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Tuesday

A short story - untitled

She was waiting for them outside the store, a little bored.

A procession was moving along the road. Now it had come to a stop - almost in front of her. The crowd of onlookers and shoppers jostled and milled around. In the centre, she could see men bedecked in finery moving in step to a beat.
The dholaks and drums pulsed out a heady rhythm. The throb of music rippled through her. It was alternately soft, now lusted for red hot blood and reeked of recklessness. She stood transfixed, letting the waves of music engulf her.Something inside her was pulling her towards the group of dancers. Her bones, her muscles, her very blood ached to dance, to dance with wild abandon..
A spirit was drawing her into a different world... here, there was a sense of excitement and joy all around. The palatial mansion was adorned with flowers and festoons. Fistfuls of gulaal and colours were being flung into the air… and all the faces.. they were looking at her, expectantly, smiling, celebrating... and she exulted in the triumph..

A hand tapped her lightly, “Come on, lets move.”

The connection was broken. She was back to the present. It was as though she had stood on the edge of a life she had already lived. Her mind was trying to analyse why she felt like this. Was it…?

A shiver ran through her body, that warm May evening.


© Alaka Yeravadekar

6 comments:

  1. It's pretty nice... the imagery you use to describe the longing to dance - that's very well done.

    The 'past lives' thing seems to come a bit out of the blue though...maybe you could foreshadow it a bit earlier in the piece? (the "Centre of celebrations" sentence seems a wee bit forced)...

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  2. thx fr the fb, Sud - hv modifed that part

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  3. Yes...its like..
    "Woods r lovely dark and deep...

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  4. alaka, this short story is a beautiful expression of human feelings effected by its surroundings...as you said in the story.."the voice of dholak..."
    finally being a hindi poetess what all I could express about your story in my words is as follows:

    jab bhi koee anjaaney si bajati hai dhun
    man kyoo ho jaataa hai magan magan
    jhoomtaa hai dil jhoomataa hai gagan
    ajanabi chaahen ho insaan yahaan
    per nahi ajnabi bhavanaon bharaa man.

    Alka, keep writing beautifully.
    regards
    Mrs.Renu ahuja.

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  5. yes, i totally connect to it. nice expressions. i am lame :-). its euphoric to experience such things, i do not care much for the writing then. but somewhere i do aspire to excel my writing style.

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