Ravanan

Chapter - 22

Ravanan jumped from tree to tree and located the presence of his with the glistening lamps on their hands. They were forcefully dragged Bindhu with them with her mouth tied again. The group discussed with each other. With a long walk the people reached their fourth village and Ravanan examined his people's health and asked Kaali to feed them . Some of the woman collected dry woods, small sticks and made a clay stove on the sand to prepare food for everone. Some of the woman brought herbs and natural medicines to treat the wounded ones with the guidance of the their grandmothers. The men started to climb on the tree to bring some fruits and vegetables. The children who slept well on their father's back the whole night jumped around the forest with a joyful face. Ravanan along with his brothers went to gaurd the place and to ensure whether they were safe or not. Ravanan and Kaali quickly climbed the tree and observed the forest while the gaint looking Raj stood on the ground. They both found no sign of the officers and returned to the ground. "They must be treating their men. We need to move to the next village before they catch up", Raj said.

"We are not going to our next village. Now they would have clearly traced our locations. It will be a matter of time before they split into small team and wait for us in everyone of our village. We will go to our dilapidated old temple located at the top of the mountain. There is no way they can locate that place. There will be no sign of our presence and all the trees, small branches of river and water will satisfy our daily needs. So Let's take everyone there", Ravanan told to his brothers.

"Think twice Ravana. I knew well about the heavenly mountain. It's a treasure box filled with all the resources for a human to live. But still it's filled with all animals and predators. Even if we managed to avoid them, it's still too far to go. Might even take days. Are you sure about going there?", Raj asked Ravanan and to which Ravanan replied that they only needed determination to do anything and claimed that their people were like a hard rocks who wouldn't give up without fighting.

The group replenished their strength and energy and headed to the dilapidated temple at the top of the mountain. It was a long and breath taking journey . Some of the people's legs started to tremble. Young boys carried the children on their back while the old ones and ladies were seated on the Bullock cart with their pots filled with food. The smell of the freshly cooked fish and meat attracted many predators, so men carried spears his their hands to protect the people and food. Raj and Kaali walked in the front to direct the people to the temple while Ravanan walked behind the group to ensure everyone was on the right path and kept an eye for the officers. The people sat at a place due to extreme tiredness and had their food. After a few minutes, they started their trekking again. The children showed their tiredness by groaning all the way and the parents chuckled at their appealing kids and carried them on their back again. Whenever a thread approached them, the tribal warriors who were specialised in finding a predators approach from a long distance with their sounds and smells, alerted the people about their presence and Ravanan ferociously took down all the animals in their path. The crew finally reached the mountain after two days of trekking.

The mountain top gave goosebumps to the people and the smoky sky were filled with clouds that rolled like a red carpet to greet the golden fire ball. The large cracks created small ponds everywhere and a river ran along the slope of the mountain. The place was entirely conquered by the tree and appeared like a guardian angel of mountain . The fresh air filled their lungs. The people were stunned by the beauty of the view and this was the first time for Bindhu in her life to witness such a beautiful scenario. She forgot about herself and saw the beauty of nature with her widened eyes. She was confused that whether she was standing in earth or in heaven due to it's looks.

Ravanan broke the silence by grabbing all the children together into his arms and threw them into the water. The water washed away all the tiredness and sorrow from them and they began to splash water everywhere with their godly childish laughs. This brought back the smiles of the people and everyone joined them.

Everyone played and started to nest their crude with the palm leaves. The warriors returned to the end of the mountain to guard the place and women began to cook for their worn out people. Raj arranged for a banquet party and all the tribal people ate the tenderous fruits , warming curry and fried meat. The people danced and sang until they were unable to move and had a sound sleep.

"Aaah get him Ravanaaa" , Raj voice boomed and Bindhu woke up with a heart stroke. She slowly cleared her eyes and witnessed a small fighting competition within the tribe . There were three people circled around Ravanan whose eyes had been tied with a piece of cloth. He carried a wooden stick while the other three had a spear on their hands .

Bindhu simply ignored them and walked away from the people. She brushed her teeth with a neem stick and washed her face . Raj's wife Devi offered a white, soft, round and fluffy thing to eat which was idly with chutney. The first bite of the idly tasted bland, but when Devi mixed the idly with chutney and fed it in to her mouth, it felt like one of the most delicious food she ever had.After having her meal she went near a pond and witnessed Ravanan playing with some kids in the pond.

" You looks like one of us in the dress and if you continue to walk with us for a couple of months , your skin will turn brown too and you won't be recognized even by your own fiance ", Ravanan laughed at Bindhu while cheerfully swimming in the pond. " Why don't you hand over me to Ragav ? If you let go of me , I won't say about anything about you. What do you say? ", Bindhu asked Ravanan who just ignored her questions and asked ," Since you have been with us for so long.....we don't want to go . Why don't you stay with us instead. What do you say? We will take good care of you".