Bloodlines (On hold)

Caste of Ambitions

Eklavya did not why the Kaurava Prince had behaved the way he had. It had been a reckless mission to get into the royal grounds to steal mangoes, but hunger had ripped away his fear. He had been prepared for a lashing by the guards if he was caught, what he had not expected was the strange behaviour of the young Prince in his expensive silken clothes. There had to be a catch somewhere. No high-born person behaved that way. It was as strange as expecting a lion to be meek and eat grass. He asked his aunt whether the mangoes were poisoned. He had been afraid to touch them since they had been given to him so freely but his starved cousins grabbed the fruit from his hands; so he forgot all about poison and princes in the immediate need to fight them for the luscious fruit. His aunt intervened, giving the best fruit to her children. Ekalavya got a not-so-ripe one. The favouritism was nothing new to him but it still hurt. He was determined not to cry over such things. He was ten years old now and almost a man. Men did not cry over silly things.

From the time Ekalavya could remember, they have been walking across Aryavarta - his aunt, her five sons, and he. It was nothing new to people like them. He had no recollection of ever having a mother and his father existed only in the fantastic tales his aunt sometimes told him. His mother had died the day he was born. Distressed, his father had gone away, leaving little Ekalavya in his brother's charge. Sometimes, she would talk about his father, saying he was a Prince or a King somewhere in the East, and one day he would rescue them all from poverty, but on most occasions, she cursed him for having abandoned his son. She often reminded Ekalavya that he was nothing better than an orphan.

Ekalavya had the faint memory of a man who would carry him when he was only as high as his thigh. This man was the uncle his father had left him with. He now lay buried somewhere in the deep jungles of central Aryavarta. He had been caught stealing eggs from a farm and was beaten to death. Whenever they went hungry, and that was quite often, his aunt called out her husband's name. She wailed that had he been alive, they would have all lived like princes. Ekalavya was old enough to know that was not true. He had seen so many others like themselves, living in the shadows of a great civilization, meek before their superiors, while ferociously competitive and cruel to their fellow unfortunates.

Ekalavya could tolerate his cousins but there was another small boy who kept trailing after them. He was even dirtier than they were and had bad teeth and festering sores on his legs. His ribs stood clearly outlined under his stretched and cracked black skin; while his belly button protruded from his bulging stomach like a mushroom. The family often chased him away but he never gave up. Ekalavya's aunt even threw stones at the creature but like a mangy dog, the dirty boy followed them, trying to pick up leftovers and begging for food. He darted away from the pelted stones, only to reappear. Sometimes his aunt felt pity for the boy and offered the urchin whatever they could spare. He grabbed it with both hands and gnawed like a hungry beast of the forest. However, that was rare for they hardly had enough to ease their own hunger.

Nevertheless, the boy kept trailing them. He had found them in the village where Ekalavya's uncle had been thrashed to death. Another man had been caught stealing at the same time and he too, met the same fate. Ekalavya's aunt found the little boy crying near the inert body of his father. Despite her own grief, she had felt pity for the helpless little one and since she was in no mood to eat that day, she had given him her share of food - a mistake she regretted the moment she had handed over the scraps. Now, like a curse, the boy followed them. Some days they would get lucky when some merchant would feed the poor as an offering to the gods to keep him prosperous. Ekalavya noticed that at such times his aunt became generous and offered the boy something more than mere leftovers. She would also talk to him kindly. It was during one of those rare conversations that Ekalavya learnt his name - Jara.