Requirement for a Dream

We all have our dreams; sometimes we keep them there, not wishing to get it out of that stage due to the high impossible nature, but there are those other dreams which we have no plan to keep there as dreams. We need to get hold of the second type, even though there are times when we are not really sure if they can actually go to the next stage. Maybe those related to competitive examinations and getting a better job can go on forever, but with those related to travel, we do have a certain amount of power to accomplish them.

There will always be the factors which try to keep us away though, and they might be stronger; still there will be a time when we just have to go. I have had mine, but I haven’t let them go, and I haven’t even tried to make them happen yet. I have my travelling list on hold right now, and I hope to keep reminding myself of the same, so that they don’t disappear right into one of those nightmares that I have during those darkest of nights. My dreams about travel go a long way back; and they are deep in those books, those belonging to the horror genre, beginning and ending with Bram Stoker’s Dracula, but not limited there.

Dracula and the rest of the Gothic: There is a certain call!

As I have told a good number of people already, the one dream related to travel, that I have had since my childhood days was to visit the Dracula Castle; not just to reach there, but to get to the destination after wandering through the Carpathian Mountains. I have read many other works which relates to the Gothic horror, located in places which are more appropriate to be called the “land of the dead”, but the Carpathians stayed, not just with the legend of the world’s best known vampire, but also with its natural beauty.

There are the locations which can make a normal person happy; that should include Paris being the City of Love, New York as the City of Skyscrapers, Rome known to be the Eternal City, and all those sobriquets that came with these – then there are the rest of the places in North America and Europe which should be second home to some of our relatives, the grand cities with huge shopping places in the Middle East, the places of pilgrimage, the frequently featured places of natural beauty and the rest which have made into news for one reason or the other.

Then there are those places, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand – it is as if everyone wants to go to at least one of the three nations; most of my friends have, if I go back and read flashback memories of us talking; and I have also been to two of the three already. Then, we know which are those few cities around here that everyone visits frequently – those names are even better known to the crowd. But they won’t make it to my priority list, as I haven’t been in that usual “normal list” for a long time; for I have evolved enough to get my name darkened so much that no sign of it remains there. This means that I will have to travel alone? That would be my pleasure.

So, with the lack of existence in that list of people, I have managed to get into another list, and instead of those usually preferred trips, here is the journey to the historical Bran Castle to which the legend is associated, and it will have to be one trip through those beautiful lands. The imposing Corvin Castle and Poenari Castle, the two other castles which are also connected to the legend, will also require a visit, because the dream is never limited; it is something that is spread over all these. The great castles will have tales to tell, all of which, I will be very happy to listen to, for I also have my own stories to tell in return.

All journeys need a big turn like this one even between all the beauty.

I have hoped to be there within that dark fantasy world which I had dreamt about; I have wished to be part of that special world of the unknown which was beyond human understanding, and to be part of myth and history at the same time. There was to be those days of the darker side of mysteries which go a long way beyond our knowledge – it was to make life better for me, even without that magic and that fantasy there, but is that to happen soon? Well, we will know at some point.

I am blogging about my dreams and passions for the Club Mahindra #DreamTrails activity at BlogAdda. You can get a Club Mahindra Membership to own your holidays!

***The images used in this blog post were taken by me.

TeNy

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Spirit of the Warehouse

It was darkness all around. Rain had finally arrived to cool down the land and due to the same, darkness had intensified further. Vampire Bat and Vampire Owl slowly opened the door which was covered in spider webs. They entered a space which was separated into many divisions by walls made of some kind of wood. A few empty boxes were kept on the sides and there were barricaded rooms all around, but the central area was open, which they decided to investigate. The roof was leaking and so a lot of rain water had found the way inside.

Vampire Bat: Just keep the vampire twilight vision on. It will make sure that we are ready for any danger which may rise here.

Vampire Owl: The abandoned places are a lot cooler in our realm. Actually, they are not really abandoned as long as they are in our realm, you know – and haunted is rather awesome.

Vampire Bat: The whole design has changed here because these humans don’t know that the supernatural beings are a lot better people and their realm’s so called intelligent people are the boring, overrated creatures.

Vampire Owl: Yes, they should understand that there is the need for the supernatural creatures to remain attached to a particular piece of land or building. They should not be disturbed for the same reason, and the humans should co-exist with the creatures.

Vampire Bat: They don’t co-exist with the people of other religions, even though in the end, they are worshiping the same creator of the world – they are just too stupid. Even otherwise, there are castes, communities, languages and races to fight for. The reasons just never end for them.

Vampire Owl: So, this is an abandoned warehouse. That much is clear now. Why are we here actually?

Vampire Bat: We have to save this particular ghost from here before the evil humans bring a priest to destroy its existence.

Vampire Owl: Shameless humans showing their true colours as usual. Why would they want to do that? Can’t they co-exist with at least one ghost?

Vampire Bat: Co-existence has been historically their big problem. I once tried to count the wars which they have fought and I suddenly became weaker in Mathematics, even though that subject has been my dark nemesis for a long time already. Counting their wars is impossible; each war has too many battles, and it is the kind of list which the Lich Queen uses for the dead and the risen all over the world.

Vampire Owl: Wait! There is something here. Are those ashes flying in the air?

Vampire Bat: Oh no! They are the burnt part of a soul. It seems that we were late. They have already vanquished the spirit.

Vampire Owl: I guess they just wanted to start their programs in here as soon as possible, without respecting the spirits which were bound to the building. Quite a natural thing for disrespectful people.

Vampire Bat: The ashes are grey; light grey to be exact; there was no evil spirit here. This particular spirit would have disappeared after a few days. I can see that it just held onto an emotion, that of loss of a loved one. It is such a shame that they decided to vanquish it.

Vampire Owl: It is a terrible crime which was committed here. Shall we get these humans and take them to the inter-realm court of justice? or at least to the league of all races?

Vampire Bat: Let them live in peace because there will be none of it for them. They shall perish by murdering each other in the name of the multiple divisions which they themselves have created. They are the destroyers of their own kind, and no other creature can do that in a better way.

Vampire Owl: So be their means of destruction then. Divided they stay, the sooner they fall. As you said, lets leave it to what is in their blood, as the hate and the terror shall finish them off.

That ended the mission for them, as they prepared the notes on this journey to be taken to their world. They walked out into the rain, watched over by the greater and lighter part of the vanquished spirit’s soul which had transformed into a faerie of the wind.

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

***The images used in this blog post are from the Official Facebook Page of the animated movie, Hotel Transylvania.

TeNy

Four Cups of Tea

The best incidents in the vampire world have always managed to begin with tea. The reason for this is that no vampire ever wakes up without smelling tea from the sleep or having that perfect tea dream which makes it the only non bloody thing that can be perfectly shared between vampires and humans. It has also eternally kept the werewolves and zombies away because they have never been the people of the tea, and it has been a title reserved for the vampires under the immortal clause 99A-2Z.

Yes, vampires do keep the people away, it has been the twenty seventh super power which they are known to possess. It has been officially recognized in thirteen realms of magic. But it has only did people good because the great vampire team has been mostly angry and none of them has ever fallen in love. They were always beyond that, of a higher existence. Still, there is that girl walking outside. She has been walking around with that phone for quite a long time. Who might be calling her? Vampire Bat finds her to be extremely cute…

Vampire Owl: You are going very far away from the topic.

Vampire Bat: What? Oh, yes. What was I talking about? Yes, the meeting which had the awesome tea.

So, the Vampire Bat hasn’t been always into meetings due to the same reason. He doesn’t meet other bloggers, even though he has met a few this year as they were brought together by fate. Still, the Vampire Bat decided to get the Yellow Vampire Mobile and travel on it to the meeting point which was many pot-holes and a lot of congested traffic away from his place. But the Vampire Bat knew that the time has come for him to come out of the shadows to enter the list of friends belonging to the living.

Vampire Hamster: Excuse me, Sir Vampire Bat. Do you travel on a mobile phone? Is that the Asus Zenfone 5?

Vampire Bat: What? No! Its like the Batmobile. Kindly stop talking if you really want to hear the full story.

Vampire Owl: Typical question from a vampire apprentice who doesn’t come to the blood sucking tutorials. You please continue, Mr. Vampire Bat.

The Vampire Bat had the meeting with the Man Who Lives, as the world of the undead met the world of the living at the land which is known to mankind as Cochin. Then we made to KR Bakes where we decided to not choose the Puffs with the dead and had Vegetable Puffs in the name of the immortal WordPress blogs. There, we also had four cups of tea and discussed very interesting things like life before death, movies of the soul, Kerala and the Middle East, how to have a job and not to, how the bats and owls are doing in the world of chaos etc.

As the Vampire Bat was once hit on the head with a selfie stick, he made the decision not to bring a selfie here. It was actually an accident, but that too counts. He never really encouraged the selfies even though he did pose on a few occasions just because they were taken and his absence would mean that his immortality had expired. The Vampire Bat has asked Uncle Dracula to declare this stick as a dangerous weapon along with the silver stakes, but that is pending approval from the vampire elders and the Elite Vampire Club.

Vampire Bat: So, my dear vampire team, please say this together with me.

Vampires [together]: We would like to thank the Man Who Lives, and also all his tranquility for bringing the meeting of the Living and the Undead at one place where there was awesome tea and Vegetable Puffs.

Vampire Bat: Please note this down in the New Vampire Book of Eternity, on page number thirteen.

Vampire Hamster: As you say, Sir Vampire Bat. I am going to work on that.

***This is the story of my first unofficial blogger meet with any blogger I have known before 😀 There were no photos taken, and so please adjust with the photos from the Official Facebook of the movie, Hotel Transylvania 😛

TeNy

Please Let Them In

There was a time when I was depressed about how the vampire movies were being made. Byzantium was a relief in that case, and before that movie, there was another flick which brought a certain relief, but it was even more unknown and didn’t do much at the box-office either. It was not that well-received because people were really not expecting this kind of a vampire movie, which they will consider not their kind of entertainment and also not the kind of horror that they want.

Well, the situation was more about making a choice. But it also meant that another vampire movie which had the true essence had to go down. It is never a good sign for a true vampire lover who wishes to keep the vampire essence closer to the vampires rather than mixing or bringing it to the human side so much that it makes one wonder if the resultant creature is a human in a vampire disguise. So, it is once again up-to us to bring such lesser known movies further attention.

Based on the novel Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist and also coming after a Swedish movie of the same name had already released, this one has a lesser reception. Let Me In has managed good critical reception though, even as most of the people who have watched the Swedish original are stubborn and not ready to watch or accept this because they were too attached to that one. You don’t usually see this much critically appreciated movies in the horror genre, and Let Me In is not just about horror.

Chloë Grace Moretz is the future: She has been amazing.

Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee), a boy neglected by his parents and bullied by other students at school, has a girl called Abby (Chloë Grace Moretz) arriving to live next door with her father Thomas (Richard Jenkins). She is pale, acts strange, has no friends and wishes to have no acquaintances outside what seems to be her small world of two. Still, the boy and girl soon become good friends, but it turns out that the latter is not what she is actually believed to be. There are mysterious deaths happening in the neighborhood, and soon, it is the father who goes missing.

Bullying is a central point in this movie and the movie speaks against it. It is the major factor on which the protagonist’s life is developed, as he remains hopeless, and feeling eternally weak before the bullying students until he meets the girl, his first real friend and a strange source of power. The relationship between the two develops slowly, but beautifully, without any exaggerated additions. She is the strength that he has longed for, and as the movie reaches the end, the two are good enough to compliment each other, as he finds the strength to resist the bullies.

The vampire’s need for blood and their hidden lifestyle is shown without the style and glorification that it had with some of the movies of the time. There is nothing that much of beautiful about it here with being the creature of the night. There is not even the strange mystery which is often equated with beauty. Things are rather clear here. It is not that interesting being the immortal vampire. The need for blood is beyond control and the requirement of hiding is so much. There is no usual kind of entertainment, but there is the skill of story-telling and the strength of strong emotions in display here.

The kids are too good in this movie; there is not much about the adult characters here though. Chloë Grace Moretz and Kodi Smit-McPhee come up with incredibly mature performances. The former adds a very significant strength to the adaptation, as she works through her vampire-self with elegance in this movie. She adds her own charm to the character, and once again proves herself as the future of the movie world. You will surely need to watch Let Me In, and may be the Swedish version, Let the Right One In depending on which one you get. Here is another #UnknownMasterpiece.

TeNy

A Flashback: Vampire Way

Almost everything around us is artificial. There has been a trend of having natural stuff, but that doesn’t really reflect the truth. The marketing is very good and it means that we are forced to believe that something is good for a certain thing, but the actual truth is that it is not even close to being okay. So, the products are artificial and the advertisements are fake, and so how difficult it will be to find the right option?

We even had artificial vampires in the form of Twilight, and then, it is only natural for humanity not to be natural. They have taken modernity to replace the nature and it has been a common thing. The baby’s skin should be even more sensitive to the harmful effects of those artificial things. The negative effects that the products like paraffin can create on the skin are not worth it.

Mavis Dracula: This is an interesting read. There is no horror, but good.

Count Dracula: And so it was written, and so it is.

Mavis Dracula: Is it true, dad?

Count Dracula: Yes, it is. There is a long story related to that.

Mavis Dracula: Oh! Is it an immortal vampire epic already? Is it part of the Imperial Vampire Library?

Count Dracula: No, not that much. It is related to the Vampire Owl. He has written a book related to the same.

Mavis Dracula: I never knew that he had such a special skill.

Count Dracula: It is a long story. The book was actually very popular with the Lich Queen. She didn’t buy it though. Still managed to take photostat copies for the little zombies.

Mavis Dracula: You are sure that such artificial things were not used on me?

Count Dracula: Yes, there is a list on the things used, and the artificial is not part of it.

Mavis Dracula: I would need to get and read that book to be sure though.

Count Dracula: For gaining more information on the same, I am sending a secret agent, the Vampire Squirrel.

Mavis Dracula: He is of any good? I have never heard about him. I thought I knew all members of the team.

Count Dracula: Yes, he actually has a very good knowledge about the goodness of natural oils and its benefits for the baby skin. He has read the book, and he is also doing further research about the same.

Mavis Dracula: Is this Dabur Baby Massage Oil from my past? I think I know something about it.

Count Dracula: Yes, a lot related to the same. The vampire babies need special care related to the same. There are only a few years when the vampire child is vulnerable.

Mavis Dracula: I miss those days. There was so much care for me. I have some fine memories from that time. Those days can never come back.

Count Dracula: The memories are recorded, my dear. You can rewind and watch them whenever you feel the need to do so.

***The images used in this blog post are from the Official Facebook Page of Hotel Transylvania.

I am participating in the #FirstLove activity at BlogAdda in association with Dabur

TeNy

Immortal Vantage Point

Vampire Bat: Yes, it is the Immortal Vantage Point that all of us here possesses.

Interviewer: I don’t get it. What on Earth is that?

Vampire Owl: Okay, I will explain it to you. Do you see that electric post outside this castle?

Interviewer: Yes, I do see it. What is special about it? Why is it leaning towards one side?

Vampire Owl: Most of the vampires who go out to hunt with an Immortal Vantage Point end up not seeing the post and hitting it. Until this date, the vampire team has hit that post forty nine times. We are hoping to score the half-century tonight itself. It is the difference between your vantage point and the immortal one.

Vampire Bat: What? That was so negative. They hit that electric post because they are sleepy most of the time and it is the first electric post you see when you get out of this castle. I am sure that if we switch off the generators, you will hit that post too, as the power is supplied from the station only for a few hours every day.

Interviewer: Then you owe me and the readers an explanation.

Vampire Bat: Well, you know that we have all evolved from the mortal side very long ago. We had many ways of seeing things, and it has been changing through the ages. We have lived most of our lives with almost no social contact until Uncle Dracula found us and united the vampire brethren in this castle. I had the Vantage Point of the Bat, he had the Owlish Vantage Point, and so did the other members of our vampire team. They looked at things differently, and according to the mortal existence of their species, never really seeing things as the immortal vampires that they have been.

Vampire Owl: Vampire Crocodile still sees things with the vantage point of Dr. Hannibal Lecter. This is his third vantage point, and it is dangerous to have him with us. I told you.

Vampire Bat: You don’t need to say bad things about other members whom you don’t like. At least he has a stronger vantage point, and Hannibal himself is immortal too. Also, we are united in vampirism. We are the same at heart and in the mind.

Interviewer: So, you were united by the uncle under one vantage point. Can you explain further?

Vampire Bat: Yes, Immortal Vantage Point has been something special. We always had a part of the same attained the moment we became vampires. But we realized it very late as we were afraid to let go of our mortal existence which we thought was still our identity. But it was not the same anymore. Things had changed, and our immortality had replaced our previous existence and had given us another perspective. We needed a guide to explore the same, and it was Uncle Dracula.

Interviewer: Okay, but what is the point? What is the advantage of having this particular vantage point?

Vampire Owl: I can make the point in a shorter way. Have you seen chaos? We see that each and every day. We look at humans from the Immortal Vantage Point and the only things that we see are vanity, hatred, envy and pathetic lies. They are provided so many religious texts and still they haven’t learned. Some of them claim that they can have morality without religion, but that is pure nonsense. None of them got any love for the other.

Vampire Bat: You are making a point again to take over the world. No, the Immortal Vantage Point is not that simple. To be frank, it is not a vantage point as humans see it. You can call it a skill, or a vision. We get to see things from a point which you can never accept. We get to see things as neutrals and also as people among you. We become you, not in blood and bones, but as the life force of your soul. We can’t do it for each person, but we do create a group with the particles from each person’s soul and use a ripple effect to influence a better result.

Interviewer: I am confused. Is this even legal? This is not listed in the vampire powers as I have read in books and noted down.

Vampire Bat: It has been officially added to the list. We are actually conducting spiritual experiments to discover further possibilities.

Interviewer: I think that this will be enough for today. I would like to move to my vantage points without any distractions.

[The interviewer leaves…]

Vampire Owl: I think that he just hit that electric post.

Vampire Bat: How can you be so sure?

Vampire Owl: He looked more confused than we are.

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

TeNy

Quote Challenge 3: Stoker

“It is the fault of our science that it wants to explain all; and if it explain not, then it says there is nothing to explain.”
― Dracula (Bram Stoker)

I have my classic vampire love shared between three major vampire texts, which are among the first few of its kind. John William Polidori’s The Vampyre, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla and Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The last one was the first one I read as expected, and remains the best known vampire novel of all time, giving Count Dracula that cult status that others didn’t manage to achieve. I read the first copy of Dracula in Malayalam, and it was another reason why it felt good for me when I was a child.

You won’t get the other two works in most of the other languages here, and nobody can identify a vampire better than Count Dracula. How many people know Lord Ruthven or Countess Mircalla? Well, among the people I know from here, none so far. Yes, everybody knows Dracula. Even someone who has no literacy knows Dracula. Yes, they might have different version of him for knowing in detail, but they know him anyway. So, Dracula being such a big name, it only becomes a need for me to remember a few of the quotes from the work featuring the legendary vampire.

Christopher Lee playing the Count (photo from wiki)

Coming back to the quote, where does the fault lie? What all does science want to explain these days? There is the case of logical thinking. It has lead to people asking me too many “why”s. When I wanted to take Humanities group for Plus Two, they were like who studies history and why? I gave up to that question at that time because I thought that they knew better. This idea about science being better than everything else was injected into me like a virus; I was brainwashed and I was ready to fall into that bottomless pit which had absolutely nothing for me.

When I wanted to study literature, they were like, why read so many books of fiction? I had fallen into that trap too many times, and this time, I just didn’t tell them when I joined the course. It was my escape from that question about someone doing what he or she loved the most. Nowadays, I often wonder why that question exists, as another case of using “why”. The scientific answer to life after tenth was the Science Group and the Engineering degree. They needed explanations for me studying what I liked – how logical.

Bran Castle, commonly known as the Dracula Castle (photo from wiki)

Science asks for proof for too many things, for the existence of God, spirits, soul and may be even for Simona the Kitty being a cool cat. Among all these, the last one might be the more difficult one as I have to prove it all by myself. These are the days when people are judged by their skills to boast and ride on their vanity than their goodness – now that is logical, isn’t it? Emotions are less significant, as logic is all that matters. There are things that need logic, but that doesn’t apply to everything.

Into the past, we wander into those times when taking a degree was the thing to do. With the modernity, came science and it took over the minds of the people who were so attached to materialism and they took the creativity straight out of the hearts of their children. They forced the poets, the novelists, the historians and many others to pursue science. They thought and taught their children that science will be the answer to all their problems. In the process, they never tried to see through the little eyes and took away the true skills of their children.

The procedure still continues as if there is no end. They think that there is nothing to do with the arts degree. I have heard from many people that intelligent people don’t go for arts and humanities or languages. I would like these people to join and make sure that the intelligence is shared with us. Why don’t these people just make a visit and provide us with a long lesson on our stupidity of not studying science? Well, I don’t think that they have anything new to say, because I have heard most of it in my life.

I have been nominated by Kiran, at https://drkiranacharya.wordpress.com/2015/06/19/day-three-quote-challenge, for the three day quote challenge. Thanks for the tag 🙂

Rules for the challenge:

• Post one of your favourite quotes (different quote on each day) on three days. The quote can be from your favourite book, author, or your own.
• Nominate three bloggers to challenge them.
• Thank the blogger, who nominated you.

For my day three, I nominate my blogger friends:

Harsha (https://allresourceupdates.wordpress.com)

Clementia (http://dclementia.blogspot.in)

Anita (http://icecandy16blog.wordpress.com)

And this ends the challenge.

TeNy

Quote Challenge 1: Rice

“Revenge is the concern of those who are at some point or other beaten. I am not beaten, I told myself. No, not beaten. And victory is far more interesting to contemplate than revenge.”
― The Tale of the Body Thief (Anne Rice)

***250th post, btw 😀

Revenge has been something which managed to create superhit movies out of average flicks. What would have been Kill Bill, Django Unchained, Inglourious Basterds, I Spit on Your Grave and The Last House on the Left without the power of revenge? Vengeance has been too sweet in the movies, and the same has been reflected in literature and glorified by fans because there is that feeling of satisfaction that people have when they see the protagonist managing to finish the act of vengeance.

The lesser humane of the two main vampires from Interview with the Vampire, Lestat de Lioncourt says these words in the novel. He always has stories to tell us, and here we see his lack of interest in revenge. It is not something which he learnt from holy books or wise men, but from his experience. He is a man who creates his own interesting quotes, and we can see that from the different books of Vampire Chronicles series that he brings some nice quotes of wisdom for the readers.

Interview with the Vampire – there is more to that talk with quotes of wisdom.

Lestat not seeking revenge doesn’t mean that he is not angry, but he never accepts that he is beaten. In Interview with the Vampire, we can see that he keeps coming back, and his ultimate desire was never vengeance. He wants to be victorious every time, and a case of revenge will mean that he was once beaten and he is trying to turn the tables. He wouldn’t stand the chance of being beaten by anybody as he considers himself to be good enough to thrive in any environment.

Even for the death of his vampire daughter Claudia, he only blames himself, and as he has the results of a revenge which was brought upon her by other vampires in the name of what she did to him, he has only nightmares about it – the one revenge which happened in his name doesn’t give him any feeling of happiness. Once again, if that was a revenge, that would mean that he was beaten by a child vampire who tricked him into being a dumb vampire even with all his experience.

The Embrace of the Vampire – Why don’t you choose this one instead of revenge?

Well, if you have read Interview with the Vampire, you will know things from the viewpoint of the more humane vampire, Louis de Pointe du Lac. There is more to Lestat than what is written there; even the movie follows that path as the interview of the one vampire who proves to be the man with more conscience than most of the modern humans combined. It might seem that revenge was in his list there, but it never really was, as Lestat had risen above that already.

So, the quote of the day is not an invitation to be like Lestat. He will never be my favourite vampire character, and neither will Louis even though this one is closer. Claudia is actually even further closer. There are Clara and Eleanor from Byzantium if you are looking for movies alone, and in the case of books, there is the need to pay reverence to the legendary characters from Dracula, Carmilla, The Vampyre and a number of others. So, the quote can be taken outside the vampire world.

I have been against taking revenge, even though I cared less about those little ones. There is nothing that interesting in having vengeance, as it is something which has to be left to God, or fate if you want to think that way. If you try to take revenge, it is more of your weakness, and only by rising up from that state and moving towards victory can the replacement to revenge be done. Yes, be the better person, and your achievement is the true vengeance which is not evil, but a good result of an indirect inspiration provided by the evil which has been done against you.

***The images used in this blog post are from the Facebook Page of the movie Interview with the Vampire.

I have been nominated by Kiran, at https://drkiranacharya.wordpress.com/2015/06/19/day-three-quote-challenge, for the three day quote challenge. Thanks for the tag 🙂

Rules for the challenge:

• Post one of your favourite quotes (different quote on each day) on three days. The quote can be from your favourite book, author, or your own.
• Nominate three bloggers to challenge them.
• Thank the blogger, who nominated you.

For my day one, I nominate my blogger friends:

Anoop (http://anooppillaiz.wordpress.com)

Amreen (http://painttheworldwithwords.wordpress.com)

Namrata (http://namratakumari.blogspot.in)

TeNy

What Lady Death is Cooking

Vampire Alligator: I am actually very surprised that we haven’t found the Vampire Owl for quite some time. He was there for the Mad Max: Fury Road review with you, but haven’t seen him after that. I was wondering about his absence and so were the rest of the members of the Vampire Team. Vampire Crocodile even came to the conclusion that he was dead. Did he contact you or Uncle Dracula?

Vampire Bat: Yes, it is a long story, rather too long to write down as one blog post.

Vampire Alligator: Okay, just remove those parts where you talk about those philosophical things and come up with the rest. It will be so short then, and you can even add a few other things to exaggerate the tale.

Vampire Bat: There is this one-sided love story between the Vampire Owl and Lady Death.

Vampire Alligator: One side? Like Lady Death loved him and he didn’t want to die?

Vampire Bat: No, its the other way around. He was looking for Lady Death. He was even digging the graveyard to find a shortcut to reach her.

Vampire Alligator: Oh, yes. I even heard that rumour that you were searching for Lady Death’s evil twin sister.

Vampire Bat: That is rather different. She is educated outside the realms of death, and won’t inherit the realm. Even in the absence of a husband or an heir, it will only pass on to her prodigal brother who has recently returned from the world tour. It means that she will be free.

Vampire Alligator: Still you don’t know her name yet. Oh forget that! Tell more about the missing Vampire Owl instead.

Vampire Bat: You can call a rose by any name, my dear apprentice. So better you forget that part. About the Vampire Owl, my secret sources say that he finally met Lady Death at the bottom of the Bottomless Sea.

Vampire Alligator: How can he go to the bottom of a sea which has no bottom?

Vampire Bat: That is just the name. You know that we vampires always hated sea. Every sea actually has a bottom except when there is a portal open there, but we will know about that if such an incident occurs.

Vampire Alligator: So, he met her and is ruling the Realm of Death with Lady Death?

Vampire Bat: No, according to the Dark Elf News Channel, he fainted when he got the smell of death from Lady Death, and is now at the Great Elf Mountains Healthcare Centre – they say that he is not ready to leave even after they have discharged him and offered free treatment for one full vampire year.

Vampire Alligator: Is the odour problem that bad? I thought that the vampire situation was rather better.

Vampire Bat: Yes, people have all kinds of perfumes and scents these days, and so everyone is expecting the other person to smell better. It is more like a necessity these days. This is why there is no more official vampire smell.

Vampire Alligator: So Uncle Dracula doesn’t smell like a vampire?

Vampire Bat: Absolutely not. These days, everyone wants to smell better, and they use the best of perfumes even if they are just going to sleep after taking a shower. It just comes naturally to them as part of their daily routine. Everyone takes care of the smell. Even the first impressions are made from the sense of smell. It doesn’t matter how good you are if you smell unpleasant, as the society these days tend to go towards better smelling people.

Vampire Alligator: What about those people who smell terrible from the soul?

Vampire Bat: Yes, such people are there too. They smell terrible inside and pretend to be fair – along with all these getting better, there is no solution to those people who are terrible at heart. But we can work with what we can manage, and smell is something that we can make better.

Vampire Alligator: Evil always finds one way or the other. Let’s at least hope to make the smell feel better.

Vampire Bat: That is the point. Let’s hope that at least the smell gets better if not the minds of men.

Vampire Alligator: Let’s take this further when the Vampire Owl returns to us whenever he decides to.

Vampire Bat: Yes, people need to know!

Vampire Alligator: I am actually going to put this on Facebook and Twitter!

*Just a short story explaining the disappearance of the Vampire Owl even though I was not short-listed for a particular activity 😀

***The images used in this blog post are from the Official Facebook Page of Hotel Transylvania.

TeNy

Why Interview with the Vampire?

Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles – you should have heard the name, and there is no reason why you won’t have, because I have been writing something or talking about the same for around eight to ten years now. Based on the work of the same name by Anne Rice, published in 1976, the movie based on the same and starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Christian Slater, Kirsten Dunst and Antonio Banderas released in 1994. This has also been the main pillar for my thesis for MA English Language and Literature.

One thing which is certain about this work is that Anne Rice has never created a better work after this one, and this first book from her remains her best. Created right after the death of her little daughter and bringing up the idea of the child vampire (something of depressing beauty), there are not many surprises about that. It also has Louis de Pointe du Lac, the most humane vampire as its main protagonist, as the creature with so much of conscience and a big amount of philosophy as he denies his own existence as the creature of the night and struggle with himself being “the other”.

The extremity of “the other” – manifestation of the tormented soul of a child vampire.

Anne Rice has successfully used the history from different ages and locations to supplement her story. There is the relation of the characters with the time period of their existence, and for vampires, they belong to more than one age and with the new birth, they are not people one place or even one nation. As they belong to the universe of immortality, history and cultures begins to be part of them, and they would experienced most of it without reading one single book. History remains the background here.

The major incidents of the world do make changes on the vampires, and the human world around them gets affected by the vampires as much as they do in return. The novel itself was written during the time of the hippies, and at the same time period, Anne Rice brings this novel on vampires to the light. Even Louis chooses San Franciso, the centre of all these. The vampires come to us as people who are different and are mostly confused, except for those vampires who have lived through centuries and have a lot of experience to deal with situations. Some of them are already part of many cultures.

Interview with the Vampire – there is more to that talk, but even more to experience.

We can even see a certain amount of the Cold War between capitalism and communism between the two protagonists of the novel as even though they never really drops the nuke, the tension is high due to the difference in their thought processes and ideologies. The city where the flashback begins is also at New Orleans, home to the cities of the dead. There is so much of the mystery which surrounds that world and happens to be the perfect place to discover a vampire.

Louis’ rebirth into vampirism also occurs in 1791 after the French Revolution begins. The doubt in Louis’ mind only increases, and he moves towards finding his own ideology as the grasp of the religious institutions lessens and morality also goes down. There are some interesting quotes which are made by the characters about the same, like evil being a point of view, God also kills and on goodness being too difficult. It remains a period of doubt for both humans as well as vampires. You see changes with the vampires of Paris and those of other parts of Europe.

Embrace of the Vampire – This theatre of vampires is an extension of the cultural side.

The vampire characters are given not just the human feelings here, and the relation in not just through the emotions, but through a certain shared history which reflects sometimes as the background for the characters and at other times, in relation to the times of the author when she wrote it. This makes the novel more related to humanity rather than adding trivial things like romance as in many other vampire works. It becomes part of the cultures of different parts of the world for centuries. For the movie, the cast takes the whole thing to another level.

***The images used in this blog post are from the Facebook Page of Interview with the Vampire. The ideas presented here are further extended from my reading while working for my Post-graduation thesis, and most of these are also part of the same in another way.

TeNy

The Eye of Cyclops

In the Chambers of the Elder Vampires, Vampire Bat and Vampire Owl has a discussion. It wasn’t about the wars this time, but it was not a case of peace either. The chambers were listening to a different conversation. It was about the effects of the love at first sight which Vampire Owl had felt for Lady Death.

Vampire Bat: Are you sure you want to do this? Do you think that this is the right decision at this point?

Vampire Owl: Yes, I would do this for Lady Death as you would do that for her evil twin sister.

Vampire Bat: I haven’t really decided about myself. I am sure that I won’t be asked about such strange conditions in love.

Vampire Owl: You don’t understand. This is love at first sight. There is nothing ordinary about it, and instead here we have it as a thing of highest quality.

Vampire Bat: What do you mean by that? Where did you actually see her? You haven’t met Death yet.

Vampire Owl: It is kind of correct in your simple and lifeless terms, considering the fact that you are a layman in love. I am of the standard of a bishop if love is considered a religion.

Vampire Bat: It is indeed a relief that you didn’t say Pope, Lama or Patriarch. Love is not a religion even though people say that their religion is love or God is love; your love with Lady Death is surely not that. You can ask Uncle Dracula for confirmation.

Vampire Owl: This is why you should read books about love from the Imperial Vampire Library. It is about sensing her presence and making an impression. Sight is just a word which translates into sense in after-life.

Vampire Bat: You mean to say that your dearest Lady Death is blind and can only sense your presence.

Vampire Owl: Silly layman. You should be ordained into the guild of love, or you will never find Lady Death’s evil twin sister. This is why you don’t even know her name yet.

Vampire Bat: Actually, none of these is the problem. Your mission is injurious to your health. I can give you a clear warning on that. I can even get certification about the same from our analysts.

Vampire Owl: I am very good at missions. I have accomplished so much in my career with one mission after another.

Vampire Bat: Yes, but not related to returning with an eye of a cyclops. You will be going through hostile territory. To add to that, there are two problems related to the same. One is that you don’t know if the creature exists. The second is that if they do, a cyclops got only one eye and if you take it you are going to make it very angry.

Vampire Owl: There is this area north of the Dark Elf Terrain and west of the Blood Merchant Ports. I will have to go through the Graves of the Undead, but I have a bag of bones and it will be okay to make a passage. The area is called Horn of Cyclops. I will find the creatures there. When I do, it won’t matter if they are angry, happy or depressed.

Vampire Bat: You are not even going to make it through the Free Zombie Territory. Do you know that a mythical cyclops is not supposed to have a horn, and the name could be just because the area is shaped like that? The place is ruled by tribal chieftains. You are going to be caught in the middle of nowhere.

Vampire Owl: May be. But it is love at first sight, or sense. I have to give it a try. This is one of those things to do in order to meet Lady Death; she appears in case of victory and we can get to her in case of a defeat which is death.

Vampire Bat: Of what use is a dead Vampire Owl even to love? And most of all, what is the use to Uncle Dracula? You are not even going to be reborn again as a zombie if you die in the North.

Vampire Owl: You cannot stop my destiny with such strange words. My determination is bigger than all that.

Vampire Bat: You should still inform Uncle Dracula about the same and find the right moment.

Vampire Owl: I shall be doing the same. I will appoint Vampire Alligator in my place when I am not here.

Vampire Bat: But Vampire Crocodile is the third in command and the fourth most experienced person of the team.

Vampire Owl: Yes, but he and his stories of Lake Placid have been getting into my nerves. I am giving punishment transfer for him to the borders around the Werewolf Kingdom.

Vampire Bat: Not a fair decision as usual! I suggest you go through the sea then, around the Old Vampire Isle.

Vampire Owl: I shall give it some thought. The first thing to do is to say good bye to Uncle Dracula and make sure that he agrees to my points enough to grant me leave.

Vampire Bat: So be it then! So much for what follows the love at first sight, sense or whatever.

[The chambers were back to sensing the silence with no vampire presence].

***The images used in this blog post are from the Official Facebook Page of Hotel Transylvania.

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

TeNy

An e-mail to Lady Death

Most honourable Lady Death,
This mail is not really meant for you, but for your evil twin sister. But as I don’t know her name or e-mail adress, I am sending it to your eternally cool and stylish mail inbox. I have seen her only once, and it was during your dance of death with the nymphs of the abyss which was unleashed after the last Vampire-Draconian War for the Isle of Death. I have to tell you that I have never seen someone so beautifully evil ever before. She was stunning in that black dress (even though all of you always wear black and your fashion is permanent).

I can’t spend much time to boast about your great courage to take on the Devil himself or on your help in closing the portal to the world, because right now, I am infatuated with your twin sister. With all due respect to your hellspawn pets and the weapons of integral darkness, I would like to wait not for you, but for her. But she is nothing but a reflection of yourself, except for the mark on the left cheek. I am writing this mail so that she can know when and how she can come and meet me as I take my opportunities to die.

The other world awaits the Vampire Bat, as Lady Death’s evil twin sister is there.

As you already know, I am pretty much close to immortality right now, and we even have control of the Fountain of Youth as of now. So it is not going to be easy especially with the peace pact has been signed between most of the states here. But I have never been so dazzled by a beauty of death as your sister. She has that darkness in her that dazzles like the light of life which has sparkled into our vampire visions from the moon of Saturn, Titan. She is already my bliss, and I have my plans about death.

1. The Date with the Spikes: I am planning my first date with her over the spikes of protection which has been laid all around the Great Vampire Castle. It is self-retracting, and so none of you might have seen it yet. No, the land around a vampire castle can never be plain ground meant for little vampires to play cricket – you should have guessed that. I shall stand on the top of the tower with a cup of tea and wait for the arrival of your evil twin sister. Then we will go down to the spikes and have an awesome first date. Uncle Dracula is a popular impaler, and so he will like it better than any other methods. Yes, they are made of silver!

2. Happy Dinner in Space: Most of you might have heard about us developing an inter-planetary teleportation which works only three out of ten times, and I keep volunteering for the same. So there is a good chance for spending some time in the space without air, and she can join me there. The teleportation might occur somewhere near one of those larger planets, and so you can ask her to stay near Jupiter or Saturn. I have known that the space is a beautiful place, and with the next teleportation failure, I might be united with her. You should just keep the death minions with yourself. Death at Ganymede – it is nice, isn’t it? Jupiter won’t mind.

There is life beyond the sunset of life, as she awaits there with the Queen.

3. Duel with a Werewolf: They have been very angry these days, and have been naming their songs and daughters as Anger. Now they have the last born as Anger 9519 after this model of naming began. They have been carrying these with them, and I am hoping to get into the arena with one of them and die a valiant death. Werewolves are surely looking for some vampire heads these days. They do get a lot of different heads to separate from the bodies, but vampires haven’t been their favourite, especially with their Eastern clans of the dreadful wolves.

4. Checking the Testing Grounds: For years, the testing grounds have seen more dead vampires than anybody else. Usually, only the purest of evil are chosen for the same so that they could be done with, but one can also volunteer. Only two vampires have survived the grounds so far, and they now live at the Isles of Death. I believe that you have established good connections with them already. These grounds see a lot of deaths every year, and your evil twin will find it easy there, collecting souls without much difficulties, and after the job is done, I shall accompany her to your lands.

Warm vampire regards,
The Vampire Bat
[Sent from my V(ampire)-Phone]

TeNy

Guards in Shining Armour

The Vampire Team was asked by Uncle Dracula to provide protection to the fairy godmother. She was threatened by the Draconian Reptile Order and the Dark Warlords after her long speech about being calm and tolerant. Her act of turning a frog into a snake was also considered a case of blasphemy by the former, and as an act of war cry by the latter. Three were selected to guard and prevent any kind of terrorist act.

Vampire Hamster: The bell is ringing. I think we should go because it is the time to disperse. But wait! Actually, why were we here?

Vampire Bat: We are here for guard duty. There are no bells here. The noise is from the Bleeding Neck Vampire LP School.

Vampire Hamster: The awesome BNVLPS where people get one A+ score free with a B+ score? Wow! Can I get an admission? This might be late by an eternity, but still?

Vampire Owl: Didn’t he know this before from the vampire study classes? We should have asked for the Vampire Crocodile instead. This memory-free apprentice is getting into my nerves.

Vampire Bat: He didn’t want to come when he knew that we were watching Lake Placid. He finds the movie very disturbing and anti-crocodile; there is a petition already sent to the Supernatural League to find a way to ban it confiscate all DVDs.

Vampire Owl: But it is supposed to a cool movie. We are watching Lake Placid? When?

Vampire Bat: When you were asleep during guard duty, and our apprentice here had forgotten about the same.

Vampire Hamster: Excuse me sir, but I think that there is a human coming this way.

Vampire Owl: Humans are here? All hope in this fantasy world is also lost! What happened to the respect for other creative dimensions and the limits of exploration?

Vampire Bat: May be he is just lost. The portals between dimensions are rather messy these days. A few days ago, we even had potato people coming through. We will just ask him to spare some blood for lunch and let him go.

Vampire Hamster: Halt, human! In the name of Count…count – whatever was the name and full title; in the name of the lord of all vampires, stop right there!

Stranger: But I really want to see my fairy godmother. Why are you standing in front of her door? Who are you people who are blocking the devotees? Are you her disciples?

Vampire Bat: First of all, don’t call her your fairy godmother and she takes no devotees. She is no property of any human. And second thing, we are not disciples; we are assigned to protect the fairy godmother from all kinds of evil presence, which includes you.

Vampire Hamster: Now I understand why we are here. All hail the fairy godmother! Do we get paid in Milkybars?

Vampire Owl: I think about him writing a PSC or NET exam in the other world. Well, this person has some explaining to do. Why is he actually here? He is not supposed to be running around through our world.

Stranger: I am here to see the fairy godmother as I have said already. I am here to see her so that I can change my world. My wife also wanted to come here and wish her on the mother’s day. But sadly, she had to visit my mother on mother’s day because the old lady was insisting on the same. So, I am here to seek the blessings of the fairy godmother so that my life will get better, and I will be like Cinderella and we will have a lot of wealth with easy life. She is more like the goddess and mother of everyone.

Vampire Bat: So you think that you could escape from your responsibilities towards your own mother and instead call a lady who does magic as “mother”? Do you have any idea how ridiculous that sounds? May be not that much in your world, but here?

Stranger: But I love the fairy godmother. There is no other mother for me.

Vampire Owl: I think that he should be impaled on this spear and we can use him as an exhibit – the grand old Dracula model.

Vampire Hamster: Excuse me gentlemen, but what is a spear? Isn’t this a lance that we are holding?

[Everybody stares at Vampire Hamster for a moment].

Stranger: I think I should come back later. Just tell her that I am a big fan of her – like a pure, high level devotee. I will be back to seek blessings from her. We have local spiritual and religious people like the fairy godmother back in our world. We love her!

Vampire Owl: Can you believe that? Who would he leave his own mother for some strange and unknown lady who does random magic?

Vampire Bat: I have known the extremities of being strange. I have seen too much hatred and equality to come up with a better judgment of humanity.

Vampire Hamster: So this is why we bite people?

Vampire Bat: I guess this adds to the long list of reasons.

Vampire Owl: Yes, cut the reason number twenty seven from the list and add this instead.

Vampire Hamster: Point noted, sir.

***The images used in this blog post are from the Official Facebook Page of the movie, Hotel Transylvania.

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

TeNy

An Owlish Love Failure

A month after appointing the first ever vampire psychiatrist part-time in the castle, Uncle Dracula decided to provide him with only the second appointment of his vampire career, to treat the Vampire Owl and get him out of his depression with the support of Vampire Bat. After all, the situation in the other world was rather threatening and he needed all the help that he could manage to get.

Vampire Owl: I am feeling a certain amount of panic. Is this the panic room? Then why is it that Jodie Foster never came? Is it because she is not acting much now? She was there in Elysium, right?

Uncle Dracula [while leaving]: See, this is why we need immediate treatment. If you need anything, ask the Vampire Bat. I will be outside letting others know that he has lost his mind, and getting more of the team here for support.

Psychiatrist: Okay, you can start now, Mr. Vampire Owl.

Vampire Owl: I waited for an eternity, but she never came. Her neighbour and best friend told me otherwise, but she never really came.

Psychiatrist: Okay, I completely understand the feeling. So, you just had a love failure. I have treated many such cases.

Vampire Owl: No, there is more than that. It is a long story. I am writing a book “An Owlish Love Failure: The Autobiography of a Missing Vampire Owl“. Can I talk about it in detail?

Psychiatrist: Yes, but please try to make it as short as possible. It is a topic of interest, but I have things to do.

Vampire Owl: It was the best time of my life, and I was only getting more and more awesome. Do you know how much I have tried? Do you even realize how far I have gone? I jumped into the five oceans, put my head into a werewolf’s lair, stole a plate of brain biriyani from a zombie, leaped in front of speeding centaurs, kicked a high elf on his head, took some necromanium from the necrons, tried to murder the immortals, called a witch a lich, mocked a satyr when he was training…

Psychiatrist: So, you were trying to find your lost love by going through such acts of high valour. You must be an extremely brave man.

Vampire Bat: Don’t you still get it? He was trying to commit suicide. He is talking about Lady Death, the personification of mortality’s dead end.

Psychiatrist: What? I am someone who can play with vampire minds. I know everything. Why do you think that you can advice me?

Vampire Bat: Because I am waiting in the queue. After you finish with him, you have to treat me.

Psychiatrist: Why? What is your problem? Are you all completely crazy?

Vampire Bat: I am in love with death’s evil twin sister. I am also waiting for love. So may be, you should treat me too.

Psychiatrist: I think that there is the need for shock treatment. I will just call the guards and deal with this in an easier way.

Vampire Bat: In that case, I would like to remind you of something. There is a fact which you need to know about. Our stories are incomplete. It will only be complete with the return of Lady Death and her evil twin sister. But there is something about yours. It will be complete soon enough. Do you want to hear a funny fact? The guards are not here at this time; their chapters are also closed for now.

Psychiatrist: What do you mean? This is rather strange.

Vampire Owl: It is us who will close your story. Do you remember what you did to the last vampire who came to you for treatment? Can you recollect how many normal people you have declared mentally unstable? You do have a short memory, and we are here to remind you. We shall give you the reminder that you are fake.

Psychiatrist: No, wait! I declare you all mentally unstable! I play with human minds, and I am going to venture into the subconscious, unconscious…

Vampire Owl: Stay unconscious, as the story continues. This part of the program is sponsored by the vampire team.

[Power failure]

Voices: This is why we bite people! All hail the team!

Uncle Dracula: Make sure that you don’t finish his story; keep it incomplete. There might be some scope for the future.

***The images used in this blog post are from the Official Facebook Page of the movie, Hotel Transylvania.

TeNy

In the Name of Modernity

Check out the interesting video from Studio NH 47 🙂

Vampire Owl: No, it is clear that he is not a satyr, highlander, nomad…or a even known tree. I have never slept on something like this.

Vampire Bat: I think he is an Ent, a higher class citizen of the Wood Elf Lands.

Ent: Why does it matter who I am? What matters more is on all which has been done – all those atrocities which were committed in the name of advancement in science and the need for development.

Vampire Owl: He is like a war survivor, you know.

Vampire Bat: The conquests of the Dark Elves and the frequent attacks of Nomads have made such a bad influence on our forests. It is really a shame.

Ent: Are you completely out of your vampire minds? Do my injuries look like the result of a war or due to the spells from Dark Elves? Do you think Nomads will attack the nodes of life that feeds them?

Vampire Owl: I am confused. What is it about then?

Ent: It is a reflection of what has happened in the other world. I can feel the pain of fallen trees through the portals.

Vampire Bat: The Dwarves have always been like that. They and their new inventions in the underworld.

Ent: I am talking about the humans! Why are the clues so difficult for you? Stop acting like zombies! Don’t you go to that world through the portals to watch movies?

Vampire Bat: Yes, but we don’t see why it is so hard for you with situation there.

I ask humans to do one thing that is to save nature, and they can’t even come close 😀

Ent: I can feel it in me as they fall every tree there and never really think about replacing the same with another one. They run through trees with such an ease, but finds it difficult to demolish concrete buildings. They have problems when the path goes through their places of worship, but what they don’t realize is that nature is something to be worshipped too. I am a high priest and the eternal spirit of nature – I feel the pain each and every second. Why are we always the ones to suffer? Will they like us better if we were made from India Cements?

Vampire Bat: Chennai Super Kings fans are not going like that last question.

Vampire Owl: Is that a beard? I mean, I haven’t seen trees with beards. Satyrs have it, but…

Vampire Bat: He is a very old spirit. It was the coolest fashion at that time! Why don’t you go to Kerala then? There is so much of greenery there and the presence of nature tourism has been at full power. Have you seen the Kerala Tourism advertisement? I am sure that you haven’t seen something like that in your eternity.

Ent: I am not disagreeing with the same. Yes, there is so much greenery, but there is still too much modernity coming up. There are huge flats coming up and there are too many illegal constructions which affect the balance.

Vampire Owl: But there is more interest in the greener side.

Vampire Bat: On the vegetables than anything else. One actress is shown cultivating vegetables successfully and everybody is after the vegetables. Some of them don’t even touch the plant. It is not love for nature. It is just a bloody show-off.

Ent: Yes, they all wants to be part of the vegetable empowerment program. Some people just have too much money. But do they love nature? I don’t think so. A few people think that they will grow on their own, and the others have enough money to hire others to do the work. Then they call themselves “farmers” – seriously?

Even one leaf from nature is a gift of interest. Humans feel less about the same.

Vampire Bat: But there is the eco-tourism which has been nicely implemented in some places. It has worked very well in most cases. There is still better work that expected and it will only improve – even though there will always be some people who try to reverse the situation. There will be people who want to replace all the trees with concrete buildings when it comes to money. But things change, and people are understanding the situation better.

Vampire Owl: They don’t have the Enchanted Woods like we do, and so it is more difficult for them. Humans will learn, but it will take time. If they don’t we will unleash something through the portals.

Ent: I shall rest here until then. I have been accepted as a refugee in the New Vampire World and hope to have a better reflection from the other dimension so that I can go and be part of the Enchanted Woods again. Otherwise, I am just ruining the hallowed grounds which is more respected by the Wood Elves than anything else.

Vampire Bat: You can join us anytime. Bring a few tree minions if you need to.

Vampire Owl: A special tree for just owls alone will be a nice idea.

The Earth Day is just around the corner! Lets try to contribute to a better green world in our own way! It is up-to us to make a difference within our smaller universe and contribute to the society! Support Green Yatra on the same: http://greenyatra.org/

***The photos used in this blog post were taken by me on my Asus Zenfone 5.

TeNy

In the Waiting Room

The Vampire Bat and The Vampire Owl waited at the Old Castle Tower which faced the Bloody Waters Bay. They watched as a number of smaller ships joined the Great Vampire Armada from distant lands, and riders on dark horses arrived from the other side which formed a long path. It was transformed into the unofficial vampire waiting room. They waited and waited, and they did nothing else.

Vampire Owl: I have waited for so long. There might be no hope. Vampire Crocodile would have decided to quit very long ago.

Vampire Bat: May be we can wait a little longer. This old castle tower is abandoned anyway and we have no other job.

Vampire Owl: But she was supposed to come much earlier. This has been like an eternity.

Vampire Bat: She has to come all the way from those distant lands. We have to wait as much as we can.

Vampire Owl: I see horses approaching with black banners. Is it her?

Vampire Bat: I think that it is a funeral procession. It should be for the vampire who took a bullet or two in the name of love for that high elf girl, but forgot that it was made of silver and dipped in garlic.

Vampire Owl: There are strange things that people do for the ladies when in love, I see. Yet, we are actually doing nothing by sitting here.

Vampire Owl: There is nothing to be done in this world.

Vampire Bat: Which is why we are waiting here to change our lives forever.

Uncle Dracula: There is no use in waiting. She is not going to come; not today and not tomorrow or day after tomorrow.

Vampire Owl: He is so pessimistic. Why is he talking like that and sending us to the void of perpetual depression?

Uncle Dracula: How is hoping for Lady Death to come, a case of optimism? Death has nothing optimistic about it. I don’t see any joy in the same. There is no glory in suicide if you are thinking about one. You have been marked by the shadows, and won’t have a good time in the other world.

Vampire Bat: But we are in love with Lady Death and her evil twin with long curly hair and bad teeth.

Uncle Dracula: Love? Is it what you people call it? You have been bored with life so much that you hope for death, and you sit here after reading the poems of Emily Dickinson. Get out there, have a Blood Milk Shake and get back to work.

Vampire Owl: But true love is beyond life and death. It is like a bridge between the two worlds. So many poets have talked about it. Even the great vampire court poet who was eaten by those zombies.

Uncle Dracula: Yes, but none of them were talking about you, which is why they are world famous poets now. Do you think that this melodrama is cool? It is not. We have work to do. There is a bloody vampire empire to run. There is hatred and there is chaos all around. There are wars and there is intolerance. In the middle of all these, we have to come up with a brighter example. And here, you are sitting at the top of the tower and personifying death as a lady. Let me tell you what I am going to do. I will put you both on the vampire matrimony website.

Vampire Bat: No, not the matrimonial website! It is evil even for the human standards!

Vampire Owl: Wait, there is a ship with black sails. Why is it so bloody slow? Even blood cargo ships are faster than that.

Uncle Dracula: It is the ghost ship that haunts the Spectre Peninsula. It is not of this world, but a reflection from the other dimension of the wrong which has happened years ago at the peninsula and has to be corrected in the long run. Death doesn’t own a ship anyway.

Vampire Bat: We should wait for Lady Death tomorrow then! It will be an even better day because it is a holiday.

Uncle Dracula: You work very less. So it doesn’t really matter.

Vampire Bat: Let’s go then and hope for a better tomorrow.

Vampire Owl: Yes, with lots of love for Lady Death and her evil twin sister.

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

***The images used in this blog post are smaller cropped pictures of the originals from the Wikipedia pages of two Romanian castles, Poenari Castle and Corvin Castle meant as a support for the write-up only.

TeNy

The Need for Balance

Vampire Owl: Can I bite him? Can I?

Vampire Bat: It is of no use. He is the Devil.

Shadow: How many times do I have to say that I am not the Devil, but his messenger? If my king knows that I was called by his unholy name, he might decide to send me to another dimension of hell.

Vampire Owl: I think he is having an identity crisis. May be he s the messenger devil, a new form of the Devil. Somebody needs to talk to him about his existence. He is confused.

Shadow: I am not confused. You people are just too hopeless. Where is your uncle? I want to talk to the vampire lord. Call him.

Uncle Dracula: Stop teasing the Devil’s messenger. Tell me, Mr. Shadow. Why are you here? You know that you are not welcome, and none of your kind has any programme here. Your master is banned from coming within twenty five kilometres near this castle. We are free thinkers here and we have chosen to join your opposition.

Vampire Bat: I think he was actually planning to go to the werewolf abode or the cemetery. He needs to find some souls for his master or he will be burnt in hell. Well, it is quite a natural process for him, but he would want to avoid that.

Shadow: I am here as a messenger and you keep talking without stopping. Do you mind letting me speak?

Uncle Dracula: If you have kept your master’s plans to take over the world away from our area, you can speak about your message.

Shadow: Yes, and the message is simple. We want you to stop helping the humans to be good.

Vampire Owl: This is interesting. Do you mind telling us why? Is the Devil too desperate for souls even when he has too many souls already?

Shadow: Absolutely not. There are never enough souls. There is a balance which has been maintained throughout the centuries. People can be told to be good, but forcing them to be so actually destroys that balance. It should be the result of free-will. Some of those people you forcibly turned good are actually causing problems at the purgatory, and you are shifting the balance in favour of heaven and purgatory only, which is a serious blow. There will always be humans of pure evil, but still…..

Uncle Dracula: You really can’t stand people getting any better, right?

Shadow: Why do you have to think so? There has to be darkness for the existence of light. Otherwise, what is the point? The good can thus turn more good. You can’t change the nature of man. It is just supposed to be evil, and goodness has to be taught. Your extra effort is a bonus that the evil nature of man doesn’t need. We need those souls which we deserve. We won’t take them by force, but you can’t touch the free-will. The angels have promised that, and you have to maintain your neutrality.

Uncle Dracula: So, you expect us to remain silent when evil happens?

Shadow: Your alignment is supposed to be neutral. I am pure evil, as you can see from these wings made with hell’s dark matter. The evil has to be punished, and as humans have opted for free-will, we have to allow them to choose. You just cannot ban evil. It is like banning alcohol – people have to know that it is bad for their health and stop drinking alcohol. The righteous world is possible only when people can choose to be good even when temptations haunt them. Yes, we have a full list of temptations which we supply, but we do that for the good people to survive the same and rise to an even better level.

Vampire Owl: I should have recorded this on my phone. Here is a shadow talking like he is everything except a shadow.

Uncle Dracula: We will still choose to do good, it is a team decision.

Shadow: By all means, do good or evil. It is a decision that is left to you. But maintain your neutral nature when dealing with, when affecting humans. They should themselves choose the good and evil in the end. Only then can we function properly and do our duties.

Vampire Bat: Well, even we don’t want to see the hell going bankrupt, I guess.

Vampire Owl: There are lots of people who deserve the place, and I am sure about it. The Devil should actually take some humans early.

Uncle Dracula: Well, justice is often not served right in this world, and so the existence of hell is a much needed thing. The law of humans is in favour of the rich and those in power, and lets make sure about the better functioning of hell. We are people of the blood, and we have to do our job, but lets make sure about the existence of the good and the evil together without affecting free-will too much.

Shadow: It is much appreciated, Lord, the Count Vampire.

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

***The images used in this blog post are from the Official Facebook Page of the movie, Hotel Transylvania.

TeNy

FPFS4: Halloween Night

Vampire Owl: Why are we wearing the Halloween costumes? We are the vampire team and should automatically scary to the humans in our true forms.

Vampire Bat: It is how things should be. If we are not wearing those masks, this is no Halloween at all. Even Uncle Dracula is wearing a mask for this occasion. It is a human mask, and he has promised to shock us.

Vampire Owl: Shock is no enemy of the oldest of the vampire-kind. Wait! Is that the Vampire Crocodile? What a vicious mask he is wearing. It looks like taken right from a giant dangerous rat which can devour us all.

Vampire Bat: It is a mask of Jerry from the legendary cartoon of those humans which they call Tom and Jerry.

Vampire Owl: Well, it surely worked for me while staying inside the Halloween terms and conditions. The Jerry Mask should be made a compulsory part of each and every Halloween of these lands.

Vampire Crocodile: I have always been depressed by the evil deeds that the devilish mouse commit on the poor cat Tom. Even the Vampire Cat has acknowledged the same.

Vampire Bat: The second property, the mask of evil is acknowledged then. Let them be evil as well as scary.

Vampire Owl: I demand party after this.

Vampire Bat: The party is where there is the need for hope. We are doing this for charity. The finishing line is at two places, one at the nearby orphanage and the other at the home for the aged and the infirm run by the Sisters of the Destitute.

Vampire Crocodile: So, what is the plan?

Vampire Bat: We go to a door, knock on it, collect the money if given, or may be some old clothes, keep repeating the same, and take what we collect to the orphanage or the old age home. It is as simple as that. Uncle Dracula will come and lead the way.

Vampire Owl: Yes, we are like the cool vampire people doing some good things unlike the normal human beings.

Vampire Crocodile: Yes, it is cool. The others including the Vampire Cat, Vampire Alligator, Vampire Hamster, Vampire Crow, Vampire Raven and new apprentices will join, along with three werewolves from the Land of Anger. Lich Queen has also offered us two zombies from her kitchen team.

Vampire Bat: This has the goodness factor, and you are also going to enjoy these moments.

Vampire Owl: I had and still have that feeling that this was going to be awesome!

Uncle Dracula [entering the hall]: Let the Halloween begin!

I have been tagged by Maniparna to take part in the Five Photos Five Stories (FPFS) challenge. This challenge works like: You post pictures for five consecutive days (with possible discounts like sometimes changing to alternate days :D) and attach posts to it, fiction, poem or short write-up. It can be anything that suits your taste. I am also tagging my wonderful blogger friend, Tara on Day Four, as part of the challenge, and I will tag a new person on Day Five. 

***This writing is based on our own Halloween programme which was conducted on the Sunday closest to the October 31st in the years 2010 and 2011 bringing something innovative and inspiring hope. It was a voluntary charity drive organized by our youth club with permission from the residents association, and result was excellent. It had clearly exceeded our expectations. It happened only for two years as the club itself had ceased to exist because of people getting jobs further away and a few others getting married. May be it shouldn’t have stopped, but a continuation was never in my power even though I was the club secretary. We needed members, but there were not enough.

***The image used in this blog post is also part of the pre-programme preparations, taken on my Sony Cybershot DSC-W310. The Ghostface mask from the movie Scream is my own special mask for the programme, and the rest included Werewolves, Vampires, Zombies and a number of others including my personal favourites, the Hellboy and the Wolf-man. It was a programme from the youth, and so even in the absence of masks, we managed with all the horror that we could come up with 😀 May be you can try this some day – there will be people who won’t like this, but they are sure to be in a minority 😉

TeNy

FPFS3: Rise on this Day

Vampire Bat: Why are we looking down from the top of this church tower? Did the teleportation procedure fail miserably?

Vampire Owl: Actually, we are not at the top just yet. This is the tallest church in India, and also the largest. I can sense a number of human necks with lots of blood! Why didn’t we bring the special telescope?

Uncle Dracula: I have brought both of you here to talk about something. I was bringing Vampire Crocodile too, but he was too heavy and only his tail could reach here. I have sent it back to him anyway. Well, what I want to talk about is, do you know what is the specialty of this day?

Vampire Bat: Yes, a lovely Sunday, and a holiday! Even little Mavis won’t have to go the Grand Vampire Nursery, right?

Vampire Owl: Is it the birthday of the Vampire Crow, or was it the Vampire Raven? It is surely not of Vampire Hamster – he can’t remember that to tell us about it.

Uncle Dracula: Such confused vampire brethren! You have almost no sense of days, right? Today is Easter and I am going to give you the Easter message.

Vampire Owl: Vampires don’t give Easter messages. They give Halloween messages. Even the Lich Queen only give Valentine’s Day messages for the undead.

Vampire Bat: Did you just say massage? Like in Ayurveda? I need one for my neck.

Vampire Owl: Not at all! It is about the message. It doesn’t happen on Easter for the vampires. There is no such history.

Uncle Dracula: I am here to change that. We are here to let the history take a u-turn. It is time that we adapt. The world needs us, and it is a group of good and fair vampires that the human society needs to compensate the evil that they do.

Vampire Bat: Okay, so where do you start? What do you want to say?

Uncle Dracula: I am not going to do a speech here, but I ask you to forgive your enemies.

Vampire Owl: But I want to abuse them on Facebook.

Uncle Dracula: It doesn’t matter what you want to do! I am asking you to forgive them. Today is Easter. Why is it so difficult to understand?

Vampire Owl: Okay, I forget all one thousand two hundred and fifty seven of them.

Vampire Bat: I forgive my enemies too. What? Wait! How many? There are not that many people in the vampire, werewolf and zombie lands combined.

Vampire Owl: I randomly hate people. I don’t even know why. I have been reading a few Facebook posts and there is so much hatred out there, and it makes me want to join. I mean, nobody wants to spread love – it is like the eternal hate fest.

Uncle Dracula: What makes you think that the Facebook posts reflect what happens in the outside world? And what makes you believe that people actually mean what they say? They are rather ignorant or brainwashed people trying to be the anonymous bad guys on Facebook so that they can feel good. It is the advantage that they have with social networking. Some people are even worse in real life, but the reflection of the true life is never the same. But the real question is that why do you choose to believe everything that you see on Facebook just because it is there?

Vampire Bat: It is a shame that, in this modern age, people can be brainwashed into doing such things. Such a bloody abuse fest. People are not getting any better.

Vampire Owl: I still forgive them today.

Uncle Dracula: See, that is the point of Easter.

Vampire Bat: I see that the portal has opened. Lets go back to the castle.

Vampire Owl: Yes, lets go right now! I can’t wait to tell the great epic story of forgiving vampires to little Mavis as a morality tale.

I have been tagged by Maniparna to take part in the Five Photos Five Stories (FPFS) challenge. This challenge works like: You post pictures for five consecutive days (with possible discounts like sometimes changing to alternate days :D) and attach posts to it, fiction, poem or short write-up. It can be anything that suits your taste. I am also tagging my wonderful blogger friend, Moon on Day Three, as part of the challenge, and I will tag a new person on Day Four. 

***The image used in this blog post was taken by me on my Sony Cybershot DSC-W310 camera.

TeNy

FPFS2: Lightning Strikes

It was not the appropriate day for such a big party, but the plans were already made and people arrived too early. Mavis Dracula was already the happiest vampire on the planet. The rain had arrived with the support of lightning. The Vampire Bat looked outside from the balcony as Mavis’ birthday party was at full flow. The Vampire Owl joined him with a bottle of Coca-cola.

Vampire Owl: The food is so good here. We need to take some of these items home. I shall keep it in the refrigerator for a month and keep eating until I get fat. You can also take some of the food and give most of it to that cat of yours.

Vampire Bat: What is the point of doing that? You see how the lightning strikes.

Vampire Owl: Today is the philosophy day? Or is this like the official vampire absurdist period of time? If yes, I can come back later. By the way, have you seen that beautiful girl talking to Uncle Dracula?

Vampire Bat: No, where is she? How does she look?

Vampire Owl: No, I haven’t seen her either. I just had a feeling.

Vampire Bat: Do you know that making stupid jokes when someone is seriously looking at the lightning, which reflects one’s own mind and that person is going through an extremely powerful melancholy stage, is a terrible thing to do?

Vampire Owl: Okay, that sounds strange and too long for me, even when without my owlification job. What is the problem? Or the absence of a problem?

Vampire Bat: I am a very old unmarried Vampire Bat with no job and getting twenty four hours of pathetic advice out of every possible person; is it supposed to feel good? Do I need any other problem right now?

Vampire Owl: Dude, you are like so many centuries old. All the girls you were infatuated with are dead and buried now. Yes, we can call the Lich Queen to animate a few bones, but I don’t think that the right bones can be found from the exact graves. Plus, she can’t add the flesh to skeletons which are too old, and so it is also going to be a problem.

Vampire Bat: I am actually not that upset. Only the lightnings, weddings, baptisms, birthday parties and deaths reminds me of the same and brings depression to my soul. Then there is a little bit of the sadness when I eat tapioca biriyani, idiyappam with gravy, potato chips, appam with stew, puttu with kadala, masala dosa, poori masala, vegetable fried-rice, ghee roast, idli with sambar…..

Vampire Owl: Stop! It is like all the time! Like when there is rain or when there is no rain! Like when you are sleeping or when not sleeping! Or when you are drinking tea or not drinking tea! It is not part-time melancholy, but full-time!

Uncle Dracula [entering with an ice cream]: I know what the current problem is. You might have gone to meet our official vampire psychologist. I have no idea why you did that. He is just there as we have such a post. You needn’t take what he says seriously. He thinks that he knows everything, and that he is the master of every mind. But the truth is that, it is you who is the captain of your mind.

Vampire Bat: He said that because he studied Psychology, I will never be successful.

Vampire Owl: Because he studied Psychology, only he should be without success – how is it related to you? He is such an idiot. He thinks that he knows how we think, what we think and why we think. He also thinks that only he knows what is right and what is wrong. Does it automatically come from learning psychology?

Uncle Dracula: I once had a relative who studied the same. He said that he knows everything because he studied that subject and that everybody else has the right to remain stupid. He told me that he could predict what people were going to do and how much success that they can have. I got so irritated with him that I finally decided to drink his blood. That was an act of aggression, but he has turned good now.

Vampire Owl: The season of the bloody idiots who think that having a high-salary job as soon as possible and getting married are the only things needed in life is back. They think that they know us, but they don’t.

Vampire Bat: I wonder why they think that I haven’t ever tried. They are like I have never done anything good with my life yet. They glorify their own deeds and keep saying that only they and their children can be right.

Uncle Dracula: I see that the thunder and lightning are rather going through your mind and heart. Lets have a cup of tea and think further about it. Mavis has gone to sleep after sharpening her teeth. There is someone here that I want you to meet.

Vampire Owl: I shall have the masala tea with extra sugar.

I have been tagged by Maniparna to take part in the Five Photos Five Stories (FPFS) challenge. This challenge works like: You post pictures for five consecutive days (with possible discounts like sometimes changing to alternate days :D) and attach posts to it, fiction, poem or short write-up. It can be anything that suits your taste. I am also tagging my awesome blogger friend, Namrata on Day Two, as part of the challenge, and I will tag a new person on Day Three. 

***The image used in this blog post was taken by me on my Sony Cybershot DSC-W310 camera.

TeNy