Story of Dakshin Khand's temple

weird but true only because of the myth this temple had for its origin. Legend says that Lord Krishna lived in this village in disguise during his reign as the emperor. He chose to live in that way in return  for the love  and affection this village showed towards him when he was found hurt after getting washed to the shore losing a fierce battle in the sea. 

Not Exactly !!

There was genuine laughter in the room the moment Nisha's boss heard her say that she needed a break. Nisha could not understand the reason behind his reaction. She rarely fails to figure out her boss's intentions as he always hints her that they both think a like. "Excuse me Sirji. Was I being funny?" Nisha asked him in doubt. "Not exactly!!. It's only that you waited the whole day to tell me this that too when you have so much work in line, with the new interns in place and other improvements being done in the existing article sections, I hardly see any space we have got to take even a half day break." her Boss spoke diligently with a clear tone, politely rejecting her leave request but Nisha was not in mood to back off so she remained silent for a moment and then spoke "It's a two day break, not a half-day, precisely this weekend." And for the first time her boss rose his head to make an eye contact with Nisha. The phone at his desk started ringing but he was least bothered to answer it. He didn't take off his sight from Nisha. It was Nisha's turn to break the silence so she picked up the receiver and answered the call "Hello, Dr.Tyagi's Office... Ya but he is in an important meeting. Could you wait for a while and give a ring sometime later. Thank you".  Dr. Tyagi was least interested to know who the caller was but Nisha wasn't interested either to keep the message to herself so she said "It's from home. Aunty ji was asking for you." He then put his head back into the article he was proof reading and spoke in an authoritative tone "We had already discussed that we might have to work even on Sundays for a month or so." Nisha replied without any delay "That is why I said two days." He was slowly losing his temper but kept his cool and raising his voice said "I am not approving your leave" for which Nisha conveniently replied in a soft tone "But I am taking a break this weekend."  Dr. Tyagi stopped everything he was doing, stood up and looking straight at Nisha said "Look Nisha. today is my wedding anniversary. Your aunt must have called to check whether I would be early today to take her out for dinner. We both know that that's not going to happen since it had already passed 9.00 pm. We are running a newspaper here, we are not doing a public service. This is our bread & butter and sometimes we do have to keep aside our personal life.." his speech was interrupted by Nisha as she smiled and said "You did" Dr.Tyagi had a question on his face as his flow was struck abruptly. Nisha did not wait further and so clearing his confusion she said "You did take her out for dinner for your wedding anniversary." After a brief pause she continued "I booked the reservation for you both" Dr. Tyagi looked down at his calendar checking the date. "It's the same date but last month" Nisha ended her statement with a sense of joy but her boss sat back on his chair cursing his memory in a sensible manner. "Can't keep a track of my own life and I call myself an editor of a newspaper" Nisha immediately jumped in to stop himself from humiliating further as she had never intended to insult him with her wits. "Sir ji, I am no one to comment on your capabilities but I am pretty sure you would remember what was the main headlines for the same date last month" Involuntarily Dr. Tyagi's voice answered "India's route to Nuclear Energy" She continued  "and a month before that". "Politics has a new source of income through FDI" he answered immediately yet unable to crack Nisha's concern. "this is exactly what I am talking about Sirji. You have got so much involved with this newspaper, which is no doubt your life's best achievement , that its ok sometimes to let go off unimportant things. Dr.Tyagi was now smiling knowing how simple it is for a human to find an excuse for almost everything. "Who am I kidding anyways. Nisha I know you made your point but..." he stopped and he didn't wish to continue further as they both knew what the other end of the sentence was about. He went back to his work and continued to read adjusting his spectacles. Nisha stood their silently for a moment and then slowly began to speak "I do have a life beyond this office Sirji, and sometimes I need to remind myself the same." He didn't respond. "We still have four more days for a friday and I will see if I can squeeze in this weekend's work, if possible spend an extra hour because I never compromise in the quality of my work. He didn't respond even then. She waited there for him to answer but he didn't give any such indication. She turned back and was about to leave his cabin when he spoke out her name. "Nisha" She didn't turn back but stood there waiting for his answer. "Don't make me a bad boss. I don't want you to work late." It was her turn to remain silent this time. She didn't speak any. After a brief pause he said "Alright!! I will ask Arjun to support you through this week and if you need my help let me know I will stay back and we will finish all pending items from your end by this friday." She didn't speak any even then. Dr.Tyagi ended the conversation with "you can go now. Go home for today. you have a lot to do from tomorrow." Nisha left his cabin with a gentle nod agreeing to his concern. 'What just happened' her mind immediately bugged her the moment she stepped out of the office. 'we are going to DakshinKhand this weekend' Nisha replied with a broad smile and a sense of achievement that her leave got approved. 'I know where we are going you dumbass but how did you convince that old junkie?' for which Nisha answered 'Nothing. I just didn't get convinced to his words when he tried. Isn't it that simple?'.  'ya but....' and before her mind could throw any more questions Nisha cooled it down saying 'Enough now, let's go home. There is a lot more to plan'

The next day she woke, freshed up, enjoyed her hobby and immediately sat down with a map in front of her. The one's marked in red were the places she wished to see and the ones marked in green were the places which she already did. The last time she went on an adventure like this was almost two years back so there was genuine excitement in her eyes knowing that she would be visiting Dakshin Khand soon. It's a place less known to people, not very popular among common people but is well known for it's cleanest beaches. Being less inhabitant and untouched by modernisation, Dakshin Khand was a peaceful world altogether. There is also a temple of Lord Krishna in this coastal town which was well known for its unique structure especially the main shrine. Nisha opened her laptop and started researching on how to get there. She first found out the safest possible route for her which involved changing two buses.She lived in Simhakranthi, South India's fastest growing metropolitan city situated at the Southern tip of Kerala. The first bus would take her to a city called Gruhan which was the closest she could get from Simhakranthi to Dakshin Khand . From there she was confident to get a direct bus to dakshin khand. She searched if she could get any decent places to stay and once she got all the information, she scrolled down on the map to see how she could get Rishi to that Place without having him travel too much. After checking all the possible routes she found out that the shortest route for Rishi to reach Dakshin Khand would need him to take three buses. The first one to reach the nearest city of  Kothapuri from his village Bhairavapuram. The second one connecting Kothapuri to Gruhana and third one to obviously reach Dakshin Khand. Noting all the required details, she left to office.

She knew that the next 4 days would not be easy. She will have to handle a lot of pressure managing multiple things so as to earn that peaceful weekend. Arjun was waiting at her desk as she walked in. She neither noticed his smile greeting her in a low voice nor cared to greet him back. In fact the moment she sat in her seat she looked straight into his eyes and asked " where you waiting for me to give you instructions on what to be done?"  Arjun's uncomfortable smile vanished and with a confident gesture he replied waving his hands "the articles list is there on your table. All the work has been rightly assigned to the apprentices. Journalists have been notified about the localities they would be visiting today. Gossip section has been scrapped out and we still need to finalise the replacement of that section with 'Know you country' or 'Change is the need' " Nisha listened to all of that carefully and acknowledged him with a nod. after looking at both the ideas she pointed out at the file which was titled 'know your country' and said "Replace gossip section with 'Know your country'  we had this sorted out yesterday evening, I did not get time to communicate it to you" and handing over the file to him she said " Do not disturb me for the next three hours, there is a lot of work to do. Bug me only if you think I am absolutely needed to resolve anything." Arjun nodded and left to his desk as Nisha opened her laptop and jumped into her work ignoring everything around her all she could hear is her thoughts and the war of wards dashing in to form a sentence as she started typing.

Somewhere in the afternoon as she was filling up the checklist for the city section of the next day, she noticed something on her notice board. A small piece of paper pinned specifically to remind her about something. Just when she was about to reach the paper, Arjun's voice interfered her. "What ?" She never used to frame a reasonable sentence when talking to Arjun. That's the comfort level both of them shared. "These are ready' He handed over a bunch of papers asking  her to have a quick look before sending it to the editor's office. Nisha wasn't surprised to see the quantum of papers in her hand. "Did you check all of them?" she asked him looking at the papers. " they are quite impressive. few of them were done by one of the brightest apprentices of this year's batch" Arjun replied proudly. "Then that's a concern" Nisha sighed and started looking at the papers. Arjun couldn't clearly understand her reaction but stood there waiting for her to give him some clue for making such blatant remark. She pulled out the one written by the apprentice and started reading. After finishing a para she looked back at the notice board and pulled out the paper in which was written 'Call Rishi'. She then remembered that she had kept this last night as a note to call and know Rishi's decision. she immediately took the receiver and started dialing Rishi's number. She continued reading when her call was yet to get answered by Rishi and just then she found a big mistake in the sentence formation. An adverb was misplaced unintentionally which would ofcourse make the sentence right but would change the meaning in the article's actual context. She completely forgot about the call and started shouting on Arjun for not being extra careful in filtering out such mistakes. She never liked Arjun facing down agreeing to his mistakes, so she immediately diverted the topic and started talking to Rishi. She then told Rishi that they would be travelling the following weekend and that she would call him in the evening to explain  him the travel plan and the budget requirements. She didn't spend much time in the phone conversation as she knew she couldn't spare much time for her personal life during her office hours. She cooled down for a moment and spoke in a soft voice to Arjun " I know you are trying hard to give them the best opportunities but also keep in mind to be extra cautious when extracting work from them. We are a brand and we need to live up to consistently. Don't forget that. Leave these papers with me. I will handle them." Arjun nodded silently. "Anything else?" she asked turning towards her laptop."Nothing as such" he replied. There was no response from Nisha. Only the noise of the keys from her laptop's keyboard signalling Arjun to get back to his desk

Need a break

'I think it's time for you to get up' her mind was trying to remind that the day had already begun. 'Just give me five mins. I am almost there. need to consolidate this paragraph correctly' she replied back to her mind pleading it not to disturb her. 'ya I understand your curiosity but it would be better if u get things like these out of your life at least when you are dreaming for God sake' she could see her mind being fed up with her constant concern and worry about her work. She was surprised to know that she was dreaming. 'Are you sure that this is all my imagination. I still feel that I am sitting right in my office. You see that coffee cup is still hot and I have so many articles to go through' she tried to reason with her mind and she continued 'See...I still have this paper weight which has my favorite quote 'fear is bound to be conquered' and look there is a crystal white sea shell shining next to it' she took a pause 'Ok that's odd. when did I get that shell here on to my desk.' 'You never did, why don't you trust me. This is a dream' and her mind was on the verge of losing its patience. 'Ok...Ok.. I get it  now. So I am dreaming. How stupid of me. All I can think of even in my dream is work. What have I become??' she laughed to herself. 'I don't care' cried out her mind ' just wake up so that I can take some rest from you and your ridiculous imagination'. 'Common now !!' she replied ' It's sin to wake up before the alarm rings. Let it ring and I will end this dream in a flash of a second'. Her mind decided to be sarcastic now so it said 'Oh so you think I was so smart to know all by myself that you needed to get up from your bed. Don't be that ambitious my lady, your cell had already been busy shouting out the alarm for the past half an hour. It's these stupid hands which involuntarily shut it to snooze. There goes the alarm again and by the way please change the song "Mere Saamney waali khidki mein" it's so lame. I would say put on some nice western beat, not so girly but loud enough to wake you up next time. now get up you lazy bum' With a lazy yawn Nisha finally woke up from her bed. stretched her arms opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling thinking ' "Mere saamney waali khidki mein" it's such a nice song. who would not want to have that as a wake up song.' she took her cell and searched for a suitable song, selected the one which was the one of the top notch in her playlist, threw her cell aside and got out of her head looked at the pile of books in her rack and started humming "And that's the way it is.."

It was her daily routine to do some quick exercise and get lightened up. Her day starts with a nice cup of coffee specially customized for her in the coffee maker. She would then read the news paper for an hour. and soon get freshed up. Choosing a dress was not a difficult task as she would wear the one which she was more comfortable with. Living alone for the past three years in a single bed room flat made her life more organised according to her needs as every thing had a right place making it easy to find whatever she needed. She would then go out in the balcony to watch people passing by on the street, an old hobby she had had since childhood. She always liked staring at people no matter how inappropriate it was for the receivers. she just enjoyed those concealed face masks everyone puts on the moment they step out of their homes. Just as everyday she went into her balcony and continued enjoying her hobby with logical guesses on what each one of the passer by was thinking or going through.'Oh so the old man is finally going to get rid of his dog today, so predictable to see him being so angry with his pet for not listening to him. Grow up oldie, treat you dog as a friend - it will treat you back the same, if u want it to be your slave, you will get the same treatment in return - oh look its barking back at him, what an irony!!'. She then took her sight to the bus stop on the other side of the road. 'God only knows when he will make a move to talk to her. Stupid couple. she always comes at the right time knowing that this guy will be waiting for her at the bus stop and yet no talking. How do they even communicate with simple gestures? oh and she is smiling now, You lucky idiot talk to her soon before she insults you by being the first one to break the silence. Ya ya smile back that's the least you can do you moron.' Nisha then looked at the working woman standing next to the college girl ' Oh common you middle aged busy-everyday-working-woman !! Don't be so judgmental about those teenagers, they are just enjoying their freedom. Don't be so jealous. You have had it in your time, now its hers. Look at that jack ass, doesn't even know that you are totally disgusted by his tactics to impress the girl. But it's ok as long as they are having a healthy reason to wake up and come on time to the bus stop, their life is awesome. so please mind your own business and let them have their space. From the joggers anxiety to be fit to the mobile vendors selling daily goods, no one could escape Nisha's radar for that half an hour every day.

By 9.00 am she would be in office and only she knows how time flies off like a jet plane. She gets immersed so badly that many a times she would realise that she had skipped lunch that day only when the helper lady in the office brings her a  quick snack with juice in the evening. That day was just like any other day but
Nisha had this weird feeling that she was forgetting something. She kept asking her colleague whether she had missed any action item on that day. she was keeping a track of time for no reason which was strange. 'there is something I am missing today' she kept saying that trying hard to recollect whats that something. She took her organiser out and checked for all her meetings and appointments scheduled for that day. She din't miss any and everything was going smooth. 'But still something is not right' She then took out her cell and checked if she had to call any one. There was no one in the reminder list. 'But still something is missing' She logged in to her account and checked whether she had to complete any extra article or review the ones which were due to be published next day and once again there was no anomaly. Day was going as planned with no hiccups 'But still something... i know i know.. I am missing out on something'. She reluctantly left that thought and got back to her work and finally at 7 in the evening it suddenly stuck to her and she dropped her pen leaned back on her chair and exclaimed in a delightful mood "Oh yaaa!!!....now I remember !!"  people sitting next to her were genuinely surprised to the nerdy geek smiling so honestly. She got back to her senses and got rid of everyone's notice with an embarrassing smile and went back to her work but this time pretending to do so. 'So ya..it's the date which was bothering me, 14th of April. Its Rishi's birthday, how did I forget that ?? wait..wait that't not the point first of all how did I remember his birthday?? strange!!'. she then dialed his number from her cell but there was no answer from the other End, A continuous ten rings with an automated teller machine mocking her that one shouldn't expect the call to be answered if it wasn't answered in ten rings. Now that she remembered that one thing which was missing that day and that she had already tried calling him, she got back to her work not giving a second thought to it. 

It was 9.00 pm in the night. Nisha had just come back from the editor's cabin after finalizing the articles spacing and priority of appearance. She always had an additional work of two more hours once she came back from her boss's room. She was about to put her head into the articles of the main paper when her cell phone started ringing. She attended the call without even looking at the caller's name and her tone of 'hello' was a gesture that she was busy and that the caller should keep the conversation short to make her spend less time in the talking. A known voice had come from the other end "Wassup??". She knew that voice, A smile rushed onto her face and an involuntary satire was on its way "Dude.. it's not cool to pretend cool". She could hear Rishi laughing at her cliched remarks. She then wished him on behalf of his birthday and then out of no where a strange idea struck her. She kept all her work aside as she didn't want to get deviated or beat around the bush. Rishi was quietly filling the gaps with one liners wherever necessary. "When was the last time you went on a vacation?" She asked him. Rishi took a pause and answered with a much simple question "Where are you planning to go?" Nisha was a bit surprised at first as Rishi understood the topic without much clarity but remained calm and said with a low voice "How about 'we' instead of just 'me'?" This time it was Rishi's turn to get surprised and it wasn't easy for him to give an immediate reply. Nisha tried to fill in the silence this time with  "It's ok, that was just a thought. I didn't mean that you should.." she was interrupted by Rishi's one word query "When?". Nisha laughed out seeing that Rishi was not at all listening to her but was lost in his own thoughts and he couldn't realize that she was saying something. Rishi was in no hurry to get an answer so he gave her enough time to understand his intentions behind that question. After a momentary pause Nisha continued to speak "Could be this month and if possible coming this weekend. Did not fix any specific date or time for it. And if you would ask 'Where?' then It's A place in the south-west coast of India, one which I haven't gone yet and I am pretty sure that you couldn't have gone either because you know Travelling and you did not gel that well since childhood". Rishi gave a smile agreeing to her. She didn't receive any reply so she continued further "Would be a one night journey from my place to reach there and from your village it would be a 3 to 4 hours longer journey than mine." 'Are you scaring him or are you asking him to come?' her mind was mocking her as she spoke. She tried to convince her mind that she was just being modest towards him as she knew Rishi was never the guy who would jump and cry out loud for Wild adventures. 'Then why are you even calling him?' her mind threw a genuine doubt. 'Can we talk about this after the call, let me at least know what his answer is' she rolled her eyes shutting her thoughts and still waiting for Rishi to take up the conversation where she left. "Sounds like a good plan but I don't know whether it would still be a good one if I am a part of it. Do I have a choice to think about it." Rishi's reply made Nisha's mind burst  into laughter 'See I told you !!!' Nisha frowned her eye brows shouting back at her mind 'Enough!! Don't Jump into any conclusions.' She then spoke "You know Rishi. 'No' is always a choice. Let's not be too formal about it." for which Rishi immediately said " Don't take me wrong. I seriously have no idea what to say right now." Nisha, in a confused tone asked "So???" Rishi continued saying "see it's only that I don't want to take simple decisions in matter of minutes. Give me sometime so that I plan everything from my end and then confidently give a 'go' " Nisha respected his view as always so without wasting much of her time said "Once again Happy Birthday Rishi" Rishi also brought his conversation to an end with "Thank you for making this day even more special" Nisha gave a gentle smile and cut the call with. 'He won't come' her mind immediately spoke the moment she kept her cellphone on the table. 'I don't care' Nisha replied carelessly. 'Then why did you invite him in the first place?' Her mind asked in doubt. 'No specific reason. Fine if he is coming too, Doesn't matter even if he isn't coming. I called him because it's been a long time since we went on our own ways so with this trip, we would get some time to talk.' Nisha looked up to know if her boss was still in office. She stood up and started walking towards her boss's cabin. 'Since when did you start bothering about others?' Her mind was being sarcastic this time. 'Dammit you and your logic. Fine !! I didn't want to go alone' immediately her mind popped up an alternative suggestion 'Then you could have..' 'And I didn't want any disturbance either' Nisha immediately answered before her mind could complete the sentence. She reached his boss's cabin and was waiting for her mind to reconsider her statement. A gentle smile came upon her face as her mind finally agreed with a reply 'Good Choice'.

"Ya Nisha. Anything important to talk about?" Nisha's boss asked her the moment she walked into his cabin. "Yes Sir ji, I need a break" Replied Nisha.'Ya!! you heard it right old man, this weekend I am off to an adventure' cried out her mind and the excitement was clearly visible on Nisha's wide smile.

Rolling back..

Yes the cell did ring. But it wasn't that day and it was that time.It was ten days back when Rishi was busy cooking his dinner, that call was least expected of all. He let it ring since cooking was more important to him at that time. Once he was done with cooking, he sat down to taste his new experiment and he did seem to enjoy it at first but couldn't have more than a cup. he then laughed at himself for missing a key ingredient that would make this dish a perfect meal. He cleaned the utensils, made sure that his kitchen looked clean and then spread the mat to lie down gazing the ceiling as the fan rattled with rust. To set an alarm so as to wake up early next morning, he reached out for his cellphone and then he realised that he had a missed call earlier that evening. He checked the call list and it was Nisha, his childhood friend. They went to school together. She's been his friend for almost 18 years. And the first thing which came to his mind looking at her name was the hard punch he got from her in their tenth class when he tried copying from her answer sheet in the exam. His eyes widened in the same way they did way back in that exam hall. 'Why??' he asked himself. 'it's been so long ..say what 3 or 4 years since I spoke to her. what could be the reason? Is something wrong and what about..' 'Enough !!' cried out his mind. 'Stop guessing and call her immediately' and his hands didn't even wait for his mind to deliver the message and dial button was pressed involuntarily. She answered the call with a robotised tone "hello". Rishi had to start the conversation as always " wassup !!" and he dint have to wait too long to get a reply from her "Dude !! its not cool to pretend cool" Rishi laughed as always and asked "So you called me?" and she replied doing some work on the other end "that was hours ago. U didn't answer. were you busy?". 'Busy' was one such word which made rishi completely uncomfortable to handle with.He had to skip that question so he diplomatically replied with another question "So u called me for a reason?" and this time it was Nisha's turn to have the laugh and she said out loud "Happy Birthday u Dumbass". 'Oh she does remember my birthday' Rishi patted himself. 'So she doesn't call you for 4 years but yet she remembers, thats good to know. Ok so no - new year calls, no - happy friendship day calls, no - happy sankranthi wishes yet she remembers my birthday, that's so sweet of her. So should I reply with a simple thank you or pretend as if I forgot my birthday and then specially thank her, u know act as if u don't care for such special days, But you do right, Oh common its Nisha after all, whats wrong in giving her such credit. Ya I understand but wouldn't be a lie? it's ok chill man.. its my birthday I can fool around with my friend big deal' and just then he heard her shout " Hello..are u even there??" Rishi then came back to reality knowing that he was lost again in his thoughts talking to himself forgetting that Nisha was still in the call and he replied after so much talking and reasoning with "Thank you Nisha" 'ya right that was the best thing to say in the end. you Moron' he nodded his head in dismay closing his eyes.

"you see. that's why I force you to finish your homework and come prepared for class every day but u kids don't seem to listen" Rishi turned back to the black board and erases the new topic which he wrote eariler and starts scribbling the previous day's homework problems from elementary Geometry of 6th class Math's text book. Students silently opened their books to note down the questions while satish stood there with his head down. Rishi turned back to the class and said "I knew it. I knew Satish wasn't the only one who skipped homework. So many dumboss waiting for me to solve these problems." no one speaks a word. Rishi looks at them, gives a sarcastic smile and looks at satish waiting for an explanation. Satish lifts his head up with his common posture of folding hands still on and wih a low voice speaks out "Master. I can solve the first problem. I would do it right away if you want me to" Rishi laughs and throws a piece of chalk at satish and satish makes no mistake in catching it. Rishi continues to stare as Satish walks towards the board crossing over all the fellow students sitting on the ground. He is now standing right next to the black board and waiting for his master approval to touch the board. Rishi smiles with a nod and Satish starts writing the solution on board as his classmates note the same in their books. Rishi does nothing much other than making sure that Satish doesn't go wrong. Satish finishes the problem turns towards Rishi to hand him over the remaining piece of chalk. Rishi doesn't seem to be interested in Satish anymore. He looks down to the class which now has three hands raised to solve the next problem. Rishi tells Satish to give that peice to Rajini on his way back to his place as Rajini stands up and starts walking towards the board. For the next half an hour Rishi learns that most of the students solved their homework problems on their own in the class room without much of his help. Once all the problems were solved, Rishi erases the black board and writes the next topic 'Circle and its properties' on board but before getting into the subject, turns back to the class and asks "So none of you have a problem with my teaching?" No student answers that question and Rishi takes their silence for granted and goes to next question "But u do have an issue doing home work at home" no one speaks again but Rishi observes Satish tilting his head up to look at Rishi but immediately puts his head. Rishi contiunes "In a one hour class what will you learn if half of it is gone in completing the previous day's homework. How long should it go. Don't you want to learn new things. All I ask is to spend one hour at home and you will be done with your homework once and for all. you can play whenever you want but study when you have to" Rishi then stops his preaching and turns towards the board and starts writing with a sigh of helplessness. His scribbling stops as he hears a small voice "We can't". Rishi immediately turns back and his sight goes straight to the origin of the voice.The whole class nods as Rajini says it again "We can' master" Rishi laughs out loud and questions her sarcastically "So u say U all are busy?" and this time Satish speaks out "Yes master. we are". Rishi's smile stops and he now looks seriously at satish as he puts his head down Rishi now addresses the whole class " So you tell me that you kids are so busy that you don't want to do your homework. What keeps you busy. Criket, gilly danda, roaming, playing. ?? what exactly. Let me also know" Satish replies " we work master. We have to help our parents in the field after school. We get very tired by the time we reach home. that is why we can't do my homework" Some how rishi doesn't get offended by their honesty Infact he seems to enjoy such frankness at an early age in his pupil. he laughs out loud for which the class seems to be in surprise and stare at each other in confusion. Rishi then addresses them with his head bent "Love you all for being so honest with me. Let's come to a deal. we will go step by step and no homeworks from here on. All I ask from you is to learn quickly. Lets increase our speed so that we can solve more problems in class itself" Class understands his intention but replies nothing but silence. Rishi then shouts " Oh common!! don't make me tell a bad joke to make u all smile" and class then turns alive once again.

Rishi teaches Maths in the government school of Bhiravapuram and the earnings he got from such a job was good enough for him to make his living in that small town. He loved his job and that was evident with the dedication he had to this profession for the past 3 years. In an era where being a doctor or an engineer was ‘the’ thing, He chose teaching as he belonged to those few who followed their hearts. He didn’t have big dreams or unreachable goals. His love for Mathematics made him a good teacher by day and a better student by night. He was preparing for his higher studies and wanted to do a PhD in Computational mathematics. Cell phone was his only connection with the outside world. As the class came to an end Rishi asked the class one last question "So how can radius of a circle decide on how big a circle can be?" and he dint have to wait much longer to get an instant answer. One of the students answered "If i tie a buffalo to a pole, the largest circle it can walk around the pole depends on the length of the rope with which it is tied to" Rishi smile back to that student in agreement. He didn't take that answer as a surprise as he got used to such brilliant answers every time he threw a conventional question which had a ready made answer in the textbook. Bell rang and everyone stood up to thank him, which was Rishi's favorite part in every class. His pupil would then sing to him in chorus "Thaaaaannkkkk youuuu Maaaaasterrrr" Rishi with a wide smile would reply to them every time with "Uuu aaareeee Welcommmee...my dear friends" And he left the class. His next class was half an hour and it was the most challenging class for him, teaching the students of class 2. His cell rang and that was something strange to happen. He usually has a 2 days gap between each call as he never makes a call to anyone and no one was idle to call him and talk to. The last time he talked to was Nisha and that was the previous night. He took the cell out and widened his eyes once again and answered the call with "Hello"

There was no talking being done to him from the other end but all he could hear is a Nisha shouting to some one else keeping her cell phone aside " How many times should I tell you proof read these articles thoroughly especially when they are written by our new apprentices. Why don't you take my words seriously. And please tell them to use English to express and convey the news but not to complicate it and boast on how good they are at their vocabulary. Are u there " she immediately switched to the phone call without a pause. "Yup" replied Rishi as a noble gesture in letting her continue the conversation and to know her purpose of calling. She took a pause and then asked "So what did u decide?" Rishi knew this question would eventually rise and so he answered "I am in". She wanted one more confirmation before she proceeded in implementing the plan so she straightly asked "Actually I was planning for this weekend and I think u already knew that right ??" For Rishi answering that question was not a choice, He knew that when Nisha asks such questions, Yes was the only answer she would take but Rishi wanted to play it a bit tricky this time so he said "But I was wondering how would you be able to take a leave in such short notice. You work even on Saturdays." and she thrashed it back spontaneously with a laugh and said "I got my leave approved already. Its your turn to convince your headmaster. So chill then, I will call you in the evening and we shall discuss the plan" Rishi was surprised on knowing that she had this in her mind long back and she also took into her confidence that he would not back out. he then felt proud for her instincts and in the midst of such thoughts he had to end the conversation so he replied "I am on my way to his room. I am sure he will not make a big scene out of it. Ok then.talk to you in the evening." and the call went blank. No parting 'bye' and nothing of that sort. This is what Rishi like the most in their conversations no matter how small they were. They din't have to go through the formality of greetings and wishing.

Rishi walked towards the head master's office and while he was walking he recollected the events of the day when Nisha came running to his house few years back after getting to know that she made it to the final list of Apprentices for south India's largest circulated Newspaper "NirBhay" He could still cherish the joy in her eyes when she told him that she would put her everything even her soul to be a key contributor of such a news paper which didn't fear to gives the best news of current times. He could see her progress year by year and laughed at the way she was she was shouting on the proof reader for the mistakes of new apprentices who shared the same dream she once had. Of course she had to do her job in correcting them when ever necessary. That's the minimum responsibility she holds these days and being an assistant Editor is no cake walk.He informed the attendant that he wanted to meet the head master. The attendant went in and immediately came out informing Rishi that head Master was free and would see him for sure. 

Blink..

He could hear those giant tides thrashing the rocks. Sitting on a hill,he was having a beautiful view of the horizon. The moment was perfect, it was still and unimaginably peaceful. He sat there for almost ten to fifteen minutes without uttering a word. And then there was a sudden change in weather, leaves started shattering on the near by trees, clouds moved in as snails mocking the shining sun and in no time it started drizzling. It was then He realized that he was not alone and he had started to feel the rain drops racing in from sky to target him with their best aim. He looked across the rocky path and roughly ten feet away she was sitting there on a small rock lost in the blanket of nature. He called out her name "Nishaaa" . She didn't react. He called her again this time with a questioning tone "Nishaa??" She didn't react again but he could see her eye brows narrowing for such a disturbing noise in a peaceful place. She was least bothered and was not ready to blink away from such a view. He had to bring her back to her senses before he lost his in that rain so he called her again in spite of knowing that this time his voice would surely irritate her. He was about to raise his voice to call her name again but she interrupted him with a sharp reply "What??" He stared at her for a moment and talked to her in a soft tone. "It's raining" for which she replied "It's not raining, its just a slight drizzle". He was not ready for such a mockery at that moment but still he had to make a point so he said " I know its not heavy but are we not getting wet? Let's make a move"  For the first time she turned towards him and by the look of hers he knew that he will be beaten back with some kind of logic which as usual would shut his mouth ending the discussion. She went on with a sarcastic smile "Rishi !! for years we have been trained to take care of ourselves, to live in a circle, to make sure we win and to cherish the moments which would remain forever. This is one such moment for which I had to travel for 14 hours and now when I am living it to the fullest potential with such an intoxicating silence, Do you really think that this stupid rain will stop me from seizing this moment ? Do you ? I don't think so" she turned her head back in to that direction where she once held her face immersed in the scenic view of setting sun over the horizon as the blue ocean continued to kiss the invisible sky. Rishi couldn't hear anything else except those words which kept on revolving around his head. The shattering leaves, the sound of tides and the touch of rain drops made no difference to him anymore. He looked up and could see clouds smiling back challenging him to enjoy the outburst. He could sense a smile appearing from no where on his face as he closed his eyes facing the sky. Shallow Drizzles turned into heavy rain and though he had an umbrella with him he cared not to use it for the deal he had made with those clouds that evening. He turned his face back to the horizon and kept staring at the rhythmic dance of tides approaching the shore. He blinked for a moment after a long stare and suddenly everything seemed to vanish. He blinked hard one last time and a flash of lightening blinded his eyes and with a jolt he opened his eyes.

'Last stop bhai log..Last stop' shouted the bus attendant waking the passengers diplomatically. Rishi was taken aback as the bus came to a sudden halt. "That couldn't be a dream" were the first words his mind spoke to him and he nodded in consent. He looked at his watch, it was 6.30 am and he looked out of the window only to find familiar cross roads with an Ntr statue in its center, which had been his companion for the past three years, greeting him in the same way it did every time Rishi passed through that road.He was back in Bhiravapuram, a small town in Ratnagiri District which is agriculturally the richest district of Andrha Pradesh. He could see people gathering around early tiffin centers, vegetable vendors arranging their daily routine talking to one another about previous days market highlights, buffaloes careless passing by the bus as the guy guiding them washing his teeth with a stick, and the owner of the udipi hotel across the bus stop reading his favorite newspaper.He closed his eyes and tried hard to check whether he is still dreaming but in vain. But his mind shouted back to him 'That couldn't be a dream' . 'I know' Rishi replied to himself and immediately got down from the bus. he took out his cellphone from the bag. switched it on and as he walked made the first call in the dial list which was Nisha. There was no answer from the other side and it clearly said that the number he is trying for is either switched off or unreachable. Rishi stopped for a moment and tried calling again ignoring the increasing traffic of the early morning buses and school students rushing into the bus stop from the streets. Still no answer and he kept on calling and within second his hands started shivering. He was trying to figure why he was sweating unnecessarily. He walked at an increase pace to his home. locked himself in and tried calling that number in some doubtful hope that at some point eventually his call will be answer but that never happened. He then kept his cell aside and went to the rest room to freshen up.

And then cell started ringing...