The Princes of Ayodhya-The Ramayan Through Short Stories

A Wrinkle in Time

A Wrinkle in Time

"Bharat? Where is Bharat?" asked Kaikeyi, smoothing out the napkin on her lap. "He's very, very late to breakfast." Mandavi shrugged. "I wonder, he's usually early, actually. It's Shatru that's always late, but not Bharat." Shatrughan rolled his eyes. "Did you habits rub off on him, Shatrughan?" Kaikeyi asked wonderingly as Shrutakirti laughed.

"No, no. I'm here, I'm here." The entire hall turned towards where Bharat stood there, covered with dust and soot, sniffling hard, and trying to brush himself off. "I-um, was out, somewhere." he tried his best to look casual, but it wouldn't work with Shatrughan around, as the youngest walked up, brushing his brother off.

"Right, Bharat. Where were you, diving into a pool of dust for fun?" Everyone laughed. "Come on, tell the truth, we won't tell anyone. Not that we have anyone to tell, but anyways." Bharat shook his head adamantly and Shatrughan pouted. "Oh, so you don't want to tell me? Do you not love me anymore? Am I not your favorite brother anymore, Bharat? Oh, I know what must have happened. Do you love my twin more than yourself? Everyone does!" Bharat gasped in offense, rubbing a wailing Shatrughan's back as Lakshman frowned.

Shaking his head, he opened his mouth widely to speak. "No one likes me better, Shatrughan, don't cry. Foreign adversaries are scared of me, the palace guards hate my temper, my mother always pampers you, Maa Kaushalya always pampers you, heck, Maa Kaikeyi, the warrior, always pampers you! Father dotes upon you, all of our uncles and aunts dote upon you!" He took a deep breath.

"The citizens think I'm a mad prince who can speak to snakes, Sita bhabhi thinks you're hilarious, I'm pretty sure even Mandavi bhabhi likes you more than me, Shrutakirti didi obviously likes you more, she's your wife, and heck! I'm pretty sure even Ram bhaiyya likes you more!" He sniffled, wiping a fake tear away from his eyes. "Only my wife likes me more, and thank goodness for that!"

Urmila smiled kindly at him as he furiously chewed the end of a chili pepper, dark eyes darting over all the squirming forms around the table maliciously. "Yes, don't worry. I wouldn't choose that khadoos over anyone, be it an evil rakshas or a giantess, so you're definitely in the clear, arya." Bharat cleared his throat as Shatrughan now was showing his best puppy-eyes, something which he seemed to have inherited from Ram. Bharat looked away quickly, but when he glanced back, the puppy-eyes had become even stronger.

"Aaaaaah, fine! Shatru, my enemy, the people's enemy, the world's enemy! Lakshman discerned your personality the best when we were just toddlers! How wrong I was when I thought he was overexaggerating and was just jealous of you when he fought with you non-stop! He was right when he said you were a lying, cheating, good-for-nothing thief! I remember he had that anklet when we were kids!" He clutched his hair as Shatrughan grinned triumphantly.

"Fine-argh! Fine, fine, fine, fine, fine! I was looking at those paintings which I made back in Gurukul, you remember that?" Shatrughan frowned for a second as Lakshman nodded and Ram looked up in confusion. "The ones I smuggled out of the ashram." he took a deep breath. "I was looking over them, and I wanted to show them to our fam-mmff!" Shaturghan had slapped a hand on his mouth, but not before everyone had heard.

"We'd love to see the paintings, Bharat! I'd like to see what you all got up to when you were younger, and the ashram had quite beautiful scenery, didn't they?" wondered Sita, clasping her hands together respectfully, but something in her sparked a voracious curiosity and hopefulness. "Why, don't you want us to see them, Shatrughan? Is there something wrong, maybe? We wouldn't want to impose, but maybe-"

"No, no. Please don't do it Bharat!" cried Shatrughan. "Don't do it, don't show them the paintings, I beg of you! You can't do it! I-I won't- I can't!" he actually looked desperate at this point, but Ram was frowning at this point as well, not having seen the paintings for a while, and having forgotten what they looked like.