HOLY GRAIL

By Neel Anil Panicker

By the time darkness had descended all over the Aravalli Hills, Ranjeet had expended no less than 18 gruelling back breaking near unimaginably horrific hours away from civilisation.
And after what seemed an eternity battling/avoiding/killing/fighting with all might and intelligence not to get killed by some familiar and quite a few unfamiliar, yet all highly dangerous assortment of wild animals, Ranjeet managed to locate what he was looking for- the raison de etre of bartering the comfy comforts of wintry Delhi for an indeterminate period hacking his way through the heavily thickset Ajintya Forest Reserve, a 10 mile swampy uninhabitable waterlocked no man’s land that was home to the most dangerous wild boars and red tongues wide eyed ravenous wolves and cheetahs the world has ever known.

As he stood there, a haggard abysmal figure, loose limbed with deep cuts and bruises, his frail…