The lionesses moved slowly in the tall yellow dead grasses of the Kalahari, trying to single out an animal of their choice; probably the weakest one and the farthest one from the herd. They camouflaged themselves in the grassy fields and moved silently as if nothing is actually moving. The lion, the head of the pack went ahead swiftly and created his ambush behind the tall crag, away from the cirque. He sprawled in front lying low in the grass. He was the last thing a running animal will see when it nears him. The ambush was well planned and almost impeccable. Two of the females were ahead towards the right of the neck of the herd of zebras and one was in the last, following them. Two more were to the left following the herd as they single out the zebra which was almost at its full age and was limping a bit. Once in eight steps! That was enough for the lionesses to choose it for their meal. Probably a fracture in one of the hind limbs that might have occurred while crossing the vast grasslands; a small twist of the hoof was going to be the reason for his demise now. However, who has the time to think about these now? The lions were hungry. They were on a hunt – hunt for their food. A zebra is a mere meal to them.
The last of the lionesses started the chase. It just ran through the flock in random and bifurcated the whole flock into two. The zebras were all targets at this moment, and having nowhere to hide, they just ran wherever they could. The target zebra was in the left part of the scattered lot. A few moments later the lionesses in the right marched in; a soft march scattering the rest of the flock and covering the object towards the cliff, where the chief was waiting. They did not run into the zebras, they just walked in, saving their energy for the ultimate chase. The zebras were running for life, as the other two lionesses in the left were just following the target keeping their bloody eyes fixed at it. Moments later, they started chasing the zebras in front of them in full pace. The zebras did not know who exactly the target was; probably the target knew it, but could think only to run – run as fast and as far as possible! The lioness that started the chase slowed down and stopped chasing at one point in time. She started walking towards the meeting place – the cliff. As the last few zebras were nearing the cliff, it was time for the two lionesses at the right to maintain the chase. They came out of the grasses and started chasing the one target now. There were four lionesses running behind it now, and it had only one place to heed to – the cliff. That was exactly what the lions wanted and it concurred. It was running directly towards the target area. The four lionesses formed a ‘V’ pattern and chased the poor creature. The formation changed as two of the lionesses at the left slowed down as the zebra paced towards the cliff. It was almost near the perfect point, when the slouching lion jumped with a thunderous roar with paws ready to break the neck of his hunt. The zebra looked up one last time. It could see only two paws and some yellow skin. It breathed last moments after this.
The chase was successful. The hunt was successful. Now, the pack had a good serving for a week at least for all of them, even for the ailing lioness. The ailing lioness! He almost forgot about her amidst the heat of the hunt. She must be waiting for them – for him. He wasted no time. He jumped on the zebra. Jabbed his nails on the chest of the dying animal and cut it into half. He grabbed one part and tore away one of the limbs and took it in his mouth and stepped ahead. He looked back at the pack and everyone got his signal. They tore apart the carcass into pieces and took them in their mouths. The lion started running back to the den as everybody else followed. They ran, as fast as they could for they were failing to match his pace, leading in front. They were tired, they were hungry but they ran.
They reached the den in no time. He could see her lying there; with her eyes searching for him. As he came near, she tried to look up. She could not. He dropped the piece of meat in front of her and sat there. She could see him now. He was breathing heavily – she was breathing heavier! He could see her dying. He tried to smile, but could not. He could not have cried too – and he did not. He put one of his paws in between her paw and head. She rested her head on that. She smiled and closed her eyes. He rested his head on hers. The heavy breathing continued for a long time as he fell asleep in the same posture. The breathing stopped somewhere in between, he could not feel it. When he woke up, the other lionesses were sitting encircling them. He looked at their faces and it told him all. He looked around. The carcass laid there, same place. A few flies were hovering over the meat and a few more over the dead lioness.
Learnt of Choka, here in the Writers Lounge. Tried to couple it with Acrostic Poetry. Not perfectly a Choka, as the total number of lines here are even. Followed the syllable Count: 5-7-5-7-5-7-5-7-5-7-5-7-7-7
Linked in Sunday Scribblings #153 - "Listen up because this is important!"
Sahityika suggested the second stanza to be like this (3/5/09):
तेरे होंटों को
छूने की चाहत है
कुछ ऐसी
जैसे तू ही मेरे दिल की है रहनुमा ।
Even if you want to go
Inspired from Life Goes On in The Writer's Lounge
Little world
Insufficient friends
Failed relationships
Endless rendezvous
Ghostly appearances
Online chats
Eager weekends
Specious retrospect
Only because
No attachments!
As I say good bye
You can try this at Heads or Tails - Home of the Tuesday Meme
“It’s not my fault at all,” she told to herself. “I asked father to bring a soap case along with the soap. He did not bring it last time too. I warned him about this. Maybe, I did. Whatever, but it’s not my fault. It’s his fault that I lost the soap today. I would not cry anymore. Why should I? Even Lailee lost her soap the other day and she borrowed mine. And this time, it’s not my mistake. I’ll ask father to buy me one more soap and this time and a soap case as well – the pink one!” She was confident now and had all the answers to father’s probable questions.
Shona talked to herself all the way home. She was convinced that it was not her liability that the soap was lost. She was even prepared to face her father now and was sure to scold him for not buying her the case. She would not let him escape by scolding her for no fault of her own. After all, the soap was lost for the want of a case!
She looked around as she crossed the fencing around their house. There was no one there; probably the ladies were all asleep and her father was obviously in the field. She crept in silently. She went to the hanging lines and hung her cloths. She paid her regards to the Gods in the small temple and went inside the house. Everybody else was asleep, as she thought. She went to the kitchen and had her lunch. It was almost time to go to play now and she did not waste a single moment to reach Lailee’s house. She had forgotten about the soap totally by now.
She came back before dusk, cleaned herself and took out her books. She sat on the mat with a bowlful of puffed rice mixed with onions and some mustard oil. It was almost dark and she had to use the lantern. She has just started learning the alphabet and it was fun for her. Everything was so new and funny. No one in the house could read any of those symbols there. If it would not have been for her selfless teaching, her father would not have been able to recognize anything from that book. She was proud because of that and used to put a lot of effort while studying and teaching. She had almost finished the alphabet now and would start learning the digits in some days. She was very happy. She took out the book and started to read the letters on top of her voice.
“Shonaaa…” Her father called her aloud once he entered the premises of the house. She ran out of the house and leaped on him, as any other good evening. The very touch of her father sunk something deep inside her. She remembered the soap! Oh! All her happiness disappeared. She felt vanquished. All her thoughts of self confidence vanished. She was in her father’s arms – the safest place in the world she knew; but that could not stop her from howling out! She grabbed her father with both hands; as tightly as possible and broke into tears. Father kept on asking what happened but did not get a reply. She kept on shedding tears as he was holding her close to him. She cried and cried more and when she was tired, she slept – all the time in her father’s arms. After a long time when there was no more sound and no more tears on his shoulders, the father realized that Shona was asleep. He shook her a little and got no response. He took her to the bed and slowly but carefully laid her down. Just before he left her, two words came out of her mouth, which made no sense to him, “Soap Case.”
He turned on the TV to see if there was anything interesting. Astha Channel! Damn! There is nobody home today. He need not pretend to be watching this freaking channel anymore. He turned on the Sports Channel. WWF – yeah, the program to watch now. He liked this fat man in red and white, but could not recall his name. Whatever, he was good – he thrashed those two bulldogs the other day and it was fun to watch. Let’s see what he does today to this bear in yellow.
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