I left my tent to head towards the tent where Karna was staying with his family. Just the thought of facing him on the day of his biggest sorrow was haunting me. While I was still on my way I saw Yuyutsu. Yuyutsu was the half brother of swami and was nearly of the same age as swami. His mother was a maid of my mother in law, although my father in law never married the maid, he always proudly declared Yuyutsu as his son. Swami and his brothers had huge love and respect for him. However this all vanished the day he declared his decision to fight for the Pandavas.
He saw me as well but did not wish me rather just moved forward. "You did the right thing by joining the Pandavas", I said. He paused for a while and then turned towards me. "Please bhabhi not you at least. For the past 16 days, I have heard the sarcasm of everyone who was close to me. The Kauravas taunt me, while the Pandava armymen speak at my back that I joined this side to avoid the inevitable loss of my brothers. But bhabhi, am I only one of the brothers of Duryodhan? Is that my only identity? Am I not a human to make my own decisions" I looked at him and calmly said, "Are you saying your feelings or are just trying to justify yourself? Any way I was not being sarcastic, I was just stating what I felt was right. Since you are with Pandavas it is sure that one of the children of Pitasrhi would be on the winning side." He looked at my eyes with a miserable eyes and said, "Yudhisthir is also my brother and I feel that he has more right over the throne and therefore sided with them, but my heart is still with the Kauravas with whom I have grown up, and so I come here everyday to mourn on the death of one or other brothers of mine." He left without hearing any answer from me.
This war was teaching me a new lesson everyday, Vrihsena was so right, wars only prove who are left. What kind of war was this which was making everyone sad.
I proceeded towards the tent of Karna. I first saw Supriya, he was holding the hand of Vrushali. They were sitting all alone in a corner looking just nowhere. I went towards them, I didn't know what shall I say to these ladies who have lost their 5 sons in the last 16 days. "Where is Vrishketu?", I asked more to change calm them down than anything else. I knew that since Vrishketu was to young to participate in the war, he would be definitely saved. "He is with his brothers.", Supriya said calmly, "I want him to get as much brotherly affection as much is possible, before he has no brothers left to shower that love on him." "Please don't say like this Supriya", I said controlling my tears. "I am sure that there would be no more casualty from our side. We have already lost a lot, God would definitely make some balance" I had lied. "Yuvargyi" it was Vrushali this time, "I am from a Suta clan and do not know much about the politics or warfare, but I know one thing for sure. If by some reason the rope connecting the chariot and the horse is broken, the chariot does not stop at that moment, it still goes further for a while and then in the absence of anyone to guide the chariot it meets with an accident. Our army had become similar to that chariot the day Pitamah was shot. It is just going forward without a guiding force, the only thing left is to see when would the accident happen." "I so wish Pitamah was not shot, atleast Karna would have been saved from the warth of this war", the words just popped out of my mouth. "So you still care for Swami." Supriya said with a smile. This was the saddest smile I had ever seen in my life. "Supriya is right Bhanumati", Vrushali said, addressing me by my name for the first time. "Swami had always kept friendship above every other relation in his life. He would have probably gone against his mother had Radha ma asked him to leave the side of Bhrata Duryodhan. And you were the only other friend he had. In fact he could be himself in front of you. Since the day you had accused him, some charm from his life had gone missing. He might have been very contended in his life with his family, post and friends. But he always longed for the relation that he shared with you. Bhanumati, I request you to please meet him once, he needs you today."
I nodded and headed towards the area where Karna was sitting along with swami. I was just near the gate, when I heard their conversation. "I am sure that tomorrow morning I will kill Arjun in the direct combat. I would have killed him today had the sun not set. But anyway luck will not favour him everyday." "Karna please look there it is Vrihsena there," Swami said. I looked in the direction where he had pointed. For a moment I lost all my sense. It was not my Vrihsena, it was rather a few tattered body pieces. two chopped off hands, two chopped off legs, a chopped off head and a rest of the body. For the first day in my life, my heart was filled with immense hatred against Arjun. You can kill someone in a war, but what right do you have mutilate a body. What right you have to not give the family members a last chance to see their loved one. "I think that Maharaj Shalya is using a psychological warfare against me. He is constantly trying to demoralize me. I can change my charioteer but this would be of no use as there is no charioteer in our army who can match SriKrishna." Karna's word broke my chain of thoughts. He did not even look at Vrihsena and behaved as if he did not hear what swami said. "I don't want to discuss the war strategy now", Swami nearly shouted, "I want to talk to my friend and not my army in chief. Please say something to me. Say that you hate me. Say that it is all happening because my foolishness, blame me, curse me but please say something" I saw two drops of tears fall from Karna's eyes but that was it. He said in a very calm voice, "I feel that you have the right on this throne and till the time I am alive Yudhisthir can not become the king. Swami got up in despair. Suddenly he saw me. "I have some important work, I would be back in sometime" he said and came towards me. "Thanks for coming here Bhanu", Swami said as reached near me. "I know that I had lost your faith long back, but my love for you had always remained the same. I wanted you to come to him, but did not want to force you. Please stay with him for some time, probably he would vent out in front of you. He is staying strong in front of his wives. He is trying to show me that all that matters to him is my victory, but we all know that Vrihsena was his lifeline. He needs to admit that he is sad. he needs to cry, he needs to howl. Please Bhanu give him a shoulder" I looked at Swami as he was leaving. After 13 and half year I was looking at my husband with respect and faith. Even in this sad time, a small smile appeared on my face.
I entered the chamber and came in front of Karna. He looked at me with disbelief in his eyes...
Part 4: The final interaction between Karna and Bhanumati. Will she forgive Karna????
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