Dear Readers,
The following story is in two parts, both of which have been submitted to the site. It's a simple tale of love with very little sex and a lot of weird names. I hope you enjoy reading as much as I did writing it.
Subdued_Passion
*****
Nakushi looked at the giant statue that stood shining before her. It was such a monstrosity yet when the light hit its smooth surfaces it transformed into something else altogether and as always made her wonder about the legends shrouding it.
Once upon a time, it was said, the barren mountain their temple was built on was a lush and fertile place. The people above lived in prosperity oblivious to the evil beings that lived beneath them. The legend spoke of a great battle which took place ages ago, they spoke of how the earth split open and the very contents of hell's bowels were tossed out- scorching the earth and leaving everything barren in its wake. Along with the brimstone was cast out a creature so hideous and evil that even hell had no place for him in it. However the good people of the land were spared the wicked tyranny of the beast as the gods in their gracious mercy turned the creature to rock before it came to its senses.
The people of the land were bound in gratitude to their gods and showed it by building a temple in honour of the monumental event. The temple was build around the stone demon to ensure its evil nature be forever subdued by the divine presence surrounding it. And so it came to be that the inner sanctum of Jwala temple housed a demon beast. She laughed drily thinking of the village people who were too superstitious to realise that the temple had got its name from the volcanic eruption that had taken place there all those years ago; they would much rather believe in demons and hell fires than what was right before them.
The afternoon sun streamed in through the opening in the dome of the ceiling and harshly bore down upon the statue. Yet when Nakushi reached out to touch the tartarean behemoth before her, she marvelled at how cool it felt and how much peace it brought her just to look up on its grisly form. She could relate to the statue. Her people were superstitious in nature and made up tales to explain things that they couldn't understand. It was exactly why she had run away from the place over three decades ago and never returned to her place of birth till that day.
*****
Nakushi had the misfortune of being born a bastard; her mother had even named her 'unwanted' so she could never forget her place in this world as an undesirable. The only memories she had of her mother were ones where her mother cursed her existence and refused to comfort her or treat her in the manner she had seen other mothers treat their children. By the time she was seven her mother had abandoned her altogether and disappeared from their village.
She still remembered those early days of despair where she had to depend on the charity of her neighbours to meet her basic needs. At first, he people were kind towards her but none of them could afford to feed an extra mouth, not in a place where crops regularly failed and people died from starvation. After some time the villagers decided it would be best to offer the 'bastard' to the Jwala Temple.
Life at the temple was hard for a little girl and worse for a bastard who had no one to defend her and could only rely on the mercy of the temple priests. Nakushi's duties at the temple included cleaning and washing of the temple floors, helping prepare the meals, washing the clothes and making the garlands that would be placed upon the idols of the gods. In addition she was also required to run any errands the priests may ask of her.
The priests of the temple practised celibacy, so they had no wives or children. Consequently Nakushi had no contact with anyone other than the priests or the local devotees who visited the temple. It wasn't long before she discovered that like her mother, no one wanted anything to do with an undesired little girl. They were not entirely unkind to the little girl. They just didn't know how to deal with her. She was the product of sin and needed to be shunned for the evil she symbolised but she was also a pretty little girl with large doe-like eyes that looked at you with so much warmth that it could melt a heart of stone. They couldn't treat her like any normal child and they didn't wish to hurt her so instead, they chose to be indifferent to her.
The little girl tried her best to do the duties demanded of her but her small built and delicate physique made it a constant struggle for her to keep up with her tasks. The only part of her day she enjoyed was in the afternoon when everyone else at the temple was busy taking a nap after their meal. Nakushi was expected to use the time to catch up on her cleaning duties. Taking advantage of being unsupervised, she would head to the inner sanctum.
The innocent child was unafraid of the beast trapped in the rock though it loomed large within the holy of holies. She loved the way the rock would feel- cool and smooth under her little hands- as she wiped it till it shone like clear glass. Over time the ungodly being transformed into a dependable friend who silently listened to the little bastard girl pour her heart out. At times when she felt overcome with her loneliness she would wrap her small arms around one of its giant legs and weep to her heart's content.
And so the months rolled by in routine monotony, the undesirable girl turned eight years old and no one knew it. But the little girl was happy- for once the day was not marked by the sounds of her mother's cursing her birth. She finished her chores in the afternoon and before leaving the inner sanctum she wished that she could escape her world to be in a place where she would not be resented for who she was. The demon's eyes were closed shut and its mouth drawn in a severe line, yet, she imagined it had blinked and smiled at her request.
*****
In the mornings Nakushi would walk through the sparse shrubbery surrounding the temple to collect flowers for the garlands, she would notice in the distance movement on the dirt road- something akin to a mighty beast racing to attack its prey, kicking up a dust storm along its way. She learnt later- after one of the priests explained- that the beast was a vehicle called a bus, passing through the outskirts of her village on its way to the big city. However, today was different; a different bus appeared to arrive and leave every couple of hours. The buses also didn't stick to the usual route- each one came up from the other side of the mountain and halted a short distance from the temple.
Nakushi stared wide eyed at the crowds pouring out of the buses and approaching the temple. She knew it was a special day, a feast day, a day to commemorate the great mercy shown to her village by the gods- the day a demon was turned to stone. The days leading up to the festival were spent toiling in preparation for the feast.
The priests had told her about the crowds that made their annual pilgrimage to their temple to thank the gods and beg for their favour from the evils which currently plagued their lives. They told her about the devotees who chose to climb up the treacherous stones that served as stairs, all the way up the mountain to reach the temple as a way of proving their worth to the gods. They had also spoken about all the outsiders that came, some to watch, others to partake in the spectacle of the feast. Still, the young girl watched in awe as wave after wave of people poured in.
The solitary child grew excited to see all the different people headed to her temple. The kitchen was busier than it ever was trying to churn out enough food to feed the hungry pilgrims. Fortunately for her the best cooks from the village had arrived the previous night to prepare special treats for the visiting devotees, which meant that she was relieved of most of her usual duties. Since the priests were too busy to bother with her supervision she was free to wander about and observe the day's festivities.
