She was in this decrepit, ageing, crumbling house, that also served as an hospital for the psychologically unstable.
She looked older than she actually was, as of now she was resting but her countenance wasn't really very peaceful, trapped in a remote part of South Eastern Africa - somewhere on the converging borders of Ethiopia, Eritrea and Sudan - she was being treated by a team of doctors treating patients ravaged by war and violence.
It was a temporary medical camp under the supervision of the United Nations and managed by a team consisting of doctors from Medicins Sans Frontiers and nurses from Red Cross.
Annie's mind was in a different world far from her African hostel, she was hearing sounds of automobiles , of all sizes and hues, it was her last weekend in India and it was quite late in the night almost half past 11 in the night, she was on the outskirts of Trivandrum, Kerala, India - departing after visiting a guru who was an acknowledged scholar of Lokayata, Bruhaspatya and Charvaka chapters of the Upanishads ( these chapters outlined the materialistic and atheistic aspects of the Vedic school of thought ).
She was smoking dope, sitting on her briefcase waiting for her Volvo bus to pick her up and take her to Palakkad.
The sounds of automobiles were coming from a highway beyond, about 50 metres away, so the sounds seemed to come with a sense subdued automaticness - constant swoosh of automobile tyres interspersed with musical horn of long distance Lorries and buses carrying the people and goods by the millions across the length and breadth of a truly eclectic South Asian nation.
As Annie dragged on her smoke, she saw figures of sundry tourists, locals, and street dogs chatting, enquiring, barking or simply bored and staring at nothing. Annie was thinking about Andy ( short for Ananthakrishnan, a retired Merchant Navy Officer ) in Palakkad, who had promised to take her to a place called Ottapalam, nearby Palakkad, to a guru who was an authority on Atharvavedam ( the "Other Vedam" , the Vedam of vampires, ghosts and para normals ) - it was known to be one of those Vedic practices that was outside the Upanishads and a practice always discussed in whispers and hushed tones - Atharva Vedam worshipped a para normal feminine form as supreme, it demanded stringent commitment and indulged in a ritual and artistic practice known as Tantric Vedam.
Atharvam demanded supreme efforts and sacrifices often shrouded in mystic rituals ( rumoured to also include use of blood as a symbol of divine offering ) , the colour Vermillion Red was revered and Atharvam gurus were known for their short temper and anger which often contrasted with their artistic brilliance - since they revered the abstract ( among the first abstract artists in the world , preceded modern abstract art by at least a few 100 years, if not thousand ) and since vermillion red, saffron yellow, virgin white and green were their preferred colours, they had created a reportoire of art unparallelled in the history of vedic art.
Annie's mind was hallucinating on the mantra and tantra of Atharvam, she suddenly woke up, rested her right hand palm on the ground and with focus raised her body on a Ashtanga yoga pose she had learnt during her trip to Mysore - she was loosely chained in her chamber in Africa that she wasn't aware of , so when she raised her body ( feet up on the back side, head down but bent in a 45 degree angle looking up , body inclined in a 45 degree pose with her left hand stretched and her right hand pressed to the ground ) - suddenly the wardens around went tizzy, one of them walked in gingerly calling Annie by her name and saying get down, get down, get down ...
Annie let out a scream, a scream so fierce and sounding so wild that the African warden who had entered her chamber trying to get her down from her weird Ashtanga yoga pose that she was suddenly enacting, simply scrammed out of her sight.
Annie remained motionless - in her shirsana pose balanced on a single palm, left hand stretched, head held up at a 45 degree angle, torso curved up, legs attached like needles stretched to the sky - her breathing was calm, her eyes were motionless.
She looked older than she actually was, as of now she was resting but her countenance wasn't really very peaceful, trapped in a remote part of South Eastern Africa - somewhere on the converging borders of Ethiopia, Eritrea and Sudan - she was being treated by a team of doctors treating patients ravaged by war and violence.
It was a temporary medical camp under the supervision of the United Nations and managed by a team consisting of doctors from Medicins Sans Frontiers and nurses from Red Cross.
Annie's mind was in a different world far from her African hostel, she was hearing sounds of automobiles , of all sizes and hues, it was her last weekend in India and it was quite late in the night almost half past 11 in the night, she was on the outskirts of Trivandrum, Kerala, India - departing after visiting a guru who was an acknowledged scholar of Lokayata, Bruhaspatya and Charvaka chapters of the Upanishads ( these chapters outlined the materialistic and atheistic aspects of the Vedic school of thought ).
She was smoking dope, sitting on her briefcase waiting for her Volvo bus to pick her up and take her to Palakkad.
The sounds of automobiles were coming from a highway beyond, about 50 metres away, so the sounds seemed to come with a sense subdued automaticness - constant swoosh of automobile tyres interspersed with musical horn of long distance Lorries and buses carrying the people and goods by the millions across the length and breadth of a truly eclectic South Asian nation.
As Annie dragged on her smoke, she saw figures of sundry tourists, locals, and street dogs chatting, enquiring, barking or simply bored and staring at nothing. Annie was thinking about Andy ( short for Ananthakrishnan, a retired Merchant Navy Officer ) in Palakkad, who had promised to take her to a place called Ottapalam, nearby Palakkad, to a guru who was an authority on Atharvavedam ( the "Other Vedam" , the Vedam of vampires, ghosts and para normals ) - it was known to be one of those Vedic practices that was outside the Upanishads and a practice always discussed in whispers and hushed tones - Atharva Vedam worshipped a para normal feminine form as supreme, it demanded stringent commitment and indulged in a ritual and artistic practice known as Tantric Vedam.
Atharvam demanded supreme efforts and sacrifices often shrouded in mystic rituals ( rumoured to also include use of blood as a symbol of divine offering ) , the colour Vermillion Red was revered and Atharvam gurus were known for their short temper and anger which often contrasted with their artistic brilliance - since they revered the abstract ( among the first abstract artists in the world , preceded modern abstract art by at least a few 100 years, if not thousand ) and since vermillion red, saffron yellow, virgin white and green were their preferred colours, they had created a reportoire of art unparallelled in the history of vedic art.
Annie's mind was hallucinating on the mantra and tantra of Atharvam, she suddenly woke up, rested her right hand palm on the ground and with focus raised her body on a Ashtanga yoga pose she had learnt during her trip to Mysore - she was loosely chained in her chamber in Africa that she wasn't aware of , so when she raised her body ( feet up on the back side, head down but bent in a 45 degree angle looking up , body inclined in a 45 degree pose with her left hand stretched and her right hand pressed to the ground ) - suddenly the wardens around went tizzy, one of them walked in gingerly calling Annie by her name and saying get down, get down, get down ...
Annie let out a scream, a scream so fierce and sounding so wild that the African warden who had entered her chamber trying to get her down from her weird Ashtanga yoga pose that she was suddenly enacting, simply scrammed out of her sight.
Annie remained motionless - in her shirsana pose balanced on a single palm, left hand stretched, head held up at a 45 degree angle, torso curved up, legs attached like needles stretched to the sky - her breathing was calm, her eyes were motionless.
Ok ! We shall close this soon !
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