💀 TAYITA 💀
AMULET
It was an October evening in the year of 1962 , time of deepavali festival in INDIA ,an old lady Devaki AMMA was walking back to home from temple after performing evening pooja.As she was walking by the avenue near to her home in MARALKERE village situated in south Karnataka she saw that her grandchildren RUDRA and TUNGA were bursting firecrackers and were enjoying with their friends ,after a few seconds a deaf old person appeared walking in the same avenue and the kids started to throw the firecrackers at him and started to make fun of him and his deafness ,to this the granny got upset and walked her way home.
It was half past 9 in night and the kids arrived after their enjoyment of bursting crackers and washed their hands and feet and went to have dinner with their parents and grandmother.
Their father Veerappa and mother Shanthamma served the kids with sweets prepared on the occassion of Deepavali.The kids were really happy and joyful after their playful evening of bursting crackers.But granny was upset with the kids for their behaviour towards the deaf old man towards whom the kids had thrown the fire crackers.The Granny had food and left to her room given to her in first floor of the house which housed most of the old things of the house including Granny herself.
The kids after having a delicious dinner left to their room to sleep. But around half past 11 in night RUDRA was making some noise in the room and TUNGA was not able to sleep.
Tunga asked - RUDRA why are you awake?
Rudra replied - due to bursting of too much crackers ,Iam getting headache and not getting sleep.
Tunga said- Oh ,Ok but I enjoyed the evening.
Rudra replied - Yes even I enjoyed. Especially the way me and my friend SOMA threw firecrackers at that old deaf fellow was more exciting for me.
Tunga said- lets go to granny and ask her to tell us a story so that we both can go to sleep.
Rudra agreed and both of them climbed the wooden stairs and went to first floor of the house where granny was sleeping.
Granny was awakened by the kids arrival and she lit the Lantern she had so that she can see who is walking around at that time of the night.
Rudra and Tunga appeared in front of her and Granny was relieved and looked at her grandchildren and said -You little ghosts of MARALKERE ,why are you walking around at this time of night?
Rudra said - We were not getting any sleep ,so we thought we will come to you and ask you to tell us a story.
Granny replied -Do you little thieves think Iam like a Radio to provide you with entertainment? And angrily told the kids to go back to sleep.
But Tunga held granny by her hand and requested for a story.
Finally Granny gave in and told that she will tell a true story of her young days when she was around 18 yrs old and when she lived with her parents and grandparents in the same red tile roof house with two cows ,where they lived now.
Granny started with her story -listen kids it was early 1900s and it was BRITISH era in our country , but their administration offices were not near our village as it was very underdeveloped village at that time. But it was very tough time to survive for farmer families like ours.
It is not about the poverty or British raj I want to tell, but want to tell you both about an old lady WITCH who lived outside our village in the dense forest area.
After hearing this the kids shifted closer to Granny with scared looks on their faces. Even Tunga regreted asking Granny for a story.
But the granny was having fun and she continued- Our Village and nearby 4-5 villages were threatened by the lady Witch as the main road connecting to all the villages and the near by city passed through that dense forest area and everyone had to travel for their business via the same road and the Witch use to catch hold of people and eat them.
Many villagers who had just escaped the clutches of the witch described her as shape shifter and some even told that she was the most beautiful woman /witch they had come across in their life time.
It was half past 12 now midnight and kids were wide awake and listening to the story, and granny continued in the light of lantern-
Once the surrounding village heads gathered during a common village fair in our village and decided to perform a POOJA to KALI devi to get rid of the Witch but it was of no avail and the killings and disappearance of villagers continued for the next two to three years.
And then one day an old woman arrived to our village and was sitting near the tamarind tree near KALI devi temple in our village and was taking rest. The other old ladies of the village enquired about her where abouts and she narrated a heart wrenching story of how her village of 500 people was destroyed and people were killed by the Witch of the forest ,and how she was the only survivor now who has escaped the killings and has come to our village for shelter.
To this the village people offered her a small place near temple to stay and the temple PUROHIT (PRIEST) arranged food for the old lady.
It was almost a week after the old woman had arrived to our village ,some even thought that she was the WITCH.
To crack this mystery me and my 4 friends Meena with tall height ,Ramu with squint eyes ,Rajappa with smart mind ,and Kantanna with a short leg (limp) ,decided to pay a visit to the old lady in the middle of the night.
To this Tunga bounced from her place and asked the Granny -didnt you get scared?
To this granny replied -No.(Even though she had got scared to Death.)
[Thats how we Indians instill brave thoughts in our kids.ofcourse not all thoughts]
Then the two kids were really proud of their Granny and asked -Were you the mastermind?
To this granny replied -No ,it was Rajappa.
Then the granny dusted her bedsheet and continued her story -
Then we all went to the old lady's place with Rajappa's plan to crack the mystery of identity of the old lady .But to our astonishment she was not the WITCH.
She was a regular lady in distress.She even served us with fruits she had and narrated how her villagers had planned to get rid of the WITCH but had failed miserably.
She even told us that her village head( with an amputed thumb) had spoken to the Witch and how she had informed him to send only proper people that is who didnt have any physical disabilities. And also the old lady told us that the WITCH would hypnotize the person whom she use to meet and then perform her ritual and kill them and make them her feast.
To this all 4 of us looked at Kantanna ,and he smiled in his mind thinking that he is safe.
[Typical mentality of all us]
Unknowingly the village PUROHIT had also walked behind us and he was listening to our conversation near the door of the small hut where the old lady was given shelter.
After that we left to our houses.
But the Purohit had met RAJAPPA and told him to inform all important village people to gather near the village temple entrance the next day.
The villagers had great respect towards PUROHIT and all of them gathered as they were informed by RAJAPPA.
The PUROHIT announced that from now onwards we will not have problem from the WITCH lady and that he had found out a way to get rid of her.To this he requested all villagers to provide him with three young kids from the village ,for this everyone stepped back.
The Purohit said it is the last remedy that we can apply or else whole village will be dead in coming days.
The villagers had discussed among themselves and asked PUROHIT to select any three kids he would feel right.For this the Purohit declared that he will put the names of the kids of the village in front of KALI goddess and would ask village head to pick any three folded leaves with names on them and would choose those kids for final sacrifice ritual for the WITCH and would end the problem for once.
The same evening the village head visited the PUROHIT and requested him not to put his son's name among the leaves as he loved his son dearly.To this the PUROHIT agreed.
And till the next morning almost every parent visited PUROHIT with same request for their children and the PUROHIT agreed.
RAJAPPA was called by the PUROHIT the next morning and told to write only three names on the leaves repeatedly.It included RAJAPPA,RAMU and KANTANNA 's names.
To this RAJAPPA begged the PUROHIT to leave him out of this ,but PUROHIT told him that he will not get into any trouble and promised him that he would take care of everything.
Finally all villagers gathered near the temple and the 3 leaves were picked and it had the names of RAJAPPA ,RAMU and KANTANNA .
The whole village was relieved except the parents of the three selected ones.
But Kantanna knew he was safe. And RAJAPPA knew that Purohit would save him.Thus the only person in danger was RAMU and he was sure its his last few days now.
The PUROHIT told the parents of the chosen ones to come to temple in the night which was a full moon Night and they all arrived as advised.
The parents with heavy heart begged the PUROHIT to leave their children.The Purohit promised them that if their kids follow as per his advice ,everyone will be saved.
Finally he took 4 AMULETs which had sacred mantras written over them and handed over them to the kids.
Then the PUROHIT narrated to the kids that 15 days from today on NEW moon night they all should go to the forest and kill the WITCH.He also informed that the 4th AMULET has to be tied to the WITCH and remaining the kids should wear for their safety.
To this Kantanna's feet were drenched with water.
Kids giggled at this Granny's funny line.(As they understood Kantanna peed in pants)
Then Rudra asked -Granny did the kids do as asked by PUROHIT or they left the village?
To this granny yawned and continued with a smile -
No replied the Granny. She said that the 3 kids were given all the ROYAL treatment for the next 14 days by the villagers.
And the day finally arrived ,RAJAPPA ,RAMU ,KANTANNA took blessings of villagers and left to temple which was at the border of the village.The Purohit and village head waited with a bullock cart near the temple.
The Purohit told to RAJAPPA that after around half past 11 he should drop RAMU and KANTANNA near the forest area and return to village without looking back.And also told KANTANNA to wear high heeled sandal on his deficient side so that nobody will identify him easily as a person with a limp.
And then he told RAMU and KANTANNA that one of them should tie the 4th AMULET to the WITCH so that she will leave the forest or perish forever.And handed over the 4th AMULET to KANTANNA.
After this RAMU was sure now that he will be the one whom the witch will eat if anything goes wrong.
The 3 kids took blessings from PUROHIT and VILLAGE HEAD and left with the cart.
Around half past 11 around midnight RAJAPPA dropped RAMU and KANTANNA near forest area and drove back with lightening speed.
RAMU and KANTANNA were walking around the forest area with raised heartbeat and sweaty hands as they were scared to death and wanted everything to finish of as early as possible.
After an hour, a strong wind blew near the two walking kids and a beautiful and melodious voice called the kids.The kids turned around to look for the person ,but they were not able to see anyone.
A lady in white dress with a beauty of goddess walked in front of the kids and the fragrance she poured around her was heavenly and she asked both the kids that what they were doing in the forest in the middle of the night.
The kids lied and told that they were lost. And around the same time there was some noise behind the kids and they both turned around and looked that another woman walked near them with same features.
Now the kids understood that they were wrong ,and there were two WITCHES in the forest and thats why the near by villages were getting emptied at such a faster rate.
And the beautiful women took the kids to their abode near by and asked the kids to have some fruits which they had ,and the kids sat at an edge of the bench of the small two roomed hut were the two women lived ,and were shivering to their bones thinking that they will be eaten alive by the Witches.
The one Witch came out from inside of the other room and asked RAMU and KANTANNA to go inside the other room one by one and get Prasad (food offered to god) and told them that after that they can sleep in the hut for the night.
Ramu with trembling feet walked inside the room and the lady who was inside turned towards the boy and looked into his eyes and started to turn into WITCH form and held RAMU's hands firmly, and the other woman outside had held KANTANNA's hands and was about to take him also inside and eat him.
By this time the outside woman also had turned into her WITCH form and at that time KANTANNA panicked and tied the extra AMULET he had to her hand and the WITCH started to turn into flames.
But inside the other WITCH held RAMU and started to chant mantras to have her prey, by looking into RAMU's eyes to hypnotize him. But to RAMU's surprise after sometime she also started to cry and shout ,and then perished like ashes in to the winds.
Then both the kids rushed outside the Hut and the HUT also disappeared to their astonishment after a few seconds.
Both of them ran towards the village and didnt look back.
By the time of sunrise they had reached near temple entrance where the PUROHIT and RAJAPPA waited.
Then the two kids narrated the whole story to the PUROHIT. And even he was shocked to hear that there were two Witches and that the kids were lucky enough to escape from the jaws of the death.
And in the end RAMU asked PUROHIT that why did the second witch die ,as the only extra amulet KANTANNA had was tied to the WITCH who was with KANTANNA.
To this PUROHIT told that the amulet which RAMU wore had already made the WITCH weaker who was with him ,and as RAMU had squint eyes the witch was not able to concentrate to hypnotize him and was killed by her own powers, as she failed to hypnotize her prey.
To this both RAMU and KANTANNA looked into each others eyes thinking that how lucky they were.
And the PUROHIT took the 3 kids to their homes ,and the whole village rejoiced as the Witches were finally dead. And the fellows with squint eyes and limp had became the heroes of the village.
By the time the Granny had finished her story ,RUDRA had slept off and TUNGA was about to doze off.The Granny took the kids to their room and tucked them in their blankets and left to her place in the first floor.
The next morning the kids were playing in the verandah of the house and saw the same old deaf man walking past their home ,towards whom they had thrown firecrackers. Tunga went inside to her mom and asked to give some sweets left over from the past day and took them and went to give to the old man. By seeing this the old Granny who was performing her morning pooja was very happy seeing that the child had understood that whoever it may be whether a blind or squint eye or deaf or limp or old or weak everyone is important and anyone can come to help whenever there is a need and anyone can become a hero or a saviour. And thus nobody should be treated inferior.
And as the Granny was finally performing Pooja for her late husband's photo ,with a smiling face thinking that how her story made her grandkids understand a moral lesson. At that same moment RUDRA looked at the photo of his Grandfather and asked Granny-
GRANNY, DID GRANDPA ALSO HAVE SQUINT EYES ?
- Dr.B-rainbow-91
0 comments:
Post a Comment