If Ram could describe his brother Lakshman in two words, they would not be ruthless and bloodthirsty, or princely and polite, or kind and compassionate, or romantic and artistic. They would be caring and skillful. Lakshman was caring in many ways. He always pressed his feet at night. He followed him to make sure he was alright. He had quickly accepted Ram's betrothed, Sita, as his bhabhi, and soul mother, and he loved his brothers, mothers, and father more than anything. Lakshman's caring could get a little out of control however.
And that out of control caring could lead to the things he was skillful in. For one, he was skillful in warfare. He shot arrows into the dusk, and they could hit deer grazing yards away. He was skillful with the sword, sometimes intimidatingly so. He was skillful with carving statues, and sometimes, when he thought that Ram was mad with him, he would feverishly carve statue after statue, and give them to Ram imploringly. Of course, Ram didn't get mad at Lakshman (as an unspoken rule), so Lakshman had need not have taken such time and patience to apologize, but Ram thought it was a nice gesture all the same. And another thing! Lakshman was very good at being selfless.
So that was all good and great and all, but in romance, Lakshman was definitely not caring and skillful. No, in the terms of romance, Lakshman was singularly, fully, especially, particularly, and solely....clueless. There was no other word to describe him. Day after day after day, Ram and Sita both watched the two (Lakshman, and Sita's younger sister, Urmila), walk about, acting like great friends, which they were, of course, and laughing together, and Ram felt like slapping his face.
Why? Because Urmila was in love with Lakshman. It was terrible, painfully, and so completely obvious how she laughed at everything single he said, and perked up when he entered the room, and teased and taunted him, and immediately did whatever he asked, and-god, the possibilities were endless. Well, Ram supposed, it was painfully obvious to anybody but Lakshman.
Which was sad, because Ram thought that Lakshman was equally in love with Urmila, just in a very UN-obvious way. Ram, of course, did not say anything about it. Shatrughan always teased poor Laksh all about the imminent marriage someday, and Ram would absolutely hate to take his place. But that didn't mean Ram was just going to watch as his brother may let go of the love of his life!
And so, one day, in passing by, Ram cleared his throat and told Lakshman calmly "Hey Laksh! Remember Rajkumar Daura of Angdesh?" Lakshman groaned, slamming his head on the table. It had been quite the surprise when they discovered that the two bullies from Gurukul were actually two princes from allied kingdoms. Ram smiled. "I'll take that as a yes. Well, guess what, Lakshman? Raja Janak is actually thinking of getting Urmila married to him! Imagine that! What a crossing of our lives." Shaking his head as if disbelievingly, Ram turned back to his food as Lakshman froze.
Well, in truth, Raja Janak had voiced the opinion, but immediately got shot down by Sita, who, being a stout Lakshmila shipper herself, said that Daura was a disgusting person, and that he deserved no princess like Urmila. But Lakshman didn't have to know that.
-----O-----
"What are you thinking?" asked Urmila as she and Lakshman walked down the flower gardens thoughtfully. "You look like you are in some state otherworldly or something." She waved her hand in front of his face confusedly, watching as his face didn't even seem to flinch. "HELLO?!" Lakshman jumped away, half stumbling, and running into a tree, his eyes almost popping as she burst into laughter.
"My goodness! People these days! No sense of humility or nothing," he grumbled, rubbing his eyes as if he was fast asleep just minutes ago and Urmila had woken him up from a particularly riveting dream. "If you must know, I was thinking about some foreign kingdom I had once gone to." Urmila raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, mhmm. The prince was really snobbish, but the princess-" She seemed even more intrigued. "Now she was the real demon." She burst into laughter, and Lakshman tried to seem joking as well.
YOU ARE READING
Fleeting Moments-Ramayan Oneshots
Historical Fiction"Things end, but memories last forever." Before he defeated Ravan, before he became the saviour of the world, before he sat upon the throne of Kosala, Ram was a simple prince. Before his wife, Sita, was abducted, before he had to endure endless har...
