Savinder Raj
Anand is an architect and has been teaching Architecture & Design at
various Universities in India for more than 12 years. A long-distance runner
with a wanderlust to explore the world, and write stories that traverse across
diverse cultures. He lives in Goa with
January, 2022: A dark
monstrous twin-headed apparition – Apophis – feverishly races past the expanse
of the Milky Way galaxy and bolts to the edge of the solar system. Recklessly
accelerating, the sinister rock-dyad enters the gravitational keyhole of the
blue planet and continues its resolute inebriated journey – to soon arrive with
an apocalyptic impact on Earth.
December, 2012: Five
sentient beings born in different cities – New York, Hong Kong, New Delhi,
Azores Islands and Istanbul, discover amongst haunting memories of their
phantasmal past lives, that it is their destiny to save humanity from the evil
forces unleashed by the alien fiends – the Skyllats.
And now, the
reincarnated 9-year-olds must rely on their shared, ancient wisdom to prepare
humanity for the war across the galaxy that is imminent.
read an excerpt...
28.032848N, 85.530342E
Helambu. Langtang National Park, Nepal
January 23, 2022 (1100 hours)
“Agasthi, you must learn to draw the sacred symbol
accurately,” implored the Ban-Jhakrani or the forest shaman, wrapped in a
resplendent white dress with a crown of tall peacock feathers. Her
extraordinary life etched on a relucent wrinkled face, she continued to pry
stirring sounds from her shaman’s drum that reverberated across the mountains.
“Nata, what does ‘sacred’ mean?” asked the playful six-year-old
moon-faced Agasthi with light gray eyes. Her loose, white, flared top and
pants, twirled in the wind along with her.
“The ‘sacred’, is a space and thought held within the folds
of the benevolent earth mother,” explained the Ban-Jhakrani.
“Nata, what does ‘benevolent’ mean?” the left-handed
Agasthi, wondered.
The forest shaman laughed, “You are certainly an inquisitive
young shaman; blessed by the primordial essence that unites us all. Now help me
to place these peacock feathers, rice, and leaves within this sacred space. For
I have much to teach you, but my time in this form…is limited.”
The large geometry drawn vividly on the forest floor, with
red and yellow colors, was part of an ancient shamanic invocation to contact
the mysterious forest spirits that remained nestled within these thick jungles.
The forest adorned with the reverberant sounds of birds, animals, cicadas,
scrambling waterfalls, and a bone-chilling wind that swooped across the
Himalayan mountain range.
Agasthi, her name embodied in an indecipherable wisdom,
followed her grandmother’s instructions while the Ban-Jhakrani added her
chanting to the pulsating sounds of her shaman’s drum, to open the doorway of a
limitless realm beyond time. And a beguiled crested goshawk swooped down and
perched itself on her left shoulder.
The Ban-Jhakrani’s ancient incantations to initiate the
young shaman began to increase in pitch and intensity as Agasthi sprinkled
water over the rice, leaves, and peacock feathers. Soon the young girl became
assiduously immersed in the spirits of the forest, before her eyes began to
dilate and magnified all that surrounded her.
Agasthi, held within a trance, became drawn to a prodigious
green leaf lying within the sacred space. She dropped to her knees and
meticulously examined the giant blade; her dilated eyes following the mid-rib
and the veins that branched off it as well as an occult dewdrop, which hovered
just above the surface of the leaf.
Mystified, Agasthi peered deeper into this amplified,
spherical, translucent world – seeded with infinite moons and stars – when an
eerie, dark colossus with a serpent-like head and carmine eyes emerged. Swimming
within this dark sea, it swallowed entire moons and numerous stars, before it
turned and glared at a petrified Agasthi.
The charred monster abruptly shot across this uncommon
convex world with its fangs bared, and a roar that pierced the young girl’s
skin. A trembling, horrified Agasthi let out an unrelenting, terror-stricken
scream that echoed across the forest before she collapsed, unconscious.
The Ban-Jhakrani stood over her granddaughter and smiled.
What she had hoped for had become – the forest spirits had acquiesced. Agasthi
had travelled across an immeasurable realm, and experienced an epiphany – a
vision – for the very first time. The forest shaman patiently waited for
several hours for the young girl to step out of her dreamworld.
“What happened, Nata? Did I fall asleep?” Agasthi asked when
she finally stirred.
“No, my dearest Natini,” the Ban-Jhakrani whispered. “You
drifted into a shamanic dream. An unerring state of being when multiple truths
are revealed if your heart is pure. Search yourself and then speak of what you
saw, for it is very important.”
The young shaman stared at her grandmother, while the
recondite, eerie charcoal-black serpent reappeared and a petrified Agasthi
began to quiver.
“Do not be afraid, my child,” assured the grandmother and
held her left hand.
“A darkness that shamans have meditated upon…for thousands
of years…has arrived,” mumbled Agasthi, lost within her trance.
“Why?” the bewildered forest shaman inquired.
“For a balance disturbed for so long…must be remedied…a
justice delivered,” answered the swaying Agasthi and turned to stare in the
direction of the sun.
“Who delivered this message?” questioned the Ban-Jhakrani,
overwhelmed by the young shaman’s inconceivable first pronouncement.
“It was the Whisperer!”
about Raj Anand...
Savinder Raj
Anand is an architect and has been teaching Architecture & Design at
various
Universities in India for more than 12 years. A long-distance runner
with a wanderlust to explore the world, and write stories that traverse across
diverse cultures. He lives in Goa with his daughter, a dog, and two cats.
Inspired by his
then 18-month-old daughter – when she quoted Socrates – while they together sat
in a children’s bookstore in Bangalore (LIGHTROOM) in early January of 2015, he
has completed this – his first book – as she turns 7 years old.
The book is $0.99 During the Tour
https://www.rajanandbooks.comcom/
https://www.instagram.com/rajanandbooks/
https://www.facebook.com/rajanandbooks/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXPA0eY42VQ
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great read, thanks for sharing it with us.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good book.
ReplyDeleteSounds super interesting!
ReplyDeleteSounds really good!! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteWhat part of the book was most difficult to write?
ReplyDeleteAre any of the characters based of off real people.
ReplyDelete