Genre - Horror, supernatural, spiritualism, science
Number of pages - 273
Approximate number of words - 70300
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"A HUMAN IS NOTHING BUT A GRACEFUL UNCERTAINTY"

OVERVIEW

We all die only once…Someone didn’t!!!

In this story, Spiritualism and Science come together unusually…and negatively.

A passionate young rich guy from Cleveland Ohio is very ambitious. Science research is his passion and he lives up to it very excellently. But he is all set to surprise everyone including his businesswomen mother and his favorite professor. He does something that’s fresh, brilliant, shocking, enthralling, and very disturbing.

Two young friends from New York, who have just tasted nicotine, are at a point from where they are to launch their careers. They take up an assignment which proves to be not really worth it. One of them loves a woman, whose home interiors are quite unique and an interesting blend of 2 religions. The relationship they share is very passionate and sweet. One of the two friends gets in trouble which turns around everything and all.

Two passionate men, one from Cleveland Ohio and other from The Himalayas join in, to do the repair work. They go on the ‘problem’s’ path to find a ‘solution’. The ‘path’ that they were on, reveals a lot which is fresh, brilliant, shocking, enthralling, and very disturbing. They do the needful to repair and conclude…And all that does take a hell lot of efforts and brain work. But, were they really done?
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EXTRACTS FROM DIFFERENT CHAPTERS FROM THE BOOK

‘I must find some way…’ TOM thought looking around the darkness around him.
TOM stood on a staircase, staring downstairs. He was inside some old building, wondering how he got there!
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The roof that Tom was terrified with had an incredible shine. It had a strange attraction. Tom sensed that the attraction was dangerous. And against his will, he was being seduced by its mere presence, which was very strong and intense. Like some planet. It seemed that moon was the only source of light to the roof. Tom also thought of the building being dependent on the moon. It appeared as if the roof had the moon as its source of life too.
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TOM found himself right there, where he was, some time back. But he couldn’t see anything around him. The numerous stairs beneath him in the depth he was looking at, were no more. The ‘black wall’ that he was resting on was not there. There was no building - There were no floors. No walls. No stairs. No painting. No statue. No roof…
And… there was no depth.
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‘I’ll be a dead man now,’ tom thought. The chill he felt was horrifyingly unbearable as he was being pushed and pulled down.
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“Thank you very much god, for this opportunity.” Kate thanked god number of times while driving. Sometimes aloud. Sometimes to herself. She was so happy on her way back.
Kate wanted to be in the company of Jim or Tom for many days. 3 months was decent, though not enough for Kate. Kate needed this opportunity. The opportunity instantly knocked her door and she welcomed the opportunity without peeping through the peephole. She didn’t need to. The opportunity was such.
‘Opportunity knocks only once’. This is what we humans believe in. So did Kate.

But!

Was that really an opportunity for Kate?

And if that was an opportunity what sort of opportunity was that?

Was that opportunity really worth being taken or explored?

Or should the opportunity have better been left alone??

And from where the hell did that opportunity come?

There’s no dearth to such questions.

But why would Kate, or for that matter anyone, think that way?

No normal human being needs to think from this view point…not required actually.

Opportunity is an opportunity for all of us…what else? Isn’t it??

We humans strongly believe that an ‘opportunity’ doesn’t wait for us and hence we all deadly run after every single of it.

But!!!

Do we sometimes consider the importance of thinking the other way round?
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“Do you need any help with the mugs, Julia?” He uttered the last word with a full breath. Steven stood behind Julia, and whispered, almost touching his long nose to Julia’s left ear. She was slightly bent on the sink while rinsing the mugs which made her body appear curvier and very attractive. Steven, while entering the kitchen had got a decent glance of that wonder which actually motivated and fueled him to say what he’d just said. And the way he said that was quite charming.

Julia sensed a warm air inside her ear and felt a sugary current through her body. Steven had uttered her name with great depth and heart. The effect of the current didn’t seem like fading. It made her head tilt a bit to right. But the distance between Steven’s nose and her left ear was still negligible. The kitchen was about to be on fire.

Julia’s heart started beating faster. She had never experienced such feeling before. And she didn’t want to let that feeling to go away either. She probably wanted to taste the feeling to the fullest. She dropped the mug in the sink and stood still with her eyes on the tap and her senses on Steven.
Steven sensed a thing too… Julia’s consent…
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The inside of the wooden frame of the entrance door had a horse shoe, nailed on it forming an ‘n’. Steven had also seen a similar horse shoe outside of the frame before he entered. There was a shoe rack camouflaged in the wall on the door’s side. Diagonally opposite, was a pot, holding the ‘Holy Basil’ which stood with its fresh purple leaves attached to a hairy stem. Steven realized that the pleasant scent from Julia that he sensed when he entered was contributed by this divine herb too. Exactly above this plant was a small painting of a ‘Holy Cross’ with a grand shine in it. Opposite to this ‘cross’ was a similar sized painting of a ‘Swastika’ having similar sparks in it as that in the painting opposite to it.

There was a strange flux of balance and imbalance between the two halves in the painting Steven was looking at. Steven found it very interesting and beautiful. He hadn’t seen such a beautiful blend of two religions before.

‘All religions must definitely have had some connection. Who knows? May be…None of all beings alive today were there at that time when the religions were written or created.’ An apolitical, undiplomatic, unselfish, sincere and a humane thought swept through Steven’s mind. He felt very different and relieved at that point of time.
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Tom sensed all that happen, but didn’t quite understand. He was slightly amazed. Suddenly, he felt a chilled breeze of air piercing his eyes. His nostrils could feel the ice-cold air getting into them and entering his head. His eyes got moist and his head and nostrils were jammed. He had to open his mouth to breath. At the same moment he had a strange feeling of seeing the chilled air entering the room behind him.

He then felt that someone has turned his head back towards the room. The air rushed in the room blowing the curtains rapidly. It was only the curtains that were moving …as if they were trying to get rid of something stuck on them.

Tom was nothing but jolted to see all that. He was surprised to see that nothing but the curtains had got crazy like a wild wave. All other things in the room were still and stagnant at their respective places and positions, as if they didn’t dare to look at what’s happening around them.
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Even a single page in each of the books on the shelf was not shuffled even to its slightest, as if each book had closed itself and each of its chapter permanently.
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“Aggressive little dog. We have a friend here then.” Steven said with a grin.

Tom and Steven stood looking at the small coal black statue near the table under the shelf.

“‘Look at its shine! Isn’t that amazing?” Tom said looking the statue of the animal. It sat alertly on the floor, facing the wall opposite to the shelf.

“Ya. Shining Coal Black and heavenly. That’s incredible!” Steven said admiringly looking at the statue.
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“Sure we will, Tommy.” Steven asserted. “Tommy, I was wondering about these paintings. They hardly imply anything. I’m no expert, but of all paintings I’d seen till now, I could extract some meaning - it could be wrong, but at least I could make out something.” Steven said looking around at the paintings. “But these paintings don’t seem to make any sense. They just look like something’s scrambled on a canvas or someone has spilled ink on the canvas and spread it like butter.”
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Outside the window, at some distance, some green leaves of some tall trees, away from the campus, had begun shivering in cold. The leaves acted as if the coldness was unbearable, and they will be a dead thing in some time. The wind outside was so chilled and mild that it made only the leaves of the trees tremble and move. Only the leaves… The thinnest and smallest of the branches stood still as if they didn’t have any control over any of their feathery leaves. As if they have lost connection between each other, and didn’t seem to bother about each other.

Tom too had started feeling something. He was not sure what kind of feeling that was, but he sensed something weird.
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Steven got up and went towards the bookshelf which was full of books on psychology. He was amazed to see Joe’s interest and passion for the subject. There were books which dated back right from the 18th century till date. His sight went from left to right and right to left, getting a glance of different titles arranged neatly on the shelf–
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They finished their lunch at 2. The tension on Tom’s face hadn’t gone down, while Steven was still looking for some more ways to counsel Tom, but was unable to find something at that point of time which would completely get Tom out of the clutches of those two weird incidents. Steven was now more worried for Tom. He believed and hoped that Tom should feel fine by evening.

Steven looked at Tom, and Steven was fretting more than before. He was agonized by what he saw.

Tom was staring hard at the painting on the wall opposite to him. He was sweating. It was clearly visible on his forehead and his neck. Tom was completely lost in the painting with his fingers shivering.
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Maha Aacharya preferred to walk. He walked with great pace and firmness. Steven had to struggle to match his speed.
“Remember, son. Be relaxed. Try to take as many snaps and video clips you can. And try to video shoot each and every portion in each of the rooms in the outhouse. Don’t touch anything there, unless I tell you to do so. And remember, that we are only going to do the observations today. So that we will be in a position to work out a proper solution on this.”
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Steven had followed Maha Aacharya’s instructions. The fright wave that he felt inside, some time ago, hadn’t faded yet. It was growing big by every second. The mild sound near his ears of the tree leaves brushing against each other, were adding to Steven’s fright. He could also hear a group of street dogs mourning from somewhere nearby. As if the dogs knew what was happening at the outhouse and were sort of warning Steven not to stay there for long.
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“Shit! Its moving, Maha Aacharya!” Steven exclaimed. “It’s moving very slowly.”

“No one could have ever noticed it even inside the outhouse. No one ever did.” There was a warning in Maha Aacharya’s tone.
Steven was shocked and couldn’t utter a word. He only stared at Maha Aacharya for some time.

“What does all this mean, Maha Aacharya?” Steven queried feeling his heart beats.

“The reports should give a complete picture of this. I think the reports must be ready by now.” Maha Aacharya left along with Steven to get the reports.
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“In the outhouse case, Spiritualism has been used with Science and that’s what makes it very effective and dangerous. One can’t even think of a fraction of what has been done in the outhouse. We all know that science has conducted many weird experiments since long and till date. There have been experiments in combining different breeds and different species. These were sometimes useful to mankind and at times, hazardous.”

“In Joe’s case, he definitely had done a lot of secret practice to perfect the spiritualism part. And he did succeed in that. Moreover, he has successfully combined this spiritualism with science with great brilliance. I am sure some expert must have helped him with this. But identifying this expert would be tough and time consuming. That can be dealt with later. It’s like a surgeon who has conducted a surgery. Unless someone tells us that a particular surgeon has operated on some patient, it would be tough to identify that surgeon.”
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“These two sets of mixtures worked with the help of Science and Spiritualism. There was a ‘siddhi’ conducted on the paintings and the statues. You can say that they were spiritually programmed in such a way that the paintings or the statues could sense Tom’s energy and activate. Then the reactions used to happen.”
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“Talk logical and relevant things, Joe.” Professor George said after listening to Joe’s explanations and views on Metaphysics.

“Sir, I strongly believe that what I’m trying to say is logical. In fact this is what Metaphysics is about, according to me.” Joe said firmly but with respect.

“But Joe, the concepts in Metaphysics is something that is beyond our five senses. These are nowhere close to science.”

“And beyond our curriculum too.” A male voice came from one of the back benches. The classroom bursted into laughter.

“Discipline, students.” Professor George said in a high pitched tone.
The laughter slowly settled down to silence.

“And isn’t that, to some extent is similar to what we all are trying to study in psychology, Sir?” Joe said waving his hands in air.

“Metaphysics is different, Joe. And Metaphysics is a philosophy, and not psychology. Moreover, Metaphysics is still in its controversial stage. Many concepts and findings of Metaphysics are yet to be proved with proper evidence. We can’t conclude anything on the basis of Metaphysics alone.” Professor George said exhibiting his experience.

“But sir, I strongly believe that all sciences are interconnected. The classifications are basically for better understanding. And I believe that all this ultimately affects us humans and all living things around us. And the way it affects us is very interesting and mind blowing.” Joe provided his unique comments as always.

The class was listening to both in a hypnotized state.

“Fine, Joe. Tell us. How exactly is metaphysics going to affect us and other living things around us?” Professor George questioned on the classes behalf.

“Sir,” Joe addressed, “This might sound bit strange, but I personally trust this totally. I believe that it’s all about cells. After we die, the essence of our cells is left behind which is live and can be activated. This then transforms into any living creature. Randomly.” Joe paused for responses, which he got, but not as expected.

“Is this all something about spirits and ghosts?” A short and spectacled girl sitting in Joe’s next row asked seriously.

“No. Joe’s telling us about a Hollywood horror flick.” Someone commented from some corner behind.

The last comment made some smile and some giggle. An unclear murmur started to rise in the classroom.

“Discipline, all. Discipline.” Professor George said raising his voice. “Joe, can you please explain” Professor George’s found Joe’s last statement little strange but interesting.

“Sir, what I just said, has to do nothing with spirits and ghosts. If anybody wishes to relate it to something, it can be loosely connected with evolution. But to a very remote extent.” Joe said looking around in the class.

Someone in the class queried from the first two rows “Evolution? What’s the role of evolution here?”

“That’s what I said. Evolution here is very remote. Nearly negligible. But not zero. I am not at all considering it. What I…”

Joe was interrupted by Professor George. “Be precise, Joe”

“I’m not at all trying to be vague, sir. I am just trying to make my explanation simple.” Professor George nodded. Joe continued, “When someone dies, in different religions, there are different ways to conduct the final rituals. In Christianity and Islam the dead bodies are buried. The ways are slightly different though. In Hinduism they burn. But the common thing here is that after the final rituals, the essence of the body cells is left in the atmosphere or underground. The body is no more into existence, but the essence of the cells exists.”

“What exactly do you mean when you say that the essence of the body cells is there in the atmosphere?” Professor George queried.

The class was now curious to know what Joe says.
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“This is ridiculous!” Professor George and Joe were seated on a corner seat in the multiplex cafeteria. “Yours was not just a presentation, Joe. What you presented today was a ‘REVOLUTION’! You presented a new, fresh and a very original discovery. None of the participants was of your level. Rather none of them was anywhere near you.”

“I know, Sir. But I guess, Jacob Thomas was brilliant. Jacob’s presentation was more mature and relevant. And I’ve anyways not disclosed all about my findings. The imperative information is still with me. And I’m sure the panel members and their colleagues will keep on contacting me for this. But I don’t want to accept any of their offers, however lucrative that may be.” Joe made his point clear.
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One day when I returned late from work, like most of the times, I found the outhouse lit. I hadn’t ever enquired Joe about this in detail. I decided. I went inside the outhouse and saw that Joe was seated, with his knees folded and eyes closed at the centre of the living room. I guessed Joe must be meditating. But at night and that too at this hour. I looked at my watch. It was quarter past 12. It was past midnight. I was slightly taken aback.

“Joe.” I said softly as I walked and stood behind Joe. “You are late for bed, Joe.”

There was no reply. Joe sat tight with his back straight and exactly parallel to the wall behind him. I shook him the next time I called his name.

“Joe.” I was slightly louder this time. Joe didn’t seem to listen. I shook him again and uttered his name louder than earlier. “Joe! Joe!”

Joe moved mildly. His back was now not parallel to the wall behind. His head and his back moved in accord and turned slowly backwards. He was still seated and looked above into my eyes.

“Hi mom. What are you doing here?” Joe said in a soft and composed manner.

“That’s what I have come here to see. What are you doing here, Joe? And that too at this time? It’s almost 1 hour past midnight.” I said in an angry tone.

“Just peace of mind, mom. I was trying to relax.”
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Maha Aacharya got to the point, “You were able to get any hint, Professor George?”

“Well, I could extract some words and small sentences.”
Maha Aacharya had already decided, “Let’s consider the words or small terms as that would be more accurate.”

Professor George thought for few moments, “I guess you are right. How do you think we should go about it?”

“Each of us will say one word or a term at a time. You say yours and then I say mine. Repeated words should not be said. For example if you say ‘failed’ and I have this in my list, I will not say it. In this way we will have a list of words and some combinations from which we will try to get some direction.

Please tell me if you have something that you think would improve this or better than this.”

“That’s perfectly alright, Maha Aacharya. I had something similar in my head, Maha Aacharya. Why don’t you start?”

“Kill” Maha Aacharya started.

“Success” Professor George followed.

“Failed”

“Deserve”

“Let-go”

“I won’t let go”

“Henny and Peggy. Like them I will…”

“At any cost”

“What if I failed in…”

“At any cost”

“Did I deserve this?”

“Like Henny and Peggy”

“I want to be”

“I will be” Professor George said the last words.

Both were stunned and looked at each other. Maha Aacharya was thinking of something. Professor George thought of something too. They were thinking on the similar lines, probably. The last unsaid word was there in each of their lists.

“Om Namah Shivay. Om Namah Shivay.” Maha Aacharya exclaimed. He looked worried.

“Oh my God! What the hell is this?” Professor George reacted. He looked worried too.
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All were smiling when Kate’s phone rang.

Kate answered to the unknown number, “Hello.”

A voice from other end said, “Hi, Aunt Kate. Is Joe at home? This is his friend.”

Kate was slightly amazed. She replied, “May I know who is this?”

There was a name uttered from the other side to which Kate replied softly, “Joe is no more.” The phone was disconnected after that from the other end. Kate disconnected and was wondering.

“How come, there’s a call for Joe all of a sudden? After so long!” Kate said to all in general.

“Who was that?” Professor George asked.

Maha Aacharya was eager too.

Kate replied, “Don’t know. Some college friend of his, I guess. I think I have come across this name earlier.”

“What’s the name, Miss Kate?” Professor George asked.
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