Lintocmf

Somehow, we have been branded as one of the creepiest and intimidating creatures, crawling on the ground; centipedes, an unreasonable creature designed by God. Well, that was all about me, it’s good enough to feel that creepiness in your body right away. I was determined to meet her; at any cost I had to reach my destination in time. As I embarked my journey, I could see in a stone throw away, an army of ants marching steadily carrying something. Presuming to be their dinner for the day I crawled close to them to get a close glimpse of the procession. To my surprise, it was a funeral service of a dragonfly, freely offered by the ants for satiating their hunger though. I dared to interrupt the disciplined ants carrying the dead and crossed the procession with ease. I appreciated my body; it is far bigger than the tiny ants and of course with hundreds of legs to carry my long body in an array. Some angry ants stared at me in fury for disturbing their procession, I must say it nev...

“Look at the baby, she has a lot of hair,” acclaimed one of the nurses. The mother relaxing after her excruciating birth pang was elated to hear the compliment of the nurse, who aided her to deliver her little bundle of joy to this earth. The mother, though disoriented due to the pain gifted by her baby girl, shook her head in affirmation to the nurse’s appreciation of her baby’s beautiful hair. The newborn didn’t really seem to like the light and the noise, which were new to her away from the cozy abode of her mother’s womb. She refused to be consoled; rather kept her little throat busy screaming like a cricket. However, the visitors didn’t fail to appreciate and wonder at her hair, for it was exceptional. The mother felt proud of her little daughter and credited it to the family genes. The years went by and the she grew up, along with her the hair too grew thick and silky. Her grandmother took special care of the thick and silky hair massaging it with exotic medicated oil, ...

After a month-long fervent prayer God appeared before the scarecrow which was erected right in the middle of the paddy field. It was a dream come true for the scarecrow to see God standing right in front of him. Suddenly a tumultuous thunder rocked the sky with a bright lightening that struck the field in the broad daylight. And there stood a man before him. The scarecrow couldn’t believe his eyes; he strained hard to open wide his eyes to get a proper glimpse of ‘the god .’ “Oops! So, it is an apparition indeed, he sighed.” After a brief silence, God decided to break the ice. With a broad smile adorning his lips, God asked the scarecrow, “So, tell me dude, what can I do for you?” There was an absolute silence; the scarecrow was still in the hangover of God’s unexpected apparition to him. “Oh, you can’t speak, well I didn’t really think about it.” Telling this God drew a mouth below the scarecrow’s nostrils. “I am well pleased with your prayer dear scarecrow,” but sca...

എല്ലാം ഒരു ഉൾവിളിയായിരുന്നു.  എല്ലാവരാലും ഉത്തരമായ് കൊണ്ടുനടന്നതും,  എല്ലാം തികയുന്നീ   ഉത്തരം മാത്രം,  എല്ലാം ഒരു ഉൾവിളിയായിരുന്നു. ഒരുവനായ് വീടുവിട്ടനാൾ,  ഒപ്പം ചേർന്നവർ സഹചാരിയായനാൾ,   ഒരു വ്യാഴവട്ടക്കാലം നീളുന്ന പരിശീലനത്തിനൊടുവിൽ,  ഓമനിച്ച യൗവനമെങ്ങോ മറയവേ,  ജീവിതത്തിലുടനീളം പിന്തുടർന്നതോ,  ജീവിത നൈരാശ്യമേകും പരീക്ഷണങ്ങൾ മാത്രം.  ജീവനെ സ്നേഹിക്കാൻ മാത്രമായ്,  ജീവനർപ്പിച്ചവന്ന്റ്റെ മുന്നിൽ എന്നും, ബലിയായി തീർന്നിടാൻ,  ബാല്യം മുതൽക്കേ ഉള്ളിലൊതുക്കിയ,  ബാലിശമാം സ്വപ്നങ്ങളെല്ലാം,  ബലിവേദിയിൽ പൂർണമാകുമ്പോൾ.  കുരിശിൽ മരിച്ചവനേ നീ കാണുക,  കുറ്റം വിധിക്കപ്പെട്ടവനേ നീ കേൾക്കുക,  കരളുരുകുമീ യാതനയാണെൻ,  കഥനക്കണ്ണീർകയത്തിൽ സ്വന്തം. ഏകനായ്, തിരസ്കൃതനായ്‌  എന്നും,  ഏറെ പരിത്യക്തനായ്‌ നിൽപ്പൂ ഞാൻ,   ഏകാന്തത നിറയുമീ  ജീവിതത്തിൽ,  ഏകാശ്രയം നീ മാത്രമേശുവെ.  ഒടുവിൽ പരാതികളൊന്നുമില്ലാതെ,    ഒരു മൂകസാക്ഷിയായ് മടങ...

Long Trains steadily revealing itself from the horizons always captivated Manu’s little eyes. He used to watch the trains arriving to the station whistling all the way from afar. It was a Sunday, a day of fun and frolic. As promised before, Manu wanted his uncle to take him to the nearest railway station, not to board any train but to see the trains move in and out of the station like disciplined ants making their entry and exit orderly. But Manu’s uncle refused to step out of the house citing the possibility of rains. However, Manu was very obstinate with his decision to visit the railway station along with his uncle. He invariably shunned all the excused aired by his uncle, for his desire to see the locomotive pressed him to persevere in his decision. Finally, Manu managed to convince his reluctant uncle to take him to the railway station. As decided, they headed towards the nearby railway station by evening. Manu was not concerned about the immediate change of the weather co...

The half-burned candle struggled to keep its flame burning steadily. He looked sharply into the glowing tongue of fire tossing with the constant caresses of the gust that intruded through the closed window panes. The dark paws of the night straining hard to squeeze the flame into a smoldering wick. The nocturnal jasmine emitted its fragrance wreathing all around switching into a state of inebriation. For the night had already swallowed even the last string of the day like a python swallowing its prey. I saw through the broken window the storm clouds moving hastily in severe birth pangs to bring forth the thunderstorms. Holding his little palms close to the dwindling candle he, attempted hard to immortalize its flame. The aroma of the Palappoo mixed with the aroma of jasmine flowers began filling the room. “If the downpour continues all the night, how will I collect the flowers from the mountain?” He breathed hard to savor the mixed scent of the flowers. “All the flowers must be...

In spite of Rony’s voluntary confession, the policemen wanted some solid evidence for the murder . They questioned him further, “Why did you do this boy?” There was no answer from Rony. Instead, he pointed at a canvas with a butterfly painted in red. The policemen looked perplexed, while fastening a handcuff onto Rony’s feeble hands. He stood there disoriented with a contemptuous smile.   Rony’s mother wrote this in his journal, ‘Every color has a strange story to tell, allow it to express them to the world.’ It was his mother who taught him to paint his thoughts onto the canvas. Every vague painting brought to him colorful butterflies and his wide eyes set them free into the sky. His father, a busy man, found no time to appreciate Rony’s artistic experiments. He shunned it as a waste of time and money. Nevertheless, his only audience was his dumb mother who was muted by nature for some strange reason. She loved red color, and this was transmitted to Rony as he too...

Rajeev grew anxious as the clock kept to its pace in a serene rhythm. The silence wreathed the ICU ward and was doubled by the absence of the attenders, he stood there dumbstruck staring at the closed door. Occasionally deep breath escaped his nostrils attesting the struggle of the inept man to keep his cool steady. The words of the Gynecologist resonated in his ears making his hope dwindle further, “pray to God, probably the last resort.” Intuitions about the possible dangers pushed him to all the possible frontiers of thoughts, nothing promising though. Each moment felt to him like a thousand years spent on a hot oven devoid of even a consoling word from anyone. Leaning on the wall painted blue he began travelling back into his eventful life. Rajeev’s parents were against his relationship with Meera, for she was not fit for the ideal daughter-in-law they envisioned for their only son. When Rajeev tried to make them understand that the compatibility between them was the best ...

He was anxiously waiting in front of the ruined factory. His forehead was smeared with red dust that took off on the wings of the gust from the bumpy village road. The road seemed fully deserted as the sun inflicted maximum heat on the dusty path making it hard to tread at that hour of the day. The hunger that charred his empty stomach equaled to the heat of the day. The ravenous hunger had already numbed his conscience, and he planned to look for an opportunity to grab his luck. His eyes strained further to scan beyond his possible vision, for the famishing hunger pushed him to do so. He was waiting for his prey. While traveling towards the town, she was cursing her fate. The bus driver seemed to be annoyed with the uneven road, for he was almost being crazy while driving along the zigzag village roads as the bus headed to the nearby town. Every curve on the road twisted her away from her thought, but gradually fell back to the same with much more intensity. She never wanted ...

We are in a common battle to defeat the lethal virus Covid- 19, which has unleashed a great deal of harm to the human race around the world. This is a time like no other, we are all seeking to navigate a strange, surreal world of chaos and anxiety. A world of silent streets, shuttered storefronts, empty places of worship, rods empty of vehicles, empty markets and work places etc. We are worried about our loved ones who are equally worried about us. I believe that this is an occasion given by God as moments of reflection, remembrance and renewal. The humanity will win over the battle against this awful virus, provided we learn to cope with the constant alteration the Mother Earth enforces us with. What really makes us to be equipped to fight the virus? I believe, along with the vaccines and medicines it is the goodness which is present in these troubled times that keep our life going and equipped to fight along. I am reminded of a story/incident which may better explain the necess...

There have been umpteen number of news about the end of the world, once again popping up in the minds of the apprehensive crowd alluding to the outbreak of the pandemic, Corona as a sign per se.   It is fairly long ‘Corona’ has been in everyone’s tip of the tongue and is the talk of the town. The unseen virus has hit us so bad that, people around the world are forced to quarantine themselves owing to the fear of contracting this uninvited guest, Covid-19. It won’t be too overstating to indicate that this unseen virus has already hung the world by a tread. We are fully immersed in thoughts, talks and trepidation, all about this dangerous virus and its repercussions on our race, economy, health system etc. When the early symptoms of the outbreak of this pandemic was flagged to the first world countries by China, the world shied away from it, categorizing the information as a divisive tactics of China.     But today, though not all the countries do not possess the lio...

No one knew anything about him. You could find him in marketplace, playground, at the corridor of the church, backyard of the temple etc. Some even claimed that he possessed the phenomenon of bi-location. But nobody even knew where he came from or what his name was. People called him ‘fool’. An old worn out T-shirt, coupled with a tattered trouser and a pair of abandoned slippers completed his paraphernalia of daily attire; an archetypal outfit of a rag-picker. He often spotted thick stubble of beard, which competed with his long whiskers and unkempt hair. He seldom embraced silence, for a mysterious humming accompanied him throughout his expeditions in and through the village. The thin, slender figure was never a botheration for the villagers, but a laughing stock for the youngsters who embraced laziness as the sole goal of their youth-hood. Nothing daunted the ‘fool’, for he lived his life to its fullness. He spent lion share of his day in the marketplace, doing all kinds of j...

The sun was ready to retire for a long slumber as though after a tedious day’s labour. A man with a ragged attire was seen scanning the depth of the cliff from the hillock. Without any further thought he jumped down from the cliff, hitting his fragile head against a hard rock; it was a suicide. Many, who came down to see off the sun witness this horrendous act. Some dejected souls sighed in relief, “there he goes to the world of peace, no more pains to hinder his joy.” But many onlookers were dumbstruck by the unsolicited scene. The search for his body continued, while the steep rocks and misty cliff made it difficult for the police to trace out the body.           I had been noticing him around for two or three days, but who knew he was looking for an opportune time to end his life. Anxious crowd gathered at the brim of the cliff to have a look at the body if retrieved soon, busied themselves in cross talks. I could see the scruffy bag of that unfortun...

The eldest son’s phone beeped loud reminding him of a tight schedule he had to put off for this get together at his Ancestral home. Most of the children wore a maladroit look in their faces though obviously determined they were. As the house immersed in deep silence, their father gazed into the mirror massaging his bald head with merely two hairs left. When the family WhatsApp group turned active oddly in the last two days, he knew something unsolicited would happen soon. The expensive cars parked in front of the house added charm to the old dilapidated building. Vehicles numbered equal to the children and even the grandchildren. The youngest among them owned the most expensive car, and it brought in indignation among the elders. All the children had already gathered in the threshold of the house waiting for their ailing father arrive. In a short while, their father dragged himself into the quadrangle, where his children were seen equipped as if for a war. He forbade the eldest ...