After she was all well to face the public, the village gathered to see her, ask her what the witch had tried to do to her, and decide as to what is to be done with the dead witch's body. It was Anjali's suggestion that was finally taken, that Meghna's body be cremated in the usual Hindu tradition of burning the body on a funeral pyre. "She deserves the last rites!", Anjali had said.
Anjali personally looked after the last rites of Meghna.
With her physical form gone up in smoke, and being present in her new body , the only resemblance or the sign of who she really was , were her curly long hair. Her mother had asked her father the moment Anjali was brought into the house in an unconscious state..," What happened to my Anji's beautiful silky straight hair?"
Shankar had not replied to that...he had thought a long time about it and then made peace with the reason that the face off that happened between both the girls must be the cause of sudden change.
Early morning the next day, Anjali was all ready with her bags packed and her air tickets in hands.
"I have to fly tomorrow. I have already wasted enough time here."
"Don't you think you should relax for a while Anji? Your father already spoke to your HR about your condition."
"I called them early morning today. I told them everything is fine now, and that I want to join as soon as possible. They said they had an urgent requirement in Washington DC right now, they want me to assist their correspondent who's covering the news of the White House."
"I thought you hated broadcasting. I thought you wanted to shift to entertainment Anji." Shankar had heard everything that was being spoken.
" Yes. Who said I am getting back to broadcasting? It's just that its a good opportunity for a new comer to work under a good correspondent , that too around the power house of the world!"
Shankar looked at his daughter for a long time, he could see it, why she was going to DC. She stared back flatly. Then picked up her bags and called out to the driver.
"Wait...are you leaving right now? We are coming with you."
"It's okay maa. I'm a big girl." She left the house hitting her heels hard against the wooden flooring. Not stopping to take blessings from her parents, not even stopping to turn and look back.
Her mother wanted to say something, Shankar held her hand,"Let her go."
"What?"
"I said let her go! Are you dumb or what? Don't you get it? She's not our daughter!" He stormed up to his room in desperation.
Her mother was left to fend for herself...what should she believe? What she sees and what her heart and her husband says? Or just blindly believe the face of her daughter?
In the car, Anjali dialled a number, " Hello, Adv. Kapoor's office? Hi..I have a matter that I want to discuss with him, what time can I see him? My name is Meg...sorry, Anjali. Is it possible sometime tomorrow morning because I have a flight to catch later tomorrow and the matter is urgent. Alright. Thank you so much. This is regarding name change and making a Power of Attorney. Thanks a lot. I'll be there at 10."
"Washington D.C!" She thought, "White House".
She laughed at the thought, she laughed so hard ,her driver wondered what was wrong with her!
******************************************************************
Acknowledgements:
Beloved Witch - Ipsita Roy Chakraverti
Wikipedia
Google Image search for all the images.
This video inspired me to write this story: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
OMG! The end..I loved it! :)
ReplyDeleteOMG! U followed me till the end!
ReplyDeleteGosh I love u even more :-)
Hehehehe! yeah! :)
ReplyDeletetruly wonderful!!
Yeeeesh! what a way to begin n what a way to end? Directly white house pe hamala?
ReplyDeleteLoved it, don't think anybody cud have anticipated this turn of events, n that saya a lot.
Keep it going!
Loved all the episodes, good one again. :-)
ReplyDeleteyou are simply great.
Thanks Sim
ReplyDeleteThanks Deepak :-)
hey, I actually thought Part 8 was the last part.After reading that part 8 end ending ,it felt shiver down my spine.woohhh!! what a transformation. But this part ending gave me mixed feelings .Though I felt bad about anjali ,after watching video which you had put made me think that Meghna's actions are very much justified for what she had suffered as village witch. Cool ending !
ReplyDeletewhat the hell are you doing Jcrow :)....get out there and direct a movie...I am ready to sponsor...:D
ReplyDeleteAnd I am ready to direct!
ReplyDeleteI am dead serious about this :-)
@ Mukta: Exactly what I thought....do you see how they treat a woman? Can you imagine Meghna's pain? Can you imagine what must have taken of her to be what she is!! Amazing journey....I think I should write another 10 parts on her life after this freedom!
ReplyDeleteIts too good Janaki... Was waiting for the last part... as Part 8 of course was a total twist... Really a good one... The video that inspired u,oh god...i dont know what to say...
ReplyDeleteI think you can really write abt Meghana's journey ahead...
Maybe sometime else.....I'm stuck on another story right now :-)
ReplyDeleteGreat story! Especially the photo. Can't imagine she can be a witch nor that she is from a village! Looks like she works at Caeser's palace. :-)
ReplyDeleteAkshay
I found that photo in a google image search a few months back and saved it thinking I'll write a story taking an inspiration from the girl! Her look, her poise and her eyes and her curls are mesmerizing! When I finished writing the concluding part, this photo was the only 1 that fitted the character.
ReplyDeleteI wished I was either good at photography or in sketching so that I could express my visualizations in the form of pictures, that would make my posts really interesting! But Alas!
And hey, this is not a village girl, This is the new Anjali , the transformed Meghna!
And Akshay, did you really read the whole story ?;-)
Hey J,
ReplyDeleteIt's been an interesting tale and shaped up very well. Loved it completely. I've been always fascinated by spirits and the extra ordinary stories.
All said and done, great job. Keep writing. I'll look forward to reading your "Quiver of Arrows".
Good Luck.
Best Regards
Jimmy Merchant
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI have gone through all episodes and found it very interesting till the end. But was surprised by the concluding part and in fact was shocked.
I found it more of a betrayal and lost all the sympathy i had for the char Meghna till last episode. And I was shocked to see the end as the victory of evil over good.
I admit that as a story writer you have all rights to conclude in your own way but would like to ask few questions …
# How can you justify the act of Witch to somebody who is her best friend and moreover she came to help her not to harm her?
# If the witch is that bad, then how can she deserve pity when she was beaten?
# If Meghna has the ability of disappearing, knowing what happened in US and all, why can’t she go in other way for better life rather than killing her friend?
# What will anyone who is in place of Anjali’s father do to the witch if he gets a chance to beat her or kill her? If he beats her, do you feel sympathy for the witch?
# You portrayed the witch as a villain and keeping that in mind, how can one show pity to that lady (who was in the video) or somebody like that? (The villagers might have feared of the consequences)
# Most of all I want to know how the video inspired you to create a character of witch who is really bad and deserves no single essence of sympathy?
PS: I know that the story is a fiction but still I asked you these questions. Take it as sportive and I hope you can understand that these arise out of involvement in the story and again the credit for you to make somebody to immerse in the story ;-)
--A Reader :-)
Dear Reader,
ReplyDeleteThank you for showing so much interest in my writing and I certainly undertand your need for an explanation on certain parts of my story, and it's my pleasure to do so.
When I 1st watched the video, I felt sorry for the woman who is beaten.I have extreme anger and hatred towards a society which abuses its women.I feel It's high time the women of our country deal with their problems on their own. They have to get out of their "Miss Goody two shoes" image and deal with what hurts them, even if that means being unjust and unfair!Even if that means being evil..... just shed that helpless vegetable skin and let the power within unleash!
Let me tell you the character and the journey of Meghna. She is a girl with high potential who could not use her potential because the men in her life did not give her due.
I know Anjali did no wrong, and did not deserve an end like that. But what about the pain Meghna went through? Once her husband and mother in law were dead, her father, the only one who could protect her, fled the village. Can you imagine the life of a single 18/19 year old beautiful girl in a village? Before calling her a witch, the men of the village have raped her, and there is no count to what extent she has been abused!
The kind of woman she becomes is out of her experiences of her life!Meghna was never a witch per se, but villagers tag her as one, and if you are tagged as one, you rather be the one and show them what a witch can do!
By the time Anjali comes to help Meghna, she doesn't need any help from anyone anymore. This is her 2nd shot at life, the 1st helpless Meghna who was Anjali's best friend is dead:emotionally, probably the day she stopped writing mails!
The reason Meghna transforms herself into Anjali's physical form is because Anjali already has a footing in a career in the US. Meghna would have to start out all new, a lot of time is wasted in that. It's best if you can use someone else's hard work, and shape it up the way you like.
The witch is not the villain in my story, she is my hero! She is what i want every woman to be! If you are hurt once, hit back 10 times more. I am not a follower of Gandhi and never will be! Witch hunting in our villages have taken countless lives , and is still going on. i wished each one of those women had these powers to lash out at every hand that beats her.
My story goes beyond the few words I could write. This is just the beginning , the world is her playground right now!And she will take revenge on the villagers who mistreated her...but 1st she had to start with the girl who called her, her best friend and never showed up in times of need!For Meghna right now,everyone is just a pawn in her game!
Lastly let me quote "Ayn Rand" in "Atlas Shrugged" to justify my hero "Meghna"-
"No principles have ever had any effect on society!"
Hi J,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reply. I agree with you on all initial things but have my opinion on the final consequences. Mostly I can't agree with whatever happened to Anjali.
You said that Meghna had a reason to punish Anjali as she didnt help her when she was in need. But if we think practically, She did her part by helping Meghna with all her mental support through mails. It is not possible for any common person to do beyond that when one has left one's frnd long time back and particularly at that age when one is still dependent on one's parents.
And the moment she came to know the significance of the problem personally, she did more than any common person would do by going beyond her dad's words and to help her in midnight. In my view, Anjali did more than 100% of what is required/expected.
Also if Meghna happened to do that to Anjali accidentally, it is understandable as she needs some way out. But if you observe all her mails from years, you can sense that she 'planned' it well and this point opens a door of doubt for a possibility of her envy towards Anjali.
I would like to quote a similar story. For ex, take the movie NewYork (I hope u ve seen it. Which stars John Abhraham and Katrina). There the govt made allegations on the hero that he was a terrorist and put him under pathetic and terrible interrogation (in fact a punishment) where as he wasnt a terrorist at all. Then he really become a terrorist and want to take revenge on the govt not on his frnd who wasn't 100% helpful for the hero due to several circumstances.
Where as in our story, Meghna also went on similar roads but she took revenge on whom? Her friend not on the people who misbehaved with her or tortured her. And more over, she ran away from the actual problems(the village people).
This sends wrong signal as if she is scared of (not angry with) the village people or she got irritated with them. And she did the same mistake of torturing 'helpless' and 'inferior' people for their own needs or conceptions which the village people did. This point I couldn't accept at all.
I also dont believe in Gandhian policy of showing another cheek. But You should hit back at the person/group who hit you not some other poor guy who is accessible to you to hit.
Its like I cant accept the weaker section to be dominated or suppressed by the stronger just b'coz the later has a chance over the other. This led to my sympathy on Meghna till the last part and the same reason led to the anger on her after the last part. Nothing more than that...!
Sorry for long comment. But couldn't stop the words :)
--Saravana (The Reader :-))
Hey, don't stop your words, it's okay. I'm open to any kind of discussion.
ReplyDeleteWe have a difference of opinion here, clearly.
You seem to respect sympathy and I don't. I hate getting sympathy, it kind of shows one's weakness. throughout your life you are beaten , insulted and then some small group of people supposedly show you some sympathy! Who wants it? Meghna doesn't need anybody's sympathy. She is powerful enough to deal with her troubles. Has sympathy ever done any good to anybody so far? I don't think so. I wouldn't show my hero some sort of sympathy and end her at that.I want power for her, I want her to conquor the world! That's what she deserves for the kind of trouble she has been through. And about people like Anjali and her father, you don't need to feel too bad for them. remember, Shankar has always been selfish enough to do things that favour him, so let Meghna do the stuff that favours her!
On a different note:
Why should Meghna be the righteous one when nobody in her life ever did the right thing for her?
How can you expect a person who has been kicked and tortured from childhood to grow into a Mahatma?
In law( I am a law graduate), when it came to the judgements , I was often disappointed with the judges who could have given a harsher punishment to a criminal but did not. But after a while I understood , that it is our society which is responsible for making the kind of criminals that we have. That is why, We have to bear the burden of their acts and also the criminal deserves a 2nd chance at improving his behaviour.
Please understand one thing about life: Life has and never will be fair!
And so are my characters and stories!
And abt poor Anjali: What a waste of a beautiful smart girl!!
But what can we do?
We have seen time and again that in a battle, innocent lives are always lost!
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI would like to reiterate only one thing. "In any form I cannot tolerate stronger section attacking weaker one without a valid reason.". No way the moral things be forgotten. Whoever does that, they are culprits in my view.
-- The Reader