"You were fidgeting and tensed,while you came in search of Krish". He asked gazing straight into my eyes.

"It was nothing really",I replied him after contemplating how to reveal all those weird things I'm experiencing.

"It doesn't seems so,looking at your worried face",he voiced out glancing towards me.

"Do you know some ruined place with large crumbled rocks surrounding it,somewhere around this village"?,finally I let out my worries.

"Why are you asking about it",he asked
looking at me as if I lost my mind.

I told him every little things happening to me since I came here including gurujis words.He listened intently as if evaluating my words.finally he huffed
out a breath.

"I think those dreams were reflection of your own thoughts although they seemed real.dreams are nothing but your daily life happenings,in a fantasical way just like you experienced.They are just your subconscious feelings",he continued "you are new to the place and gurujis words effected a part of your thinking"

"Then what about those weird touches I felt and the serpent like thing I saw the previous night"?I questioned irritation flaming my thoughts.

"As I said you are not used to the village,In dreams you will always live in the scenarios that are not possible in real-life.They probably don't have any significance as you are thinking",he
asserted his previous point.

Annoyed by his scientific reasoning,I let out a huff and stood up leaving,"for heaven's sake I'm a neurologist,I know how a human brain reacts and that the dreams are hallucinations of our reality and perceptions,but I'm telling you that they were so real and I clearly saw the same white serpent glowing near pavement of mansion",i spoke glaring at him.he just inspected me calmly without reasoning anything.

"You know what?thank you for listening my words this long,I don't want a debate partner now,I will take your leave",saying that i turned and started walking away,furious at myself for believing he would help me.

My day couldn't get worser than this

As I took a few steps away a rough hand held my arms stopping me from taking a step forward,I let out a breath calming my nerves to not vent my frustration on him.

"What now"?I asked as calmly as possible hiding my irritation at him for not believing me.

"I will help you",he sighed.

"What did you say?"I asked him still not believing his words.

"Although I don't believe it,I will help you to find the place,if it exists".he told still not sure of himself why he was helping me.

A small smile crept my face,my anger dissipated into thin air.

"Really"? I asked him stunned that he believed my words.A crazy feeling of warmth spread through my body from the place he was holding me,my breath quickening.

A phone call interrupted us.He excused to take up the call.I gazed at gentle waves of sea almost relieved that he let out my hand.

"I have to leave now,It was my assistant
I have back to back meetings scheduled today",he said.

"I understand",we started walking towards home."we can meet up with the person who can help us at night,as I
will be free then" he said.

"Yeah sure we can",I replied happily.

**********

"Wake up you sleepy butt!!",I yell at Bella entering her room and ripping her covers off.

"You sleep-hacker,get out of my room",she groans into her pillow rolling on her stomach shoving her face into bed.

I roll my eyes at her choice of words.

sleep-hacker,really?

"Come on,bells,wake up!!it's already late,grandpa is going to give us an earful.we are visiting the temple,come on get ready."

"Five more minutes,please",she groans turning.

I huff before strolling back into my room,wearing a designer metallic half-saree with a gray and magenta pleated silk skirt.
**********
The temple is built in dravidian style,surrounded by compound containing holy water tank.

We pass through the front entrance
(gopuram),to see twin guardians sculpted at the main entrance
(dwarapalakas).The hallmark feature of the temple is its main tower(vimana).
It is geometrically rising stepping pyramid with crowning feature at top known as shikara.The tower has sanctorum(garba-griha),where the main diety,goddess Bhairavis idol is located at the center.

It's the most awaited day for not only people of Brahmanagar,but the surrounding villages too.As devotees
and spectators come here to witness the grandeur and extravagance of the chariot-festival that takes place for 21 long days till the day of new moon.

The exquisitely decorated chariot which carries the idol of goddess Bhairavi(not the idol in sanctorum/garba-griha),will be taken for 21 days of parade across the streets of village,pulled by hundreds of people is a visual treat to watch.

The whole temple is lit up with lanterns and diyas,decorative garlands of various flowers,string lights.People and children can be seen laughing and participating in various cultural events organized.

As we all enter the temple dressed in traditional outfits,I spot Krish with his family making their way towards us.
our families exchange greetings.

"You are looking breathtaking",krish greets me with his usual energy.

"Well ,I cannot say the same",I joke introducing him to my best friends.

"Guys, meet my new friend of two days,krish",I say turning towards my friends only to see the star-stuck look of Bella looking dreamily at Krish.

Cannot blame her he is handsome

Otto greets him and nudges at Bella to do the same.

"Hello handsome,I'm Isabella,her only girlfriend",she greets him,batting her eyelashes, holding his hands still in her daze.

Is she trying to flirt with him?

Is that even called flirting?

If she is doing what I think ,then,...... let me tell you guys .....
she sucks at it.

"Sorry,I was held up outside",there comes a sweet voice.

"Oh!it's ok",krish grabs her by her waist
"Meet my girlfriend Anvi" he cheerfully
introduces her.

A deep red-blush stains bellas cheeks,
due to embarrassment.Otto snickers behind her controlling his laughter at her plight.

I greet Anvi.She is a very sweet girl quite opposite to krish.They both move towards temple leaving us back.

Otto and I start laughing loudly,holding our stomach uncontrollably,bellas cheeks darkening in uneasiness.

"Why are you both laughing without a reason",she tries to sound normal as if we didn't see her flirting with a committed guy just a few minutes ago.

"Wait,let's capture this moment",Otto opens his camera clicking her pictures.

"Stop!!guys,you are being too much",stomping her foot like a kid she goes to join my sister and her fiancee,leaving us laughing behind.

We walk inside temple,with grandpa explaining every minute details of temple.Us listening like curious kids we are,Otto taking pics.

"This is optical image of 900 years ago",
he points towards three carvings on the walls of temple."these images show that Indians had the idea of optical illusion, way before westerners".

The first had,the bull and the elephant merged together.

The horns of the bull served as the tusk of the elephant; the ear of the bull as the mouth of the elephant when seen from different angles.

The second one was a dancing women,with one head and five different body postures.if viewed from different angles we can see five different dancing postures.

The third was a holy cow feeding its calf in three different postures with a single body structure.

The sanctorum of the temple opened today after 17 years,with holy chanting,spiritual recitals,yagnas.We witnessed the heavenly form of goddess Bhairavi decorated beautifully with heavy jewelleries.

Still amazed by the sculptures on pillars,carving on walls,inscriptions* written in unknown language,we finally finished our first day worship and returned home.

Grandpa stayed back at temple making sure everything goes perfectly.
**********

"Pass me those popcorn girl",bella shouted at me for the second time making to come out of my thoughts of escaping from here.

Here we are,sitting in my room and watching frozen two because of bellas obsession with it.

more like I'm staring at the TV and they are arguing which song is better.

"You are lost somewhere",bella states distastefully.

The nerve of this girl after barging into my room,sprawled on my bed..

Its nine at night.I told I will meet up with adi now.But these bi*ches are not leaving my room.

"No,I'm here completely.Both body and mind.Look at me, I'm smiling ",I fake smiled at her broadly showing my pearly teeth.

"Weird",she huffed out stuffing her mouth more with popcorns leaning against Ottos chest.

After half an hour,here I'm poking at Ottos cheek to check if he has finally fallen asleep.

I dig my nails at bellas cheeks roughly,but there is no movement.

I let out a relieved sigh.I smirk, seeing their weird sleeping position,tangled with each other.

I quickly grab a jacket,making my way out of my room avoiding my family members.

Sneaking out is really crazy....

It's not like I was lying to them.I didn't want to worry them with my so called weird thoughts.

I finally reached the gate,passing the gatekeeper giving him a weird smile.

Mission accomplished successfully...

I saw Aadi waiting near faraway tree,almost with stiff shoulders as he saw me.

"I'm really sorry for being late.I had to wait till my friends fell asleep and sneak out of my home",I shouted running toward him,trying to put my hands in the jacket.He was facing the tree.

Is there someone over there?

I took small-conscious steps towards him,as if asking why he is not reacting.

"Why are you not spea....."

"What the hell are you doing here at this time?",came a thunderous voice.

My face paled seeing the person.

***************
Who might be this person?any guess

Pls vote and comment on this chapter.I love reading comments and it inspires me writing more

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