image and sentence formation credit to chat gpt
When Lullabies Began
The palace didn’t so much “wake up” during those months as gently shift into a new kind of life. It was subtle — the kind of change you feel before you can explain it. Light fell differently on old walls; footsteps seemed softer; laughter lingered a little longer in the air. Even the servants moved with an unspoken excitement, as though everyone knew something beautiful was on its way.
Everyone could feel it:
three daughters of the Raghu family were carrying new life, and the whole household responded the way a big family does — with worry, with joy, with too much food, with prayers whispered at odd hours, with fussing that felt like love.
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Three Announcements, Three Different Loves
Each sister told her husband in a way that revealed exactly who she was.
Urmila
Urmila chose dusk — her favorite quiet hour. She didn’t make a speech or plan anything fancy. She simply handed Lakshman a folded palm-leaf with a small charcoal sketch of a tiny hand and round little head.
He understood instantly. His whole face lit up, and he wrapped her in an embrace so full of awe it almost felt like a blessing.
Mandavi
Mandavi went the playful route. She prepared Bharat’s favorite bowl of apple slices — but tucked beneath them was a soft little cloth she had embroidered with a tiny sun and bird.
When he found it, he looked at her like she had just handed him the world. She didn’t say anything at first; she just touched the embroidery with her fingertips and smiled through tears.
Shrutakirti
Shrutakirti told Shatrughna in the shrine they visited together. She placed a fresh garland on the altar, then slipped a single jasmine flower into his hand.
He looked at her, startled at first, then deeply moved. No words were needed.
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The Palace Begins Preparing
The palace responded the way old, loving households do — not with loud festivals, but with hands that suddenly had a purpose.
The brothers who had once made mischief by painting on palm leaves now carved little toys. They built a cradle decorated with the sun and moon. The older mothers — Kaushalya, Sumitra, and Kaikeyi — guided the younger women with a mixture of strictness and warmth.
Everyone helped.
No one was left alone.
You could feel the care woven into every corner of the place.
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Nine Months, Felt Slowly and Tenderly
Months 1–3
The first months were hushed and intimate. The women felt tired, emotional, sometimes overwhelmed. The palace quietly adjusted: gentler tasks, warmer meals, little lamps glowing through the nights.
By the third month, the daima (midwife) visited regularly, and the sisters began preparing tiny clothes and blankets.
Months 4–6
Their bodies changed, and the palace moved into a calmer rhythm. The men learned to be more attentive — carrying baskets, fetching food, checking in with anxious eyes.
Month five brought the first kicks, which never failed to move the husbands to soft silence.
Months 7–9
The women grew heavier and slower. Sleep came and went. Emotions sharpened. The older mothers stayed with them often, massaging their backs, telling stories, keeping the nights from feeling frightening.
By the ninth month, everyone was on alert. A small sound in the corridors could send half the household running.
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The Births — A Year of Three Cries
Angad, Lakshman and Urmila’s first son, arrived first. His cry echoed through the palace, and suddenly there were tears everywhere — from Urmila, from Lakshman, from the grandmothers who couldn’t stop staring at him.
Taksh, Bharat and Mandavi’s first born arrived a few days later. Mandavi held him like she couldn’t quite believe he was real. Bharat hovered around them, grinning too widely and wiping his eyes when he thought no one saw him.
Subahu, Shrutakirti and Shatrughna’s first tiny tot, completed the trio. He was welcomed into the world by a room full of exhausted but joyful relatives who had just finished celebrating the earlier births.
The naming ceremonies followed one after another, turning the palace into a place full of prayers, music, and tiny baby yawns.
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The Second Round of Cradles
A few years later, when the first three boys had already filled the palace with chaos and laughter, fate decided to bless the family again.
Another trio of boys arrived within a span of only a few months.
Shrutakirti’s second son, Shatrughati, arrived first this time.
Then came Urmila’s second bundle of joy, Chandraketu.
Finally, Mandavi welcomed her second son, Pushkal.
Six cousins in total — close in age, wild in energy, inseparable from the start.
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A Family That Loved Deeply
There were tears during labors, laughter during naming ceremonies, shared fear, shared relief.
The brothers learned to rock cradles and hum lullabies.
The sisters learned they were stronger than they realized.
The older women rediscovered a purpose they hadn’t felt in years.
The palace changed because the people in it changed — they moved with more care, spoke with more softness, held one another with more trust. And the children grew up surrounded by so much affection it seemed to seep into their bones.
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Years later, the carved cradle still sat in a corner, its paint softened by time and touch. The old palm-leaf sketch and embroidered cloth were tucked safely away. They had become little reminders of how the family had begun its new chapter.
But the real legacy lived in the way the cousins laughed together, in how the brothers supported one another, in how the sisters looked at each other with a quiet understanding that only shared motherhood could create.
The Raghu household had promised to welcome its children with love —
and it kept that promise, every single day.
the order of the birth of kids is loosely based on anand ramayan
Ganesh Kartikeya
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