Dear Friends,

I started writing this story a couple years ago as I plunged into the myths and stories of India. The basis of this story comes to me from the ancient stories of India via Diana Eck’s book of the same name: Kashi: City of Light. At times I’ve wondered if I was merely plagiarising the ancient stories of this land, but then I realised that every story is a retelling. Woven thru this story is the mythical history as well as the actual history, the philosophy, and the pervading culture of the land.

This is an early draft of the first part. Another 3 or 4 parts similarly summarily edited. I still have many side stories to fit into this part which, inshalla, will be coming soon. But for now I offer you this fort your reading pleasure.

The City of Light: the reasonable explanation

Before the beginning, and before the days of time and existence, when there were only possibilities which had not yet been realised, a kind of potential energy, one man sat at the highest point of possibility and looked out over it all. He sat in perfect peace.

Some say he was born before time and will live long after time has come to an end. Many don’t believe that he lived at all, but even these people now know him as the Destroyer. They say he was given this name because he did not arrive at his peace peacefully, and he was certainly a good one for settling matters once and for all.

But his peaceful state was soon to be broken by a plot concocted by the man who became known as the Creator; a foolish sort of man who was always resentful of the destroyer. In all fairness, the creator set things in motion before he really knew what was happening, and then things just started taking on a life of their own. Even before time and space there was passion and intrigue.

What happened was that the creator created some guy and didn’t tell the Sustainer. Since everyone generally saw all the possibilities, they assumed this guy was just another possibility and didn’t pay it much attention. Then all of a sudden the guy started causing trouble with his rude manners. When they tried to stop him, they couldn’t, he’d gained all kinds of strange powers thru possibility, and quite frankly, he was getting on everyone’s nerves.

They knew the destroyer could probably do something about it, but he was on the mountaintop doing…. well, nobody really knew what he was doing. Some said he was just sitting there barely breathing, other swore that he wasn’t breathing at all. Some said just sitting by him brought peace; others said that going near him was frightening and that terrifying dreams persist. In any case, everyone knew that he didn’t give a hoot about any of the others; he was perfectly happy. Most thought it best he stay that way for whenever he woke up, everything seemed to change.

Many didn’t think the Destroyer was the right guy for the job, besides, he was so chilled out that it was unlikely even a beautiful woman would rouse him from his slumber, after all it was the death of his last wife that brought him to the solitude of the mountain top. And even if some woman did rouse him, then he’d be off honeymooning and building a family that he just wouldn’t have what it takes to take care of the ill mannered miscreant. Besides, he probably wouldn’t do it anyways. It was the Creator who came upon the idea of getting Sivas son to take care of the guy. He would have all the destroyer’s power, and at a young age he would want to prove himself.

The problem was, the destroyer didn’t have a son, and no one could imagine that any woman in her right mind would want to freeze her butt off on a mountaintop wooing him into making one with her.

But in times of possibility, everything is possible and one such woman just happened to come along.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They called her Miss Mountain. Many thought that just by the name alone she was destined for the job. Her family was horrified, to say the least, when she offered herself. She came from a good family after all and the Destroyer was know to have kiinda let himself go over the years, to say the least once again (I’m not here to ruin anyone’s reputation after all). Time was still immaterial so no one knew how long it had been since he washed his hair. And when he wasn’t up on the mountain giving everyone the silent treatment he was hanging around the worst kind of people (dead or alive)

Anyways, after she signed up for the project it was like everything happened all at once. The Destroyer soon opened his eyes and saw the new girl. She didn’t react at first. She just ignored him in her way. She wanted to build up his sense of wonder before she stoked the fires of his desire. She didn’t want him to think her being there had anything to do with him. It’s a girls right to wander; or rather putter around a mountaintop if the inclination so suits her.  She just hung about like Mother Nature herself, doing nothing to make herself conspicuous. All would be lost if he knew her ulterior motive.

Wonder did began to arise in him. He watched her for some clue as to who she was and where she came from; a nature so different from his own, yet she too was attracted to this same mountaintop. And there was something familiar about her. She seemed to be at once a reflection of himself, while there was also something about her that reminded him of his past wife.

She didn’t let on that she noticed any of this, but of course she could sense his growing interest, but interest was merely the next step beyond wonder. She left him wondering with growing interest. She knew how a wondering imagining mind could inflate anything and if she was going to make babies with this guy his wonder would have to grow to the next step. And sure enough, desire soon began to arise in him.

The next thing any one knew, they were married. The great bachelor of possibility became the husband of a personification of Mother Nature herself. Together they would make possibilities become reality. And sure enough things started happening fast.