Ancestral Legend

It is generally hard for people to wake up early morning, me on the other hand, I am a morning person. I like to wake up around the time I can feel the sun peeking through my windows as if to remind me that it is a new day with new possibilities. If I had known what today will bring with its light, I would have never woken up. As a custom since my childhood my granddad sits beside me every day just when I am about to wake up.

Today he greets me by saying “Good morning Anvesha. Happy 17^th birthday darling. Are you ready to start your college today?” It is then I remember what day it is, and now that I know, I start feeling nervous and no it is not the birthday but the first day of college part. My granddad notices my nervousness and says “Don’t worry Anu, you will be fine. I am sure you will have a great day. Now get up, we have to go for our jog soon. Your mother is going to cook your favourite breakfast.”

In the next 15 minutes I have finished my bathroom business and I am ready in my usual blue jogger pants and white t-shirt. Just when I am about start combing my long and heavily tangled hair I see my reflection in the mirror. I jerk backward with shock before closing my eyes and looking again, because I swear I saw slit in place of pupils on light brown irises instead of my normal dark brown eyes. I had to look in the mirror again to make sure my eyes are the same, since my eyes are the biggest and most noticed feature on my face. I inherited my big and round dark brown eyes from my beautiful mother, who is a teacher of classical dance form called Bharatanatyam.

Before I can process what just happened I hear my granddad’s voice from down stairs saying “Anu come on, you will be late for your first day in college if we are not back from our jog in an hour.” I braid my hair quickly and run down the stairs to my granddad standing in his workout clothes in front of the entrance door.

When we come back from our jogging I notice my two best friends Laxmi and Ajay sitting on the breakfast table. Ajay has already finished half of his food while talking to my mother “This is delicious aunty, I wish my mother could cook like you.” My mom looks at him with an amused smile saying “Now Ajay, I know her cooking is not that bad.”

I go up to him and smack his head saying “You could have at least waited for me before eating you goof.” Laxmi meanwhile has a highly entertained look on her face, as if she is watching a comedy show.

I am suddenly being hugged by everyone, wishes of happy birthday coming from everyone. I decide I am too hungry to go and change first so, I ask my mom for a plate of my favourite breakfast ever which is dosa and chatni. As soon as I am finished I run to my room for a shower and change of clothes. And then we are off for the dreadful first day at college.

While in Ajay’s car I remember the colour of my eyes changing and now that I think about it I realise a lot of inexplicable things have been happening since a month or two. Bizarre things that I don’t really want to think about.

Laxmi clicks her finger on my forehead asking “Are you ok? You don’t look so good.” She pauses and looks at me a little longer before saying “Wait a second, you are nervous about our first day in college, aren’t you?”

I smile sheepishly before all of us burst out laughing. Ajay looks at me through the rear-view mirror saying with a smile, pouting at the end “Classic Anvesha, being nervous before all good things. And she will be the one to ace this time too, so unfair.” It is been an inside joke between us for as long as we have known each other.

Just as the car is about to enter the college premises I see the board on top of the open black gates of the entrance displaying the name SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT AND TECHNOLOGY, IDUKKI, KERALA. Just as Ajay parks his car, Laxmi turns to me and asks “Ready?” I smile and nod before getting out of the car.

We make it to the reception where a middle aged man is standing with a polite smile on his face saying “Welcome kids, you must the first year students. I can spot new faces when I see bright eyes like yours. Ok so, before I give you directions to your first class, please sign the forms here and mention the details and I will provide you with your schedules.”

We finish the form and are handed the schedule for our BBA classes. I realise we have 15 minutes before our first class so I look at my friends and say “We have 15 mins, let’s explore the college grounds.”

I was excited and fascinated by the beauty around the college premises since it is built on a hill with large trees surrounding it. I note the canteen is already packed with students having breakfast and chatting. Library is my most favourite part with the so many bookshelves filled with books and tables with wooden chairs at the centre of the room for people to sit.

We rush to our first class because we are 5 mins late and are thankful when we see the teacher not yet here. The teacher arrives just as I take a seat near the middle of the big hall classroom. The teacher greets us and says “Welcome to the first class for BBA curriculum. My name is Radha and I will be teaching you Financial Accounting. But before we start with the session I have an announcement to make. All of you have to join a cultural or sports activity of any kind mentioned on the board outside the class for extra credits. You will have to perform in front of some third year students of the particular activity, since you can join only if you are selected. There are a lot of activities so don’t worry I am sure you will fit somewhere. And for any additional information you can go to Mr. Nair at the reception. Now without further delay let us start with our session”.

I knew I will be joining dance group since I am already a Bharatanatyam student.

As our third class was about to come to an end I hear a speaker creaking before hearing a female voice saying “First year students to be selected in the cultural programs need to assemble in the auditorium and playground behind the college for sports at 12pm. Thank you.”

As we exit the class me and Laxmi head towards the auditorium after hearing Ajay say “See you girls in a bit. I am going to check if there is a basketball team.”

Laxmi is a student of Carnatic music, and why not? She has a beautiful voice and is also learning to play sitar. We reach the auditorium where lots of first year students are spread throughout the auditorium.

I notice a group of 4 people sitting in the middle row near the centre of the stage with a narrow table in front of them. All of them had sheets of paper in hand. A guy stand from that group and starts talking “Hello everyone, I am Rahul, your senior and also a member of dance group of our college. Each of you will perform your talent on stage and we will select them in our different groups accordingly. First we will start with singers and instrumentalists for our music group. So please, only those who are interested in music form a line near the right side of the stage to begin.”

I turned to Laxmi to wish her with a hug saying “You will be great babe. Go and rock it.” She gave me wide smile and went off to join the other students.

Now that there is nothing to distract myself with by concentrating in class or talking with my friends I begin reminiscing on the weird things happening with me. Throughout the day today I was feeling shivery cold one minute and intense heat the other. And I am sure I saw my eyes change at least 2-3 times during washroom break. I start feeling anxious because it cannot be a mistake or false projection of light like I thought happened this morning. I decide on speaking to a member of family about it.

Just as I think of who I will talk to, I hear Laxmi start to sing and I realise a lot of time has gone by because there were at least 10 people standing in front of her in line. I momentarily forget about my predicament when I hear her sing in her melodious voice. She is selected by the music group representative as soon she ends her song.

I give a joyful smile as congrats as soon as she joins me. We both continue talking about various things while we wait for others to finish. After a while Rahul gets up again and announces “Now that we have finished the auditions for music group, it is time for dance group. People with dancing skills can now form a line and tell the technician sitting in front of the stage for the song you would like to perform on. All the best guys.”

Laxmi hugs and wishes me all the best before I leave my seat. I am about to join the line when I hear Ajay come behind me and say “All the best Anu. You will be great as always.” I reply with confusion saying “Thank you. What about you? Aren’t you supposed to try out for basketball team?” Ajay says with a smile and wink at the end “I already did and I am selected, so I thought I will come here to see how you girls are doing. Also I know how nervous you can be when you are about to perform.” I congratulate him and smile before joining the other students in line.

I note that I am 6^th in line before I start thinking about which song I want perform on. I pick a new song so I can perform a fusion of Bharatanatyam just like my mom taught me.

Just as I am about to go on stage I see Ajay and Laxmi standing near the centre of the stage with their phone ready to record my performance. I remember the first time we started recording each other, we were 12 and Laxmi was the one to suggest that by recording our performance we will able to determine where we need to improve. Since then we have recorded all our performances except for Ajay, we had to ask one of his teammates whenever he played in other schools. Just like I recorded Laxmi’s performance today, even though I was feeling like my skin was burning underneath. Currently I feel like I am in a freezer instead of a humid auditorium. I power through and proceed onto the stage after telling the song to the technician. I take my pose and wait to hear the start of the song. As the music starts, automatically my body too begins moving to the rhythms of the song portraying the various mudras I have been taught since I was a child.

When I finish my performance I hear clapping all around the auditorium but that is not what my mind is on, I instantly feel something is wrong when I look at the shocked and horrified faces of my friends. I quickly bow to the audience and get down the stage, hurrying towards my friends to know what was wrong. I barely hear a voice announcing selected from behind.

Ajay shocks me by saying “Anu your eyes glowed and changed. I don’t know how. Maybe I imagined it.” Laxmi looking at Ajay surprisingly said “Ajay I saw it too. We both cannot imagine the same thing.” She turned to me and said “Anu your eyes looked like cats eyes. I do not how but it did. I am sure it is recorded in the video too.”

I listened to them with anxiety rolling inside me and said “I don’t know what is happening. This has been going on since more than a month now and I am freaking out. I want to go home and figure out what this is.” Laxmi says then “Let us get out of here first. We will come and help you. I do not want you to be alone on your birthday.”

Each of us sit quietly in the car on the way to my house. Just when we are about to reach home I notice a black BMW-X5 about to enter the gates to my house. As Ajay parks the car behind the BMW I notice a man dressed in black suit shaking hands with my grandfather. My grandfather talk to him with a wide smile before he notices me and starts coming my way with a concerned face. He asks “Anu? What”s wrong? Why have you returned so soon from college? Is everything ok?”

Instead of answering granddad’s questions I look at the man in suit looking at me as if he knows my secret, he seems around my granddad’s age, which is a compliment since my grandfather is fairly young having become a father at 20. I look at my granddad then and say “Everything is fine. I was just not feeling good so I thought I will come back home and rest a bit.” My granddad looked sceptically at me but led us all inside the house.

I could hear my mom from the kitchen coming towards us. She was surprised to see me and my friends. She had confusion on her face though when she looked at the man in suit. My granddad introduced the man by saying “Everyone this is Arjun, my cousin brother.” My mom smiles and says “Oh right, it is so good to finally meet you. Dad here has told us a lot about you.” Arjun smiles and taps granddad on his shoulder before saying “Of course he did, we were best friends when we were young.”

Looking towards me he goes “You are Anvesha I presume, since you look just like your mother.” My mother replies by saying “Yes, you are correct. This is our Anu, and you are just on time for her 17^th birthday today. So, I hope you will be staying with us for a few days.” Arjun replies my mom without taking his eyes off me “Yes I plan to stay here for a bit and get to know my grandniece. Happy birthday Anu.”

I smile in gratitude and turn to my mother saying “I am going to my room mom, I feel a little uwell.” My mom just nods and says “No problem sweetie. You, Ajay and Laxmi can go to your room. I will call you down in a couple of hours for your birthday celebration.” Laxmi says looking at my mom “Aunty we should go home too. Do not worry we will be back in bit for the celebration.”

As Ajay and Laxmi leave I turn towards the stairs after asking my granddad to accompany me. As soon as I reach my room and sit on my bed, I spill everything that has been bothering me. After I am finished I notice him looking at me with a mixture of concern, awe and if I am not wrong happiness.

Just when he is about to say something we hear Arjun saying “Those changes are not the only ones you will be experiencing Anu. There is something about our family not everyone in it knows. But you have to keep an open mind before I tell you anything.”

My anxiety turns tenfold before I say “I will try, but can it explain what is happening with me?” Arjun replies “I will answer all your questions don’t worry about it. Our family is a family of shapeshifters Anu. Our family has serpent shapeshifter legends. I am also one of them. Also I am actually your great granduncle which mean I am your grandfather’s uncle originally. Keep in mind that very less people in our family knows about me, since the shifter gene has mostly become recessive. It is hard to explain my life as it is extremely rare for a few centuries now.”

At first I thought he was joking but after studying his face for a minute or two I realise he telling the truth. I sit there shell-shocked for several moments before asking “What do you mean serpent shapeshifter? Am I going to turn into a snake? How is that even possible?”

All I could think was the impossibility of it all. I have read our family legends in the books kept in granddad’s library. All the signs mentioned in the book were exactly what has been happening to me. The sudden flexibility of my body, temperature changes and the eyes changing, everything!

As I try to focus on what Arjun is saying, I promptly faint after hearing the next words “I felt your change and I am here to help and guide you through it.”