DISSECTED
LAST CHAPTER 6: AT LAST
After 365 years …
Aaravind was going through
all the belongings of Kousalya, It was already a week since she passed away.
Aaravind going by his rules resisted the itch, to go through her stuff. But he
couldn’t deny the urge any longer. He wanted to feel her scent, her touch. Well
she never had any rules. She always used to barge into his privacy, why can’t
he, then?
Her red-blue cotton silk
saris, her younger photos, his younger age photos, articles about him in
papers, her journals, songs he gifted her and various other gifts he gave her,
all were stored very carefully in her safe. All had some connection with him in
one-way or the other. Red and blue are his favorite colors, photos of her taken
by him with their first ever camera he bought, like this all her dearest
memories had his touch in them. Her unconditional submission towards him moved
him to the core.
Many of her journals, are
filled with memories of wonderful nights they spent together, the first time
their children called him, ‘Nanna’(dad), her feelings towards him. She didn’t
just love him she worshipped him.
His eyes are melting down drop by drop and
this is something he never understood about her. Her displeasure about his
obvious mechanic attitude in doing something she wished was evident. Her strong
desire, to be equally worshipped by him was flowing through each and every word
she had ever written. Aaravind couldn’t handle this any longer. His hands are
shaking to pick another journal; his eyes are not relenting from overflowing;
this is hell for him. He threw the journals away.
His blurry eyes caught a picture
of Kousalya, smiling like an angel. He took her photo in his hands and wiped
his tears until they stopped and
“Now I can see you clearly,
you deserved a person much much better than me. Not in every thing but as a
lover. You know how you made me feel today? You made me feel as a selfish,
unworthy person who never deserved this intense admiration and devotion. What
did I ever do to deserve you? I wish I could understand you better. I wish I
had a chance to reciprocate the same devotion towards you.”
After a slight pause..
“You know what, I was never
wrong. It was just that I … I … look what you did to me, my eyes don’t listen
to me, my heart feels guilt, I hate you for this ..”
Holding her photo even
closer to his heart,
“I hate you for this … ahhh
… why couldn’t I understand you better? You don’t even have a slightest idea,
how much I wish to bring back all the time that flew past us? “
He hugged her photo to
closer embrace and slowly went into a deep sleep.
__________________________________________________________________
After 36 years 5 months …
A week passed by, lose of Venkat
is still haunting the young couple. Ankur is devastated, his world has come to
standstill. He is not his usual self. He is going out of his house. Many of the
relatives, visited him and still are visiting him. No one is able to console
him, sure everyone tried to cheer him but nothing is working. On the other
Koyal’s state is nothing different. She locked herself up in her room all these
days. Finally on the 8th day, she broke out of her jail and landed
straight in front of Ankur.
Ankur is no longer the same
person. He is more robotic. He offered water to Koyal and hardly spoke to her.
Koyal tried her best to talk to him but there is no response from the other
side. He made a mess of the house. Koyal started cleaning around. Neither Ankur
stopped her nor he seemed to care. He found a quite corner in the house and to
Koyal’s dismay except for some wood noises nothing was indicating that there
was a living human being there. Koyal felt that Ankur was dead inside. This was
the same feeling she had gone through all week. Her feelings for Ankur, her
desire to have a future with him, helped her to grow past her shock. May be
Ankur needs time, if feels so much for Venkat’s loss within just short span of
their interaction. How disserted Ankur should be feeling?
Koyal ran towards Ankur and
gave him a tight hug. Ankur was a statue. He just stood there motionless while
Koyal hugged him for … well time just passed by. Irritated and agitated by his
lack of response towards her embrace, Koyal looked into his eyes questioning… She
could feel nothing. Even though she understands his condition, Koyal could no
longer see him like that.
She walked away from his
house.
Later in the night, Koyal’s
phone buzzed non-stop. She had no will to speak with anyone. Until few days
back, she was planning her future with the man she loved, now everything has
changed. Her dreams seem to have collapsed like ninepins. This change is
ripping her heart out.
She heard a knock on her
door, unwillingly she walked towards the door thinking that would be mother,
and planning to send her away as she did all these days. She opened the door to
find Ankur, her eyes couldn’t believe that he is standing right in front of
her. Before she could say anything, she was pulled right into a tight embrace,
tighter than she could ever imagine.
Ankur
said,” I will never give up on you, never ever. Sorry, I should have been with
you much earlier. Please never give up on me… please”
She
responded to his plea by hugging him back even tighter.
__________________________________________________________
Before …
“I know you wish for a
different way, but as a King, I have to do this. People are already going
through a lot, they don’t need a war now. They need peace. I know I haven’t
done any wrong in choosing you, but my choice caused a lot of displeasure to my
guru, VikramaBhupathi. He already announced me as a “traitor” in his nation and
in his anger, he gave us an opportunity to save people from this behemoth. As
an announced traitor of this land, Amarvathi, I no longer am supposed to rule
Gandhamadana and your coronation, as Queen, makes our nation an independent
according to the dharma of our land, irrespective of the result of this duel. May
be I am a traitor, as I am cheating my guru, by luring him to this battle under
the pretext of me still being a King, while I am not. I promise you, I will
fight for US, I will win it for US. After this, we will no longer carry the weight
of guilt on our shoulders,” saying these words to Queen Kumudini, Atharvaa started
walking towards the ring from their seated positions.
Kumudini, is not satisfied
with his answers. She understands him, but that doesn’t mean he could dump all
his duties on her shoulder and walk away his merry way. She wants Atharvaa to
win, and come back to her, love her, spend a life full of dreams with her. As a
Queen, she cannot let her emotions take over her in the public. Even though she
was frightened about the outcome, she put a brave face and ordered for a
complete silence from her crowd with a small hand gesture.
In the ring, the duel is
conducted between the two men at three levels. In the beginning, they have to
present their cases in front of an idol, “Nayamurthy”(Justice), a stone form of
Lord Shiva. Then in his presence, they will be asked questions regarding the
‘Dharma’ during the first round. Then they will be asked to engage in a sword
fight, without hurting each other, in this round they test the true attitude of
the accused and the plaintiff. Even though, an opportunity is present before him,
to eliminate the other person, who among them can really manage his anger and
urge to kill, is considered to be truthful in his intentions. Finally, both of
them will have to walk on a path filled with thorns, to the idol. The person,
who manages to finish the task first, is believed to have a verdict in his
favor by ‘Nayamurthy’, and his wish will be honored.
As the crowds from both the
nations cheered on from either side of the ring with their respective Queens,
Kumudini and Alakananda, in the middle, Atharvaa and Bhupathi cleared their
first round, convincingly. During the second round, Bhupathi under the
influence of his uncontrollable rage, he damaged the armor of Atharvaa and
injured him heavily, while he turned his back to him. This disappointed both
his citizens and his daughter as well. With his heinous act, he proved to
everyone in the arena, that he was indeed wrong in his claims and Atharvaa,
even though defended himself capably, never attacked Bhupathi.
Everyone from Gandhamandana
side, including Kumudini, rushed towards Atharvaa, but he stopped them in the
middle and asked them to stay in their respective places. He gestured to
Kumudini, to settle down with his eyes. Unwillingly, Kumudini sat on her
throne. Atharvaa, threw his armor and started walking on,“Dharmayatra”, the
path filled with thorns to the idol. Everyone in the arena, including,
Amaravathi people and their representative, Queen, Alakananda cheered for
Atharvaa. Bhupathi looked at his daughter and her displeasure with her father
was evident in her eyes. The person for whose dream, he did all this, is now
not his side but on his enemy’s side. This enraged him further and ran towards
Atharvaa, and penetrated the knife, deep into his body. Atharvaa fell on top of
the idol, thus completing his path to him and winning the duel. Bhupathi, got
entangled to the thorns and was injured all over his body.
Kumudini came running
towards Atharvaa, and many people from the crowds followed her. Conceding
defeat, Alakananda, gave up her crown and walked away from the Arena. Few
people bet Bhupathi to his death. Atharvaa was carried on many shoulders to a
safe place and a doctor was ordered to nurse him immediately. Kumudini, became
desperate with each passing moment.
Atharvaa came to his senses
and …
“Kumudini, I apologize to
you for everything. I wish I wasn’t a King but an artist, who could sing about
your beauty, a common loving husband, who listens to every plea of yours’. I
wish I had spent my time loving you more and more than whatever transpired in
our lives. Hope Lord would give me a second chance to be worthy of your love”.
Atharvaa
kept on apologizing to her, through out the time he was in his senses and
slowly in a week, he succumbed to his injuries, leaving Kumudini yearning for
his love.
_____________________________________________________
After 3 years, 6 months and 5 days…
The Minister: “ Are the
bride and groom are now ready to exchange their vows”
Koyal: “ Yes, as a common
saying states, Ladies First! Ankur, since I met you I always a gravitating pull
towards you. Like you were the other half of the DISSECTED, whole single piece
that completes me. In these past three years we went through a lot and with
time, our bond grew stronger and stronger than ever. Losing Venkat, was a
disaster and I wish his presence in this gallery today. I hope to fulfill the
void in your life, love and beloved by you equally till my last breadth!”
Koyal sobbed saying these
words and it meant to her a lot. Ankur, wiped her tears and
“Koyal, you know I am no
mark with words like you. I can only say this, loving you makes me feel alive
and I hope to be more understanding and caring towards you. I will take care of
your wishes and health, to the best of my ability.” (After a pause) “AT LAST, I
feel contend having you beside me and I will never ever let go of this feeling”
Ankur and Koyal, exchange
the rings and kiss to celebrate their UNION!
----------------------------------
THE END ---------------------------------------
Author's Note:: Hope all of you enjoyed reading the series. Thank you one and all for reading the series and any kind of feedback is welcome! Please do help me in improving and if you liked this series, I promise to write more and more interesting short stories taking this as an inspiration. If you did not like this, I will still continue writing hoping to improve myself and impress you someday!
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