Adventures Of The Fellowship In The Land Of Dreams

It all started with a clever inception. A subtle, seemingly not important at all post on Facebook by a master manipulator and evil genius. Months back Deepak posted a suggestion on Facebook that we all should go to Nainital. I remembered nothing of it in a few days and I doubt if anyone else did. But the seed was planted deep. So, when we started talking about a trip to celebrate Sakshi’s birthday, after exploring a few suggestions, we decided on Nainital. I was very happy about it ofcourse. I always love the mountains.

To our great surprise and pleasure, Prem also agreed to come to the trip. Sakshi persuaded him to come along, but hats off to you bro! It was so much more fun to have you along on the trip.

Finally the fateful day came and we all met up at Sri-Sakshi’s place in the evening. Aunty made awesome dinner for us all. We cut a cake to celebrate Maate’s birthday, along with the 9 month birthday of Vishesh. With a strange mix of feelings of excitement, wanderlust and disbelief, we all ventured out to board the bus. The bus was a bit of a disappointment for Sri, who had taken the pain to make all the bookings. Personally I didn’t mind it at all. Infact, I was quite happy that it was a sleeper. That meant we could all get some sleep and be ready for the adventures of the next day. And I was not wrong. Despite of all the shortcomings of the bus, we did get to sleep and that was a big advantage.

Nainital greeted us with a cold and mild rain. Getting down from the bus and huddled close under the umbrella, we got into a couple of cabs to head to the hotel. I call it a hotel because that’s what I had in mind. Boy was I wrong! As soon as we entered the property, I knew this trip was going to be epic! The property is called Ayar Jungle Camp and they don’t kid when they say ‘Jungle’. It’s essentially 5 acres of jungle with some cottages and tents sprinkled around. Lush green rain forest and beautiful, narrow trails mark the resort. We were taken to our cottage, which is a 5 minute hike through the jungle, by the staff. The cottage was a large room with 3 beds for 5 people. A marvelous wood and bamboo structure, this looked like something out of an adventure story book. We all were super excited that we all would stay together all the time! That was one of the master-strokes of Sri.

Pretty soon we figured out that the rain wasn’t going to stop. Staying in the cottage was obviously not an option. So, we all took our umbrellas, borrowed a couple more from the resort and hit the road. The roads were deserted partly because the hotel is in a location which is a little far from the heart of the town and partly because only the most dire need would have compelled someone to come out in that weather. Tracing those narrow roads, dotted with quaint little houses on one side and trees on the other, we climbed down towards the commercial center of the town, the Mall Road. The mission; buy a raincoat.

Equipped with a raincoat I gave up my umbrella for community service. The lake was a tempting sight from the Mall Road. Barely visible through the clouds which hang like mist over the town, it reminded me of the magical lake of the Harry Potter series; dark, mysterious and irresistible, we all were drawn towards it as if indeed a spell was upon us. The road to the lake was filled with evidence of activity. Shut down carts which would be selling infinite number of crap to us tourists on a sunny day, when the road would be packed beyond capacity with romantic couples, excited children and annoyed aunties. But not today! Today was special. It was as if the place belonged to us few adventurous nut cases who didn’t bother the rain. There were only a couple of vendors selling coffee and baked corn. The boat owners were desperate to get people to try boating. We respectfully refused. We were crazy, but not crazy enough to go boating on the lake on a day when it was raining incessantly and the visibility was barely a few feet. We rather decided to walk around the lake and enjoy the magical atmosphere.

The road which circles the lake is another piece out of books. This time it would be a Victorian story of romance and suspense. It was a graveled road, which made a crushing sound with every step we took. One side of the road was a moss covered cliff and the other side was the lake which might as well host the Loch Ness monster for all we knew. There were street lamps on the road which wouldn’t have looked too out of place to Holmes and Watson, walking down London in 1897.

About a kilometer or so down the road was a temple. An otherwise unimpressive, modern building, it was made quite interesting by the colours of the iron mesh which protected the main temple from monkeys. The bright red and wild green made it look more like a Buddhist monastery than a Hindu temple. We sat on a bench by the lakeside there and chatted for a while. On the road there, I had bought a funny looking thing which the seller claimed was a gel balloon. Essentially it looked like the soap bubbles we used to make as kids, but these bubbles lasted longer and didn’t blow up when you touch. Making the balloons looked much easier when the seller did it. Actual attempt soon proved to be much more difficult. After a couple of efforts which resulted in little more than a strange, sticky lump, I managed to blow a ‘balloon’ of passable size and the shape of a human kidney. Prem seemed to have a strange aversion to that balloon, even though it was sort of cute! There were a few unfortunate and totally misleading pictures clicked during that time. Taken out of context, those pictures can look pretty compromising and since I am the subject of those pictures, we will refrain from mentioning them henceforth.

After quite a few hours of roaming around in the rain, it was getting darker and we thought we should head back to the resort. Everyone decided to take a car back to the resort because it’s a few kilometers and an uphill climb. I was very clear that I would walk and thankfully I didn’t have to walk alone. Deepak, my eternal trek partner was more than happy to accompany me. So, we bid adieu to the rest of them for a while and started our serene and wonderful walk, back to the jungle resort. I wasn’t very sure that I would remember the way back, because I know how bad I am with remembering roads. Deepak was quite sure he knew the way back. As it turned out, I remembered more than that ass did! But, my memory was not very reliable either. We took a few wrong turns and had to trace our steps back a couple of times. But I don’t regret that. Actually it was more fun because we didn’t know for sure where we were going, nor were we on a schedule. We could afford to get lost a little and explore new roads. This sums up one of the most charming things about this trip. We had no itinerary to follow, no schedule to keep, no checklist of things to do. We just roamed around the city and took whichever road looked good and interesting. We were all aimless explorers without any idea where we were going. We just went along the road, hoping it would take us to some place interesting. After about 45 minutes, I and Bug reached the resort and the next part of the fun was about to start.

We planned to play a card game called Uno. Only 2 of us, Prem and Bug had played the game before, so they started teaching us the rules. To our surprise we found that they themselves couldn’t agree to the rules! After much debate, we decided to go along with Bug’s rules because they sounded weird and funny. The result was a night of crazy fights, many thrilling twists and turns and a few broken hearts. At last, after a mildly disappointing dinner in the resort, we came back to the room and after a few more hours of insane teasing and laughing and general tomfoolery, we slept off.

Next morning I was the 1^st to wake up. The minute I saw the view of the jungle in the morning from the cottage window, I wanted to go out. In a while all of them were waking up, so I told them that I was going for a walk around the jungle and headed off. Deepak, my faithful trek partner, joined me. It was raining a little, but the thick canopy of trees over the narrow jungle path we took, filtered out most of the rain. Whatever little rain fell on us only made the walk more fun. We were chatting and walking, again completely unaware where the path would take us. We just kept going higher on that path. On the road we didn’t see any wild animals, though we were told there were many. We did see a few monkeys near the cottage so we knew it was true. When we reached what seemed to be the top, we were surprised to find a dilapidated house on the plateau. After a short consideration we two came to the conclusion that this house must be a smuggler’s den and we would be shot as soon as someone sees us. So, we hurried along another path leading down from the house, laid with large stones. Here again we had no idea if this path would lead us to the other side of Nainital! Luckily, after a while, we reached the gate to the resort.

After breakfast at the resort, we all headed back to the town for another day of carefree adventure. The sky was clear that day and by the time we reached the lake again, it was filled with tourists like it’s supposed to be. We thought it would be a good chance to take a couple of pedal boats to the lake. I, Sakshi and Sri took one boat. Prem and Bug took another boat, which looked suspiciously like a love boat, with a swan shape. The boat ride was also quite enjoyable. The view of clouds drifting along the mountains was majestic from the lake. The sun was also playing a never-ending game of hide and seek. Suddenly it would be too warm and then again, the clouds would cover the sun and a cool breeze would blow. After an hour we docked the boats and went off to a place called the Cave Garden. Someone told us it was about a kilometer from the lake so we started walking. Soon we realized it was either a lot more than a kilometer or the steep hike was tiring us too much. After a short break in a shady little restaurant where we ate Maggi, we walked again. Thankfully now the place wasn’t that far. Before going in, we had our doubts if Sakshi would be able to go inside all the caves, because she was already breathless due to the steep climb and her weak lungs. But it’s a testimony to her courage that she still said she would come along, because she knew if she didn’t go in, none of us would have gone. We went through the first cave called the Tiger Cave and it was quite fun. These were natural caves and the rains had made them a little slippery, so it was interesting. When we came out of the Tiger cave, Sakshi said she wouldn’t continue. Sri stayed back with her and the rest of the three of us went ahead to the other caves. Nothing had prepared us for what we were going to face!

The next cave was called the Panther Cave and it was much narrower and much more challenging to cross than the previous. Prem almost banged his head on a rock. Once we were out of that, we were really excited to confront the rest of the caves with incredibly intriguing names like Flying Fox, Bat, Ape and Porcupine! Those caves tested our agility and mental fortitude a lot. I am sure if any of us was alone, he would have given up after one of them, but as the company of three, we were ready to face them. Encouraging each-other and pushing ourselves, we crawled, climbed, jumped and squeezed our way through the caves. By the time we came out of the last one, none of us were unscathed. Our hands were filthy, our cloths had mud patches and we were tired and filled with adrenaline!

By now Sakshi had rested a little and regained her strength, so she wanted to take a ropeway to one of the viewing points. We hiked back to the ropeway place, but unfortunately it was filled for the day. This proved to be a blessing in disguise because soon after that the day became clouded again. Had we taken the ropeway to the viewing point, all we would have viewed would have been frustrated tourists.

The fellowship decided to head back to the resort after a rather tiring day, but again I and Deepak were not satisfied yet. So, we headed back towards the lake to walk that path again. This time we went much farther than we did the previous day. We actually walked all the way to the other end of the lake. The clouds were getting denser and pretty soon it felt like we were walking through a cold steam bath. It started raining and we headed back to the resort. That walk was amazing! It was really clouded and was raining all through. We two started talking about religion and its various aspects. It was such a pleasure talking to a fellow atheist who was intelligent and educated enough about religion! We both had read some of the religious texts so we both knew how twisted religion can be. I didn’t even realize when we reached the resort.

That evening, we didn’t play. We just sat and chatted. We talked about everything from our college days, to our love lives (or the lack thereof). Again, after a dinner which wasn’t bad but left us unsatisfied, we headed back to the hotel. Another round of nonsense talks followed and ended with us falling asleep halfway through the talks.

The last day in Nainital came too soon. Thankfully we had booked train tickets for return and had to leave the resort by 12:30. As usual, I woke up 1^st and had packed my bag. After breakfast I decided to go for another trek. This time it was a solitary walk as the rest of them had to get fresh and pack bags. I took one of the uphill roads from the resort. This was also a comparatively deserted road, though the weather wasn’t bad that time. There were some houses along the road. After a while, I reached a point where there was a cliff on one side of the road and a gorge dotted with trees on the other. I could see the lake from this point, through the veil of trees.

The train ride back to Delhi was a bittersweet experience. We were happy because we were all having fun in the train and it was comfortable, but it also marked the end of the fairytale. We all knew that we were leaving behind the magical kingdom where we had no worries, no plans, no agenda and heading back to the cold and harsh reality of everyday life. But atleast we had each-other. Atleast we can always count on that. And we knew that we could revisit Narnia as soon as we all got back together again. The true magic, after all, was in the bond between us friends.

Evil and Innocence Dwell Within The Human Heart - Del Toro's View of The World

SPOILER ALERT: This entry is filled with spoilers of Cronos, Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth.

Guillermo del Toro is an extraordinary film-maker. He has given a new dimension to horror/fantasy genre. Films like Pan's Labyrinth and Hell Boy have not only been hailed by the critics, but have been immensely popular with the general public as well. Del Toro's genius lies in the fact that in this era of torture porn when extreme violence and gore is equated with horror, he knows that true horror comes not from the supernatural, but from humans. Also, only human's have the true power to counter the evil. His movies have a strong, beating heart which makes the audience truly care for the characters and their fate. That, to me, is one of the acid tests for a good film. When I start to care about the characters, I know that it's a good film.

A very interesting thing about his films is that inspite of being a horror/fantasy film, the duality of good-evil doesn't rest with the supernatural elements. Human beings are the evil ones and the supernatural elements are almost always rather benign. Also, the force of good is represented by human characters. Before I go any further, let me mention the films I am considering here. I am talking about Cronos, Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth. Am not counting Hell Boy here as it's a comic book adaptation and thus the story is not his own. I have not seen any of his other films.

Another strong element in these films is the power of innocence, specifically the innocence of children. We often see things through the eyes of the child and thus, we are forced to adopt the same black & white outlook towards the world. We see things not as cynics but rather with wonder. We believe in the power of good and know that good would triumph in the end, no matter how hopeless it looks. As children, we are forced to confront the adult notions we have built about supernatural and question what we fear. It's not the vampire in Cronos whom we should be afraid of, he is our loveable grandfather! The scary ghost in Devil's Backbone is only a helpless child, crying out to people to help him. The fearsome looking faun in Pan's Labyrinth is really a friend, trying to help us reach our goal.

The evil comes from politics and power. Men with too much power and the endless lust for more create horrors beyond any that a supernatural can dream of! The fight ultimately lies between humans, with the supernatural playing the part of a benign force, helping good. War, especially the Spanish civil war seems to be something Del Toro strongly associates evil with. Both Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth are set around it.

Finally, the end in these films are always tragic but hopeful. This is consistent with the viewpoint of a child, which we assume while watching these films. Inspite of the great tragedies that happen in the end of these 3 films, there is always a ray of hope. The vampire in Cronos is able to rest with his granddaughter, who loves him. The girl in Pan's Labyrinth finds her magic kingdom where she is the princess, even though in this world she is actually dead. Even after the death of so many innocent characters in Devil's Backbone, the remaining orphans make their way out to the town, while the ghost of the doctor watches them from the orphanage with the gun in his hand, ready to protect the children if need be.

God Particle, Conscious Universe & Leaps of Reason

Another non-film article.


A leading daily publishes a weekly spiritual section. Needless to say I rarely read it. But today there was an article on the famous "God Particle". It was written by 3 people. 2 of them are scientists at prominent US universities and the other is a spiritual-inspirational speaker.

The name, God Particle, originally intended as an illustration of its illusive nature, soon became a media darling. I simply call it by its true name, Higgs Boson. Once the name stuck, there were inevitable religious and spiritual connections being drawn to the poor particle. Not surprising really. Religion detests science and scientific methods. Ask a religious person to provide evidence or scientific rationale for his/her god and they would say it's a matter of faith. But, if there is ever the slightest hint of any supernatural phenomenon in the natural world, the religious are the first to become scientists and parade that as evidence for god. Case in point being the infinite images of Virgin Mary and Jesus in a tree trunk, the holy word of Kuran in  cloud formation and the idols of Ganesha drinking milk! Religion picks stuff from science they are comfortable with and denounce the other things which question their faith. So, once the world knew that physicists are looking for something called the "God Particle" and that it is somehow essential to the theories of physics (Most of them had no clue what the theory was and what was the role of Higgs Boson in it), the media started taking interest in it. May be too much interest. The media frenzy we have seen recently over the discovery of Higgs like particle is inspiring, but too many of them were focusing on the God part and not the Particle part.

The article in question did not dwell too much on the science behind the Higgs Boson. Rather, it went on to make some interesting conjectures about the implications of the discovery on science and spirituality. There is no doubt that the discovery is one of the monumental achievements of physics in the last few decades. This gives us a solid ground to build upon. Being more or less sure of the Standard Model, we can now build upon it without the nagging fear of it all crumbling down. Yes, there is always the chance that there would be some flaw in the model and not all the work based upon it would be fruitful. Infact, it is almost inevitable that there would be parts of the theory which would not be universally true. Most of the theories of physics hold true only under specific conditions.

The article, however, went on to point out that the quantum model of the universe has destroyed the solid, classical model and then it made a leap of reason I didn't quite follow. From the quantum model, it went on to talk about the 'obvious' indication for the existence of a universal intelligence. To quote the article, "The Universe evolves, regulates itself, takes creative leaps and exhibits exquisite mathematical rigour and beauty. The hallmarks of intelligence are there, waiting for the next paradigm shift." The article then goes on to say that the word 'intelligence' is tricky in this day because it implies intelligent design. So, to avoid it they called it Consciousness. They are suggesting a Conscious Universe instead of an intelligent one. Bravo!

I agree with most of the sentence, except for 2 parts. One, I don't see any evidence for the universe taking 'Creative Leaps' and second, I don't see the hallmarks of any intelligence. If anything, the statement indicates strongly that there is no intelligence or consciousness dictating the universe. Let us evaluate the points mentioned in the sentence.

It first talks about an evolving universe. That is the surest sign of the absence of a creator/moderator. Evolution is a gradual, slow and uneconomical process. If I was to create a watch (theists love the watch), I will make the watch as perfect as I can. And if I am the omnipotent God, then I would surely make a perfect watch. I will not spend millions of years, making millions of models, each model only a little different (different, not always better) from the previous and 99% of the models so bad that they broke down. That is how evolution works. Why would an intelligent or conscious designer make something with so many trials and errors! His success ratio is worse than the dumbest kid in the school!

The next point in the article is a self regulatory universe. Well, that practically says that there is no need of a God. Self regulation of the universe comes from the laws of nature. The laws themselves are intrinsic parts of the mater and energy that form the universe. If the laws were any different, the universe wouldn't exist in the form it does now. So, there is no need for a God to regulate or create the universe. The natural order of things take care of itself. Once Laplace was explaining the celestial model to Napoleon. When he had finished explaining the things, the great emperor asked Laplace, where was God in his theory. Laplace replied, "I have no need for that hypothesis in the model".

As for taking creative leaps, I see no evidence for that. The universe takes no leaps at all. Things happen gradually and according to the laws of nature. A creative leap would be if one fine morning we wake up to find a new planet in the solar system or a new, totally unique species of animal roaming the earth. That would be a creative leap. Instead, what we see around us is the result of slow and gradual evolution of things, whether celestial or life form. The Universe does not take any creative leaps at all.

Finally, it talks again of the rigorous mathematical laws followed by the universe, which only proves that the universe follows mathematical patterns. It does not imply any divine, intelligent or conscious presence in any way.

The leaps of reason taken in that article were quite huge. They are all prominent scientists, so it's quite possible that I was not able to follow their leaps of reason. But it was written for the general public. Shouldn't they have explained the things more clearly, if they did have any rational link? How do you arrive from the quantum theory to a conscious universe? To me, there is no link.

Regarding a Misogynist

Lars von Trier is perhaps the most controversial director of our times. His films have been banned by countries, panned by critics, booed upon at Cannes. He has been called a sadist, a masochist, a depressed maniac and a misogynist. His latest debacle at Cannes 2011 has earned him the wrath of the festival organizers and resulted in his ban from the festival itself. A simple search of the net would get one innumerable articles describing what a horrible person he is. But, one thing that even his worst critics accept is that he is a bold film-maker.

I don't use the term 'bold' here in the sense that many of our actresses use it for, although his films often show unsimulated sex as well. By bold, I refer to the themes he explores and the techniques he uses to present them. I am a great admirer of his films. I don't know what kind of a person he is, but he certainly is not a misogynistic film maker. He is one of the very few male directors who has made multiple films with a powerful female lead. I have not seen all of his films, but of those which I have seen, 4 films have female leads who have more powerful roles than the male. Let me make my case with two of those four films, briefly here.

Breaking the Waves

The story here is as unusual as the presentation, which is almost a norm for von Trier. It tells the story of a 'simple minded' Scottish woman and her unwavering love for a man. The woman, Bess, played by Emily Watson, is somewhat mentally challenged. She falls in love with a man, Jan, played by Stellan Skarsgård, who seems to love her just as devotedly. They get married and soon, tragedy strikes. In an accident, Jan injures his spinal cord and is paralyzed. Bess believes this to be her fault, as Jan was away at an oil rig when the accident happened and Bess was praying for him to return soon. She sees this as god's punishment to her for being selfish. Ridden with guilt, she asks Jan to forgive her. Now this is where the film becomes twisted. Jan realizes that he would probably never be able to move much again and he asks Bess to have sex with strangers and tell him about her encounters. Bess gives in to his wishes and starts having sporadic sexual encounters with various people. This includes her advances to Jan's doctor, who turns her down and gradually seems to fall in love with her. She even starts to believe that this would somehow help Jan to recover quicker. She is shunned by the community and Jan seems to be the only one who is blind to the hurt this is causing her. In the end, she goes to a boat where she is brutally raped and she dies of the injuries.

The whole film is shot with hand-held cameras and is partially a Dogme 95 film. Extreme simplicity in presentation is maintained throughout.

It's easy to see why many consider this to be a rather misogynistic topic. But when watching it, I kept wondering, is it possible that Jan's motive in asking Bess to do this was not entirely sadistic, but rather a misguided attempt to do some good? I think that when Jan realized he is going to be paralyzed for the rest of his life, he decided that Bess should move on. Knowing Bess's blind devotion to him, it would have been impossible to convince her to leave his bedside. So, Jan devised this plan with the hope that she would meet someone special, who would truly love her. And she does. The doctor loves Bess as earnestly as possible. Only Bess is too focused on healing Jan (or so she believes) to find time to love him back.

I know that my interpretation is not the only one, or perhaps not even the most popular one. But any way I look at it, Breaking the Waves is not a misogynistic film as it actually shows the simplicity of the woman.

Dancer in the Dark


Now this is a film that can not possibly be interpreted as misogynistic, no matter what! It's the story of a young woman immigrant in USA who works in a factory. She works hard and her life revolves around her son. We learn that the woman, played by the singer Björk, has an eye disease which is slowly leading her to blindness. The tragedy of the tale is that her son has also got the disease and unless treated soon, would go blind in time, just like her.


This is a hardcore melodrama, but presented with such shocking honesty that one can't help but get sucked into the film. The style is again very Dogme 95 and minimalist. The songs are shot like a typical 'movie' shoots as against the 'home video' feel of the rest of the film. This makes them serve the same purpose that sentences in parentheses do in a prose. The desperation of the woman and her helplessness at realizing how crooked the world really is, strikes the viewer like a sledge hammer. The end of the film is one of the most disturbing shots I have seen. Gets me every time.


The other two films I have seen with incredibly power female leads are Dogville with Nicole Kidman in the lead and Antichrist with Charlotte Gainsbourg. Dogville is perhaps the most radically shot film I have seen, with an almost empty sound stage as the set of the small town. Antichrist is arguably the most misogynistic of all of his films, but even in that, what he really shows is the evil within all human beings, not just women. Also, from what I have heard, Melancholia has two female leads, so that raises the count to 5!


I didn't write this piece to show my support for von Trier. He doesn't need that. I wrote it to merely present my views on his films. I love his films and frankly, I don't care what kind of a person he is. Like they say, art and artist are two separate entities and must be treated so!

Meeting My Favourite Literary Character

I know this is really a high-school essay topic, but since my teachers never asked us to write this, I am going to write it now!

The 1st character I thought of was Sherlock Holmes, ofcourse. But then, after thinking for a while, I realized I really want to write about Morpheus! Here it is!

MEETING MY FAVOURITE LITERARY CHARACTER

I have been travelling around the countryside for days now. Even though it’s only a short vacation, it feels like I have been here forever. The rustic beauty of the village, the serene lake, the majestic mountains bordering the village and the never ending woods just outside the village temple. All feel like a part of me. Like I have been here forever.

It was a bright winter morning and I had gone exploring the woods. Every step I took was like a new wonder, placed there especially for me! I was walking with one eye on the narrow road, hidden beneath the fallen leaves and twigs and another eye on the camera’s viewfinder. Click, click, click…

At a distance, I see a man standing, with his chin on his chest, lost in his own world. The man is tall and wearing a black overcoat. I hesitate for a moment, wondering who he is and what’s he doing here. His dress is not that of a villager, so he must be a tourist like me. Should I go talk to him or just let him be? But isn’t a trip like this supposed to be a ‘human’ experience as well? Atleast that’s what all the books say.

“Hi there!”, I approach him and  wish I was a little taller. He is so tall!

“Hello.”

“Nice morning for a hike!” I try to sound like I have not noticed his pale skin. It isn’t polite to stare at a person’s unusual appearance, you know.

“Yes, I think I like it”

“The villagers were telling me there is an abandoned church somewhere in the woods. Do you have any idea where it might be?”

“I don’t think it’s really the church you are looking for, although I do know where it is.”

“Umm… I am pretty sure that I want to see the church. It should be interesting. What makes you think I don’t want to see it?” What a presumptuous prick! I think to myself. I notice that his flowing black overcoat is a little old fashioned, not that I am very fashionable. The blackness of the coat seems to be a strange effect. Like he is wearing the night itself!

“I never said you don’t want to see the church. I said it’s not really what you are looking for. It’s not the reason you are here today.”

“Well, I accept that I really came here to experience the natural beauty of the woods rather than the church. But now that I am here, I think I would check out the church too. Don’t you think it’s a good idea?”

“It’s not easy to reach this place.” He says, as if he didn’t even hear me. “The fact that you are standing here with me means that there is something within you which is significant enough to be placed here! But, before that is done, you must acknowledge it to yourself! You must face the truth and discover what you are here for! You don’t get second chances here.”

Goddamned travel books! I was better off just roaming around on my own and clicking pictures! Bloody human experience! Gets me talking to a nutcase! “Umm… Sorry about the confusion. I think I know which way to go. Thanks for your, umm… help!”

Run… run your ass off before the guy comes chasing after you with a shovel! Thank goodness he isn’t really chasing me. He is just standing there, looking at me. There is something wrong with his eyes too. Hadn’t noticed them earlier. They are hardly like normal eyes. They are like pools of black night with a star shinning in each eye! What’s wrong with that man?

Do I hear a bell ringing? Can it possibly be the church bells of the abandoned church? I follow the sound of the bells and Surprise! It is the church indeed! A couple of pure white angels are ringing the bell. Well, it must be a Sunday. The mass is quite impressive for an abandoned church. Lots of fauns and sphinxes here, I see.

And then I realize what I gave up in the woods! He said I won’t get a second chance here! Noooo…