The C. N. A. T. - Page 71

It was a dark day for the prince of Gandhar. He loved his sister Gandhari a lot, enough to make sure that the man who is making his sister endure a lifetime of punishment will dearly pay. True, it was her decision to wrap a cloth around her eyes, forever blocking out the rays of the sun and the colors of the world. But she was getting married to a blind man, a proposal brought by that cunning, foolish Bhishma who himself was a bachelor. A blind man who she has never seen, a blind man who must be pampered and cared for at all times, and a blind f**king man who was never to be king. His sister, though married to the eldest Kuru son was forever to remain beneath the wife of Pandu, the pale younger brother of the blind buffoon.

As Shakuni laid in his bed, staring at the ceiling, tears formed in his eyes and slowly dribbled down the side of his face onto his silk pillow. He was furious at himself for not being able to do anything to stop the marriage. He was but only a prince of Gandhar, his father held the true power. He was furious at Gandhari for accepting such a proposal blindly and he was furious at his father for agreeing to the proposal.

"Yuvraaj Ki Jai Ho!"

Shakuni sat up. "What is it dwarpal?"

"Rajkumari Gandhari wishes to seek your audience Yuvraaj."

Shakuni's dark eyes met the eyes of the dwarpal. His face contorted in anger, in fury, in rage.

"How dare you stop my sister from coming in you idiot!" Shakuni yelled at the top of his lungs.

The dwarpal shook with fear. "Please Oh Great One, your sister requested me to ask your permission."

"Requested? Requested?" Shakuni's eyes were red, livid at the impudence of this piece of shit. "She is the Rajkumari. She ordered you, you insolent fool!."

The dwarpal could not respond. He stood there quivering like a rabbit when confronted by a fox.

"Aahh. You can't do anything." Saying so Shakuni stood up, grabbed his sword, and one fell swoop he severed the head of the dwarpal. Wiping the blood from the sword on his clothes, he walked out of his chamber to confront his sister.

"Gandhari!" Shakuni yelled.

"Pranipath BrathaShree." Gandhari's blindfolded face bowed in the direction of her brother's sound.

Shakuni stopped, took a deep breath and shook his head. What was his sister doing? She was not to be married until later today, yet she already had a blindfold on.

"Gandhari... you never once sought permission to enter my chambers. Why all of a sudden?"

"Brathashree, today I get married. After today our homes will be different, our lives will be different. Even though it kills me to ask permission, I had to get used to it."

Shakuni looked away. He couldn't bear to see the blindfold on his sister's eye. "Fine." he mumbled. "What about this blindfold, why are you wearing a blindfold? Or has your blind b***h of a pati--"

"Brathashree. Please respect him, he is my husband and your brother-in-law."

Shakuni groaned, but he managed to restrain himself. "Or has your husband already appeared that you have put on a blindfold."

Gandhari smiled. Her brother's disappointment was something she was used to and she sort of liked it.
"No, he isn't here yet. Messengers have been sent. We are to expect him soon."

Shakuni groaned even louder.

"And Brathashree - father has ordered you to welcome them at the city gates."

Shakuni muttered some curse words to himself in a low enough voice that Gandhari couldn't hear.

"Fine ... I'll go." And saying so he turned around and walked back into his chamber leaving Gandhari behind. As she heard his footsteps disappear in the distance, Gandhari slowly lifted her blindfold and wiped her tears. The only good use in this blindfold, she thought, was that it could excellently hide tears.

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The dust of hundreds of horse-carried carriages and soldier were seen in the distance. An elephant sounded his trumpet like trunk signaling the arrival of the Prince of Hastinapur in Gandhar. Shakuni managed to hide his disappointment and waited.

"Halt" a loud voice shot across the ground and the carriages, soldiers, and elephant all slowed to a stop. "We have arrived in Gandhar!"

Moments later, a figure clad in white armor, white dhoti, and a white crown made his way over to where Shakuni was standing.

"Gandhar Yuvraaj Shakuni was it?"

"Your memory is top notch of scion of Bharata. Please accept my obeisances."

"May you live long Shakuni. May you prosper. Tell me, all is well with you and your family."

"By the grace of your excellency and that of Lord Shiva."

"Good. Now I understand the situation you are going through. Your sister being married to my blind nephew Dhritrastra."

Shakuni smirked. "Me? Going through a situation? You have it all wrong oh son of Ganga. I create situations, I watch situations, I destroy situations. But I never go through a situation."

Bhishma looked at Shakuni questioningly. He shook his head and smiled. "You are a true kshatriya oh heir of Gandhar." He paused. "I also have a request from your future brother-in-law."

Shakuni managed to restrain his anger. He smiled sweetly and said, "Pray tell me what my - uhh.." He licked his lips. "My - uhh - my brother-in-law requested." Oh that felt like a thousand knives had stabbed him in his abdomen.

"He requested that you ride with him on his elephant until they reach the palace."

Shakuni laughed. "I am the relative of the bride. How can I possibly ride on top of the elephant alongside the groom?"

"He requested as such."

Shakuni licked his lips and bit his lower lip. Hmm this might be an excellent opportunity. "Challo teek hain."

Together Bhishma and Shakuni made their way to the elephant and moments later Shakuni was seated in front of Dhritrastra, facing his blind brother in law..

"Pranipath Bratha Shakuni." The young prince of Hastinapur said.

Shakuni just nodded. He looked carefully at the future groom. He wasn't bad looking. He was definitely muscular and well built. With long curly locks falling to his shoulder, and a smile on the face, Shakuni felt himself somewhat attracted to him.

"How is my dear Gandhari?" Dhritrastra asked.

Shakuni immediately looked alarmed. For a second there, he had felt some sort of attraction to this blind fool. But he was back to his old self. "She is doing fine.She has decided to wear a blindfold for you."

"She has? But why?"

"You tell me. Honestly, I told her not to do it. But she wouldn't listen to me."

"You did, did you? I'll have to have a talk with her after our marriage."

Shakuni smiled. Blind as the groom was, he had agreed with him.

"You know Bratha Shakuni ..."

"Hmm.."

"No never mind. It's too embarrassing."

"Tell me, it's okay. I mean I have to get used to you being my brother in law, so we might as well start somewhere."

"Well ... before I came, I asked my brother Pandu how I looked and he said I looked like the most beautiful man on earth. I asked Mothers Amba and Ambalika and they both kissed my forehead and said I look like the most charming man on earth. I asked Grandmother Satyavati and she stroked my cheek and said that I looked like the perfect groom. I finally asked my uncle Bhishma's opinion and he said that I looked like Kamadev personified. Sadly my youngest brother Vidura, who never lies, wasn't there so I couldn't get a truthful answer. Bratha Shakuni -- how do I look?"

Shakuni raised his eyebrows. That was an interesting question, perhaps this was why Dhritrastra called him up on the elephant.

"You ... you look great."

"Tell me how I look please. All I can do is feel my features but ..."

"Uhh... I honestly -"

"Please... for Gandhari's sake?"

Dhritrastra played the right card because Shakuni love for his sister made him agree.

"Okay. You have a strong chin, your eyes are like --"

"If you don't mind Bratha Shakuni, could I feel your face?"

"Woah what?"

"Please?"

Oh what the hell, he thought.

"Fine." Shakuni said and he reached for Dhritrastra's hands. When their hands met, Shakuni paused and breathed heavily. Dhritrastra's hands were large, roughly a little more than one and a half times the size of Shakuni's. Shakuni guided both hands to his face and as Dhritrastra clasped Shakuni's face, Shakuni's eyes rolled back. He slowly guided one hand over his eyes, his large nose, his ears, and lastly his lips.

The seat shook and Shakuni fell forward into the warm - what he thought was an embrace - arms of his brother in law. He felt comforted, he felt calm, he felt happy.

Dhritrastra, however was not very pleased. He just wanted to paint a picture of Shakuni in his mind so as to know his future brother in law better, but now his future brother in law was in his arms. What was this about? Thinking it was the way of the folks of Gandhar, Dhritrastra allowed Shakuni to thus hug him.

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Meanwhile, one of Gandhari's sakis ran up to Gandhari.

"Rajkumari Gandhari, guess what!!" She was absolutely thrilled at the news she brought.

"What is it Priyamvada?"

"Rajkumari, I just saw Yuvraaj Shakuni embrace Rajkumar Dhritrastra!!"

Gandhari's eyes opened wide. She was jubilant, she was joyful, she was blown out of this world - her brother had finally accepted her husband!

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When the party stopped at the guest palace, Shakuni regained his normal posture and feeling slightly embarrassed over his new feelings, he sheepishly looked down.

"Bratha Shakuni. This was an interesting manner of welcome you Gandharians have."

"Well ... to tell you the truth, our style is fairly open. We welcome all as a part of our -"

*wink*

"family." Shakuni finished. He licked his lips as he stared at Dhritrastra,

"It's an interesting tradition."

"Reserved for only the specialist of people."

Dhritrastra smiled. What a sweet brother in law he had.

As both slowly made their way down the elephant, Dhritrasta large hands holding Shakuni's small hands, Shakuni felt a shiver down his spine.

"Bratha Shakuni - would you like to join me for some lunch sometime? I would love to get to know you more."

"As would I" **wink** "Dhritrastra."

"So how does tomorrow noon sound? We can meet and ..."

"Consider me there oh greatest of the Kurus. Let's call it a date." *wink*

"Wonderful." And Dhritrastra made his way inside the palace, led by a few servants.

Bhishma - who had been noticing the conversation ever since both princes descended from the elephant couldn't help but think what all the winking was about.

He walks over to a Gandhar attendant and asks "Has your prince Shakuni always had an eye problem?"

"I'm afraid I don't know what you mean your excellency." The attendant said.

"I've noticed Shakuni has been winking a lot."

"Oh there is nothing to fear oh great one. Our Shakuni uses his eyes to convey messages to all of us. For example, one wink of his left eye means that everything is safe. Three winks however means trouble, immediately lift your arms."

Bhishma was surprised. What an interesting system. He might have to investigate into using that system too. It would have come in handy during all the wars, especially his feud with Amba and during his battle with Parsurama. Smiling at the brilliance of his nephew's relative, he walked into his palace thinking how this winking system would have saved him from Amba's curse.

"Aare Dasu, why did you lie to Mahamahim Bhishma? Yuvraaj Shakuni only winks when he is attracted to the opposite person. There isn't a system."

Dasu laughed and winked