The Muddy Path

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Before the murky demeanour of night could categorically gulp this village down, I was rushing to get myself to back to my haveli. While in my attempt of doing that, incidentally, so it happened that I took a wrong turn, which lead me out of the village and onto an unmetalled path; broad enough to measly squeeze in a bullock cart through it with great difficulty, and the rows of Babool -a thorny tree- trees on both sides of the path, didn’t help either. The muddy road still hadn’t dried up, of the passing showers we had in the afternoon.

“For its location, not many would use this road and yet there are these..!” I noticed something worth making a note and off came my dairy.

Despite a constant drop in the daylight, my instincts drove me further down into the road, expecting to find something interesting. At the back of my mind, sure I knew the risks pertaining to my action of venturing into a secluded and unfamiliar territory, such as this, at this hour of the day. Indeed, a wave of panic rushed through my veins and my body overcompensated it, by pushing me into a frenzy of perspiration. Every step that I took, increased the anxiety in me exponentially and it got more and more difficult as I drilled myself deeper into the place.

Give or take, I hadn’t walked for more than 500 meters, but it inferred to as miles in my head and my grit for my decision had given up on the idea of continuing. I was about to take a u-turn from this road, but before I might have taken the first step backwards, I saw “something” that made me realize and appreciate the idiom “the proof of the pudding is in the eating” and I had got mine.

Although, having gotten a sniff of the blood and something in my kitty, my heart compelled me to push my luck further to continue my quest. But, my mind which was constantly at work, processing and weighing the odds, finally commanded a return from the place.

Yes, I hadn’t discovered anything pivotal, that can substantiate the theory, which my mind has cooked up, solely based on sketching the connection strokes, amongst the scattered dots that I had found at various places, up until then. But there still were many pieces to the jigsaw puzzle which needed findings.

“I need to pay him a visit. Yes I really do!” *I spoke to myself and decided upon a task for tomorrow, right before retiring into my comfortable bed.

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Who would this “person” be, to whom Mark has decided to pay a visit the subsequent morning? You will find out about him/her in the next chapter of this series, so do keep an eye on it.

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End of Chapter- 6

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Previous Chapters:
1- Chapter- 1: The "Ancestral" Village
2- Chapter- 2: The Haveli
3- Chapter- 3: Legend of the Village
4- Chapter- 4: The Local Bazaar
5- Chapter- 5: The Banyan Tree

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