they saw the nurses cleaning. Nara and Bada, with no time wasted, ran towards the baby. Both brothers screamed with excitement when they saw it was a baby girl. ‘Oh my god, Nara, we have a niece finally,’ said Bada.

‘She will be my world,’ said Nara.

Both brothers cried with so much happiness as they carried Janaki’s baby girl on their hands. ‘Excuse me, sir, we will need to wipe her clean and do the necessary in order to make sure she will remain healthy,’ the nurse uttered.

‘Yes, yes, we are sorry. Of course, our baby needs to be healthy and happy at all times,’ said both the brothers with tears of joy.

Before Nara handed their niece to the nurse, Hachi kissed her first grandchild and felt the fullness in her heart.

As the storm and wind excitedly destroyed anything that came their way, both brothers were looking out through the rusty window with joyful tears in their eyes. It overrode all the disasters happening around them. ‘Bada, can you see something over there? I think someone is out there walking towards us,’ said Nara.

‘Oh yes, I can see that. I will go and give a hand,’ said Bada.

‘Wait! Wait! That is—oh my god! That is—’ Nara stuttered while Bada was confusingly looking at why Nara was in a state of shock.

‘Amma!’ Nara screamed that made not only his mother but also everyone inside the hall shocked. ‘She is coming towards us, Amma!’ Nara continued.

Bada, on the other hand, squinted his eyes to see through the rusty, blurry mirror to see who Nara was trying to describe. ‘The Lord of the Snake!’ Bada whispered loudly with his eyes still on the lord, and his fingers shivered.

‘What? The Lord of the Snake?’ Vicky screamed when he heard Bada say it. Within seconds, most of the village people inside the hall walked towards the windows nearby to confirm.

‘Oh my, yes, she is coming!’ a few village people whispered with fear, trying to figure out why she was coming. All of them started moving away from the main door where the lord would enter. Bada and Nara ran to their sister to carry her and place her near them, away from the entrance.

Then, Nara ran towards his new niece to place her near them as well. The tall wooden door, which was situated at the main entrance of the hall, started vibrating. The lights inside the hall started to become dim and eventually went off. ‘Amma, I am scared,’ cried a small girl while hugging her mother’s leg and not taking her eyes off the direction of the door although the hall became pitch black.

‘Bada! Nara! Where are you? What is happening?’ Janaki started panicking as she woke up from her unconscious state. She was awoken by the noise, screams people, and vibration of the doors.

‘Janaki, don’t worry, just stay where you are! We are all nearby you!’ screamed Bada, trying to make sure that his sister heard his voice despite the noise the others were making.

The chaos around made Janaki panic more; and she stood up, reaching for her newborn. ‘Where is my baby? Where is she? Somebody tell me, where is she? Amma, where are you?’ Janaki screamed while rubbing around the floor, tables, and chairs and bouncing around people to reach her baby.

Nara, who knew exactly where he placed his niece, started moving to that direction and reached for her. ‘Janaki, she is with me. Don’t worry!’ Nara screamed to inform his sister, who started feeling relieved knowing her baby was in safe hands.

Hachi, who realised that Janaki was near her, tried to grab Janaki’s hand to hold her tight before the lord comes in. ‘Janaki, where are you?’ Hachi called for her while holding one person to another to reach Janaki.

‘Here, Amma! What is happening? Why is everyone mumbling and panicking? Who is coming?’ Janaki asked, confused.

‘Lord of the Snake! I do not know why she is coming after fifty years,’ said Hachi while holding Janaki’s hand tightly.

‘What! Lord of the Snake? She is coming? Oh my! Amma!’ Janaki whispered, shocked and lost for words.

The door started to vibrate more strongly until it broke the huge wooden latch into pieces. The situation inside the hall became more chaotic, but Janaki still remained in her position, helpless and shocked. The men started to stand in front of all the ladies to protect them like warriors.

Nara managed to hand over his niece to Hachi, who was standing beside Janaki, and took position in front of all the women to protect them. ‘We shall not allow the lord to bring any of our loved ones!’ a few men screamed while others agreed to it.

In the midst all the pandemonium, Janaki started to come back to consciousness and grabbed her baby from Hachi and held her tightly. The Calamanians had this belief that even though the Lord of the Snake is the lord that they worship, she always has some selfishness in her. So they assumed that the lord could have sensed the birth of a child and had come to retrieve her.

A few months ago, there was an old man who had been meditating up the hills for years. He crossed Calama to go to another island. Before he left, he mentioned that this child didn’t belong to Janaki and Mani according to what he sensed from his vision. Since then, Bada and Nara always had this fear that their newborn would be taken away from them.

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CURSE OF THE LORD

Boom! The huge wooden door crashed and broke into pieces. Everyone squeezed their eyes tightly, feeling the dust particles created by the explosion of the door for a few seconds. Janaki tried to open her eyes to see where the lord that the village people were saying was. ‘Where is [cough] [cough] she?’ asked Janaki while trying to open her eyes forcefully against the dust that seemed to swirl around after the crash.

‘I am surprised that someone is looking for me, he he he,’ an old lady’s loud creaking voice pierced from the entrance into the village people’s ears. Everyone was struck dumb after hearing the voice.

‘What do you want from us, my lord?’ Bada shouted with fear immersed in his tone.

‘I don’t know. Hmm, perhaps someone could tell me why I am here,’ said the Lord of the Snake who came in the form of an old lady, wrapped up with thick black cloth up to her fingers and toes. Her face was the only part of the human form that could be seen glittering as if it was made with black diamonds. The Calama Island people worshipped the Lord of the Snake for many generations.

Once upon a time, many centuries ago, Calama was an island that humans never lived in. It was covered with jungle trees and caves in between. Cobras were the dominating species in Calama. They can be seen with their families, sliding around to get food, meeting and playing with other families, and other activities.

As it was just like human being, the cobra’s understood each other and worked along to survive in the island. Calama was overwhelmed by love and understanding among the cobras it made Calama a very beautiful island shining with black pearls. These shining black pearls were made within the cobras’ bodies. It could take years for these pearls to grow, after which they spat them out. Each family would take their pearls and keep them in the cave, which was high up above all the trees in the jungle. This made Calama glow in the night.

One night, when all the cobras