Alternate Universe

UNEXPECTED MEET

He received a letter whose contents changed his expressions. Recently, deciphering his emotions had been a very tough task - not that it was easier earlier. Finally, the war had ended and everything had settled down for good but the flashes of destruction kept him awake on some nights.

The letter had brought so many buried memories back - a whirpool of emotions. He folded the letter and kept it close to his heart and did not send a reply back. Instead, he started his preparations right away.

The messenger came back empty handed and she felt deep sense of pain as she received no reply. She was eagerly waiting for some positive response or maybe her heart would have even accepted a sugar coated list of reasons with a negative response but no reply at all.....

A few days passed since that event, she was sad yet diligently fulfilling her duties. She had gone outside for some work and the moment she entered in her kitchen, the butter was gone. Seeing this, her heart skipped a beat and she called out for her husband. He said that maybe in grief, she had forgotten to prepare the butter altogether but she was sure that it wasn't a mistake. A mother's heart know about her son's arrival and she was sure about it.

She started shouting and searching around in the house, "Krishna" "Natkhat".
After frantically looking around, she found him sitting in a corner and silently and stealthily enjoy the butter - just like the old times. Krishna looked at Yashoda and gave a naughty smile which was so innocent that it took her back to his days of childhood. Even after becoming a renowned king, he was still the same - childish, innocent and thief.

She was missing him a lot recently and with the news of the end of Mahabharat and even the curse which was bestowed upon him, she longed to see him in front of her eyes - for once. She had sent a letter to Dwarka requesting him to visit her once and that she really missed him and his childhood. On reading this, Krishna went down a memory lane and started with the preparations of going to Gokul right away.

During his journey from Dwarka to Gokul he had reminisced his entire childhood - stealing butter, breaking pots, snatching clothes from gopis, playing, dancing, getting tied in the veranda and with all these memories another image flashed in front of his eyes - RADHA. His heart skipped a beat, it had been such a long time. Preoccupied in all these thoughts, he didn't realise when he arrived in Gokul.

Initially, he was planning to directly meet everyone but entering Gokul his mischievous self had returned back. He waited for the perfect opportunity and the moment his mother left, he ran into the kitchen and emptied the pots of butter.

Seeing his mother after such a long time, his eyes started to water. They stood rooted on their places for a while as if time had stopped altogether. After what felt like an eternity, they engulfed each other in a hug. He was trying hard to console his mother but all in vain. His father was watching everything with a huge smile plastered on his face. Krishna took his blessings and asked about his health. After exchanging pleasantries and chatting about his life in Dwarka, he was relishing the food made by his mother, which she fed him with her own hands. After eating every morsel, he experienced heaven on Earth.

After a while, he decided to meet his friends and was roaming on the streets of Gokul. He could see kids playing and was recollecting all the fun he used to have along with his friends. His eyes became moist and after engulfing that picture in his mind, he walked ahead. He could see gopis carrying pots of water and reflexively, his hands caught hold of stones. He was just going to break those pots but his hand stopped midway. Suddenly realisation stuck him, he was not a teen anymore but a king with tons of responsibilities and a certain code of conduct. 'Thud' - the stone fell from his hand.

He was standing there numb thinking about just how fast the time changed and his friend was able to catch a glimpse of him. He rubbed his eyes but when he was sure that it was really Krishna, he ran towards him and hugged him. Slowly, the news spread in the entire village and everyone was eager to meet him. He was surrounded by so many people and his heart was overjoyed seeing them all.