PRATIKOP (Wrath)

Chapter 5

Nivedita opened her tired eyes as she felt another presence in the room. Her daughters, Jayitra, Jagruti and Jayantika had just left after meeting their little sister. In this whole palace, only they seemed to be excited at the arrival of the little girl. The rest were just annoyed at best. Maharani Mridulata had shown her displeasure openly while Rajmata Vilasvati didn't even bother to show up to bless the girl.

Who was she to complain? Even a single tear had fallen from her own eyes when she heard she had birthed another girl and not a son. This time she had both hoped and prayed for a son. Even the dhatri (midwife) had told her that it was a boy this time. But she had been wrong and Nivedita's hope was shattered.

As her eyes opened, she was surprised to find her husband there. He stood with the little princess nestled in his strong arms. The sight somewhat warmed her frozen heart. She had not expected him to be there. Not after birthing a girl again. Jagadeesan was not the type of husband who would wait anxiously outside the door while his wife went into labor. Nor was he the type of father who would rush to meet his newborn leaving everything. He had not been there at the time of Jagruti and Jayantika's birth, fighting some war in the south. Even though he had been here after Jayitra, their firstborn's birth, he had finished all his duties before coming to meet her. At that time, Nivedita had believed it was due to the fact that it was a girl child. She had softly whispered an apology to him when he had come to meet.

Jagadeesan however, had frowned slightly at her before telling her never to apologize for risking her life and bringing a new one into this world. His simple admission had helped her to understand that he didn't care about the gender of the baby and his indifference had nothing to do with it. It was just the way he was.

"What is the name?" Jagadeesan asked, breaking her disarrayed thoughts.
It took Nivedita a few moments to understand what he was asking. She had been the one to name their first three daughters. But this time as she had thought it would be a boy, no appropriate name for the girl was coming to her mind.

"She doesn't have one yet." Nivedita replied softly.

"Why don't you name her this time?" She asked after a while. Jagadeesan turned his eyes to meet Nivedita's. She lowered hers nervously thinking if she had said something wrong. But Jagadeesan looked at the little cute babygirl again and handed her to her mother silently.

"Nilasi."

He declared and left the chamber without saying anything else. Nivedita stared at his retreating back in surprise as she realized that he had really just named their baby girl.

***

On the open large balcony of the west wing of the palace of Amvasthapuram, sat Rajkumar Jayaditya, Rajkumar Somesh and Rajkumar Durdharsh together. The three were chatting among themselves lightly. Their mood was sour as the absence of Rajkumar Kashyap was felt by all of them. To lessen the distaste, his absence left, Rajkumar Somesh and Durdharsh too joined Rajkumar Jayaditya in drinking sura (alcohol).

"Did bhrata Jagadeesan know about Kashyap beforehand?" Rajkumar Somesh wondered loudly.

"He must have. What escapes his eyes?" Durdharsh commented.

"Selfish! He should have stopped him!" Jayaditya said harshly.

"Why would he? He only gets pleasure in seeing us suffering!" Durdharsh added sulking. Jayaditya on the other hand, narrowed his eyes at Durdharsh immediately.

"What suffering had he put you through that you dare badmouthing your elder brother?" He asked angrily.

"Did you not badmouth him just now?" Durdharsh asked with mouth agape.