“I am hungry. Let’s make some pasta, " Aastha thought for sometime before cooking her favorite meal.

“I want to try something interesting. Reading a novel might help me with my creative appetite,” she ponders.

Excitedly, she reads her favorite genre when she envisions certain things. She begins -

“As I move through the dark corners of the tunnel, the dreaded spider mobs welcome me with their “other guests”. A bright beam of light glowing into a thousand splinters forges in with great pride unleashing its motive of tearing the density of the ever so mysterious clouded mist. Heavy spells of moist dampen the cracked walls, leaving room for morbid and mosses to settle.

The heights of the pillars show no limits to the sky and abound my imagination with thrill and excitement. The various colors of the rainbows give way to the dark black hues paving the way to some lighter shades.

I can hear the sudden hisses of the snakes while the cries of the small minions leave my heart foreboding. A sudden discomfiture shrieks my mind with words of fear.

At some distance of about 24 kilometers, I see a lace of beads, some of which might have been lost by now with the holy cross appurtenant to it.

Who on earth could have meddled with the holy beads?

Wait a minute. I cannot believe what I am seeing.

It is an upturned cross. Blood is oozing out of the cross. Instead of tears coming out of his eyes, it is fiery blood trickling down slowly”.

“Whoa, what happened?”

“Lights out”.

“All had to happen now”.

“Gosh, looks like something”.

“What place was that? Where was it? The place looked a little familiar. It looked like some Devil’s abode”.

“Why do I get hallucinations? I was in the middle of such a romantic twist in my novel. What a ruin? I don’t feel good about it”.

Aastha goes to the kitchen to drink some water. While quenching her thirst, she hears the phone ringing continuously. She quickly picked up the receiver to hear the voice.

“Hello, Aastha, it’s me Parth".

For some time, she couldn’t understand what to say. Her nervousness became apparent in her speech. She responded –

“How are you doing? Sir”

“I am fine. I wanted to invite you for a discussion with the group members about the new project. Please come to the Institute tomorrow. The discussion will be during lunch hours,” Parth continued.

“I will be present there, Sir,” Aastha responded.

Silence prevailed between them for around five minutes, when Aastha spoke again.

“And anything more, Sir”,

“You are literature,” he mumbled

“What did you just say?”

“I said that you are literature.”

“I take it as a compliment, Sir, thanks.”

A pause of silence swept across their conversation. The only sound that could be heard was that of her heartbeat. It started beating faster than before.

With no respite, she bids goodbye to Parth even though she doesn’t want to do so.

It was her day off from work. She visited the nearby church for some peace of mind. She also wanted some introspection on her recurrent dreams, some of which were nightmares. Passing through a street behind her home, she proceeds towards the Church.

A tall wall surrounding the Church reminds of the closed doors of eternity. Walking past the green bushes, one is led to a beautiful rising in the form of an architectural novelty that presents unto itself an archaic form of the spiritual realm.

Loads of green bushes and trees aptly surround a tall yet elegant tower protecting the inner walls of the god’s home wrapped around by a wall as soldiers guard the church against evil to ward them off.

The Church is studded with the holy white cross, the symbol of sacrifice and purity in its various forms and sizes. An invisible power seems to have been unleashed from the cross only to charge the sick, weary, feeble souls of the material world who enter the church.

The flowery designs at the central dome enthrall all those who would appreciate its beauty while the Priest as the messenger and agent of God bound by the duty of spreading the gospel of the lord looks contended amidst the crowd who attend the marvel of the Church.

People seem to fade into a new world that is opened by the gospel of truth propounded by the Priest. He begins -

“What is faith? How can we define it? Various people have various perspectives that define faith in line with their experiences.

The most discerning feature of faith is that it is evidenced in the court of ordeal and not in the vacuum of surroundings. 

Human life is a story unfolding various incidents of faith. The ordeals of life create a story that is read by one and all howsoever stronger it is emotioned by the actor.

‘Faith” – on which the entire universe sustains, has been the guiding force for many who have nothing to lose.

To all of them, courage is strength emanating from faith. Faith alone keeps us on the path to the attainment of supreme peace, which is otherwise a difficult state to achieve.

Alas, Faith is God himself!"

And he ends his gospel with a line ‘Who all are interested in joining me for pastries and sweets?"

Aastha joined everyone for sweets and returned home. The gospel helped her immensely.

“There is so much love in me. I love myself more than before,” scribing in her diary, Aastha began her day with a refreshed mood. Everything seemed fine with her. She was happier than before. It is often said that a saint looks inside him. But she could never do that. It was one of those days when she wanted to reflect on her past. Her diary came to her aid. It was her closest companion in Delhi. She flipped the pages of her diary, a few of which were torn because of bad handling. She found a letter in the diary which she had received from Symbiosis Law School, whereby she was asked to report to them at the earliest.

Aastha looks at the papers she finds in her diary and recollects the times when she was initially thrown open to many adverse situations, which was a constant challenge to her.