It's a story set in a backdrop of village, Brahmanagar.
Situations condemn Ira Kulkarni to return for the village her family left due to unexpected death of her father,17 years ago.
Divine mysteries, plotting people, haunting echoes of forgotten re...
I feel the cool breeze blowing past me, caressing my cheeks through the window of my car. I can smell the fragrance of wild flowers and ferns.
The outlying view of village against a backdrop of rolling hills that are standing tall, boasting their strength and resilience is a view to watch. The lush green forests fringed by golden beaches and the emerald sea is a pretty sight to behold.
The peace and quiet of the village is broken only by the twittering of birds, rustling of the wind, sound of waves splashing on the sandy shores or on the sea - battered rocks.
Sky is now a mixture of orange, yellow and golden hues. The sun retreats majestically and its fainting rays slowly disappear, indicating its almost the end of the day.
The paddy fields on either side of the roads were covered with green crop, with grazing animals like goats, buffaloes and cows.Farmers can be seen returning to their dwelling after a tiring day at the fields.
There are about 600 families living in the village of Brahmanagar.Its a big village with its own folk culture.I can see the wide varieties of houses built—muddy huts with bamboo sticks, thatched roofs with straws and stalks, cottages,small farmhouses, traditional duplexes, mansions, and newly built apartments which shows sign of modernization of villages.
For most of the villagers the sea has been source of livelihood from generations. The men with shirt drenched with perspiration can be seen dismantling their fishing nets and harbouring their boats at the coast. Shouts of children's laughter ring out as the car passes through the beach. It's the most beautiful site in the world to behold.
As we pass through streets of village, the site of women folking around in their vermillion sarongs, chewing betel and exchanging latest gossips greets me.
I was 9 years old when my dad was found dead in our old farm house, the medical reasons were not found resulting in people forming theories as per their wish citing the reason there were some divine powers responsible for his fate.
God is almighty why does he cause the death of his own children without any reason?
reason ...........well is there any reason?.....
My sister Stuti Kulkarni (degree in archeology), my mom who manages our hospital after dads death and me settled down in a city far from the village and my paternal grandparents used to visit us oftenly, giving no opportunity for us to visit this village where my childhoods beautiful moments and traum......well I don't want to remember those haunted memories which took 17 years of my life to forget.
Stuti has been engaged to Rahul Agarwal for past 2 years and our family finally agreed to get them married.
My grandparents wishes to conduct the marriage in devi bhairavi temple (a form of goddess durga) which is in our village. As it was the tradition followed by our forefathers ,even mom and dad got married there.
I came out of my thoughts as I heard the loud screeching voice of my best friend Isabella, who has stopped the car and had the horrific look on her face staring straight.
I followed her gaze to see lots of hens and chickens blocking our way. Otto, who was sitting at the back got down from the car and started to capture the photos of the chickens beside road.
Well that's why he is here!
He is a documentary photographer, who enjoys every little things in life and a very serious guy who speaks very less. on the contrary Isabella is .....well Isabella. She is the heiress of Sinclair jewellers who are powerful family of the country.She loves helping people and traveling villages.
Maybe she is the one with most knowledge about villages in our trio and here she is ....not moving an inch from her seat.
I just laugh and get down to see Otto chasing after chickens to capture pictures.
"Well, don't chase them they might get under other vehicles". I shout out to him. We are almost 10 minutes away from home.We have a farm house there.
As we get in the car Bella is still sitting unmoved.
"Bella, see i got a hen here". Otto tells in his always serious tone, Bella snaps out of her bubble and turns back as if there is a devil over her back only to see Otto examining his camera.
"You idiot why did u tell me that"? she fake glared at him.
"Someone has to snap our princess out of her world, right?" he tells her casually and continues his work.
"Don't u dare call me that word", she gets serious
"Well u are a princess",Otto speaks under his breath.
"What did you say"? Bella glares at him .
"Ohh.....enough guys we are already three days late. We don't want to waste any more time", I say.
"You had a surgery to conduct, remember"? Bella glares at me.
"Cool down your nerves Bella.You will become granny at this rate". I tell her.
"Well I stated the facts", she frowned and started driving.
I'm a neurosurgery resident, in our own hospital. I and mom have taken a month leave for Stuti's marriage, and mom decided to attend only important surgeries.
"Ira, this is beautiful village I have ever seen. We are going to make most out of it", Otto says.
"Yes, we are going to make beautiful memories here in a month", Bella replies grinning excited like a child.
Hopefully............. I let out a breath feeling uneasy.
If only we had known the mystery that's waiting to be unveiled from 17 years......
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