Sun, Moon & Stars Volume I Horror Of The Musk

CHAPTER - 24

A piece of information that Priya had shared kept disturbing Shomak's mind. Purnima knew she would give birth to a girl which could only mean that she was aware of being an Aśvin devotee. She must have said that indicating towards her bloodline.

Gorkel's explanations too tensed him. He had mentioned about some text. Could it be the one they heard of in Contai?

While each new revelations confused him more his mind drifted to a certain summer in Contai.

"Ragnik Sanyal can you please move a little faster!" Shomak shouted at Ragnik who was still busy in eyeing village belles. "Why are you always so pissed?" Ragnik rolled his eyes as they kept walking towards their shooting spot. They were doing this documentary project in association with a Danish production house and the shooting spot was far from the main town.

Thanks to Ragnik's late-night adventures he had an equally late morning and hence they were now behind the schedule. Something, Shomak hated.

He kept going through his notes and mentally formed the camera angles. "I think the frame we decided yesterday should work fine," he said to Ragnik.

"Hmm."

"What hmm? Are you sure you can do this?" Shomak asked reading the notes.

"Hmm."

"Raks, I swear -" Looking up from the papers Shomak turned at Ragnik, only to find he was standing on one spot and staring at a village girl.

"This ass!" Shomak picked up one pebble from the road and threw it with full force aiming at Ragnik's head.

"Bullseye!" he screamed as Ragnik cried in pain.

"You, pathetic ass! Wait there!" Ragnik picked up a few pebbles and ran towards Shomak. Dodging his attacks Shomak ran on full speed.

"Oh so now you are not getting late!" Ragnik shouted at him. Shomak laughed, "You will never catch -"

He ran straight into a group of three village girls and fell down. Unable to control his speed Ragnik too clashed with the group and fell beside his friend.

The girls shrieked and started shouting. A crowd of village people quickly gathered around them thinking Shomak and Ragnik were harassing them. This offended Ragnik who started to get into a heated conversation with the crowd.

Sensing Ragnik might end up in a bigger mess Shomak took out the shooting permits and explained the situation. At first, the people were not believing but Shomak offered to call the village head man too if they were not convinced.

An old man came out from the crowd and took the matter in his own hands. He dismissed the crowd asking Shomak and Ragnik to follow him.

He offered them tea at a small adjacent teashop as an apology, "please do not complain about this incident. We are extremely sorry for the misunderstanding. However, I cannot blame them as well. They are always afraid of unknown men trying to lure the village women."

"Do we look like assaulters to you?" Ragnik was too angry to even accept the tea. Shomak took the two earthen cups from the old man and gave it to Ragnik. He reluctantly took it but didn't take one sip.

"We mean no harm, dadu," Shomak assured.

"I know that and they know it too. It is not your fault. It's their belief," the man said. He looked worried and tensed.