Upkatha

Inter Sheshayanal things

But tell me, my kind lady.
Haven't there been tales of love among mortals and gods?

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He had always liked that pond near their house. It was hugged by a dense thicket foliage that further gave way to the dampened woods.

But he wasn't appreciating the serenity this time, neither was he dipping into the water in  autumn. The thought of that still and chilly water was enough to take his temperature down a few degrees.
(Snakes are conformers mhmm. If you know you know.)

And he was not like Kanha who would jump in without a care, fully dressed at that. He did not have a Dau to pull him out by his hair now did he?

He did not have a Dau to dry him up before Maiya found out. He did not have a Dau to smack his butt for being an absolutely impulsive and notorious kid.

The voice in his head spoke to him, much to his displeasure, "Have you forgotten Treta, Balram? Eh, we gave him a literal death scare. He can never beat that!"

Balram was annoyed, not by the guy who lived rent free in his head, but more so by how he hammered him to understand the context of his reference.

"O man in head, I'm in no mood to hear you boasting because I have a brother to deal with. More precisely, a brother who has a knack for all unruly things."

The voice scoffed, "Laksh, Balram. It's not that hard a name to recall. Bhaiya is playing us, darling. He's avenging himself. Anyhow, I was not as troublesome as him now."

"Oh god, how many times do I have to tell you that Krishna is not the bhaiya here, I freaking am! I'm like one year older."

"I'm like one year older." The voice mimicked. "He's my bhaiya, your Kanhaiya. Same thing, get over it."

"There's no point arguing with you, you're stubborn."he spoke hotly, throwing a pebble into the water, creating ripples in it. His head was unsettled, so be the water.

"Calm down, young man. What's wrong?"the voice went softer.

"Why should I tell you?" he wiped his tears furiously.

"Remember, I'm the man in your head. I've been here all along, haven't I? And I've helped you all along, haven't I? Come on, out with it."

"That idiot, almost got himself swallowed by the Kaliya naag yesterday. Only Narayan knows how he managed that. Meanwhile, I was unable to save him from the wretched serpent. It's just, I couldn't help him and I hate that. I hate myself for it." he ended, furiously wiping his tears. Balram never cried, never. Until it came to that Natkhat Nandlal.

The voice softened, "It's very hard being helpless when he's troubled. But it's going to happen a lot more as you grow up, Balram. There are things that we aren't meant to fix."

"But, but I want to fix everything for him. He's very troublesome and he doesn't get scolded enough for that. But despite all, he's my Kanhaiya. I don't want him attacked, I don't want to have him fight against anyone. I don't want him to cry, or be upset."he ended, pulling his knees to his chest.

He had made half a mind to sleep in Krishna's cot today and hold him tight. Just so he couldn't wander off and come across whatever pain Laksh was talking of.

"I wanted to fix a lot of things. I wanted to prevent a lot of things. But I was a helpless onlooker, while he was torn apart time and again." the voice went grave, guilty and pained. Balram did not like this feeling, the man in his head is supposed to be hyper and annoying, not sad.

"What do we do then?" he prodded.

"You, young man will stick to him like he sticks to butter. No matter how annoyed he is, or even if he asks you to give it a rest. You will never give it a rest. He will go ahead and do things on his own, he will get hurt and you'll be scared to death. That is our inbuilt reaction mechanism. But, I promise that he will bounce right back up. And then you'll scold him again. You're lucky you know that? You're elder, you can scold him and pull his ears. I could only freak out and fuss over."

There was a comfortable silence after. The sky had darkened. They could hear their Hari calling out from afar.

"Lakshman! Where are you? Your glorious twin has broken his ankle."

"Dau! Maiya says dinner is ready. Come fast or imma finish it all."

"And then he comes out of the Yamuna, dancing atop the head of the snake, like it was a very normal thing for kids to do. I got scared again, that he would fall off of Kaliya's head. He's playing out all my nightmares."Balram wiped the last tear. Now he just wanted to tear apart Krishna's ear for dancing on a damn snake's head. Couldn't he show his moves to the villagers on solid ground. No, the slippery death trap was much better, wasn't it? Stupid, stupid, stupid.

The voice boomed in laughter. And it laughed like never before.
"Oh my Hari! Balram, now I can't stop imagining him dancing on our heads. That would be epic."

"Only if we were a snake, that is."he snorted, and smiled at the thought.

"And what bloody fool says we aren't?"

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Mwahahhahahahahahah!
Idk why I did that.

How did Shatru break his ankle?

What did Yashoda maiya make for dinner?

These are the questions that haunt me.

Okay, I did not want this piece to be too long. I wanted crisp and quick angst with humor and Shesha.

Also, Laksh is basically talking to Balram in Treta. Like Nitya Dwakra, I imagine them all to be in Nitya Ayodhya. The entire family of Rama with the kids. Kind of like a happy ending. In the end.

I made Kaliya naag leela sad now didn't I?

Thank you ladies and well we don't have any gentlemen here for joining me!