The Travel Across Yugas

Chapter 10

"Wohoo! This is amazing!!" cheered Arjun with an excited smile on his face. "Okay. Okay. Stop now. I want to try" said Nakul eager to know what his brother is so cheered up about. Arjun's face drops a bit as he asks, "Do I have to? Can I try for few more minutes? Just few minutes." Arjun tries to convince his brother. Unable to see his brother's sad pout, Nakul agrees grumbling about how Arjun always uses his weakness to convince him. Nakul could never go against his brother when the elder one was sad. Arjun used this to his advantage whenever he can.

"Aren't few minutes done?" asks Nakul after a while. Sighing and mumbling a fine, Arjun finally gets down letting Nakul take control. From the passenger side, Hridansh observes the whole exchange with an amused smile. The brothers and their wife have improved their English a lot in the last fortnight. It's been about three weeks since they reached Bangalore and Hridansh brought them to an empty land, one fine weekend, to teach them how to drive. Needless to say, the brothers were thrilled. Since then, they have been going for drives whenever they can and have progressed to a state where Hridansh can safely say, they can drive without causing accidents.

Ansh's amusement increases when Nakul cheers loudly starting the vehicle declaring to drive for at least double the time that Arjun did. Chuckling at the brothers' bickering, Ansh directs the elder Madreya every once in a while to perfect his driving. "Can I drive the way back home? It is not far from here and the roads are empty too." suggests Arjun. Hridansh casts a glance at the road. Arjun was right. It being a weekend and wee hours at the morning, there are rarely any vehicles on the road. Turning to the eldest brother in the vehicle, he says "Sure. But if the traffic increases, I am taking control."

A wide proud smile takes ownership of Arjun's face as he quickly thanks his friends and turns towards his younger brother teasing him, "You can practice here for as long as you want. I get to drive back home." He relaxes back in the seat enjoying the view although silently wishing his turn comes soon. The seemingly never ending ride of Nakul comes to an end and Arjun saunters to the wheel whistling to himself making Nakul grumble about how he was cheated.

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"How was I?"asks Arjun getting in the lift. "You were surprisingly good. I've never seen people drive so efficiently so soon in their classes. It almost seemed like you knew driving." answered Hridansh genuinely surprised. Turning to Nakul, he says, "I mean that about both of you. You guys pick up everything so well." Proud of their latest achievement, the brothers enter the house only to pause and pass a mischievous smile to each other. Hridansh's step falters as he observes their smiles. He senses that something is going to happen and braces himself unsure of it's impact on him.

Peeking into the living room, he observes Bheem, Aranya and Draupadi watching something in the television. "Bhrata Bheem!" calls out Nakul slowly and his tone deceivingly sweet. Oh no thinks Hridansh. The trio turn to the door and greet the brothers and Ansh. Bheem raises a questioning brow at Nakul. "How is princess Indumati?" asks Nakul with a playful smile. Confusion seeps through Hridansh as doubts if this has any relation to Chota Bheem series and if it does, how did they know about it. Lightly chastising Nakul, Arjun says, "It is not princess Indumati. You should ask about Chutki."

All this while, poor Bheem remains clueless and questions who these two people are. Nakul retorts, "This is not nice Bhrata Bheem. How will the princess and sweet little Chutki feel if they get to know you forgot about them? "Draupadi stares cautiously at the group. Who were these two new girls? A part of her mind says it is a joke by the younger brothers. Slightly frustrated, Bheem asks, "But who are they?" Now completely sure that it is a joke, Draupadi plays along. "Who are they arya? I did not know you found someone in Kaliyug. And, two people? Really? " Arjun adds fuel to the fire. "Yes priye and see, now he acts as if he doesn't know them. Tell us Bhrata. Who are they?"