The Other Side: Dare to Visit Alone PDF
Preview The Other Side: Dare to Visit Alone
The other side The other side FARAAZ KAZI VIVEK BANERJEE MP M AHAVEE R PUBLISHERS Published by MAHAVEER PUBLISHERS 4764/2A, 23-Ansari Road, Daryaganj New Delhi – 110002 Ph. : 011 – 66629669–79–89 e-mail : [email protected] website : www.bookpremi.com © Faraaz Kazi & Vivek Banerjee All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. First Edition : November 2013 The Other Side ISBN (10) : 9350880768 ISBN (13) : 9789350880760 This novel is entirely a work of fiction. Names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental. Images are for illustration purposes only and may or may not be the dedication of the scenery surrounding the story. Distributed in India by VAIBHAV BOOK SERVICE e-mail : [email protected] Distributed in Nepal by BAJRANGBALI BOOK ENTERPRISES PVT. LTD. Jyatha, Mushyabahal, Ward No. 27, Kathmandu, Nepal e-mail : [email protected] Printed in India Dedicated To The Power of Light that guides us in our Darkest Times! Foreword Why do we often attribute inexplicable events in our surroundings to fanciful thinking? Why do we term a person superstitious when they warn you about a bad event happening simply because you didn't perform a particular activity the way it was to be done? Why do we then term their forecast as sheer coincidence when calamity indeed does strike and the person comes to offer their sympathies? Why does your kid not answering his phone when he or she has been late by a couple of hours make you chew your nails? Why does the long walk back home after work doesn't seem too lonely when there's a faint rustle of leaves behind? Why does a black cat cutting across your path make you look heavenwards? Why does a blank static call on your cell phone make you feel nostalgic almost as if a loved one who recently passed away was trying to inform you that they have 'reached?'Why does a bolt of thunder in a dark room make you cower in a corner while shutting your eyes, hoping the lightning does not illuminate a figure you are not supposed to see? Why does the very feeble creak of your timber door when you are alone at home make you whisper an equally faint 'Who's It'? Why does the sudden flapping of a curtain in the absence of any wind does the sudden flapping of a curtain in the absence of any wind make you feel like you are being watched? Why does a hand feel like it's caressing your body in reality when in fact it is just doing so in your nightmare? Why does a noise that sounds like it is coming from beneath your bed not make you sit up and look under? Why do you cover up your toes with the blanket before you shut your eyes even if summer itself is boiling in your room? Why do you find the blanket five feet away from your dazed frame when you open your eyes in the morning? Why does a body wrapped up in a white sheet make us hold onto our breaths a tad second longer? Why does the sight of a severed limb make you cringe and shield your eyes? All the “why's” here have their roots attached to a common term. An emotion, actually. An emotion that is universal to all human beings, no mater what they say or they don't, no matter what they do or they don't, no matter what proofs they give you or they don't. That emotion, my friend is…FEAR! Fear is the most extreme emotion of all. Not love, not anger but fear. It is the fear of starvation that drives the lion to hunt for the gazelle and it is the fear of becoming the prey that drives the second-fast gazelle to outrun the last. It is the fear of our parents that makes us sign our own mark sheets in school. It is the fear of rejection that makes us hide the fact that we love someone in college. It is the fear of stability that makes us slog our arses when our bosses enjoy at work. It is the fear of the untested when we loathe an idea just because we don't have the will to give it wings. It is the fear of ridicule that makes us behave in a 'civilized way' in front of the society. It is the fear of death that makes us strain against the last withering roots of our soul before we surrender our mortal baggage. Our lives are defined by fear from the very time we are born to the time we bid adieu to this material world. Fear is the most potent weapon of all. It 's not a disease yet there is no cure for fear. Fear operates alone, all by itself and other emotions are mere byproducts of it. Fear doesn't give an opportunity; it merely waits for one! Let me further emphasise my point through you, my reader! Imagine yourself stranded alone in an uninhibited land whose darkness not even the farthest ray of the sun can pierce. Rooted deep to the ground, you want to move ahead but all energy has left your body. There is an unshakeable event that is going to happen any instant now and you can sense it. You want to shout but who will hear the soft whimper that escapes your lips? A shadow moves behind, softly announcing the arrival of a being far ancient than your human lineage. You want to explain the inexplicable, you want to avoid the unavoidable, you want to escape the inescapable or you want to fight the invincible. Doesn't matter what you want, doesn't matter what option you choose… for you are helpless. Parched throat, hands joined in a fervent prayer, all you need is some strength to run, hide or fight but all that comes to you is FEAR. Fear of your soul being sucked out of your body even before your brain has had the time to register the scene your horror-struck eyes have just laid themselves on. And that my friend is the fear of the unknown! Just like the fear that you have now, yet you don 't. For unknown to you… there is someone standing over your shoulder, floating in mid-air with a frozen expression from an era long gone, reading this with you. It's black marble eyes seem to float over every word that you are processing right now. It makes me wonder why it is holding on to your shoulder though… for a being such as this, needs no support. And why is it smiling now… now that you have read this… now that I have told you… now that you know that it wants you to continue! Faraaz Kazi, Mumbai, India, st31 October, 2013' Contents Foreword ................................................................. 7 Prelude .................................................................... 15 1. That Fateful Night ........................................... 29 2. The Long Weekend ............................................... 49 3. The Man Who Did Not Fear ................................... 73 4. Strangers In The Night ........................................... 97 5.
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