For every girl child through whom Devi is born, Devi grows within women before the child and cleanses the world bit by bit to make it a little more beautiful for the child. The fight has been relentless. May the fight go on till every force which tries to pull back society into darkness is vanquished.
A little concept art. Just the sketch so far. Hopefully will be able to develop it further. Maa Gauri cradles a child and shields her from darkness, while Maa Kaali stands fiercely protecting and fighting and simultaneously playing with the little one. The little one also playfully grabs a strand of The Great Goddess' hair.
প্রত্যেক বছরের মতো এবারও আমি মহালয়ার আগের রাতে চলে এসেছি আমার দাদুর বাড়ি। তিন মিনিট এর হাঁটা পথ। রাত এগারোটা বাজে...চুপচাপ রাস্তা। দুটো বেড়াল ঝগড়া করছে, পাড়ার আলোর শেষ কিছু কনেকশন ঠিক করছে কজন আর হল এ রিহার্সাল এর চাপা শব্দ। নিস্তব্ধতা-টা একটু অদ্ভুত। হাওয়ায় হাওয়ায় একটা নির্ভেজাল উত্তেজনা। রাত পোহালেই ভেসে আসবে সেই একটা খুব চেনা গলা। ছোটবেলার অনেক কিছুই সময়ের সাথে হারিয়ে গেছে...হারায়নি শুধু এই গলাটা আর মা এর ফিরে আসার প্রতিশ্রুতি। হয়তো এই দিনটা পালন করা শুরু হয় অন্য এক কারণে...কিন্তু আমাদের কাছে মহালয়া হলো মা এর বাড়ি ফিরে দরজায় প্রথম বেল। আবার উমা ঘরে ফিরেছে। শহর টা পুজোর সাজে সেজে উঠেছে।
I was blindly running through a dark landscape. The ground was rough and stones were piercing into my foot. I dared not stop running. Some shriveled black corpse-like hands were taking form and trying to pull me into the darkness. Their nails dug into my skin and left bleeding gashes. A putrid stench of death, decay and blood filled my nostrils. I was exhausted. My lungs seemed to burn. The place was infernally hot. But those creatures were painfully frigid.
I stumbled and fell. Panic seized my heart. The creatures caught up with me. Their presence brought back forgotten grief, fear and hatred. I felt anger, helplessness and every other negative thought that had ever crossed my mind.
A deafening humkaar reverberated through the terrain. It was terrifying. But it brought a strange sense of safety with it. I saw a few creatures crumble to dust around me. A pair of feet appeared in front of me. The skin was like the primordial darkness of the universe. It was stained with a blood-red alta and adorned with anklets made of exploding stars. I looked up and found Devi towering over the entire terrain. Her dark flowing locks formed the sky above. Her eyes burned with the power of a thousand suns. Her tongue was hanging out, dripping blood. She was naked. Time started and ended in the expanse of Her body. She was adorned with celestial bodies. A mundmaala hung around Her neck. A gleaming golden kharga in one of Her hands. A golden bowl in another hand, blood sloshing around inside it. She seemed to hold the entire cosmos in Her third eye. A strange mixture of fear and relief gripped my heart.
She jumped and landed among the creatures of the shadows. Her scimitar flashed like golden lightning. And bodies of those creatures piled up on the floor. She danced with a bloodthirsty frenzy, trampling over hundreds of those beings. I trembled with fear at the violent sight in front of me. Kaalratri danced the dance of destruction. She then turned towards me. Rage burning in Her eyes, She let out a blood-curling scream. She ran towards me. I was paralyzed with fear. A part of me was wildly flailing inside me...trying to run away. Another part pinned her down waiting for the Devi. She stopped in front of me and swung Her kharga. I closed my eyes. It went through my neck with an excruciating pain.
Tears rolled down my face as I opened my eyes. The pain had faded away quite a bit. I was shocked at what I saw. A shriveled decaying form of me laying dead at Her feet. I broke down in fear. All the ugliness that was within me lay in front of me now.
I started to drift into a sleep and the darkness around me seemed to dissolve away. When I woke up I was in the middle of a beautiful forest clearing. Large arching trees provided such cooling shade with their embrace. A little brook was trickling nearby. Birds were chirping all around. I was in the womb of Prakriti. The Devi appeared again. dressed in a soft white saree with a broad red border. Her skin was glowing like a blushing dawn. Her eyes held me with such tenderness. She smelled like chandan. She smiled and called me to Her. When I went near her She held my cheek and I started to heal. All the wounds started closing up. Every strained muscle seemed to relax. The exhaustion seeped away. I felt rejuvinated. Her hand had such a cooling touch...just like a cooling breeze against a burning feverish forehead.
She sat on a rock and I sat at Her feet with my head on Her lap. I cried my heart out to Her, long hidden grief, confusion, fear...along with feelings I have never been able to explain to myself. She held me close...humming some ancient melody to me. Not a word was spoken, but so much was conveyed.
Everything seemed to make sense suddenly....every turn that my life has taken, every person that I have met, every day I have lived through, every bit of gyaan I have acquired, every aspect of samsaar that I have learnt so far...all of them has to contribute towards slaying that demon within us, the ugliness within us. Every moment lived leads to slaying the darkness withing us and laying our existence at the feet of The Mother.
She embraced me and dissolved into me. I woke up with a start. My fever had gone down after two days. I was sweating, I felt like someone had breathed in a new life into me. The sunlight formed a strange pattern on my floor...a Trishula.
WELL. SO. I’ve been counting down for months and finally the ‘I Can See You’ video is out. I wrote this video treatment over a year ago and really wanted to play out symbolically how it’s felt for me to have the fans helping me reclaim my music. I had my heart set on Joey King, Taylor Lautner and Presley Cash starring in it. Joey and Presley had been in the video for ‘Mean’ when they were 9 and 13 and they are back and so ridiculously bad ass!! Taytay is INCREDIBLE in this (didn’t have a stunt double!) and shout out to Tay Lautner for being so awesome to hang with on set. The Tale of 3 Taylors 😆 I always wanted to direct fight scenes/a heist storyline and had the most incredible time plotting this out with my amazing DP Jonathan Sela. So proud of this one.
It's already common knowledge that the animation for ATSV is absolutely bonkers (with the first film already breaking ground). But learning this added info over Hobie's animation is beyond nuts.
with pavitr having his hair out of the mask, and hugging gayatri when he saves her, and having The Worst attempt at disguising his voice out of all the spiderkids (which is saying something, when you're up against miles and gwen) - i love the idea that everybody in mumbattan absolutely knows that pavitr prabhakar is spider-man, but all have an unspoken agreement to never actually acknowledge it, because he's sweet and helpful and god, he's just a kid.
tourists and visitors and people just moving there will gesture to his very visible and easily identifiable hair and open their mouths to comment on it, and the nearest Seasoned Member of the Pavitr Prabhakar Defense Committee™ will slap a hand over their mouth and wrangle them in the opposite direction before they can blow his cover and get him arrested
So this is my first PS fanfic.... A two-shot. Kinda ended up long. I hope people like this. I do not know if this turned out well. I had a lot of fun though.
It was day 1455 of Arulmozhi pretending like she does not exist, she had cried herself to sleep and woken up with a splitting headache, the kingdom was gearing up for festivities and she was entrusted with the duty of decking up the palace. There was way too much noise everywhere to help with her headache and she had to use every ounce of her energy to focus on a work and get it done. So our doe-eyed docile damsel was a volcano about to erupt for the day.
Vanathi was trying to finish an elaborate Kolam at one end of a corridor. She was almost done with the job and at her wit's end. That is when Universe orchestrated the volcanic eruption.
The Chola prince and his newly found confidante, a certain Vana Prince, rushed through the corridor and before our hero could stop himself, he stepped on the Kolam and ruined a part of it. He froze.
Vanathi's eyes snapped to the ruined bit of the Kolam. It was one thing to ignore her during conversations but ignoring her entire existence and work while she was sitting there was a new low.
She stood up sharply and the expression which crossed her face reminded him of sudden tempests in calm seas. He had no idea from where did this inner poet wake up in him but he was kicked out of his mind very promptly by the sight of Vanathi striding towards him. With a short seething 'Ilavarasar...' she shoved the bowl of rice flower into his hands and marched off leaving behind two dumbstruck princes.
And the sound of a pair of anklets approaching just signalled the second onslaught of the storm.
'What has been happening here, Thambi? Where did Vanathi go? Thambi...' she trailed off when her brother turned towards her with a bowl in his hands and a messed up kolam at his feet.
'First you annoy me the entire morning delaying all my plans, then you mess up my uyir thozhi's work!! What has gotten into the both of you?? Have you forgotten your age Thambi?? What is this mischief that you are stirring up? Are you imagining yourself as Maya Kannan just because there will be a play...' a livid Kundhavai thundered.
'What Maya Kanna?' Arulmozhi was really confused now. 'Nothing...' pat came her reply trying to cover up what she had just blurted out. 'Vanathi was working with a headache and you ruined her work!' Kundhavai swiftly changed the topic.
'How would I know Akka? I was running thanks to you and I didn't notice the kolam,' the prince said as guilt started settling in his mind. He had no idea about the head ache part. 'I...well..I am really sorry,' he mumbled. 'TELL THAT TO VANATHI, THAMBI...UGHHH,' Kundhavai whisper-shouted at her brother.
Now begins a new adventure for our dashing Chola scion...apologizing to a certain woman for whom his heart acted very weirdly and he could not point out how and why it was weird to save his life. He walked to the chamber of the royal doctor and asked him to prepare some medicine for curing headache. With great impatience he waited for the doctor to be done with making the balm for the Ilavarasi.
He took the perilous nerve-wracking journey to Vanathi's chambers very uncertain of how she will react. He stood in front of her door and with a sheer lack of better judgement and and his brain ceaselessly rehearsing what to say, he walked in without announcing himself.
The curtains were drawn and the few rays of sunlight that could enter the room lit it dimly. 'Akka I am fine. Just a bit of headache. I will join the preparations right when this headache goes awa...,' the princess had been lying with her face buried into her pillow. She turned towards the door as she was speaking and she FROZE. Her anger had subsided and now she was very aware of the fact that she had stormed off from the very person who was now standing at her door.
Seeing her shocked and flustered face Arulmozhi panicked and launched into and apology while Vanathi started her own stream of apology. In her haste to get out of her bed she almost stumbled over her own dress and her cheeks reddened immediately. 'My apologies Ilavarasar, I will move the curtains...it is too dark,' she said as she drew the curtains open. She winced as her headache flared up due to the light.
'I don't mind the drawn curtains at all, Devi. I know that you have a headache. I have bought some balm for you from the doctor. please apply it. You will feel better.' These words from the prince made her face grow warm. He had thought about her? This was not a dream right? The Arulmozhi Varman had brought medicine for her? She extended her hand for the bowl rather bashfully. 'Thank you, Ilavarasar. I am very sorry for acting like that before. It was very wrong of me to speak to the Prince like that. Forgive me,' Vanathi said as her eyes teared up with guilt.
Her tear filled doe eyes sent a strange new ache to his heart and he said, 'No Ilavarasi it was my fault. I should not have ran into your hardwork. It was such a beautiful design. I will now take your leave and let you recover from the headache. I hope you will forgive me and join the preparations soon. I cannot wait for the festivities to begin.' Arulmozhi departed leaving a tear-choked Vanathi in her room.
After almost two hours of rest after applying the medicine Vanathi woke up. She emerged out of her room feeling much better. She was determined to finish the kolam this time. She made her way to that corridor and the sight that greeted her left her surprised ever so pleasantly. The ruined part of the kolam was fixed, maybe with slightly wobbly lines but fixed. And there lay beside the design Arulmozhi's ring. Maybe he had opened it while fxing the design and then forgotten about it. Vanathi picked up the ring, held it close and smiled to herself. She then happily completed the design and set off to return the ring to it's glorious owner.
Arulmozhi was reunited with Vanthiyathevan and they were overseeing the decoration of the palace courtyard. He raised his hand to direct one of the decorators and noticed that his signet ring was gone!It was his favourite ring. Where could he have left it? He was about to excuse himself and go looking for the ring when a soft voice called out 'Ilavarasar!'
'Aaah how is Maya Kanaa feeling now?' Vanthiyathevan exclaimed. She grinned up at him as he patted her head with affection. Maya Kanna? Again? Since when did the two of them get so close? Why was his heart acting in the weird way again after seeing her smile? What was up with everybody going Maya Kanna around him?
'I am sorry Kamsa Mama. I should not have stormed off from there,' Vanathi apologised to Vanthiyathevan, her voice laden with sincerity. Why Kamsa Mama? This was all too confusing. The dramatic Vana Prince feigned being deeply hurt by Vanathi's behaviour but Immediately dropped his charade when she pouted and said,' Anna please don't do this. I am already really sorry for behaving that way.' She took a quick glance at Arulmozhi and blushed deeply. His heartskipped a beat. But why? ' I am fooling around, little one. How can your Anna ever be angry at you?' Vanthiyathevan laughed and patted Vanathi's cheeks before he was called by someone to check a certain flower arrangement.
Vanathi turned towards him and her blush deepened. She was desperately trying not to make eye contact with him. Arulmozhi had given up hopes for his heart as it was wildly acting weird now. 'Ilavarasar I have something to give you...' she started. She held out her hand and on her palm was his ring. 'You had left it near the kolam,' she added coyly. 'Thank you, Devi. I was about to go looking for it.' Saying this he reached for the ring and his fingertips brushed on her palm. Her hand shook ever so slightly at the contact and she took off the moment he had taken the ring. She suddenly turned, walked up to him and mumbled a very shy 'Thank you for fixing the kolam.' This time she took off for good before could say anything.
Why did he spend the rest of the day twirling the ring in his hands and thinking of two shy doe eyes? Why did his heart start acting all strangely? Why did he find himself smiling when he thought of her blushing face? Why was she called Maya Kanna? All these questions swirled around in his mind. Would he never find the answers out? Or would he find them out very very soon?
@nspwriteups @thelekhikawrites @whippersnappersbookworm @harinishivaa @thirst4light @yehsahihai @nirmohi-premika @shaonsim I do not know who else to tag. Please tag anyone who you think would like to read this. And please leave your reviews.
Stolen glances, casually held hands, faces held gently as if the hands are holding a dream in them, words....so many words spoken through eyes....Two very different threads seamlessly interwoven with love.
