Man without a gun : Do you pray ?
Man with a gun : I am a religious person. Yes, I pray.
Man without a gun : What is the favourite part that you like in your religion ?
Man with a gun : Resurrection.
Man without a gun : After you pull that trigger, pray for me not to return.
Bang!
[extracts from 'Sivaji, That's What They Say', A Curry Western by mappi (2015)]
Petta - Flourish to Fall
The violent night turns chaotic when sirened vehicles approach the hostel building and the man in charge briskly walks onto the corridor, which was scattered with scared students. Without waiting to take his breath he asks to a ramdom student, "Where is he ?" Learning that the Mysterious Man is lying wounded on the floor above him, the man in charge collapses on the bench that hugged the wall. It was the turn of the replier to shoot the question, "Who is he?" The man in charge takes his time and what begins as a chuckle turns into a chortle as the reply.
Another man, miles away from where the Mysterious Man laid bleeding, utters a name inbetween his maniacal laughter.
Yet another bearded man, miles away in distance and time from where the Mysterious Man laid bleeding, calls out the same name.
The nameless unify to name the Mysterious Man. And Petta Parrak it is.
***---***
"How do you intend to kill him ?" he asked his son Jithu.
"With explosives. He may have escaped last time. If I don't succeed this time, you may bury me", Jithu replied.
"Bury you is what I shall do if you fail this time", he smiled at Jithu.
***---***
"Have you known your mother", he asked Jithu.
"She died while giving birth to me", Jithu replied
"Jithu, I am your father", he declared to Jithu.
***---***
"Am I your son ?", Jithu asked his father seated on the floor by his feet.
"Of course you are, my child", late came the reply. "Did you meet him", he asked Jithu.
"Yes", affirmed Jithu.
"Lies is what he is. If lie wants to lie, it shall callout his name. Beware of him, the one who alleges himself to be your father", he tapped Jithu on his shoulders.
***---***
"Beleive in what you want. Truth and lie speak in the same manner, very hard to distinguish, but lie is always a step ahead of truth to prove itself superior", he warned Jithu. He looked at Jithu with compassion filled in his eyes and said, "Tonight, don't sleep tight".
***---***
"To reach the belly of the beast, you should get through its mouth", Jithu told his father. He walks into the mouth of the beast with explosives and plants one right inside the belly of the beast.
***---***
"'Yen kooda sernthu koothaadum nezhalum'", Petta laughed derisively. "The Dancing Shadows. Have you ever noticed your shadow dancing under the street lamplight", he asked him. Singaram looked around as though the words to coin his reply were hanging all around the room. Before him to his left was Anwar. Before him to his right stood Jithu. Right in front of him Petta stood looking straight into his eyes without a blink.
Seeing Singaram having no words, Petta charged to exhibit the energy of words, "Right under the light, the shadow is the densest, but also the tiniest. When you start to move, the shadow slowly grows infront of you. It becomes bigger and bigger, but also, thinner and thinner. As the shadow grows longer and thinner in front of you, another shadow emerges behind you that grows bigger and bigger behind you. When the shadow in the front thins out, the shadow behind gets closer and closer to you as you reach the the light of the next lamppost. Let's say that the man standing underneath the first lamppost is you when you murdered my family. You felt strong and content. You started to flourish as the shadow in front of you grew bigger just like your pleasure in killing, but at the same time pain was on its way, represented by me as the shadow behind you growing bigger and stronger as the shadow of fame in front of you gets thinner and shorter. We are now at the midpoint between the lampposts. The pain is so great it outweighs your delight. And with every step forward your pleasure dissolves and I intensify behind you. Finally, the pain is so unbearably intense that I have to act, so when you reach the point with the next lamp in zenith, I kill you. In between the lampposts, you flourish to fall, just like the dancing shadows."
Singaram looked bewilderedly at Jithu and then at Petta.
Bang!
***---***
"What you said is point Jithu. But before entering the mouth of the beast, one has to face the beast first. Being alive after facing the beast is like rebirth", Petta lectured Jithu. Looking at the confusion on Jithu's face, Petta continued, "An unknown saint once told - A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do, and there ain't no running from it". He pulled Jithu gently and thrusted his shoulders with both his hand to make him sit on the sofa. He pulled a flipped chair nearer to Jithu and sat on the blade of the seat and held to the legs of the chair as a support. Seated over his new throne, Petta looked down straight into the soul of Jithu and said, "A lie that is half-truth is the darkest of all lies."
Bang!
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