“Dreams are seeds, seeds of tree
Tree of life, full of style
In the night, the tree is yours
the seeds are there, just for you”
I actually wrote these beautiful lines when I was around 15 years old and still can relate to them as if its a yesterday memory, a little blurred in edges but the rest is vividly imprinted on conscious.
The first thing that streaks across my mind are the children stories that i read in Enid Blyton books and specially to “The Magical Faraway Tree” series. The stories were about an enchanted tree in middle of a magical forest, its so huge in size that its upper branches touch the clouds and it act as a gateway to different fantasy lands. Those stories always lead to a beautiful dreamy sleep and stroked the imaginative fire in my mind.
As we are talking about the magical trees, let me share one for instance with you. it was a story that i had heard from one of my school friend years ago, who had heard it as a folklore in his native village and with the kind of seriousness he had narrated the tale, i actually got the impression that the villagers really believed in that. the story goes like this :
“High up the Himalayan mountains, where there is no human population and only wild animals roam in the vast forests, sometimes unwary travellers gets lost and if they are unlucky enough, they might encounter a speck of light shining brightly in the forest. believing that they have finally found a way out, people rush toward it blindly with hope but when they reach it they realise that its coming out from a very small hole in the truck of a beautiful tree. bubbling with curiosity regarding the source they try to have a look inside. what’s really there is, the inside of a miniature house and next moment you realise that you are actually inside the room, shrinked to fit. in front of you is an old man standing, who tells you that for the next 12 years you are stuck in this hollow with him and his wife. he cautions you not to look back as his wife is just standing behind, she is one of most beautiful women presented on the earth but for her any new guy coming into the hollow is just an intruder and should be punished accordingly. so she keeps on screaming curses and when you look back to face her, her looks removes the very soul from the body and you get stuck to that hollow for the rest of your life as a mindless slave. On the other hand, the gentle wizard tries to make it worthwhile by granting you the wish to learn any skill / knowledge that you find desirable of the outside world from him. Most of the guys turn nuts within the first year but the survivors return to this world after the tough twelve years with priceless knowledge in the minds.”
PART 2
Well, we have got the main background for this story, now lets think about the other characters and their personalities plus some basic twist and turns.. so that when i start writing this, i should have full masala with me.
1. the story will have three main characters, two brothers(A & B, twins??) and their best friend,C. A & C will join the faction called “Tama” while the wizard will convince B to become a muni and aspire to join the neutral faction called “The Circle of Sages”, who’s main role is to help without judgement and guide without leading. The remaining faction in the realm are the “Suchi”, the radiant ones.
2. economic scenario of the world- the world is divided into the have and have not’s, tama’s are the most oppressed class, mostly living in vast forests as tribals and rest working as labour in Suchi empires without even basic human rights and the Suchi’s are the ruling ones who descendent of a wise tribe but have forgotten the very premise on which their empire was built.
3. Religion – one single religion, where everything thing is considered as a part of a single energy and the 12 Ishika’s that control their own spheres. they can roam between the humans in disguise and play them according to their whims but the only condition the mother nature has laid on them is that extreme emotion of love or hatred can turn them human, the main logic behind it was to dissuade them from getting too involved with the human lives.
4.Geography – most of the land is undiscovered because of the great forest that surrounds the land. The whole day is of around 48 hours. Complete maps of the world use to exist but every bit of the ancient knowledge was destroyed in the last purge by the wise tribe with the help of the muni’s (some will be found later in the safe keeping of tama’s but they wont be aware about it bcoz only muni’s will know the key to unlock it)
5. different types of animals will have to introduced with wide variety of plants and trees, as well as new cultural traditions should be developed for every sect.
6. the big hidden question behind the story for long run would be who were the early wise tribe, where did they come from and where did they go and who did they fight to start the new value system??? i think they should be kinda a lost arch carrying survivors of a great tragedy(disease) ..
Harsh
midnightmantra 