Flowers Of Salooma

Part 1

This story begins from an ancient mansion of a small village situated in the valley of world heritage, Western Ghats of Southern India. Head of the mansion, Mr. Rama Panicker has three sons. Elder son, Kesav and middle one, Krishna, finished studies and are working in government sectors. The youngest of them, Hari Panicker, 27 year old, was academically poor and hence were being called by a nickname - "loser".

His cunning brothers partitioned the mansion's valuable properties and bagged them. Mr. and Mrs. Panicker are living peacefully in the mansion with their servants.

The so called loser Hari, were only given a barren land, which was in the outskirts of town. May it be his foolishness or intelligence, he didn't complained or asked for anything else.

Even though he was academically poor, he was an excellent artist. He was an expert in making wooden sculptures. He spends most of his time creating sculptures. Chisels, knives, blades and glass pieces were his tools. Even though he was called a loser, he was handsome and healthy. He didn't have any complaints or sorrows. He built a bamboo hut on his given barren land near the trees, making sculptures and stayed there. While immersed in his art, he was unaware of the dusk and dawn. He made a beautiful pond nearby his hut, filled with bloomed pink lotuses. He killed his leisure time by swimming and enjoying breeze in the evening, sitting besides his pool. His hut was surrounded by a beautiful garden of his creation, filled with different colours of flowers visited by tiny little different varieties of butterflies. He find it peaceful by looking at the flowers during his rest time.

He had a one and only occasional visitor, Mr. Iyyer, who helped him to sell his art works. He runs an export and sales shop in the town. Mr. Iyyer is a honest and nice man. He buys Hari's sculptures by paying him a generous amount.

Hari had a beautiful sculpture, which Iyyer liked the most, but he was not ready to sell it yet. Iyyer frequently asks him to sell it and even offers him a large amount telling that authorities of Paris' museum are interested in it. He was obsessed with it since he made it with the image of the girl resembling from his dreams, whom he called 'Pournami'.

Pournami is a sculpture filled with life and beauty whom he had never seen in his entire life. He used to talk to her, pinch her cheeks, even kiss her lovingly.

He is crazy about Pournami, he even share his food and blankets during cold nights. "Are you cold?" He asks with not expecting an answer and lay down beside her.

And like this, many days goes by.

Near his pond, there are several trees, one of which is Pala tree, popularly known as Indian devil tree. Pala flowers are known for it's fragrance.

One night when he was staring at the stars bathed in moonlight, he heard a sound of clinking of anklets near Pournami. He turned his head towards it and widened his eyes at the sight before him.

There she was, standing besides Pournami, with her long black hair flowing down to her hips.

He narrows his eyes and took a step forward. "What?! She looks just like Pournami" He whispers to himself. "Wh- who are you?" He asked stuttering, but there was no reply. "Oh! Is that you who was in my dream last night? The flowers you gave me was very beautiful. I gave it to Pournami". He said to himself.

She took a step forward and said quietly. "I have been here for a long time. You don't know me, but I know who you are. You may think I'm insane, but this is the truth. I'm a demon living in the Pala tree". His eyes widened again at this. Demon?! Am I dreaming? Probably.

"But aren't you the one from my dreams? Is demons supposed to be beautiful?" He blurted out. "Oh! Am I beautiful?" She laughed at this. After a second she said, "My name is Salooma. Will you be my friend?" He was surprised by her friendliness.

"Yeah, I could do that. I'm not afraid of you anyway. I'm Hari, by the way." She smiled at this. "I know. I have been watching you since you came here. More over you haven't been disturbing me in any ways; especially during nights". He laughed nervously at this. "Um.. Night is your time. Isn't it?"

She spoke quietly now. "So can we live here peacefully?" He smiled. "I guess. We could be there for each other. But from what I've heard, aren't demons supposed to be scary and blood sucking and all? But you are... kind of beautiful". He smiled sheepishly scratching the back of his neck.

"Kind of, huh? And yes, what you have heard is true. I'm in human form now, I'm a nature-spirit, to be specific. I have to ask you something. Can I have the permission to bathe in your pond?" She looked at him expectantly. "Yes, of course. You can use it anytime you want." He smiled. They remained in silence for a second.

"What is your greatest wish Hari?" She asked him out of the blue. He replied very happily to this. "I wish that Pournami comes to life and live with me like a princess. But she is just a piece of wood. Nonetheless I still love her." Salooma stares at him.

"I know you liked her. You like her now, wholeheartedly. You love her, right? I was watching you. But watching you love her, a mere piece of wood, I yearning for such affection. May be that's why everyone calls you a loser".

Hari became little agitated. "Hey, you are just like my family, with no brains. Can a human love, a human only? No! He can love whatever there is in this world. That's my perspective". Her next question was sudden.

"So, can you like me?". He stared at her and got into his own thoughts. "Yes, I can. But isn't your morals and rituals are different from mine? I may become a burden to you. Usually humans hates me, and calls me a loser. But you... you like me!!" He was surprised by himself that he said these to her.

"Yes, I like you. Anyways, it's close to sunrise. I have to go now. We will meet again."

Suddenly, she rises to the sky and disappeared into thin air. He felt really happy and energetic. He jumped up and down like a child on a Christmas day and laughed loudly.

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A/N:

Salooma is pronounced as (sa-lu-ma)

Pala tree is actually a regional name. It's scientific name is Alstonia scholaris (commonly called blackboard tree, devil tree, ditabark, milkwood-pine, white cheesewood)

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