Pandavas & Panchali: An Eternal Love Story

1. The Kuru Princes

It was the last day. All the students of Guru Drona were busy prepping up for the last day festivities of their life in Gurukul. As usual, Yudhistir, the eldest Pandava was given the task of supervising everyone by his Guru. Yudhisthir was not a strict task master. Instead, he was kind, benevolent and disciplined. All the students respected him. His teacher was sure that nobody except him can be the rightful heir to the throne of Hastinapur. Yudhisthir was an honest person. He believed in the values of equality and justice. What else would anyone want in a leader?

"Bheem, can you stop eating for once and instead help Aswathama and Satyajit in fetching the firewood from the forest? Guruma had asked to bring large heaps of those because she'll be preparing some special delicacies." Duryodhan said. It was a half truth that he spoke. Guruma indeed needs large heaps of wood. However, he wasn't sure if she'd be preparing any delicacies.

"What did you say Jyesth? Guruma would be preparing laddoos?" Bheem jumped down the rock that he was sitting on and looked at Duryodhan excitedly.

Yudhisthir who was noticing their banter decided to interrupt. He heard Duryodhan telling the half truth to Bheem. He wasn't sure about it either. Hence, he wanted to help his two Anuj.

"Bheem, we won't be getting to eat whatever Guruma cooks until evening. So, why don't you just go and do the work that has been assigned to you?" Yudhisthir pointed out.

Bheem nodded and went to the forest to join Satyajit and Aswathama in their work.

"Thank you, Jyesth." Duryodhan hugged Yudhisthir with a big smile. Even he didn't want to get into an argument with Bheem on their last day. Yudhisthir hugged him back with equal fervour.

"Uh Oh! I don't think we should miss this either. Am I right, Bhrata?" Nakul said while looking at Arjun. Sahdev, Dushasan and Vikarna were there too.

"Yuppp." Arjun agreed before all of them joined the hug, making it a group hug. Yudhisthir and Duryodhan just chuckled looking at the antics of their younger siblings. The Gurukul life will always be a memorable part of their life. It was in this Gurukul that they had became so close.

Duryodhan looked at his cousins and thought about their first meeting when his Kakashree Pandu along with his family had to come back from their self declared Vanvas due to the deteriorating health of his father.

The family of the Pandavas were welcomed back to the palace of Hastinapur with all pomp and show. A grand celebration was organised. What all the Vaidyas couldn't do, the mere presence of his younger brother did for King Dritarashtra. He didn't know about his health, but he could already feel his spirits lifting up.

"Mere bacche, now you all won't be the only princes. Yudhisthir is the eldest among you all. If things don't change, he will become the crown prince instead of you." Shakuni whispered to Duryodhan while giving a stink eye to the Pandavas.

Duryodhan wasn't someone who was hungry for power. However, the words of his uncle angered him somehow. Maybe it was because he was a kid back then. He didn't like his cousins initially. They fought a lot. For this reason, their Pitamah Bhishma decided to send them all to Gurukul.

Now, as Duryodhan reminisced about those days, he wanted to thank Pitamah. His decision did bring all of them together by staying away from home for all these years.

Duryodhan started thinking about the day again, which had marked the begining of their bond.

Guru Drona had assigned all his students the task of attacking the arsenal of the King of Pritamgarh at night. It was supposed to be a lesson on the guerrilla warfare. The King was informed about the task beforehand by Guru Drona and had insisted him to play along. The soldiers would attack the students but they wouldn't have hurt them for real. The students didn't know about this arrangement of their Guru. They thought the attack was real.

When Duryodhan and his brothers were made prisoners by the soldiers, the Pandavas fought with all their strength and vigour and freed their cousins. They didn't want them to lose the task. Together, they attacked the arsenal and looted away all the weapons, thereby completing the assigned task.

Later on‌, when Guru Drona told them about the plan, they all had a hearty laugh. From then on, nobody called them as Pandavas and Kauravas. Instead, they were together called as the Kuru princes.