Diotima was afraid of flying

 

When a crow perches on the railings of your veranda begging for food, what do you do? Do you feed it or shoo it away? As a matter of fact, crows are not song birds, and their cawing is not sweet by any stretch of the imagination. We might be coloured people, but we are hypocrites to the core, as we hate their colour: pale black, sooty-black, charcoal-black or sometimes dark gray.

There are some people among Bengalis, who are prejudiced, superstitious, going one step farther; they hate crows because they think that crows bring bad omen for a propitious journey; in short, they believe crows bring negativity. I am slightly different from those people not because I love crows, but because I tolerate them: I know that they are my tree-dwelling neighbours. I don't scare them away when they perch on my railings, and sometimes, I give them food, but most importantly, I love to watch them nesting without interfering. What I am going to write is one such observation that happened very recently.

There is a rather young crow couple, whom I have christened as Phoebus and Juno, who live in a mango tree which is not more than a couple of meters away from my third floor veranda. The branch they chose to build their nest is around five feet below the level of my veranda, which meant that I got an excellent view to see their connubial activities. The crows are not married ceremonially, but they live together, and they are very faithful, unlike many of us, to each other throughout their life.

Now, Phoebus and Juno being young and inexperienced, I was a bit apprehensive of their nest-building capabilities. Humans have educational institutions to inculcate various skills in them, but what about crows? They don't have any engineering colleges. They learn the trick merely by watching others from their species. But watching a complicated thing and replicating it in real life are not the same thing. Are they? Can you construct a house by watching masons building your neighbour's house? If you can, then I have to admit that you have got god-gifted abilities.

But, as a matter of fact, crows, too, are gifted architects. To my utmost surprise, Phoebus and Juno built a moderate nest. Well, you can always find faults. You can say your neighbour's house is too small, or you can say the interior design is too gaudy, or or you can even laugh at the size of their kitchen. I have no such interest, but if I am forced to make a critical review of their nest, then I have to tell you that the nest didn't seem have sufficient space for even three hatchlings.

So, I hoped that they didn't procreate more than two nestlings. But, birds lay as many eggs as they deem necessary for the survival of their species. To my utter discomfort, Juno laid as many as four tiny bluish eggs. I shuddered to think what would happen if all the eggs gave birth to living chicks.

However, one egg didn't hatch, and Juno gave birth to three tiny chicks, around one week apart in time. A week's time may not mean much to humans, but for birdies, it is quite a defining period of time. No wonder when the second chick was born, the first one was of one week old, and when the third was born, the two-week old made its presence felt. Naturally, the first chick had the bragging right because of its primogeniture.

We tend to call humans who are not that bright "birdbrains". In my earlier days, I often wondered about the word. But, later on, after observing the behaviour of various birds, I do understand the reason. The birdies are indeed not very bright. For example, take the case of the new proud mom Juno. Her partner, and after a week or two, she herself, would hover around the streets relentlessly searching for food. When they got it, either the dad or the mom would come immediately to the nest for feeding the chicks.

But, the feeding procedure is completely different from that of us. The chick who is more agile, the chick who can lift its tiny neck longer than others, the chick who can show its red gullet more prominently to its parents, the chick who has got the oomph, would get the lion's share, and the others would get morsels. The parents are not fair to all at all. No wonder the youngest chick, who happens to be the tiniest or the runt among them will lose out in the battle for survival.

This is exactly what had happened to Juno's youngest chick. It died prematurely for want of food. I saw it with my own eyes. It was shy, it couldn't be termed as the fittest for survival. It just perished peacefully. I don't know whether the crow parents shed tears like us, but it seemed to me that they didn't care much. Its existence was like a security for losses for its elder siblings. I, too, didn't lose my heart, because firstly when it died, it was too small for reckoning, and most importantly, there were two left.

As a matter of fact, I could watch them only on weekends, because my place of posting was too far away for daily commutation. One week, when I came back to my home after a week of tedious work, I was shattered to find only one chick in the nest, which happened to be the oldest of the lot, and whom I christened as Diotima.

I could see the motionless body of the second chick, which grew around four cm in length, in the nest. I didn't know exactly the reason for its death, but my guess was that it had died for want of food, and there was a good reason for that. Previously, the residents of Salt Lake used to throw garbage at dustbins, and the municipality workers used to pile them up in a truck and carry them to a dumping ground in the Eastern Byepass. But, that system had changed long ago, and now the municipality workers visit every household to collect garbage. This has denied the scavengers to get easy access to food. Nowadays, they have to try hard and roam a lot for collecting food.

The chicks who are agile, flap their wings hard and try to jump to the nearest branch to satiate their hunger. Diotima was no exception, she too flapped her wings, but she didn't jump. I was a bit disappointed, but I knew that not all crow chicks fledge by seventh week. I thought she would learn flying in the forthcoming weeks without further ado.

Before narrating the final part, let me tell you some observations about Diotima's development, which I observed keenly and with pleasure. I don't know how many of you have seen the development of a nestling from its birth, but I will narrate a brief description for those who haven't have the privilege to observe it either in real life or in You Tube videos.

Diotima was born like a tiny little brownish mass hardly perciptable with naked eyes. She had neither any feather nor any black color that we generally associate with crows. Not only that, her eyes were closed for almost one week.

She ate only morsels of food during her first couple of weeks, but the amount increased with her rapid growth in the ensuing weeks. She opened her eyes after a week or so, and she became more demanding of food from her parents as the days passed by. As she grew older, feathers began to appear in her tiny body. The most prominent part of her body was her deep red gullet, which she would show to her parents for food.

I know the sound of grown up crows is not very pleasing, and sometimes it can be very annoying, but have you ever heard the sound of a fledgling? I can vouch that the sound is very soft. It appeared sweet to me every time in morning, when Diotima was conveying something to her parents. If you cannot distinguish the sound of a chick from an adult crow, as you have never tried to do, I urge you to remain percipient. They are completely different, and I am sure you will be able to hear the sweet sound of chicks.

You must have wondered why I named the chick a female name, when it's impossible to ascertain the gender of a crow from outside! Honestly, I made a guess considering the activities of the chick. Diotima was not very active, and I assumed it to be a female. Pardon me if I am wrong, but let me tell you about the final part of this story.

So, the next week, or the week after that, when I came back home, I thought she would definitely be gone. But, on one Saturday morning, I was disappointed to see Diotima still in the nest, and not only that, one of her wings had developed problems.

She couldn't shut her left wing to her body, as it was stiff. I thought she might have sustained an injury during the process of learning how to fly. I hoped that it would be okay. But on Sunday morning, the next day, I was shell-shocked to note that Diotima's body was not moving. I thought that she was sleeping. But, when I visited the balcony after breakfast, a chill ran down my spine to observe that Diotima's body was lying in the same posture. Juno was perching on the rim of the nest with food in her beak. But, Diotima was not responding by raising her neck to grab it.

It didn't take too much of time to sink in in my mind that Diotima was no longer alive. I felt tears welling up in my eyes. Diotima, the chick whom I loved to watch, had perished. Her motionless body, surrounded by flies, rested in the imperfectly-built nest.

I understood that I would no longer hear her soft and sweet cawing in the morning when I would wake up from sleep; I would no longer watch her desperation to grab food from her parents; I would no longer observe her attempts to fly by flapping her wings.

As I said, crows are not humans, they don't show much emotion. Most probably, if I am mistaken, correct me, they don't have any emotion at all. All they have is the instinct to live and propagate, I am pretty sure that Phoebus and Juno understood what had happened. They waited for another fortnight keeping the carcass of Diotima in the nest before dismantling the nest, and trying to build another one at a different position in the same tree.

Pictures taken from net  

 

 

My experiences with cats final part

We were simply dumbfounded, dis​com​bob​u​lated. Who would bite mom in that crowded place? I had read stories about Count Dracula, who loved sucking blood of his victims, but he would never choose this crowded place for his supper. But, my mom was indeed in agony, her face told it. We always knew that she was hyper, but this had to be real, considering the contortions in her face, the flushes of tears trilling down her heavily rouged cheeks, completely ruining her make-up, which she must have put on after hours of tedious work.

When urged to explain the matter, firstly, she pointed towards her left heel, which was bleeding slightly, and then she pointed towards the footpath. There was no doubt in our mind that there was something in the footpath that made that tiny cut in my mom's left heel. But, we could not see anything tangible threat there. My mom said that it must have fled.

Upon pressing her further to reveal the matter clearly, we came to know that there was a plump ginger cat resting on the pavement, whose existence mom was completely unaware of before stamping on his tail. Cheetahs or cats, no matter which species the feral creatures belong, one thing is very common about them is the fact that they simply adore their tails. Their tails are like gods! Any insult upon their precious possession, they will not tolerate it: they would protest, and as a matter of fact, of which my poor mom fell victim of, they don't believe in Gandhism.

When my mom, unknowingly though, put her left foot on the proud tail of the feline creature, he couldn't tolerate the unimaginable insult, which, perhaps, nobody that far had inflicted upon him. No wonder, he bit my mom's heel before going to heal his injured vanity in some secluded place. As I wrote earlier, father had had a good experience regarding how to react to bites of domestic animals beforehand.

So, instead of panicking, he simply enquired about the pedigree and conduct of the cat from various nearby shopkeepers. We were satisfied to know that the ginger cat, named Sallu, was adored very much by them, and he hadn't bitten anyone before that incident. Father told them to keep a close watch on him, as he would visit after a week to enquire about the well-being of Sallu Mian. He did it rigorously for a fortnight, and found him to be jolly and gay. This story ends here.

After a gap of two decades, I had another encounter with cats, which would constitute the final part of this blog. The faint-hearted people among you are advised to leave here as this incident you might find a bit unpleasant. At that time, I was living in a nondescript place in Nadia district. Krishnagar was my district headquarter where I had to visit once a month for meetings. One of my office staff had a car, and he used to take me there, out of coutesy, on such dates. He was a master in bike-riding, but car driving was not his cup of tea, which he had learned just a few months back after buying an azure Hyundai car, and that too by self-learning.

At that time, I didn't have much love for cats, as I had been a bit bugged by them in my place of residence. I shouldn't say them, because there was only one sable cat with tawny eyes which resembled a ghost in dark nights, and there were no dearth of dark nights due to frequent load cuttings. This mysterious creature had an odd knack of entering my flat on any pretext: whether in search of leftovers in the garbage bin or for her fondness for the warmth of my bed in my drawing room, where I kept a spare cot. 

As I said her color was sable, and eyes were tawny which changed their appearance at night, turning into burning coal, sometimes, I shuddered watching them, even though I was very courageous. Her sight was nothing more than an irritant to the eye, but what made me hate her was her habit of using my spare bed as if she owned it.

The moderate flat where I lived had three rooms, one drawing room, one dining room, and one bed room. I had two cots, of which one was at my bed room where she didn't have the guts to venture, and one was at the drawing room, where I used to spend evenings by watching television or gossiping with neighbours. There were 3 windows in that room, of which two were always closed, as they faced a swamp, which was a rich breeding ground for mosquitoes. But, I had to keep one window, facing the front, open for want of fresh air. This crafty creature took advantage of that, and had no qualms about using my bed for her comfort.

As I said, load-shedding was a routine feature in those semi-urban areas, there used to befrequent encounters with dark nights. But, it was not just the power cuts that bothered me, because for power cuts every one would suffer, and the power would come back eventually. But, my flat had also suffered from many short-circuits, where the fuse would be blown. That was why I was a bit jumpy to ascertain whether it was load-shedding or it was my fecking fuse that gave away!

This was the reason, I always visited the veranda to see my neighbourhood -- whether it was flushed with bright lights or it was solemn dark like mine --  and the veranda was in front of the drawing room.  In the process of ascertaining whether I had to awake my landlord for fixing the fuse, or I should wait for the line to come, I often found this unwholesome creature majestically snuggling on my bed. I must admit that it was extremely dexterous, because whenever I tried to throw something  -- whether a sandal or a magazine  -- or to wield a stick at it, it would vamoose in no time, as if it knew dark magic.

Therefore, despite taking the risk of less air passage in my flat, I chose to close all the windows in that room. Indeed, it yielded good result of her never ever getting a free access to my bed, but as a revenge she had taken the game to a different level. By saying, "Khela hobe", she began to defecate in my veranda with poop and urine, at least, once every week.

The housemaid would grudge and grumble everytime she had to clean it, and her bitter tone suggested as if I told that freaking creature to do those obnoxious deeds to trouble her. But, I was helpless, beacuse I had no powers to prevent the pussycat from defecating my veranda. But as a result of the cat's constant acts of unhindered defiance and abominable insolence, I lost love with this particular species.

The final part happened during this time. As I wrote earlier that the office staff who was taking me back from Krishnagar to my apartment was a novice driver, who had learned driving from on one but himself, and who had just a learner's licence at that time, was driving cautiously in the city area. But when he entered the rural area, he became a tad bold and careless, continuously pressing his right foot on the gas pedal as if it was a toy to experiment.

I had no intention of disturbing him by talking to him, as I was a bit apprehensive of his driving skills. But he was in a joyous mood, probably from being relieved of the duty which had bored him for the last three hours or so, and he began to boast of the new chimney system that he had installed in his kitchen. When he learned that even I, a city-dweller, didn't have any such thing at that time, his joys knew no bound, and he became reckless in driving.

There was a huge noise as he made a sudden brake, and my head almost hit the front seat, while my spectacles flew off on to the car floor. After gathering my composure, when I enquired what had happened that made him to do this sudden brake, he had been already out of the car. His voice was throttled, his face was pale, and he pointed his fingers to a certain thing on the road and said,

" I am extremely sorry, Sir! I had no idea!"

I thought he was talking about his poor driving skills, and he had no idea of driving at a high speed. So, after an enormous effort of stifling my anger, I said rather calmly,

"It's okay. It happens to new drivers: these sudden brakes!"

He didn't seem to take heart at my consolation, as he continued lamenting,

"How can I wash my sin, Sir? How do I make penance?"

I was a bit astonishined because of his unduly scruples, as I thought making sudden brakes was not a big crime. Perhaps, he was thinking of  the discomfort that he caused me. Looking at my bewildered face, he understood that I had understood nothing. So he said,

" Sir, haven't you seen it? Please look there."

This time, looking at his pointed fingers, I could see the reason of his scruples. Indeed,  there was something very unpleasant and gory spectacle lying in front of me. I took a stride forward to see that a little kitten, hardly one month old, milky white in colour, was lying in a pool of blood. My inexperienced driver had crushed it under the left front wleel of his car. The tiny innocent creature must have been like a soft, fluffy white clew. But, at that time, its tender body was maimed, mashed, ground by some evil power, and was covered with blood, and most importantly, it ceased to breathe. In short, my greenhorn driver took a kitten's life.

I knew that people like him might not have been village idiots, but they were prejudiced to the core. I understood that he would lose his sleep for many nights before losing his health caused by extreme mental agony. So, I had to find a remedy for him, lest I should lose the service of one my important employees.

I told him that since he had popped the clogs of a cat, which is considered as a vahana of Ma Sahsthi, a goddess of fertility, he should do his atonement by offering a grand puja of the said goddess, and not to forget about feeding Bhahmins of his village. He seemed to have been satisfied by that solution after asking numerous times whether it would suffice, and later on I learned that he did exactly what was bid.

My story ends here. Please feel free to comment.

My experiences with cats: Part 1

 

Some people love cats, while some despise them as if they were untouchables. I know of a Bengali jounalist who had 17 pet cats in her house (the number might have increased manifolds by now). Just imagine the scenario when she enters her flat. Surrounded by cats: here a cat, there a cat; everywhere a cat cat; here a meow, there a meow, everywhere a meow meow. A cat on your lap, while a cat on your hat. A fat cat, a bony cat, a sable cat, a tabby cat and whatnot! Personally, I have nothing against them, and at the same time, I have no fascination for them either. Let me tell you a few experiences of mine with this feline creature.

My mother used to hate cats as much as a pious Muslim hates eating pork. In my childhood, I always wanted to have some animal as a pet in my house. I loved watching them. My first choice, though, was dog. Once, a bitch (literally so) gave birth to 6 snowy healthy puppies. Two of them died, while four survived. All the children in our locality adored them (if you don't love a puppy, I am afraid, you are heartless), but no one was ready to adopt any of them. However, I was eager to adopt one. When I raised the issue with my parents, my father had no objections, but my mother dug in her heels. The reasons: it would make the house dirty, it would not survive without its mother's care and most importantly to her wild imaginations, it might bit us. She told me stories about dogs who bit their owners to death before eventually eating them.

When my first application was rejected, I was disheartened a bit, beacuse I, indeed, loved one the pups and was almost sure of adopting him, but I filed my second appeal. What about a tiny little kitten? A fluffy furball? It would not be ferocious, and it would be easier to manage. I vouched that I would clean the mess, it might create. But, my mother said she read somewhere that the hair of a cat could cause a deadly disease called diphtheria. So, she sneered at my proposal, and the left the room in a pet. She had lot of objections towards adopting birds as well, but somehow I eventually managed to adopt a bird. I will tell you about that story later.

I strongly doubt about the cocept of karma, but there were some strange occurrences with my mother regarding cats and dogs, where some diabolical mind might infer that she paid for her karma. Let me first tell you about the incident involving dogs.

My mother hated dogs to the extent of having them in her house, but not to the extent that she would deny the poor creatures of the leftovers of our meals. There was a dog, whom she herself named as "Blackeyes" because of the black stains around her eyes, who used to eat the leftovers which was thrown away towards her. As it became a regular wont, she would come early and wait for mom to come out to the kitchen veranda to throw the leftovers.

One day, we heard her fearful screams after dinner. When we rushed to the spot, she told us that Blackeyes had bit her. When we enquired further, we came to know that while she was throwing away the leftovers, Blackeyes, who might have been starving for want of food, in her desperation to grab some grub, jumped and took the food directly from my mom's hand. In the process, my mom got a tiny little cut in her right forefinger. There were a few droplets of blood.

My mother was a kind of hypersensitive person, and she took no time to raise a hue and cry. She was sanguine of getting rabies. She was so pessimistic that she thought that she would eventually die a painful death. Though very rational, my father was not a man of science. He didn't know much about rabies. So, being very scared, next day, as the incident happened at night, and we all had to bear with mother's wailing and forebodings about her imminent death, he took mother to the local hospital.

Fortunately, the doctor was a sane guy, and he asked whether the dog that bit mom was a healthy one or a sickly one. There was no reason to believe that the little bitch, which was around one year old, had any symptoms of being rabid. Hearing that the doctor advised dad to keep a close watch on that bitch. He told dad to inform him if that bitch showed any signs of ferocity or any abnormality. Meanwhile, he administered a Tetvac and told mom to chill. The dog stayed healthy and story ends here. But, the agony of my mom with domestic animals didn't end there.

A few years later, we went to the Gariahat market, which was renowned for being the best apparel market in West Bengal, for puja shopping. Durga puja is the carnival that the Bengalis enjoy most, and they save throughout the year to indulge in a shopping spree for this occasion. I didn't have much interest in buying clothes, but my main attraction for these going-outs was food. Being a gourmet, some people had sometimes accused me of a being a gormandizer, unjustly though, my sole concern was food. So, when we were done with buying my yellow baggy t-shirt and blue jeans, I lost all interest in the purchase of my parents' clothes.

It didn't take much time to buy my father's attire, but my mother, being very finicky about her dresses, took eons to choose her saris. She visited two renowned shops without much success, and eventually we were in the third shop. By that time, it felt like angry rats were marching in my stomach, and even each second passed seemed epochs to me. I was praying to God to end my ordeal soon. My father, too, had had enough, and when he pressed her to choose from that prestigious shop and that too quickly, finally, she had to submit, but with a lot of grudges. She wanted to see more. Father consoled her by saying that he would bring her here in Christmas again.

At last, we came out of the shop, and my father asked me the question which I had been longing to hear. It was about the food, but he told me to choose something that would not take long to prepare, as it was  by then quite late. I had had heard of a food shop named Beduin, which was famous for its rolls. It was famous because their cuisine was exquisite: they added boiled potatoes mixed with special masalas in their rolls, making the taste awesome. At that time, and even nowadays, other shops added only cucumber, onion and few sauces in their rolls. No wonder whosoever had tasted Beduin's rolls had praised them wholeheartedly. I, too, had heard it from my friends, and I had no difficulty in suggesting that we should get 3 egg rolls from Beduin.

Beduin was not a permanent shop situated in the market, but it was temporary stall near the footpath. As it was famous, there was quite a throng near it. We ordered 3 egg rolls, but there was already a queue, and we knew we had to wait. While we waited, we had been constantly jostled by the great crowd which gathered for puja shoppings. My father never liked hustle and bustle, so he gave mother the money and took me to a relatively less-crowded place. While we waited, we suddenly heard a scream from a womanly voice, and the voice seemed a bit familiar to me. I thought my dad, too, had the same line of thought as he asked, "Did your mom scream?"

We were just 10 meter away from Beduin, and it took no time for us to reach there. We asked mom whether she screamed, merely hoping that the sound came from somewhere else. But, when we looked at her face, it was full of tears, and she told us,

"It bit me. I am going to die."

Picture taken from net 

Final part on next Saturday 

Thriller The ultimate choice 58

 Episode 58

Rajan had the bitter experience of taking a forceful slap from Rod. At that time, he thought that Rod was the most powerful man on the earth. But after receiving the tiger's slap, Rajan realized that the tiger was at least twice as powerful as Rod. A big chunk of flesh got torn as a result of that slap. The pain became unbearable, but Rajan had enough experience of absorbing pain in the recent time. Rajan knew that he would not die due to bloodshed, but he would surely if the tiger managed to choke his neck with his powerful teeth, and that was exactly what Raja wanted to do.

But, Rajan as a desperate measure held the shoulders of the tiger with his arms. Raja got extremely irritated by that move. There was a tussle between the man and the beast. It didn't take much time for Raja to overpower Rajan. He got rid of Rajan's hold, and again jumped on him. This time injured Rajan was not in a position to prevent him. Rajan remembered his revered God Lord Shiva for the last time, and closed his eyes totally surrendering himself to his fate.

"Hey you! Fight with me."

The tiger's hope of killing his prey without any hassles was rudely shattered by a massive kick on his rib cage. The impact of the kick was good enough to throw the tiger 3 feet away from Rajan.

"Rajan Anna, don't waste any time! Climb to the other side. I am holding it back."

Siddharth appeared at the scene at the last moment like an angel. The tiger's claws and teeth had made some serious incisions on Rajan's body, and he was bleeding profusely, not to mention the suffering of excruciating pain. But, when the death comes to your doorstep, you don't pay attention to anything except saving your life. Rajan was sure that Lord Shiva had sent Siddharth at the crunch moment to save him. So, he could not let this godsend opportunity go because of pain. He thanked Siddharth, and somehow garnered enough strength to climb onto the lattice wall.

While Rajan was escaping to the other end, the situation was getting extremely murkier between Siddharth and Raja. From the 50-meter distance Archana couldn't understand who was having an upper hand, as both of them were rolling on the ground. Siddharth held the neck of the tiger forcefully trying to choke it, and the tiger was constantly slapping Siddharth with his paws. As a lot of of pressure was put on his neck by the powerful bloke Siddharth, the tiger was unable to bring full power to his slaps.

The tiger might not have applied full power to his blows, but they were good enough to tear Siddharth's flesh. The soil was drenched with Siddharth's blood. Siddharth was applying full pressure on the tiger's neck to kill it, but Raja being a healthy male tiger, the girth of the neck was too large to choke it to death. Siddharth understood that if he bled at this rate, he would not last long. So, he gave up the hope of killing the tiger, and as a desperate measure he released his grip on the neck of the animal only to poke his fingers on both eyes of the tiger.

This desperate effort had worked magically. The tiger rolled backwards making growls of pain. This gave Siddharth a great opportunity to escape. Even though, he was sapped of all his energy, and he bled profusely, his animal instincts to survive prevailed on his lifeless body. It was a simple miracle that he could climb up the steel lattice wall, and reach the other end. The injured, hungry tiger, too, was sapped of his energy. He didn't move an inch and lay on the ground making it easier for Siddharth to escape.

Siddharth had never been a religious person in his entire life, or for that matter he didn't have any faith in God. He believed in the concept of good work. But today, when he dropped his lifeless body on the other side from a height of 10 feet, he himself was amazed to realise that he had made it.

Archana was praying to the God, and when Siddharth made it to her side, she simply cried loudly thanking the God. Rajan, who had made it 5-minute earlier to this side was eagerly waiting to see wnat happened on the other side. His heart wanted to pray for Siddharth, but his brain wanted him to be killed.

He thanked Siddharth from the bottom of his heart for saving him from the jaws of death, but he prayed to the God for Siddharth's death. Because, he was a married man having the  responsibility of his family, while Siddharth had no family. If Siddharth died, it would not matter to anybody. But if died, his enire family would be ruined. Therefore, he was watching the life-and-death fight between the tiger and Siddharth. He was extremely disappointed when the 80 kg, almost lifeless body of Siddharth dropped on this side.

As soon as Siddharth's body dropped on Archana's side, Ranjan announced via his microphone

"Your 3-minute time starts now Archana."

Archana's worst fear had become true. This was the scenario she didn't want to see happen. But, she didn't know what to do now. Since she could not kill the tiger, as per the rules of this event, she had to kill one of the two men now.

Both Rajan and Siddharth were bleeding profusely. Rajan's injury seemed to be lesser. When the final event started, both the men were wearing tracksuits; Rajan wore yellow coloured long-sleeved jacket and a matching pant, while the colour of Siddharth's tracksuit was blue. But after the assaults by Raja, both men's dresses were torn into several pieces. Rajan ripped the remaining dresses and tied it on the places of injury in order to stop the flow of blood. He was now wearing only his underpants.

Siddharth could not do the same. Because of the more intense fight with the tiger and his constant blows on his various body parts, Siddharth's dresses were alteady torn apart. He, too, was only in his underpants. Besides, he didn't have much energy left in his body. He was lying near the lattice wall like a vegetable. His occasional pitiful groans made sure to everybody that he hadn't died.

As a shooter, it was easier for Archana to shoot Siddharth's motionless body, which was around 70 meter away from her. 70 meter, because he went to the side of the ground to save Rajan who had run diagonally. On the otherhand, Rajan, too, was standing at place near the lattice wall. The distance was around 55 meter, because he was near the centre.

But Archana didn't know whom to shoot, because both of them were her near ones. It was true that she got estranged from Rajan due to his neglect and indifference towards her. At one point of time, she even thought of committing suicide to end the meaningless relationship. At that point, Siddharth came to her life like an angel. He gave her a new meaning of life. They became close, and they decided to flee to live with each other.

While Archana was thinking all these, Ranjan announced via his microphone, 

"Your one minute is over Archana. If you don't shoot in the next minute, one of our sharpshooters will shoot you in the leg."

This announcement had alerted Archana. She had to act. But still she could not decide whom to shoot. Her attitude towards Rajan took a dramatic change after coming to this horrific place. In her first task in the hell house, she had to beat Rajan mercilessly. This incident had caused a change in her heart. She began to love Rajan again. During the torturous treatment she received here, thinking about Rajan and her children gave her the necessary motivation to carry on. Besides, how could she think of killing her own husband?

She also thought of the other option of not shooting at all. In that case, all three would die, and if she missed intentionally, she would be killed. She thought of that situation hard. Would her children be able to live without her? What would happen if Rajan decided to remarry? Would the new mother look after well her children? She closed her eyes. Suddenly, the faces of her children appeared in front of her. They were saying, "Mom when will you meet us?"

This had jarred her mind vigorously, and she quickly opened her closed eyes. She decided that she had to live. She had to live for her children. But still she didn't know whom to shoot?

Boom! The Joker was indeed a man of his words, Rajan thought. A sniper shot Archana as a warning. The bullet hit her in her left thigh, and almost knocked her off the tower. Her gun fell on the floor, and she had to hold the rim of the tower to avoid falling. The bullet injury was severe, and blood came out from her thigh like a river. Though she was not scared of shedding blood or afraid of pain, the main problem was she could no longer stand on her feet.

Ranjan announced, "The last minute has started. If you don't shoot, all of you will be dead."

Rajan got panicked. He didn't want to lose her wife. He came towards Archana and shouted,

"Don't waste time Archana. Shoot Siddharth. He is almost dead, end his agony."

But, Rajan didn't look at Siddharth or for that matter Archana did. Both of them were startled to see that Siddharth was on his feet, and he came very near to Rajan, who was about 20 meter from Archana.

"How did you come here?" Rajan seemed to have seen a ghost.

"Don't worry Rajan Anna, I have come near you to help you." Siddharth said.

Archana was struggling to stand, as the pain was too much to ignore. Watching her predicament, Siddharth shouted,

"Don't try to stand Archana. Lay down in prostrate and aim from that position. I am coming near you. Kill me. Don't think! Just Kill me."

Indeed Siddharth came closer to the tower, while Archana took position in prostrate.

Rajan was very happy to see this development. He goaded Archana,

"There is hardly 20 seconds left Archana. Pull the trigger and kill him. Kill him. Kill him."

Rajan's words sounded similar to the urging that she had heard in her bizarre dream in the underground room a few days back. In that dream, the Joker's team members surrounding Archana were hysterically telling her, "Kill him or get killed."

Archana's head started to spin. The Joker had told her to aim at the head of her target. Now, both the men were at a very close distance from her. Anxious Rajan was counting seconds and goading Archana to shoot.

"Only 10 seconds left Archu! Now or never!" Rajan became frantic. Siddharth was again lying on the ground, as he had no energy left in his body. It was indeed a miracle that he came so close with his lifeless body. Archana closed her eyes once more to say a prayer to the God. When she opened her eyes, there was hardly 5 second left in the clock.

Boom! She made her ultimate choice, and she shot her target with utmost precision. The bullet penetrated the head, killing her target instantly. Everyone present in the crowd cheered loudly. Even Ranjan announced over his microphone,

"Bravo! What a shot, and what an ultimate choice!"

But, Archana lost her consciousness, and she fell on the floor.

Since then she had lost her mental balance. Killing her own husband gave her such a rude shock that she could never overcome. The Joker's men cremated the dead body of Rajan in Hindu ritual. This was done as per the earnest request of Ranjan, who even cried secretly on his friend's death. Siddharth was immediately taken to the hospital. But, he lost one of his legs due to severe injury.

                                   ______________________ End ____________________

Thriller The ultimate choice 57

 Episode  57

The apprehension of the last scenario becoming real was cluttering Archana's mind with chilling sensations. She was constantly praying to the God, and telling herself that she had to kill the tiger in her first five shots. In the last minute, she started warming up to prepare herself to climb the wooden stairs. She estimated that she had to climb 2 to 3 stairs at a time to reach the top quickly.

On the opposite end of the field were waiting Rajan and Siddharth. After warming up for a while, they had taken their respective positions to run. The Joker had provided them with starting blocks. They placed their feet there in set position. The two participants were placed at a distance of 20 meter apart on each side from the centre point of the baseline. The cage of the tiger was placed at the centre point. It would be opened after the first participant passed the 20 meter mark. The 20-meter mark was drawn on the field with white colour.

Looking at the body language of the tiger, it appeared to Rajan that the tiger must have been trained to hunt his prey in this manner. Otherwise, wild tigers are shy animals, and they always hunt stealthily. Rajan was praying hard to the God for not letting the tiger to choose him as his prey. Rajan thought Siddharth was younger than him, and he could sprint harder to beat the tiger in the race. So, Rajan thought if somehow the tiger didn't choose him, and once he crossed to the other end, he had a chance to survive.

Of course, Rajan would have loved to see all of them emerging as survivors, but Rajan had no faith in Archana's shooting abilities. Actually, he could not believe his ears when the Joker was spelling out the stipulations of this game.

From the body language of Siddharth, it didn't appear that he was thinking too much. His face showed no tension or no emotion.

Ranjan's voice could be heard via a microphone,

"Candidates, ready, set," and after waiting for a second, he fired a pistol shot in air.

Everything happened very quickly after that. Rajan and Siddharth ran as fast as they could for their lives. Siddharth was slightly, about 1 meter, ahead in crossing the 20 meter mark, when the 2-days hungry tiger was unleashed from the cage.

Rajan was on the right side of the tiger, while Siddharth was on its left. The tiger took 2 seconds to choose his prey, giving both the men 10 more meter of advantage. Siddharth was running straight, but Rajan ran slantwise to make more distance from the tiger after crossing the 20-meter mark.

This dilemma of the tiger gave Archana some precious moments to climb on to the top of the tower. But, she had to take the gun from the floor and unlock the safety catch. It was a similar type of gun with which she had practiced in the last couple of days. She looked at the other end to see what was happening.

Even though Rajan ran slantingly to make a longer gap between him and the tiger, the tiger, Raja, preferred chasing the shorter, slower and fatter Rajan. He started running towards Rajan at such a brisk speed that made Archana totally puzzled. She was not prepared for hitting targets having such a brisk speed. The tower where Archana was standing was placed at the middle of that side's baseline. Had Rajan ran straight like Siddharth, it would have been easier for Archana to shoot the tiger. But for whoever's sake, Archana didn't understand, Rajan was trying to run towards the corner of the lattice wall.

Archana knew there was not much of time, and she had to act. She had been trained how to time and direct her shots in order to hit moving targets. As Archana practiced with a similar type of heavy long range gun, she didn't hesitate any more and pulled the trigger targeting the rib cage of the tiger. Raja was not prepared for this assault, and he couldn't react. But, to his good luck and Archana's agony, the first shot missed the target by at least 1 meter.

The tiger stopped for few moments, and tried to understand where the shot came from. Had it been a wild tiger, it would have definitely fled. But from the reaction, it was evident that Raja, too, had been trained by the Joker's team for this life-and-death drama, and the Joker must have told a lie that he was made hungry for only 2 days. Archana estimated that the tiger hadn't eaten anything for at least 7 days.

Without wasting any time Archana, shot the static tiger. Archana was more comfortable at hitting static targets, but to her utter dismay the tiger jumped forward as soon as Archana shot. This time Archana's shot was on the money, but as the tiger had moved afer hearing the gun shot, she missed her target for the second time.

The tiger didn't waste any more time, and it increased its speed tremendously to come within a jumping range of 8 meter of Rajan. Now, the lattice wall came in between the tiger and Archana. Siddharth had reached the wall, but he didn't climb it. He was looking at Rajan and the tiger.

It was true that the trainers had imparted good training to Rajan on both high jumps and long jumps. Rajan wanted to make a jump to reach the lattice wall, but the tiger's roar from such a close distance had a severe panick attack on him. Suddenly, he found that his legs were paralysed. When he looked back at the tawny eyes of the tiger, he was almost hypnotized.

Meanwhile, Archana fired two more shots to the tiger. But, the luck was not favouring her, as both the bullets hit the steel portion of the lattice wall. Archana was left with only one shot, and she searched for a perfect opportunity to kill the tiger.

Watching his dumbfounded prey with numb legs, Raja jumped on him with glee. Archana knew that this was her last chance to kill the tiger before he killed Rajan. Making a silent prayer to the God, she fired her 5th bullet to the jumping tiger. She didn't know whether her prayer worked or not, but the lattice wall didn't come as hindrance this time. 

Rajan had lost all hope. Not only his legs became numb, but also his mind was not working. He had never seen such a ferocious animal prowling on him from such a close range. The tiger  jumped on the hapless Rajan, but Archana's 5th and the final shot allowed for killing the tiger had a dramatic effect on both Rajan and the tiger.

The shot hit the left hind leg of the tiger, and the impact of the bullet made him miss his target  partially. Raja's paw missed Ranjan's back, but just scratched it. But, Rajan got back to his sense immediately. He observed that the bullet had made a serious injury to Raja's left leg. Blood was gushing out of the injury, and Raja made growling of severe distress.

Siddharth could have easily reached the other end. But, he was waiting for Rajan. Watching the injured tiger Siddharth shouted,

"Don't waste any time, Rajan Anna. It will pounce back with more vigour. Climb the lattice wall."

Indeed, Rajan got slighty relaxed watching the injured tiger lying on the ground. Siddharth's words made sense to him, and he started climbing the lattice wall turning his back towards the tiger. But, Raja had not eaten anything thing for more than a week. He was in no mood to let his prey escape so easily, and who doesn't know that an injured predator is more dangerous than a normal one? Despite the injury, Raja recoiled himself and jumped on Rajan who could climb just 8 feet on the lattice wall.

Due to his injured leg, the paw could not severely injure Rajan, but it made sure that Rajan fell on the ground. Rajan didn't expect this as his face was turned away from the tiger. He was again startled to see the tiger in front of him. The tiger again growled before forcefully hitting Rajan on his shoulder with his right paw. Even though Rajan was alert this time, he could not evade the blow.

To be continued on today night

Thriller The ultimate choice 56

 Episode 56

If she doesn't shoot any one of you, our sharp shooters will fire a shot at one of her legs after 2 minutes as a sign of warning. If she doesn't shoot despite that, all three of you will be killed by our sharp shooters, and if she shoots but fails to kill any of you, our sharp shooters will kill her. Rajan and Siddharth will emerge as survivors in that case. How's that? Ain't it fair and funny?"

The Joker paused for a moment to see the reactions of the participants. There could not be any more crooked definition of fairness, Siddharth thought. Archana had already started to weep, thinking about the last three scenarios. She prayed hard to the God for making the first scenario successful. But, she knew that her task was cut out, because she was not given the opportunity to practice of hitting targets from a height, let alone killing animals with gun shots.

It was true that the Joker's team had provided her heavy long range guns to practice at moving targets for the last two days. They taught her how to aim at moving objects. For practicing purpose, they threw balloons in air, and Archana had to target those. The distance was around 50 meter or so.

After two days of hard work, Archana achieved accuracy up to 40%. But, even a child can understand that hitting a slow-moving upward balloon from ground and killing a fast moving  tiger from up is not the same. This arrangement didn't look fair to Archana. Before she was going to complain, the Joker said,

"Archana you might be thinking that you didn't get a fair deal; the job assigned to you is too difficult. Well, that's not the case dear. You are hitting 4 out 10 at a distance of 50 meter or so. 4 out 10 means 2 out of 5. That means you should kill two tigers in 5 shots. But you have got only 1.

And, I must tell you Archana, you have no worries about killing the animal. If you hit the vital body parts of the animal with your .45-caliber bullet, it's going to die then and there. Try to target the head.

You might say that the distance of your target is longer than what you had practiced, or you might crib because you have to shoot from a height. Well, when you appear for a tough entrance examination, do you get common questions? No, most of the questions are uncommon in those exams. If you know the basic concept, you can always improvise. As a matter of fact, shooting from top is easier to target. Maybe your first couple of shots will go haywire, but from the third shot you can always adjust.

So, Archana we haven't done injustice to you or for that matter to Raja. Raja, too, has been trained in MP how to evade bullets. So, don't think that killing him is going to be a cakewalk.

I am done with explaining the rules for the final. If you have any questions, you may ask now." The Joker looked at Archana.

"Why do I have to climb the tower? Why can't I be present on the top from the beginning?"

Archana asked, because it would have given her more time to aim at the tiger. Also, the more the tiger came towards the 16-feet tall lattice wall, it would become more difficult for her to hit it because of the steel lattice wall.

"When Rajan and Siddharth will start running towards the wall, you will start climbing up the stairs. The tiger will be let loose after 3 seconds, assuming that Rajan and Siddharth will cover 20 meter in those 3 seconds. You will try to reach the top in that time to have a good aim at the tiger from the baseline of the other side, which will be 100 meter away from you.

In case you are late by few seconds, it doesn't matter as you can even target the tiger through the lattice wall. Everything about this game depends on luck. If your luck favours you, you will be able to hit the tiger through the gaps of the lattice wall, as each gap of the lattice is around 30 square centimetres, enough for a bullet to pass. However, if the great Satan doesn't favour you, that will be a different prospect. You will miss your target even from a 20 meter distance. Now, Rajan do you have any question?" 

The Joker pointed towards Rajan. Rajan was thinking about the speed of the tiger. He said,

"Dear Joker Sir, why don't you give us at least 30 meter advantage from the tiger? Because, my estimate is that the tiger will catch up when we will be around 30 meters distance from the baseline if we get only 20 meter gap."

The Joker nodded his head in agreement with Rajan and said,

"Yes Rajan, you have a valid point. But why will you run straight? Haven't you seen the video of the impala? Don't you remember how it ran? You will have to run like it; twisting, turning, leaping and bounding. Both of you have been trained well to do these manoeuvres. And yes, we have to give the tiger a fair chance to hunt also. That's the reason for this stipulation. Now, Siddharth do you have any question?"

The Joker looked at Siddharth. Siddharth said,

"Dear Joker, please stop this circus. If you are so much worried about your hungry tiger, and if you want to see one of us dead, I am ready to offer myself to the tiger. Let there be a fight between the tiger and me. If he wins, he will eat me. But, if I win, you will have to free all of us. Are you game?"

As soon as Siddharth posed the question, there were clanking sounds of unlocking of safety catches, and all the ten guards pointed their guns towards him.

The Joker raised his hands, and the guards lowered their guns. The Joker said,

"By now you should have known Siddharth that insubordination here means death. You have taken a lot of pain and you have suffered a lot to reach here. Don't be foolish to think that you can save the lives of Archana and Rajan by sacrificing your life. If we see any such attempt like you offering yourself to the tiger, the other two will be killed along with you. So, let the competition take its natural course, and let the great Satan decide the winner. Do you get it?"

The Joker's voice sounded like thunder.

After spending around 3 months in this despicable hell, Siddharth knew very well what the Joker meant.

The Joker said,

"Enough of talking folks! Let's move to the action arena."

It was 9-50 AM, and 5 cars were used to take the participants and other people to the action area. Indeed the playing field looked completely different. Archana had read about the ancient Roman amphitheatre. She thought had there been sitting places, the ground could have been called an amphitheatre.

Archana noted that at least 10 cameramen were present on temporary towers erected at different places and 5 drones with cameras were flying in the sky. The sides of the playing field were surrounded by 20-feet tall steel lattice walls, making it sure that no one could escape from there.

They reached the ground at 9-55 AM. Before sending each contestant to his or her place, the Joker said,

"You will get 3 to 5 minutes before the competition starts. Try to concentrate and focus on your job. I hope the last situation doesn't arise. But, if it arises, it will be Archana's ultimate choice to decide the survivor. Best of luck folks! Let's have fun!"

The dignitaries went to their seats situated on different towers constructed on the perimeter of the ground, and the candidates went to their respective places.

                              _________________________________________________________

Archana was instructed to stand near the base of the tower on one side of the field. The Joker had announced that sharp at 10, a pistol shot would be fired by Ranjan, and the competitors would have to jump into action. After watching Siddharth's clips, Archana was confident that he would be able to come to this side. But, she was extremely worried about Rajan. She hadn't have a chance to watch Rajan's progress in physical fitness here. The old picture of unfit Rajan was still vivid in her mind.  

To be continued on tomorrow night 

Thriller The ultimate choice 55

 Episode 55

"What about the preparation of the candidates, Ranjan?" The Joker seemed to have ignored the question completely.

"Very good, Sir! These two days have been like goldmine for trainers like us. Archana can now hit moving objects with almost 40% accuracy. Ranjan and Siddharth have also done very well in sprinting, long hump and high jump. I am sure the final event is going to be a superhit."

"You know the plan Ranjan!?" Nigella whined again.

"Oh no Nigella, I don't know. Joker Sir hasn't revealed the plan to anybody yet."

"Friends, the final programme will start at 10 AM tomorrow. Hold your breath till then and let it be a surprise to everyone." The Joker announced.

                      ____________________________________________________________

It was 17th March 9-30 AM in the morning; the D-day for the trio had finally arrived. Due to yesterday's Nor'wester, the weather was very pleasant. There were few scattered white clouds in the blue sky, while the sun was blazing brightly. The breeze was very mild.

Before the beginning of the grand final, the Joker met all the contestants in the open ground floor of the 10-storeyed building. This time he was surrounded by 10 guards armed with the most sophisticated lethal weapons. As usual, Nigella was standing beside the Joker holding his wheel-chair.

Rajan, Siddharth and Archana were standing in front of the Joker. The trio were not allowed to speak, but form their body language it appeared to everyone that they were dying to interact with each other. They got very emotional being so close to each other after so many days.

"No need to be emotional folks! This is not the place and definitely not the time. Because all three of you are standing at the jaws of death." The Joker warned them.

"But you said we have a chance of surviving." Rajan blurted.

"Stop, you idiot! When the Joker Sir is speaking don't interrupt. You will speak only when you are asked to do so."

A masked guard warned sternly, pointing his gun towards Rajan.

The Joker resumed his speech,

"In the previous editions of our megahit show Survivor, there used to be only one survivor or sometimes none. But this year, we have changed the rules. I am sure this is going to be more interesting than the previous editions of this show."

The Joker paused for a few moments. But, Archana's heartbeat increased in anticipation of a good news. Rajan also started to pray to the God for hearing something positive. Only Siddharth's body language remained pococurante. Archana couldn't gauge whether he was at all listening or not.

"To make things more exciting we have decided that this year there can be any number of surviors. To make it simpler, there can be 1, 2 or 3 survivors. If that seems to be a good news to you, you need to know the flip side of the condition, too. There can be zero survivor also."

The Joker again paused for few seconds. Archana and Rajan looked at each other. Siddharth was not looking at anyone.

The Joker resumed,

"All three of you have been trained well for this grand finale. Archana has been trained to kill, and you two have been trained to save yourselves.

Don't get startled Archana. If you become nervous by just hering the news, I am afraid none of you will survive. Because, the key to survival of you guys depends on your hand."

"My hand?" Despite the embargo on speaking untowardly, the words came out of Archana's mouth spontaneously.

But, the Joker didn't mind, as he continued,

"Yes, your hands! Now, all of you listen carefully, because I am going to tell you the rules for the ultimate test. But before that I must intoduce to you another character who will play a very vital role in this competition."

The Joker made some signal to someone in front. Archana couldn't understand what other character the Joker was talking about, because both Ranjan and the Joker himself had told her earlier that there were only three participants who had cleared the fourth stage. Rajan also could not figure out who the fourth character was going to be. Siddharth showed no reaction again.

But, they didn't have to wait too long, as a ten-wheeler big truck stopped in front of the building, facing the rear side towards them. When the tailgate of the truck was opened, Archana's heartbeats almost stopped, and her eyes popped out in astonishment.

Grrrmm! The growl and the odour caught Siddharth's attention also. He could no longer remain insouciant, as what he saw was indeed frightening. There was a steel cage in the truck, and inside the cage was a very restless royal bengal tiger. It was moving briskly from one side of the cage to the other, and making roars.

"Here is the fourth character for ya! If you are curious about him, let me inform you that this 5-year old alpha male has been in our custody in our den in MP. He was brought here 5 days back. You might have heard the disturbed barking of our agitated dogs on the day of his arrival. But later on that day, he was placed at a safe place in one of our underground hideouts. We have kept him hungry for the last 2 days.

Now you might wonder what is he doing here! Okay, without wasting any more time, let me tell you what the competition is going to be. We have partitioned the playing field into two halves, each having a length of 50 meter each, and separated by a 16 feet tall lattice wall made of steel. The tiger cannot jump over it, neither can he climb it. But, the humans can.

The tiger named Raja, Rajan and Siddharth will be in one half, while Archana will be in the other half. The hungry tiger will love to hunt one of Rajan or Siddharth or both to satiate his hunger. The task for both Rajan and Siddharth will be to come to the other half as early as possible. Both of them will have an advantage of 20 meters in front of the tiger. In other words, the tiger will be let loose from the base line, while both Rajan and Siddharth will be at a distance of 20 meter from him. Please remember the speed of a tiger is almost twice as that of you.

So you have to run very hard for the remaining 30 meter. But if that is a worrying news for you, there is also a good news for you, too. The tiger is not going to target both of you. He is experienced enough to pick his target. So, one of you can easily climb the lattice wall and move towards the other side.

Now, what is going to be Archana's task, and why does everything depend on Archana? We have made a 40-feet high wooden tower like structure on the baseline in the half where she will be standing. There will be no walls or roof on the structure. Archana has to climb the wooden stairs very quickly to reach the top. Her long range gun will be kept on the floor. This gun is loaded with only 10 bullets.

Her task is to kill at least one of the three. Obviously, she would like to kill the tiger. If she kills the tiger, all three of you can get out from here scot-free. But, to kill the tiger she can exhaust only up to 5 bullets. If she shoots the 6th bullet to kill the tiger, our snipers will shoot her in the head, and later on both of you will also be shot down. In other words all of you will die.

In case the tiger kills both Rajan and Siddharth, Archana gets out from here as the winner of this year's show. If the tiger kills one of them, and the other one comes to this half, he and Archana will be declared survivors for this year, and they can go home.

There is not much of complication in the aforesaid cases, but the situation will become a little scary in the last case when both Rajan and Siddharth cross to Archana's half. In this case, Archana has to kill one of the two. She will get only 3 minutes to fix her target after both of them enter her side, and she will have 5 bullets, assuming that she exhausts 5 bullets in trying to kill the tiger.

To be continued on Sunday night