DECEIVING DANCE My colleagues castigated me and chastised me that you are nothing.

You make big claims of being writers of short stories but can not write the story of real life. You live in fantastic world and are far from the bitter realities of life. We would acclaim you as a writer if you tell us a story that should represent the all ages and all the emotions. I promised and started my tale as: Time never forgets those who forget it. Time is the second name of the nemesis. The story told here is the story of nemesis. The sages would understand who the birds are? This is a story of the days when she peacocks were able to dance. There was a beautiful lake named the Time !ake. It was not less than an earthly paradise. There were beautiful shrubs and bushes around it. The velvety grass and the hundreds and thousands of the species of flowers adorn the fa"ade of the lake. There was always a sweet fragrance and sweet voices of the charming songs of the love birds. The #irds and the beautiful and innocent animals were the lucky inhabitants of the surroundings. $ongs of the birds and sweet smell of the flowers were more enchanting than the sweetest opera. There were swans% wild ducks% seagulls% humming birds and a host of other beautiful birds diving and flying in the air. The others were seen swimming on the blue waters of lake. In such a praiseworthy atmosphere there was a pair of peacocks living on the bank of the lake. It was also a pair of its own kind. The pair was so famous and favorite that it was given the epithet of love and life. The hen peacock was called the Life and the peacock was named the Love. Its life was &ubilant and peaceful. Its popularity gave rise to &ealousy. The traditional romantic birds% swans% were &ealous of its love and fame. They thought that they were going in the background and the Love and the Life were gaining popularity because they were of the view that they should be recogni'ed as the only loving birds in the lake of Time. The &ealousy aroused in them the feelings of hatred and revenge. They thought of a plan to separate the peacocks from each other. (ne day when the Love was not there% the $wans got the opportunity to act upon their conspiracy. They went to Life )the hen peacock%* and said+ $wan: ,i !ife- ,ow are you? We heard about your beauty and love and were eager to see you. !ife: (% thanks% come on in. The $wans eulogi'ed her in such a way that she was conceited. That was the first stroke on the snobbish nature of Life. The $wans seemed successful in their planning.

The ne.t day they again benefited from the opportunity of loneliness of Life and went to her to adulate her. /They praised her beauty in the most attractive manner and said: We are sure that you are the only loving pair on the earth% and we want you to be prettiest of all the birds. We know a method of becoming the most beautiful and charming. 0ven your offspring could be prettier than you. If you liked% we would tell you1. They hurriedly slipped away on seeing that the !ove was coming. The ,en peacock )Life* was very importune to know about the ways of becoming more enchanting. $he could not attend Love well and did not dance with him that evening. The Love was awestruck on the disinterestedness of the life. ,e thought that she never had behaved in that clumsy manner before. $he had always danced with him in the evening. ,e asked the cause of her sadness but life did not reply and went away. The Love was very disturbed over her cruel treatment. 2e.t day when the $wans saw that the !ove was not at home% they came again to the Life. $he was waiting for them too. 3s soon as they reached% she asked about the methods of becoming more attractive and beautiful. 4irstly the $wans overtly hesitated to tell her the methods of becoming more attractive and beautiful but then according to their plan they divulged every thing. They told her that there was a valley of golden snakes on the $outh 5ole. These snakes were difficult to catch but whoever ate them became the most beautiful being in this world. The !ife was much e.cited over that and thanked the swans very much. The $wans were now sure that !ife would definitely send the !(60 to bring the golden snakes and he would be killed in the way by the troubles and difficulties. When the !ove came the !ife was looking very upset. ,e asked her the reason of her annoyance. $he told him that she wanted the golden snake. The !ove felt that there was something wrong in the bottom. ,e asked her to whom she had met that day? The !ife told him that she had not met any body e.cept the swans. The love tried his best to make her understand the conspiracy but she did not budge an inch from his position. $he insisted on her demand and remained adamant. The !ove tried once again to understand the hidden feelings of the swans but all in vain. In return the !ife started dancing. That was her last weapon. $he had successfully used that weapon whenever the !ove declined to yield. $he danced and danced for 7uite a long time. The love

continued watching her dance for some time without feeling any kind of sympathy but could not hold back his emotions for long. ,e bowed before the life8s demand and promised to fetch her golden snake. The life smiled and danced more beautifully% this time !ove was also dancing with her. The ne.t morning the !ove took off for the south poles. The life was sad but hopeful that she would become the prettiest bird after his return. The !ove was traveling at a great speed towards the $outh 5ole. ,e covered the distances with 7uite ease as no untoward incident has happened in the beginning. (ne day as ,e was flying and remembering the !ife when a strange looking creature struck with him. ,e fell on the ground with the creature that had struck with him. ,e was awestruck on seeing a dreadful dragon before him. The dragon clutched him in his claws and went towards his den. There was many a dragon in the den. 4irstly they played with him as cats play with mouse. When they were tired they stopped and sat .They laid their heads together to decide about the fate of the !ove. They were about to eat him when he re7uested them to listen a few words from him. ,e told them that his feathers were 7uite tasteless in eating. Moreover there was not enough meat in his body. There were layers of feathers and wings and those too were like thorns. They did pay any heed to his re7uest and started preparation to eat him. When the !ove felt that there was no way to escape% he started dancing. The dragons watched him with wonder. They were enchanted by the devotional dance of the !ife and decided to keep him with them forever. #ehind him at the lake of time the situation had changed. The love could not fight against the conspiracies of the swans who had invited a peacock to make friends with the !I40. 4irstly she did not respond but at the end the peacock proved successful. ,e had succeeded in his attempts to win the heart of the !ife. Many days passed but the !ove did not get a chance to escape. (ne day he determined to flee. ,e started dancing. ,e danced as beautiful that all the dragons were duped to his dance. (ne of them asked him the reason of his flight towards the $outh 5ole. ,e told him the whole story of his !ife and golden snakes. The dragon told him that there were no golden snakes on the $outh 5ole. It was a snare to put you in the valley of death. ,e told him that he had left the valley of snakes far behind. ,e told him the way to the valley and to catch the golden snakes. ,e also helped him in his escape on the condition that he would again come there after meeting his !ove. ,e promised and left the dragons lying there. ,e got the golden snakes and reached the lake of the time.

The time has changed its shape. The thorns had replaced the velvety grass% and the flowers had withered. There were swans but were starving due to barrenness of the time. The chirping birds had migrated to other lakes. ,e searched for the !ife and entered the thorny bushes. ,e was shocked to see the !ife with the peacock. ,e put the golden snake in the feet of the !ife and returned with the heavy heart. ,e did not want to live. ,e ran towards the dense forest. The life was very ashamed on the situation% but she wanted to eat the snake first. $he stepped forward towards the golden snake. $he was to bite the snake when the peacock at once plunged on the snake. $he was fast enough and caught the snake. The peacock chased her but could not catch her. $he disappeared in the forest. The peacock castigated the life and went aside. The !ife was perturbed with loss of !ove but could not do anything. $he was searching the !ove. $he dragged herself and the snake through out the forest. 3fter a lot of struggle% she saw a shadow of the !ove. $he ran towards that but her search was futile because the !ove had died. ,is dead body was standing by the side of a tree in such a way as he was alive. The !ove thought that he was angry with her. $he started dancing but her feet did not support her% even her wings did not open. $he became more remorseful on her loss of dance. $he wanted to weep bitterly over the death of the love but could not. ,er eyes had dried. $he had been deprived of the dance for ever due to her infidelity. $he had nothing e.cept regrets with her. (nce you are in the bad books of your friends% the revival of your image is very difficult and demands a great sacrifice.