Chapter 1: The Mystery Relic
"Madam, you have received a letter." The department peon shouted by knocking her office door. Maya looked at him and signaled to bring the letter in. He handed over the envelope to her and left the office. It was a green envelope addressed to her. She checked the sender, it was from Konark Telefilms. Konark Telefilms is one of the renowned filmmakers in India. She wondered why she has received a letter from them. She just kept it on the table without opening it as she was getting late for her class. She is a professor in Indian History specializing in Ancient Indian History at Udra University. She got up from the chair. She adjusted her blue saree and picked the notes while heading to the class. This is the first class of the year. The number of students opting for Ancient Indian History is dropping since last few years. Only a handful of students opt for the course. This year she was positive that there would be more students. She headed towards the classroom with high hopes. She entered the class with a smile on her face but upon entering the smile vanished. There were only 7 students in the entire class. She could not believe her eyes. Students are not being interested to learn about their history and opting for more profession-oriented courses. She sighed and made up her mind for the first class of the year.
Maya rushed to her office after class. She picked her belongings while looking at the letter which she had received in the morning and left for home. She was thinking about today's class. The students seem to be disinterested in learning history. She thought, they must have taken the course as other departments had stopped taking more students. They have opted this just to get some marks in their mark sheets. She wanted to teach and research with the students more and more about Indian history but it didn't seem possible with the interest level of students she noticed today.
It was already dark when she reached home. The street lights illuminated the road to her home. She walked fast as she was late today. When she reached home, her mother was preparing dinner and she was not happy seeing Maya this late. "Why can't you come early from work? It is your job to prepare dinner. Do you forget that?" She said. Maya said, "Sorry mom, I got late at work. I will make sure this doesn't happen again." "Don't bother. I am done anyways. Go to your father, he was asking about you." Her father was in his room with his collections of ancient artifacts collected from different parts of India. He loves to spend time with them even after retirement from his job as an archaeologist. He spends a lot of time looking and cleaning these.
"Father, how many times you will clean all these relics?" Maya asked while entering the room. The old man looked at her smiling and said, "This is my whole life's work, how can I leave these. These keep the history alive and I am their guardian." "You should hand over these to the govt, you know," Maya said chuckling. "I know but no one would care about these how I am doing. These are from lesser-known sites, no one gives importance to such items. These will be thrown somewhere in the corner and would get spoiled. So it is better these stay with me." Maya nodded her head in agreement. She pulled out an old brass figurine from her bag and showed to him, "Here, another addition to your collection". It was a figurine of a serpent woman, the upper half was like a snake hood and the body was of a woman. Her father took it with excitement "where did you get it from". "I don't know who sent it but it was delivered to me at office. I wanted to keep it in office only but I realised it can serve a better purpose here with you." He took it in excitement and looked carefully. "It seems to be a container, some kind of ancient bottle. Thank you Maya. I will keep it carefully". "I know" Maya told. Now come soon, we will have dinner. "Where is Indra, I haven't seen my brother since I am home." "He must be in his room playing games." Her father said.
It was late night. Maya woke up to some whisper which was calling her name. "Maya, Maya, come here". She woke up to find herself in the middle of a jungle. Terrified, she shouted, "Mom, Dad, Indra,". No one responded, she could only hear the voice calling her name, again and again. She again shouted, "Dad, Mom, Indra, where are you? Where am I?" No one responded. She stood and looked around, but no one was there. She followed the whisper which was calling her name. After walking a few meters she saw a group of people doing some kind of ritual. She stood at distance where no one could see her. There were few people in that area middle of the woods. They seem to be monks or sages with saffron robes and long hairs tied at the top. The area was illuminated with the fire torches all around. In the middle there was a tree under which a person was sitting in a meditative position. Two persons were putting some kind of paste on him. She looked around if any one could see her. No one was looking at her. She was watching at a distance away from their sight. By this time the whisper had stopped. One of the men from the group, suddenly pulls out a giant living snake and wrapped around the person meditating. The snake was hissing with its hood open. Clearly, it was agitated by the handling. It bit the men multiple times but the man was not moving at all. Maya, was shocked and scared what she saw. Then suddenly she heard "Maya, Maya, wake up" She woke up. Her father was beside her in her room. She was drenched with sweat and trembling severely. "Nightmare?" Her father asked. Maya realised, it was indeed a nightmare and nodded in agreement. She saw her mother and Indra were standing at a distance, near the door. Her father wiped her face with a towel and gave water to drink. "You were calling all of us, so I came here to check. Are you ok now ?" Maya couldn't say anything only nodded as yes.
The next morning, she got ready and went to the office. She was feeling a little weird after the nightmare she had last night. The letter was still lying on the desk. She glanced a look on the letter but didn't want to open it for some reason. The visions from her nightmare were still fresh. That man and the snake biting him was haunting her. She took the glass of water and drank all of it as if she was thirsty since ages. When the peon knocked on the door, she found herself sleeping on the chair. "Madam, it is your class time" he said. She lost track of time and slept in her office. This is the first time she has slept off in her office. This must be due to the nightmare she thought and strode off for the class.
"King Asoka, then decided to attack kalinga when all plans failed" Maya was teaching in the class. Her phone vibrated vigorously creating a buzzing sound in the silent class. She made it silent but after a few seconds, it again buzzed. It was her brother, Indra calling. She picked the phone to say her brother that she was in class but the moment she answered the call, she stood still as if life has been sucked out of her body. It was her father. He fell sick suddenly and has been admitted to the hospital. She took her belongings and moved out of the class hastily without saying a word to the students.
When she reached the hospital, her mother was crying, Indra looked very tensed. She went to her mother "How is he, mom?". "You, Why have you come here? Go away. You did this. You wanted to kill him." Her mother shouted with a mixture of anger and sadness. She couldn't understand what she was saying and was wondering what had she done to deserve her anger at this point of time. Confused and afraid, she looked at Indra for answers. Indra took her mother aside and came to Maya. "The doctor says, it is a paralysis attack and he might not walk again". Maya asked sobbingly "How?". Her words didn't come out of the mouth. It seemed her voice was being muffled by the sadness. "Don't worry about mom, she would be fine. You know mom, right. She is always this rude to you and she is upset with you because father got the attack when he was trying to open the artifact you brought for him" Indra told to Maya.
It was late in the evening when Indra took her mother to home. Maya stayed in the hospital. When they left, she went to her father. Her father was lying on the bed as if he had no life. The beeping of the machines connected to her father was the only sound in that room. She went beside his bed, held his hand and started crying. Though she didn't believe her mother but somewhere inside, she was feeling responsible for this. "Sorry paa, I am so so sorry," She said in a choking voice.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
jangyesh
jangyesh This is the first chapter of the novel Lovehood. More chapters are coming with interesting twists. Watch out the space for the same.
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