Sankarshana - The Mighty Bringer Of Joy

Letter-Writing and Butter-Stealing?

Balarama heard a knock on the door of his room, a few hours after dinner, when he thought everybody had gone to bed. His wife was asleep next to him and he was reading some book on fancy warfare strategies under barely any light at all.

Brows furrowed in curiosity, he got up and opened the door as quietly as he could and found a man with a scroll, a letter in hand. "This is for you, Halayudha." he said softly, smiling a little, and handed it over to him.

Balarama thanked him confusedly before closing the door and settling in his bed again. He lit another flame on the oil lamp next to him so he could read the mysterious letter.

As soon as some of the extra light fell on the scroll, Balarama clenched his eyes shut and considered banging his head on a pillar. He, however, decided to open it up and read what was written in it.

Dau!

Balarama considered beating his brother up.

It's been a whole hour since I last saw you. You must be missing me! I know, I know. I miss you too! So much! There's nothing I miss more than your affectionate words.

Sure. Balarama used sarcasm much more than affection.

I would love to invite you for a butter-stealing expedition but I know it's unlikely to happen because of your many commitments. I'm sure all you're doing, though, is sitting in a dark room.

Oh well. He was right.

We could ideally venture into the town and steal some butter. I know you're massive and don't find places to hide but we can still try.

Balarama would've reacted if this wasn't the thousandth time he was hearing or reading this statement from Krishna.

I miss the times when we sat together and ate dinner.

That was four hours ago.

I miss all the remarks you made about my disheveled hair.

That was two hours ago.

Can you step out of your dark room so we can sneak out of the palace and do something fun and adventurous? Together?

Balarama sighed. What a pain his little brother was sometimes.

Don't be a boring old man and sleep instead. Let's relive our Vrindavana adventures. Come!

Old man? Sure. All Balarama wanted was to sleep and if he was going to get called an old man for that, he was fine with that too.

Come, come. Let's go. I'm waiting downstairs, near the entrance to the garden.

Balarama gritted his teeth and got out of his blanket. His stupid brother was standing in the garden in the coldest time of the year without the slightest bit of sense. This was emotional blackmail of some unbelievable level.

He took a warm stole of sorts, still ensuring to be stylish, and draped it over his upper body as he quietly tiptoed out and went down to the garden. He had taken one of those stoles for his brother too, just in case he had idiotically forgotten that it was peak winter.

"How long do you take!" Krishna screamed, having barely any awareness of the fact that they were trying to sneak out and not announce to the whole world that two princes were going around like thieves in their own palace.

"Shh!" Balarama stomped his way to his brother while still being quiet. "Clearly, you've forgotten of all the times I got into trouble as a child because you thought it was a wonderful idea to scream! I haven't forgotten!"