Arjunsangini - An Ardi Novel

The Arrival and the Doubt

Prishati stared at a distance at the outline of the cottages that accommodated the boys of the gurukul. She was standing at the entrance of the boy's quarters as she wasn't allowed to go any further. She felt uncomfortable standing there because this was not how she started her morning generally.

She would always make out Parth standing at the entrance of the girl's quarters grinning about to fall under the piles of books he was holding. He hadn't come today. So, Prishati stood waiting for him. Trying not to worry she looked around and her eyes found Madhav.

She had already met him. He had thanked her and Parth for handling the situation with Keshavi. It was more of a habit now, Madhav flustered whenever a girl of his age came to the gurukul. So Parth and Prishati took upon them to save his reputation. But this time it seemed different. He was more flustered when she was not around and probably his best self when she was. Like now, they were talking at a distance so Prishati couldn't make out what they were talking about. But, their animated actions portrayed that Madhav had just cracked a joke and Keshavi was laughing. She had already asked Madhav about Parth but he was clueless.

She looked around. The gurukul looked crowded today. The 5 acres housed more than 200 students. But today looked there was an abundance of them. She saw many new faces she hadn't seen before. Then her eyes locked upon a boy a little older than her perhaps who was harassing one of the students who were visibly smaller than him. Prishati was about to walk towards them when a girl as small as the boy being harassed came between the two. She saw the two argue a little but the older boy finally gave in and went away and the girl picked the boy up from the ground. Probably the bully's sister there facial structure looked almost the same, not the values. She turned towards the cottages again, thinking about what was taking him so long.

-:-

"Do we understand?" asked Dhairya solemnly.

"Yes, Jeshtha but we can at least tease them right?" asked Abhay his eyes twinkling with mischief.

"No. Treat them as any other student of the gurukul."

Aradhya stifled a laugh.

"What happened?" asked Dhairya.

"There is hardly any student who Jeshtha hasn't teased." to which Abhay grinned.

"Remember in your heart that they are our brothers, just do not let that escape your mouth." said Dhairya seriously.

"I do not think they want places in their hearts, Jeshtha!" Abhay said anger flashing in his eyes.

"They are astray right now brother and it is our duty to lead them to the right way, but we can't do that here."

Their mother had been very clear about this. She didn't want their identity to be known by anyone. She was not sure if they would be given what was theirs when they returned. It was not very hard, until now. Five boys from a household was not a very uncommon phenomenon in the Aryavarta. But their 100 cousins would make it a trifle harder. The sons of the interim King of Hastinapur had arrived. Along with their sister. Everyone knew of them. If the five brothers associated with them, their identity would be known.

The military general of Hastinapur had been successful in keeping Gandharraj Shakuni's evil eye from his city for about half a decade. But, Shakuni had returned with the excuse of missing his sister. And he was shocked to see that his nephews and niece in the city. Flabbergasted he had asked Dhritrashtra why they weren't in gurukul? To which his brother-in-law had laughed and told him that they were attending gurukul. It was so near the palace that most of the time they were at home. This was the result of the King's inability to stay apart from them. Shakuni had tried to wield his anger in by gritting his teeth. He knew anger always resulted in outcomings which he did not want. In about a month he had succeeded in cajoling the King to send the 100 boys and their sister to the Gurukul of Drona. To his brother-in-law, he had put forward the reason for wanting his nephews to learn from the best, and it was partly true, Drona was indeed one of the best teachers at the time. To the sceptical Bhishma, he had said that he wanted the brothers to grow up together. But the real intentions he had shared with the eldest and his favourite nephew, Duryodhana. The tactic was simple, 'Keep your friends close but your enemies closer'. He knew that Kunti wasn't sure if her sons would get their birthright and Skauni wanted to keep it that way. He had made the brothers comprehend that though they needed to study the five brothers, they would not associate with them as brothers.