The Princes of Ayodhya-The Ramayan Through Short Stories

Jumanji-Welcome to the Jungle

The boat was docked and placed again on the edge of the river, and by the night, the trio continued to walk, Ram first, then Sita, and lastly, Lakshman. The bank of the Sarayu did not welcome them into the lush forest as they had thought (and hoped), but instead, it was a barren land, plantless, treeless, lifeless, and occasionally they came past pieces of cloth that could only have belonged to a human, some skulls, man-made material, and Sita shuddered in alarm.

They continued walking into dawn, and soon, it was afternoon. The sun beat down on them, and made the dirt cracked and hard. They continued to walk in the forest, Sita not complaining even once about how humid it was, or how the sun was so bright that it blinded them, or the burning heat of the ground, and Ram marveled at how she had adapted so quickly, she a princess, growing up in luxury and love, to this place, where the shade was scarce, and the cool arbors of the trees in the forest was at least a mile away. Visible, but unreachable, like following a rainbow.

Sita did not utter a word when she saw the skull of what seemed like a human, only darted her eyes away in fright. She did not utter a word when the wind blew dust into their noses and eyes, only covered her face with a cloth. She did not speak even, when she felt a little bit hungry, but Ram could tell when she pressed her tummy a little bit, and pouted, and felt like laughing and going to the kitchen and getting something, when he remembered that there was no kitchen. There was no palace. There was no food. But Sita did not complain.

However, when a little ashram, with a small cluster of trees was visible, Sita cleared her throat lightly. Ram looked up at the sound, then followed her eyes right under the trees, where they would not be seen from the people inside the ashram, but they could still sit under shade. Ram swallowed hard. "You know, Sita, we must keep walking. There are many rakshasas here, you know? Rakshasas that eat brahmins."

Lakshman blinked confusedly, and retraced his steps back to Ram, looking into the face of his brother with absolute befuddlement. He could not conceive that any demons were hiding around there, brahmins if they were or not, for there were no trees, boulders, or for that matter any hiding places there! Just open, barren, plant-free land with cracked dust. "But we are not brahmins," Lakshman began.

Sita nodded. "And my feet hurt," she added hopefully, and successfully voted out, Ram sighed and nodded reluctantly, leading his brother and wife under the trees, where they sat down exhaustedly. "Arya, it has been ages since we saw the riverbank, or anything! Once we rest, we must continue. I think that the forest is nearing, and with it, some shade and perhaps even some food! If I have high hopes, we may encounter a river too!"

Ram, however, was looking back to where the ashram was. "You know, Sita, perhaps we should introduce ourselves to this sage whose trees' shade we are stealing like this." Ram squinted a little bit. "It looks like a nice hermitage, albeit an empty one. Remember Guru Vishwamitra's hermitage? It was so huge, filled and bustling with people. This one is deprived sorrowfully of all people. That's a pity."

Sita sighed. "Yes, it is. I've already had a lack of conversation with people. Albeit, I had no energy to talk, since we were walking, but now that I am under the shade and rested again, I need to talk with someone, Raghav, and Lakshman is very boring, and so are you!" Ram burst into laughter as Sita fanned herself playfully and jokingly. Ram shook his head and turned towards Lakshman, who was listening to the whole scene amusedly.

"Laksh, why don't you go and introduce us, say that we could not leave without introducing ourselves and apologize for staying here without permission. It's a sunny day anyways, and we'd better get going before evening falls again!" Lakshman nodded, and got up, stepping into the forest of trees and respectfully making himself known at the entrance. Eventually, a sage came out to meet with him.