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sad ending😭...but beautifully written...👏
plz update ugly truth.................. but with a happy ending......
Hey guys,
Beads of perspiration trickled down the woman's face. She screamed, one last time before the child was pushed out. Immediately the baby started crying. The cry was heart rendering, like a grave injustice had been done to the child by bringing it in the world. Not even the mother's warmth and her comforting chest managed to please the child. The boy was inconsolable for hours.
Nine months later a girl was happily born a few villages away. She came a month earlier, eager to be born. Eager to meet her incomplete family. She didn't cry, just looked around her as if she was waiting for someone. Her wait would end in her 17th monsoon.
Bichhde abhi to ham bas kal parson
Jioongi main kaise, is haal mein barson
Under the reign of Vikramaditya Chandragupta, the kingdom had flourished. Like his father Samudragupta and his grandfather Chandragupta, Vikramaditya Chandragupta had maintained the stability of his empire. He alliances with neighboring kingdoms through treaties or marriage alliances like his father and grandfather had done and conquered other kingdoms and reinstated the kings under his reign and influence. Buddhism and Hinduism prevailed. It was the age of the intellectuals. Arithmetics, drama, literature and philosophy'even the street vendor knew the basics. In this environment the tale of two lovers would become famous.
The head of the village had been ill for days. After the demise of his wife his health only had been worsening, but now the hopes of him getting better were diminishing every day. He had one worry. He had no successor. He only had a daughter. A daughter who was not remotely interested in the welfare of the village. She enjoyed her life with her friends or more accurately, group of followers. As the daughter of the village-head she was more interested in what she could get from the villagers rather that what she could do for the village and the villagers. He regretted that his servant's daughter wasn't his. The girl, unlike his own daughter worked day and night for his house. She worked in the fields and helped in the neighboring villages. She knew what every person wanted, what they needed and how much they needed. She was spirit full, never dejected, no matter what day and what time it was.
But there were times that she would stare out of the window, looking for something'.someone. He asked her a few times, but she never answered. She just smiled enigmatically and went about with her chores. He wished she could get married to a good guy who would take care of her. She spent her nights on the floor of the house. The cold, the wind' nothing mattered to her. She was in happy in her world.
'Sarasvati!' the village-head called from his bed. 'Where is Supriya?'
'Sir, she has gone to the lake with her friends.' A sweet voice answered from behind the house. 'She will be back before the sun will set 'Do you need anything?'
'Water.' The man coughed.
The soft steps on the floor moved towards the man. A girl held a metal cup in her hands. She wasn't tall, nor exceptionally beautiful. She had a pleasant face. She moved swift like the wind. Her body had the voluptuousness of a women, but her face the innocence of a child. But her most attractive features were her brown eyes. They sparkled at any time, even in the worst situations. She could talk with them. She never told a soul that those eyes talked to her too. It happened when she was alone drifting in her own world, somewhere far away. She would look in them as the color would change and someone would stare back at her through her own eyes. They held a mystery unknown to man. Even Sarasvati didn't know why her eyes could held her in arrest when she looked at her reflection. It felt like she wasn't looking at herself. Her brown eyes turned black like someone else was looking at her. Someone close to her heart..but far removed in body.
'Sarasvati, cook something nice today. Today is very special day.' Her master told her.
The girl nodded and then turned around to attend to her chores when the man stopped her. 'Don't you want to know what is going to happen?"
She just laughed. 'You cant keep anything for yourself. So I will get to know anyway.' She giggled. She turned more serious when she stopped giggling. 'It isn't my place to ask sir.' Sarasvati said with her eyes downcast.
'Why? Aren't you my daughter too?'
She nodded. ' I am'.but I am also your slave, your servant too sir.'
'No'.you are my daughter. And you will stay that way. Always.
You know. There is man coming from a neighboring village. They say is a fine man. Quite influential too in his and the next two villages. I want him to marry my Supriya. Then I will be able to rest in peace.'
Sarasvati nodded her head and turned towards the stove. She looked at the vegetables she had piled on a plate and thought for a while.
'Sir! Can I go the fields? I want to get something special to serve to the guests.'
When she got permission from her master, with the message that she should tell Supriya to come home as soon as possible if she would see her, Sarasvati tidied her appearance a bit, took a bundle of clothes under her arm and left towards the end of the village. She could also have a bath on the way back from the fields. Due to the rain of the pervious night the fields would be muddy and she would get dirty. When the master's guest would come she would have to serve them. She would rather do that without mud under her nails or on her feet. On her way over the dusty paths she encountered a group of girls bathing in the lake. Sarasvati smiled when she saw the girl who was the centre of all attraction. She called out to her.
'Supriya ma'am!'
The chirping and chattering of the girls silenced immediately. 'Your father wants you to reach home as soon as possible.' Sarasvati shouted towards the girls.
The girl laughed and waved at her servant. 'Where are you going?'
'I am going to the field. Master wants something special for his guest.'
'He is still coming?' The girl asked in surprise. 'I told my father that I am not interested! I don't want to marry!' the girl shouted. Sarasvati looked surprised. Not because of the outburst. That was Supriya's method of getting her way. But she was surprised that Supriya had this outburst in public, knowing that her father had a status in this village and that something like this could be used against him as slowly the struggle for the status of the village head was erupting around them. Just walking around the village in five short minutes, she had heard about an informal meeting in the house of the vendor, devidas. He was one of the ten people with his eyes on the position. A greedy man with a lot of money, he was eyeing the powerful position for a long time. Now the village head was ill he had seen his chance and was trying to win support of the villagers and the neighboring villages. An outburst like this, in front of other people, even though they were Supriya's friends, could weaken the position of the village head.
' ma'am, master will be very pleased if you joined him.'
Supriya turned her back on Sarasvati and waded further into the lake. Sarasvati didn't try to reason to her anymore. She knew Supriya since their childhood and knew that she would come around in time. Supriya loved her father a lot, even though they didn't agree most of the times. Often one of them would compromise. It was how their relationship worked. The master knew that he had spoilt his daughter a lot. At the age if eighteen she was still unmarried while most of the girls here age were mothers. He had waited till he could find the best groom possible for his daughter. For a long time Sarasvati wished that she had a father like her master. She didn't know her father. She had never seen her. Her mother died when she was a little girl. The memories of her mother had faded away a long time ago. After her mother's death she was brought to this villiage by the master and he had kept her in his house. She had a good life. The master was nice to her. Supriya treated her well and the only one who used to taunt her and hit her, the master's wife, had died a few years ago.
Sarasvati smiled and walked away towards the fields. She picked out the vegetables she wanted, and hoped the guest would like and returned to the lake. As expected, her hands and feet were covered with mud. The small pouch of clothes she had tied on her back with a cloth. Even though a part of the lake was secluded for the women in the village, a lot a boys came this side, hid in the bushes and looked at the women. At this time of the day Sarasvati was alone near the lake. She decided to go near stream with the small waterfall. It was a secluded area in the forest and not often visited.
The water of the stream was pleasantly cold. Sarasvati washed her hands in the stream and untied the pouch on her back. She looked one last time around her to make sure she was secluded by the bushes and trees before she undressed herself and wrapped her body in a colored piece of fabric. Sarasvati waded into the stream with her belongings on the land.
While scrubbing her skin with a handful of dry sand, she untied her hair and carefully walked through the water, towards the waterfall. Seated on a rock under the fall Sarasvati started scrubbing the skin on her arms and legs. Enjoying her bath, Sarasvati missed the soft steps of a horse. She missed a man's quest for water, bending branches, stepping on the soft wet grass and cutting through bushes with his knife. She missed the man on the land, drinking the clear water eagerly to quench his thirst. She missed the dark eyes set on her, when he finally noticed the young girl bathing under the waterfall as he looked up. An unique, unfelt thirst arose, something that felt hidden deeply inside him and suddenly took birth and grew. It was a spell, some powerful, compelling magic that made the man step into the water and wade through the stream towards the girl. She had hidden her face behind a curtain of sorcerous black hair. He had no other option than to touch it. She turned her face in shock and at that moment he was held captive. By the moment. By the beautiful eyes that stared back at him. The soft quiver of her young frame and the sigh that escaped from her lips when she saw him. She looked at him when she gasped and her lips parted. What made him do this he didn't know, but he leaned forward, now also wetting his hair and upper body which had been spared by the water until then, pressed his lips against her and hauled her against himself. Still seated on the rock, her body was rigid in his arms. His lips moved over hers when she relaxed.
It was an illusion, but also the most substantial truth of their lives. It was something that had been a part of them, but only discovered moments ago. The thirst had changed and remained unquenched when the sound of a horse in distress reached them. He got pushed away. Before he could even have a final glance at the girl, she ran away as fast as she could through the stream. She stood still for a while when she gathered her belongings and ran off. Something vital to him left with her.
Sarasvati ran as fast as she could. Near the end of the forest she stood still to catch her breath. She didn't have the strength in her arms to carry anything when she dropped her clothes and the vegetables in a bundle, on the ground and touched her still tingling lips. How could she do this? How could she let a strange man touch her like this? So intimately? How could she face her master now. He treated her like a daughter and being a servant in his house, if someone would have seen her he would be embarrassed. She didn't even know what the man intended to do. 'How could I be so stupid?" Sarasvati cried.
She shivered in the wind as it touched the drops on her skin and the wet fabric around her. Sarasvati quickly changed her clothes and tried to tie he hair as well as she could when her hands kept shaking. She gathered her clothes and walked towards the village on legs that refused to move. The man's image was etched on her mind. Those eyes. They looked so familiar to her.
' Sarasvati!' the village head called her barely moments after Sarasvati had set foot in the house.
'I'm coming sir.' Sarasvati said, after which she practically ran towards him.
'Sarasvati have you seen Supriya?'
Sarasvati nodded. ' I asked her to come. Isn't she home yet?'
The man sighed and dismissed her. Sarasvati returned to her place, the kitchen, and prepared a meal. It had to be good. The master was worried about the village and this alliance might save him. Every tiny detail was of utmost importance. Sarasvati worked on the food, tidied the house and came back to the stove when she needed water. She removed the lid from the vessel when her own reflection captured her attentions. Involuntarily she untied her still wet hair. A wave of familiarity washed over her. In the distance she could hear metal clashing against metal. She caressed her smooth face, but for some reason she expected a gash on her eyebrow. She felt nothing. She didn't feel marks on her neck or scars on her cheeks. Ripples originated in the smooth surface when she touched the water. Those eyes. It weren't her eyes Sarasvati saw in the vessel. It were the eyes she often saw in her own reflection. It were the eyes of the man under the waterfall. A shiver ran down her spine. She promptly removed her hand out of the vessel.
The neighing of a horse drew her attention. Judging by the voices, someone had joined the village head who was seated in front of the house. She jumped on her feet and ran towards the entrance of the house when she was heard another voice calling out to her master. The person left when the village head entered the house and grabbed her by the arm. Her heart sank when she felt the powerful grip. Did he find out about what had happened at the waterfall?
He dragged her further away from the entrance. 'Supriya has run away from home. She left with Devidas' son. Prateek.' He told her.
Sarasvati gasped audibly. Devidas
'She will be back'.some boys from the village are going to them back. Till that time I need you to dress like her.'
Sarasvati stared at the man.
'Till the time she doesn't come back you will wear her clothes. Keep your face covered.'
This time Sarasvati knew that it wasn't a request. This was an order from a master to his slave. Sarasvati was given Supriya's best clothes to wear.
Sarasvati carefully hid her face with the veil when she served the guest water. Nervous as she was, she wished this moment quickly to be over.
She escaped to the storageroom, her personal room and was about to remove the beautiful clothes when she felt the presence of someone in the small space.
'It was you.' She heard a soft voice tell her.
Sarasvati quickly turned around to see the same eyes stare at her. The eyes she so frequently saw when her mind was making illusions, the eyes she saw today for the first time. The memory of their encounter still fresh on her mind and her lips, she couldn't force herself to avert her gaze from him. His eyes were dark, as dark as she had often seen in her own eyes. They were brooding, mysterious, yet completely accessible to her when they changed color slightly and turned brown. Like hers.
He cupped her face while she kept staring at the man. The man was goodlooking, there was no doubt about that. His presence alone filled the room, she couldn't escape it. His posture revealed the maturity of a powerful, talented man, confident of himself, but his face, his body revealed the boyishness'a boy standing on the threshold of becoming a man.
With a soft touch he cupped her face and caressed her already claimed lips with his thumb.
'I accept.' He whispered, breaking the magical moment.
' I accept to this alliance. I want to marry you.' He whispered before he left the room. Sarasvati stood rooted to the ground. Before she even managed to move a step she heard a horse gallop away. A few minutes later a crying Supriya was brought in. Some of the boys had stopped Supriya before she could even manage to reach her lover. Later on the boys had reached the place where he had promised to meet her. No one was there and very conveniently Devidas arrived minutes later. It had been a ploy to disgrace the villagehead and Supriya had been saved and realized the gravity of the predicament she was in, when her father slapped her and restricted her from stepping out of the house. She haw been ordered to do what he said and getting married was one of the things the villagehead had ordered her to do, to the man he had chosen. The thought of the groom caught Sarasvati's attention again. She had to do something. He needed to know he wasn't marrying her. She was merely the slave, the servant and not at all who he thought she was. But how could she do that? She didn't know where he lived, what he did. She didn't even know his name. And even though her master treated her better than most of the servants were treated, she knew her position in this house. Even more, she knew that in these circumstances she would be stepping out of her boundaries. Still, she didn't leave a chance to get to know more about the groom. Veer was his name and he originated from a few village further. He had no family. His mother died a few years after his birth. His father had remarried but after his father's dead he had no affinity with his step-mother.
The people in his village admired him because of his courage and his cleverness. He was large-hearted. His father, a wealthy man, had left him quite some wealth that he had used only for the betterment of the village. He had constructed a safe place for children to play, free of snakes, scorpions and other dangerous animals. He made sure that everyone had a field of their own to grow crops for their own family. He even visited and convinced the king to excuse their taxes when the monsoon had ruined all the crops but the representative of the king kept pestering the villagers.
In every way he would be a suitable and worthy successor to be part of the village council and head of the village and if chosen to be, a representative of the people in the court of the king..
Even though she tried to be, Sarasvati couldn't reach him. The boys of the village made the most outrageous suggestions as a reward. She started avoiding them now. It didn't make any sense actually. She grew up with these boys, she played with them but suddenly she was just a servant to them. She held no importance to them as their childhood play-friend. Throughout the years she turned into someone they could make ludicrous and lewd comments to and treat her as they wanted.
For days she tried to find a way, think of a way so she could warn him. But every time she looked at her master she would think of the village where little struggles for power were erupting. She couldn't really convince herself to find the man and tell him that he wasn't getting married to the woman he thought.
The marriage was rushed as much as possible. Work was piled on Sarasvati. She rushed from one place to another as her master's health worsened . Supriya wasn't complying either as she blamed her father for not being able to unite with her lover. But the marriage happened. Sarasvati dressed Supriya herself, drew the veil over her face and disappeared as she heard the groom and his friends and family arrive. She had one last chance of warning the groom, but out of selfishness for her master and his wellbeing she chose not to use it. She waited in the background till the priest finished chanted the Vedic rites. The couple had taken the sacred rounds around the fire and exchanged the flower garlands Sarasvati had made earlier that day. With a sigh she served the guests that had come to the wedding and made a beeline to the storage room where she huddled into a corner waiting till for the feeling of being a deceiver would fade away.
It was late that night when someone barged into the room. It didn't take a long while before she guessed who it was when a hand encircled her wrist roughly and pulled her on her feet. ' Who are you?'
Sarasvati couldn't raise her eyes. ' Sarasvati.'
' Who did I marry?'
' Supriya ma'am. The village head's daughter.'
' Who did she want to marry?'
Sarasvati gasped wondering what had happened in the short time Supriya had been married.
' Devidas' son, Prateek. But he deceived her.'
' Does she know that?'
Sarasvati nodded her head. 'But she doesn't believe her father.'
She felt herself being pushed against the cool clay wall. The obscurity of the closed room added a layer of tension over the apprehensiveness and the guilt she was feeling. The man left her wrist and walked to the small hole in a wall on the side of the room which Sarasvati used as a window. The suffocation didn't lessen though.
' Who are you?' he asked her, barely audible.
' I am their servant.'
A long silence followed.
' I thought I was marrying you.' He whispered.
' I am sorry.'
His chocked voice made her hold back her own tears, ' Why did you do this?' He asked her.
' I'I tried to tell you but you left and after that''.I cant betray my master.' She whispered finally.
'You didn't mind betraying me?'
' I don't know you.'
' You really think so?' he said when he turned around. The tears on his boyish face were a witness of his agony as the moonlight betrayed the innocence and immaturity of the mere eighteen years he had completed.
Sarasvati nodded weakly.
' So you don't mind that my wife told me she doesn't want to be with me?'
Sarasvati shook her head.
'You also don't mind hearing that I married someone I don't feel anything for?'
She shook her head again.
' You don't mind saying that I have fallen in love with you ever since I saw you?'
Sarasvati shook her head again. Veer stood looking at her as if he had seen her before. In the exact same position, in the same way as Sarasvati quickly realized what she had answered to which question.
Maut na aayi teri yaad kyon aayi
Hay lambi judai
Sarasvati composed herself.
' you should leave.'
' Why?'
' Someone will see you here.'
' So?'
' It wont be good. You will be the next head of the village council. It's a sin. You are from a higher cast, I am a slave. It is a sin. You need to leave otherwise'..
what is your name?'
'S's''Sarasvati.' She mumbled.
His steps towards her silenced her. His hand on her cheek confused her. His lips on hers bewitched her.
I want you. He said when he pulled her closer to himself. She didn't refuse, nor did she comply. She just went along on the tide of emotions and sensations that was a part of him, transferred to her and surrounded them like a mystical fog. Their impatience and eagerness betrayed their youth as the silence of the night engulfed them. The little ray of moonlight illuminated their faces as they looked at each other and let their hands search for each other, run over each others' skin as they parted with their clothes and slid to the cold clay floor. They came together as they looked at each other and sought for each other. Sarasvati closed her eyes as she felt herself losing all control over herself. Droplets of tears rolled down her cheek when the girl in her made room for a woman. A woman who instinctively knew how to love, even though the man she loved was someone she barely knew. He kissed away her tears when she called him by his name.
'I thought I would marry you.' He mumbled when he kissed her temple one last time lay down next to her.
Sarasvati started crying as she realized the gravity of what they had done. The man lying next to her was the son-in-law of the man she worked for, her master. This man would be the successor and heir to her master'.it made him the decider of her fate if they master died. The man she was lying next to got married, barely a sunset ago, to the woman in who's house, on who's mercy she lived, because of whom's father she had survived until now.
Veer saw the myriad of emotions flash over Sarasvati's face. The joy and tranquility of their togetherness made place of guilt and sorrow.
'You regret this?' He asked her tentatively, scared to hear the answer himself.
'I betrayed them.'
He threw his arm around her and hugged her. The heath of their bodies Sarasvatished the cold radiating from the floor.
' They betrayed me.' Veer whispered.
' They had to. The future of the village depended on this alliance, on you.'
'I don't want it'.I want you'.I am going to decline the post. I don't need it.'
'you don't need it.' Sarasvati said. 'But we need it'.the village needs it'.the council needs it'..will you abandon all of this'let it go into the wrong hands? '
'What do you suggest me to do then?' Veer asked. 'Live with this betrayal? A wife who doesn't want me? A woman I want, but who isn't my wife?'
Sarasvati looked at him. The hurt, the anger'..it was so familiar. Even before she could see his emotions on his transparent face, she could guess it. She could feel it'like she was connected to him.
'You have to do this.' She said when she caressed the harsh lines marring his face to bring back the soft features.
'On one condition.' He said when he took her hand in his. 'You have to meet me tomorrow. Near the waterfall.'
Veer was trained into the customs of the village council and the traditions the village-head had to adhere. His young age made him many enemies who made their jealously do vile things, but Veer endured and conquered all with a smile on his lips. In a short period of time the villagers had accepted him and came to him with their problems, big and small. He was the head of two villages and well-wisher of several others. As the head of the villagecouncil Veer frequently travelled to the court of the king with his suggestions, complaints and advise which was duly received and at times implemented. Veer had moved away from the villiageheads' house towards his own. A clayhouse not far from the forest. Supriya had refused to move with Veer, causing a lot of tongues to wag, but Veer seemed indifferent. He ignored the comments of Surpiya visiting her lover. He didn't care for her much. The person he did care for came to him, every day. And for the short period of time they spent together, she had made his house into a home. She had left her mark on his life. Supriya conveniently forgotten, Sarasvati reveled in the comfortable relationship they had together. Every stolen moment she could find was for him. She smiled as he smiled, laughed as he turned stubborn, cried as he was hurt and loved him, as he loved her. For the first time in her life Sarasvati was happy. She finally belonged somewhere. Not because of what she did for someone, but because she was there. Just her presence mattered to him. And Veer'..he had found his home. The home that his mother's death had taken away from him. He didn't wander anymore, slept under the stars at night, knowing that his step-mother wouldn't welcome him in the house. He came home every night, knowing that Sarasvati would be worried when she would find out that he stayed out late in the night, in the dark. Together they dreamt of a life, far from the village. A life where they could be together, live together. Where they could be a couple. Lovers in every sense, not only in the darkness of the night or the stolen moments of the day.
Sarasvati had trouble looking her master in the eye. She knew she was betraying his trust. But she couldn't stop herself. She was drawn to Veer like a moth to a flame. The outcome would be as fateful as of the moth, but that knowledge didn't even scare her, or Veer. The punishment of inter-cast relationships were severe, but it didn't matter to them. They had built their own world where they were happy. Nothing else mattered. Not even the knowledge that Supriya had supposedly realized her lover's betrayal.
It was one such day that Sarasvati had managed to leave her master's house to get water. Around this time of the day they knew that Sarasvati always took her time as she would have her bath, but they didn't know that nowadays she hurried through her bath. When the sun would be at the highest point, no one would work in the fields. Even Veer would be at home resting.
'Sshhh'.sleep.' Sarasvati pressed Veer's head to the bed when he raised it for a few stolen kisses. 'I have to go.' She stood up to gather her clothes when she felt his grip around her wrist.
'Don't.'
'I have to.' Sarasvati whined. 'I have to cook. I am late as it is.' She pressed a kiss on the back of his hand. He left her wrist finally. She walked around him and flung her arms around his waist as she dropped soft kisses on his warm back. 'I love you.' She murmured against his skin.
'You have to come tonight.' Veer ordered her when she smiled mischievously. 'What if I don't? '
'I'll slap you.'
'Really?' she giggled while she dressed herself. 'We'll see.'
She ran out of the house with the vessel of water perched on one hip, looking forward to the moment where she would have to bring Veer his meal, as per his father-in-law's orders.
Sarasvati didn't came. Instead Supriya came to a house that per definition should be hers, but she had not wanted to accept, nor had Veer given her the right to call it her own.
She brought him his evening supper and stood hesitantly near the entrance.
'I am sorry Veer.' She whispered softly. 'I haven't understood you. Or my father. If I would have believed you earlier, than I wouldn't end up feeling so bad.'
Veer smiled compassionately at her. The feeling of compassion over the betrayal she had suffered. Something both of them had in common when he remembered their marriage. 'It is all right Supriya. You don't have to apologize. It wasn't your fault.'
Supriya sighed in relief. ' When should I come?'
'come where?'
'here ofcourse.'
'Who said you can come here? ' Veer asked her.
'I am your wife Veer'.I mean..shouldn't I live here?' Surpya asked him.
' no.' He repied frankly. ' I don't think so. If not for the wedding rites, we wouldn't be married at all. In all this time we haven't shared a thing and''those rites were fake too.'
'What do you mean fake?'
'I thought you were someone else'.you wished I was someone else too. We have not married each other, we have married other people. Images we carried of them. Do you really consider that a marriage?' Veer asked.'
The people do.' Supriya answered. 'My father does'the council who accepted you because of this marriage does.'
'I know. That is why I am leaving all this.' Veer told her the decision he had made days ago, but not shared with anyone. Not even Sarasvati. 'Everything in your village is stable now. There are no powerstruggles anymore and I long to be somewhere else.' Veer told her. 'I have already seen a worthy successor. I will hand over everything to him and I will be gone.'
Supriya was quiet for while. 'You can't do that'.what will I do?'
'I don't know. ' Veer answered calmly. 'you are free to do what you want. I will speak to your father tomorrow.'
Supriya turned on her heels towards the entrance. She glanced at a serene Veer before she left. 'I cant let you leave like this Veer. It will devastate my reputation if you do.'
Veer waited well into the night for Sarasvati. He needed to share his plans with her. ask her to come with him so they could be together. He would do anything to take her away from her e to a place where they can start their own life together. Veer had more than enough wealth to buy her from her master and compensate him for the loss he would incur. He would take care of everything, as long as she would come with him. He waited for her in the house, didn't even go the fields. She came that day at the usual time. The sun was on its highest point. But today she didn't went about in the house, straightening things that were already perfectly placed or better yet, flinging himself in his arms while she wanted to hear that he had missed her.
She stood still in the house, near the entrance, digging the sand with her toes.
'What happened?' Veer asked her. 'why didn't you come last night?'
She lowered her eyes and took her lower lip between her teeth.
'tell me.' Veer said impatiently while he chewed on the food she had brought.
'I'..I mean you'.I mean.' She stammered.
'What!'
'You are going to be a father.' She blurted out in one breath.
'What did you say?' Veer asked her.
'You are going to be a father.' She whispered softly this time.
Veer walked towards her. Every step he took made Sarasvati's heart pound faster. She didn't know how he would react. Loving someone who was a slave, a servant was one thing. Having a child with a lower-cast woman was another.
Every moment of silence threatened to shred her heart to pieces....when she felt herself being pulled in a bone crushing embrace. He released her suddenly before he took her lips.
'We are leaving.' Veer said after a while. 'And you are coming with me''you will wont you? ' he asked tenderly.
Sarasvati nodded. 'I'll go anywhere with you.'
He kissed her again. The knot that held her cloths together loosened slowly when she felt his lips slide over her lips, down her throat, towards'''.
A hand roughly pulled at her hair and slammed her on the floor.
She hear an agitated scream belonging to Veer. Four men, amongst one Devidas and another his son held Veer by his arms.
'I told you, didn't I Supriya.' Prateek said. 'I told you your husband is with that servant of yours.'
'Leave me!' Veer ordered them while he struggled against their holds.
'didn't I tell you Supriya? Pretend you want to be with him again and he will reject you for her. At least I didn't.'
Supriya looked at the man she had married unwillingly and the man she still loved holding him. He had promised her to make her his wife if she would help him be the village-head. She badly wanted to be his wife and would do anything for her love. After all, love was always the right, wasn't it? Love conquered all didn't it?
She looked at her husband of a few months who looked at the girl on the floor and tried to fight the men. Why did the look in the eyes of the man she loved not match the look of the man who looked at her servant? She couldn't face at any of them when Devidas pulled Sarasvati on her feet by her hair.
'You tramp!' he hissed at her. 'You enjoy being with men don't you! Let's see whether you like this.' He threw her on the floor again and bent over her. Sarasvati tried to push him away with every bit of strength she possessed while Veer partly managed to free himself. One of the men had to release Veer's hand. He grabbed Devidas' throat and pulled him off Sarasvati. The grip around the throat tightened till Devidas struggled for breath. 'don't you dare touch her.' Veer threatened him.
Prateek grabbed a piece of wood from the hands of one of the men he had brought along and hit Veer on his head. Sarasvati screamed when she saw him waver on his feet. She ran towards him and took the weight of his body on her own.
Run. Veer whispered. Leave from here as soon as you find an opportunity.'
Sarasvati stroke his head softly. How can I leave you?' she whispered.
They were torn apart as the men dragged Veer towards the village-square.
Veer could barely keep his eyes open, but looked around for Sarasvati. He heard her scream in the distance. Someone was dragging her behind him. Veer stretched his arms a few time, trying to hit someone, but couldn't move much. Veer couldn't see through the blood gushing down his temple and forehead, blurring his vision. He felt himself being tied to a post as someone screamed.
Sarasvati saw the villagers gather around them.
'Look at them!' Devidas shouted. 'This is your village-head.' He shouted at the villagers.
'Your village-head is sleeping with his slave. They are going to have a child! Your leader broke the rules defined by this village, the rules of the Gods!'
'Banish them!' a voice rose from the crowd.
'Just a banishment won't be enough!' Devidas shouted. 'This slave.' He pointed at Sarasvati.' And her lover! The leader! We need to punish them so they will be an example for all the people who will defy our rules!!'
Sarasvati didn't know what happened, but the next moment she saw fire and a wooden pile erected around Veer. Who had held her down she didn't know but she managed to free herself and ran as fast as she could towards Veer, who was slumping forward, tied to the pole by his wrists.
'Run Sarasvati!' she heard him whisper. 'Run'they wont burn you'they will torture you.'
Someone dragged her away and slapped her on her cheek. Sarasvati fell on the floor. She saw Devidas standing in front of her with a lecherous smile on his lips. The rustling of burning wood alerted her. Flames erupted near Veer's feet.
'No! leave him!'
Sarasvati scrambled up. She looked around her to the villager. She knew these people. She grew up with some of them. Had grown up in front of others. Even so she meant nothing more to them than a servant. Even Supriya stood at the side, looking at them with regret, but never helped them.
'Help him'' she pleaded to the people. 'I'll do anything you will say'just help him'please I am begging you.'
Some of them mumbled. Other's blatantly ignored her, but none of them came forward. Sarasvati freed herself from Devidas' grip. She slapped him hard when he wanted to grab her again and ran towards the burning fire. She dropped herself on her knees to extinguish the raging fire around Veer's feet. She kept going even though she burned her hands and the skin charred away.
'Leave Sarasvati! Run!' Veer shouted when he saw her. The men were approaching her with sticks and tools they used on the fields. Sarasvati turned around when she saw the men too, the lust in their eyes'.the victory of pushing Veer of his throne and having what Veer had'in every way. Sarasvati panicked when she heard Veer's agonized scream as the fire burned his skin now. On the other side she heard the men approach her rapidly. Sarasvati rose. She didn't know what to do next. How to save herself, how to save Veer. She touched her stomach with a soft stroke. On her own she wouldn't be able to protect their child. Without any further thoughts Sarasvati jumped into the raging fire and held the man she loved tightly.
'What have you done?' He asked her as the fire caught both of them and raged higher and higher. She held on tightly. ' Our child'..they would kill it.'
'My child!' a man screamed. The entire village was witness to the previous villagehead running towards the burning stake. 'You burned my child! My daughter!' He yelled at Devidas as he plunged a borrowed sword deeply between the ribs of the man.
Harrowing screams erupted out of the throats of the punished victims, as they felt the burning heat on their skins. Screams that would haunt the village for years''screams that would inspire a poet passing through the village to write a poem, for the very first time in his life. A tale of eternal lovers restricted by their positions in the society. Two lovers who could have met. She was never a slave. She was the carefully hidden, illegitimate daughter of an important man. The poet couldn't bear to write about the grave fate of the lovers he heard about. He rewrote their destiny. He re-wrote their harsh life in a cheerful story. Kalidas wrote the story of Malvika, the princess hidden as a servant and Agnimitram, meaning he who had the fire as his friend, '..a king in love.
chaar dinon ka pyaar ho rabba
Badi lambi judai, lambi judai
Honthon pe aaye meri jaan duhai
Hay lambi judai
Ranju…I am speechless… Yes, I knew this story…Malvikagnimitra…I even wanted to write it down but just couldn't find a way…You write or I write…one and the same thing…I LOVED IT!!!!!!!
God bless
dhani
May your ink never dry…may your nib never break and may your thoughts never evaporate… …Keep writing…
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