Tuesday, April 04, 2017
Thursday, March 30, 2017
From Your Valentine-1
The month of February is the month of festivities, the time when birds
find their mates and the Lupercal, the festival of the god of fertility. Yet
for me, this is the month when I have experienced the optimum happiness in my
life with a tinge of regret that I felt it when my days have become numbered.
Tonight, it is very cold and even my bones can feel the chill this
might. I don’t know what hour it is. But the little glimpse of sky that I view
from my barred window, it looks dark blue with a glow. Looks like it must be
three hours past midnight.
Not that I was a reader of the skies but judging from the months of
captivity and the hours when the watch changed in the tower, I think I have
become adept at it. But there is something very special about this day as it
might be the last one I might see. This day I go to face my death in the
gallows before the huge crowd gathered for the Lupercalia this week.
There are occasional shouts and celebrations that one can hear rising
from the streets. Just like every year, this year too many young men will prove
their valour in the competitions held before the emperor. The women will be
showered with the ceremonial blood from the sacrifice of animals before the god
of fertility near the caves of Romulus and Remus.
Then, there will be the choosing of one’s bride from the urn of good
fortune. Julia will also be chosen by some warrior or the other. Even the
thought makes me angry as it brings to my mind a very unpleasant memory of
having to tend for her for days on end and then having to leave her side on new
orders from the Emperor.
Monday, March 27, 2017
From Your Valentine 4
One morning, I saw her playing in the courtyard with the young women of
her age, wearing a crown of white lilies. Not that I would have payed much
attention but her merry laughter caught my ears and distracted me from my
thought. I was deep in thought for I had received new orders from my Abbot to
watch my steps. I was worried because that meant I was not free to go anywhere
and there were hints of imprisonment in his letter. I smiled looking at her
because it felt special, that laughter and the feeling it aroused in me.
At night, Asterius visited me with his two soldiers. Usually, he comes
alone and I am treated like a guest in his castle. Then in a very solemn
manner, he made me understand that the Emperor has requested him to detain me
as a prisoner till the Lupercal, which means till the Ides of February. He also
declared that under no circumstances was I allowed to meet anyone or use any of
the special privileges that the Abbot had permitted.
I was led to a room near the
castle gates that had barred windows and also a glimpse of the sky. There was
no sunshine or laughter any longer but from the day I was put in the room, I
began to receive flowers and letters from the young ones who wrote about their
lovers and their hopes of getting married once the Declaration of the Emperor
was cancelled. There were crowns of lilies that made me think of Julia every
time I saw them.
I think of writing a letter to Julia. Despite the sleepless nights, I
don’t feel tired at all. The only thing that is before me is her lovely face. What
I feel is that I met her so late in life, when in exile, when condemned to
death. Though I try to read my books on medicine, it is next to impossible
because of a longing to see her or to hear her voice. I have hardly known her
but I feel a kind of soul connection when I think of her.
Saturday, March 25, 2017
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
Activity Tracker
One of the things that I bought with the prize coupons from Indiblogger Tata Tiago Marathon was Fitrist, an activity tracker, always related to my dream project of losing weight, though almost every year, I find myself expanding horizontally and nothing else. However, I was extremely disappointed to find out that it was incompatible with my Windows Phone.Today, I saw a review of Fastrack Reflex, a similar product that combines an activity tracker with several other cool features. Looking forward to buying this product!
Saturday, March 04, 2017
The Rain
In between her sobs,
She tells her story,
My hysterical friend,
The rain.
How she had waited
For years
For her true love
To come back.
She remembers
How he forgot
Or never bothered
Much about her.
How her longings
How her love
She hid behind
Grey veils.
When she could
No longer bear
Her sadness
She burst to tears.
Once in a while,
She weeps inconsolable,
Abandoned and lone,
Through the night.
She sobs and chokes
Her long silver hair
All scattered
Over her frail body.
In between her sobs,
She tells her story,
My lone friend,
The rain.
Tuesday, February 14, 2017
From Your Valentine (2)
I wake up to the sounds of shouts in the street. It sounds like a huge crowd rushing and trembling. There are sounds of women everywhere. I wonder when my agony will be over before or after the festival. Today is the festival of Lupercalia, dedicated to the god of fertility.
The women folk must be out in the
streets, dressed in white for the ceremonial sprinkling of animal blood on
their bodies. Julia might be there too waiting for her chance for her name to
be picked by her prospective groom from the urn of good luck.
I could hear the prayers from the
sacred caves breaking the silence of early morning. The chants were audible as
they were repeated by the women folk everywhere, from the hills to the valleys
for begetting children and for good crops this year.
The huge doors are opened and I
see Julia before me not Asterius or his soldiers. I am too dumbfounded for
words. I’m surprised that in the midst of the festival, she has come to see me.
Dressed in white, she looks more like a ghost than a real person.
It takes me some time to ask her
why she has not gone for the festival near the caves of Romulus and Remus, the
founding fathers of the nation. She replies in a low voice: Everyone has gone
for the festival and I have stolen the keys so that I could come and see you. You
need to hurry because there is a horse ready for you. You can run away from
here and from death.
No, I cannot. I am a priest and I
cannot break the trust that your father has showed on me, I mumble. She is not convinced
and comes near me. Though it is quite dark in my prison cell, I can see her
face and she looks pale. It takes me sometime to understand that she may not
have recovered fully from the disease that almost took her life away. She holds
on to my arm and caresses it with her long delicate fingers.
Not any longer. You are not a
priest any longer. You are freed through a royal order that might in fact gain
you a death worse than that of a criminal. It is better that you run away for
your life. As for my father, he might forgive you because you saved my life,
because he sees you as a good man. You are to be executed in the morning
without any blessings from a priest. There is no time to lose.
That shocks me because I am still
a priest though I might have disobeyed Claudius and his orders. There were many
couples that I had married off disobeying the order of compulsory bachelorhood
for all soldiers. I have seen the women cry when their men left for war. Nor
was I fool not to read in Julia’s eyes, the same flash of love though I have never
been with her.
Suddenly, there is an alarm raised
and I see that the prison guards are on their way back. I snatch Julia by the
hand and we run as fast as we can through the empty corridors. She leads the
way and by the time we reach where the place where the horse is tied, we can
see crowds of people, all splattered with blood on their clothes and crops back
from the festival of Lupercal.
To be continued...
To be continued...
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We have celebrated our days of togetherness as if each day was a special occasion, gone on adventures in the city, explored new nooks and co...