Laughter in Darkness
A suspense, romantic and psychological thriller
By
Kotra Siva Rama Krishna
When the both kids went out from the room so, Aravind put himself into his famous meditation after keeping his both hands in his lap and keeping his spine straight. He did not know how much of time passed like that but by the time he opened his eyes Anand was looking straight at him sitting opposite to him.
“I am waiting for more than half an hour that you to come out of your meditation.” Anand said.
“I am sorry. I don’t know time whenever I put myself in meditation like this.” Aravind uncoiled himself from the posture he was in then and said. Then he stretched himself completely, came near to Anand and sat beside him.
“It is surprising that you are managing that much of time in meditation. Whenever I do try to meditate, I cannot sit more than five minutes.” Anand said.
“It just depends on the point what meditation technique we are following.” Aravind laughed and said. “I often prefer to follow ‘No Activity Meditation.” If you practice that meditation, you too can sit in meditation any length of time without any problem.”
“No Activity Meditation? It is appearing peculiar even to hear. Let me know what it is. I too do try to follow it.” looking curiously into the face of Aravind, Anad asked him.
“With pleasure” Aravind said. “You may put yourself in any posture you do feel comfortable for practicing this No Activity Meditation. You can practice it with opened eyes or closed eyes also. Moreover you can practice this meditation while travelling or doing some work also. But to get the best result of it and to excel in this I recommend you to practice this in a sitting position either in a chair or on the floor comfortably closing your eyes.” Aravind paused a moment and looked into the face of Anand.
“Alright. I do so. Tell me the rest.” Anand asked him.
“After you have positioned yourself either on the floor or in a chair comfortably and closed your eyes, tell yourself that No Activity Meditation begins. From that moment you don’t try to hear any sounds around. You don’t try to smell anything in particular. You don’t try to sense particularly whether the place you sat is smooth or hard. That means you don’t use any of your sense organs and know about things associated with them. The same thing applies to your mind also. You don’t try to think anything particularly.” Anand paused once again.
Anand did not prompt him to tell the rest as he understood Aravind would do that without his asking so.
“At the same time you don’t stop your sense organs from doing their duty either. That means you don’t stop your ears if they are hearing something. You don’t stop your nose if it is having some smell. You don’t stop if your body sensing the hardness or smoothness of the place it sat. The same thing applies to your mind also. You don’t stop your mind if it thinks something particularly. You need not observe those thoughts at all. Let them just go on so without bothering about them.” Aravind said.
“This meditation is appearing quite peculiar!” Anand said. “But the problem here is, even I don’t observe, all those thoughts do come into my notice.”
“Let them come into your notice, there is no problem at all.” Aravind said. “Here you have to understand the difference between ‘observation’ and ‘noticing’. ‘Observation’ means you, yourself considering the thoughts. ‘Noticing’ means that those thoughts come into your consideration. There is no problem however many thoughts may come into your notice. You just leave them like that without bothering about them.”
There was some silence between them both before Aravind broke it. “The simple point you have to notice for practicing this meditation is, don’t put yourself any of your sense organs including your mind on any work. At the same time don’t stop them if they themselves do their duty. You just be oblivious everything of that.”
Anand nodded his head. “I sure do start practicing it. Even before start practicing this meditation technique, I am feeling confident that it works for me.”
“It sure does work. Because unlike in most meditation techniques, you need not do anything in this meditation. You need not force your mind to concentrate on any anything which most of the meditation techniques require. You just have to leave it on its own. Just like all the other organs in your body, thinking or not thinking, feeling or not feeling also completely your mind’s choice.” Aravind said.
“You are right.” Anand nodded his head.
“But a little caution.” Aravind paused for a moment before continuing as if to reiterate whatever he was going to say. “In the beginning, sometimes you may feel frustration, sometimes you may feel it never does work but waste of time. You have to practice this meditation technique without bothering with your feelings. Then you sure do get the benefit of it.”
“I remember your caution” Anand smiled and said. “Anyhow there is something important I want to say to you.”
“Tell me what it is.” Aravind said.
Then Anand explained to him what happened in the upstairs middle room while it was down-pouring heavily. Aravind heard everything carefully without interrupting Anand.
“Sunanda imagined all that. Cannot you see that?” once Aravind convinced himself that Anand finished, he said.
“I considered that so. I have convinced Sunanda like that.” Anand hissed out heavily.
“Then what is the problem now? Just forget about that incident. It is just her imagination, you too know it.”
“But I am feeling uncomfortable Aravind. It is more than five years that my mother in law expired. Of course my wife has been devastated a lot because of the death of her mother. But she never has felt like this. She never has behaved in this way before.” Once again Anand sighed heavily. “Why it is suddenly so here?”
“Oh, Anand. This place is like that. More than hundred years old! Located in the suburbs of a small village faraway to our residences. Generally mind hallucinates and imagines things like that in places like these.” Aravind said.
“Then why none of our minds hallucinate or imagine like that?”
“Mind is a most complex thing in the entire universe Anand. Why it imagines or does not imagine certain things we cannot say.” Aravind paused for a moment and said again. “Just think she has come along with both of her parents last time here. She and her mother spent time together and shared many a thing. Once again we came here and now she has to come here without her mother. If it is for any other reason there may be no problem. But her mother is no more now and she still cannot digest the truth. Subconsciously she always has been thinking about her mother. So subconsciously she imagined like that in the sound of that down-pouring rain.”
“You are right I think.” Anand said with a small voice. “But I also cannot feel comfortable here. There is always some uneasiness in me.”
“Don’t think like that. It is quite natural that we do have feeling like this here.” Aravind said.
“One thing you tell me Aravind. Please be frank with me.” Looking straight into Aravind’s face, Anand asked him.
“Shoot. I always be frank with you.” Aravind smiled.
“Are not you thinking that there is something paranormal here? Are there no spirits here at all? Just tell me what you are thinking exactly.”
“I cannot say. I am myself not sure of that.” Aravind said.
But whatever Aravind said has been drowned in the ear-deafening thunderbolt outside. Another downpour started once again.
&&&
“I have seen a snake in the kitchen on that day.” Sameera said.
Only Sameera, Sunanda and Emily sat in the chairs in verandahh at that time. Sunanda and Sameera were talking while Emily was reading something in the smart phone in little distance from them. The climate was gloomy but without rain.
“I think that it was only your imagination. None of us could see it except you.” Sunanda said.
“But it was so clear to me. It crawled through the window into the kitchen. It just dropped onto the floor of the kitchen and crawled….” Sameera tried to say something more.
“Sometimes imaginations would be like that.” Sunanda said. “I myself also imagined a lot on that day in this house. To that matter…” Sunanda paused for a moment and said again. “I have an odd experience on this day also.”
“What, what type of an experience you have got?” knitting her brows together, looking into the face of Sunanda, Sameera asked her.
Then Sunanda explained to her how she felt that she has heard the voice of her mother while it was down-pouring.
“We have to say it to each other again and again. It is also just your imagination but nothing more.” Sameera put her right hand around her shoulders. “I know how much you have affected because of your mom’s death. Every mother loves her children. But your mother loved you even more. I can understand the relationship between you both. You felt her too much so you have imagined like that.”
“I need say that I was affected to the maximum and totally devastated with my mom’s death. But it happened five years back! Even I never cannot forget my mom, I have become usual. I never imagined my mom’s voice in this way before.” There was surprise in the face of Sunanda.
“Your mom was with you when you have visited this house last time but she is not now. Quite involuntarily your mind brings the memories of that day of you with your mom onto the surface, how both you have spent time here, how both you have talked here. So your subconscious made you imagine that voice. It is nothing else but that.” Looking assuredly into the face of Sunanda, Sameera said.
“I am thinking you are right.” Sunanda nodded her head.
“Wherever she may be your mom would not feel happy if you are not happy. Please try to be happy.” With a pleading expression in her face, Sameera said.
“I do try.” Sunanda laughed.
“I am getting bore sitting here like this.” Sameera got off from the chair. “I would go into the kitchen and explore it. That is the only place I did not explore yet.”
“Sure do that.”
“Why don’t you also come with me? We both can see it together?”
“I already have seen it. No mood to go anywhere from here.” yawning heavily Sunanda said.
“Alright” Sameera nodded her head and went away from that place.
As soon as Sameera went away from that place Emily came there and sat in the chair Sameera sat before.
Sunanda was quite oblivious about Emily until that moment as she was completely involved in talking with Sameera.
“Oh, Emi” Sunanda looked into her face and laughed. “What you are doing? Reading another fiction book in your smart phone.”
“I am searching for a suitable fiction book in the book stores but could not find one yet” putting her smart phone into her lap, Emily said.
“Alright. We can have some happy chitchatting now.”
Emily was beautiful just like her mother and except her odd behavior sometimes Sunanda was feeling good looking at her and to be with her.
“She is here. She has come with you people here.” with a small voice Emily said.
“I just cannot understand what you are talking. Who is here and who is with us people now?” with a surprising expression in her face, Sunanda asked her.
(I hope that you enjoyed upto here. I shall publish the next chapter as soon as possible. Please don’t forget to rate and review.)
