LOVE: To Infinity And Beyond

Cold fingers, Colder eyes

"I have always wanted you to visit your real home.. to see for yourself what you are the  heir of..", Indra gushes, while I smile and nod politely. I am truly confused whether to call him Indra or father. I guess, I will eventually figure out how to 'behave' with them, but till then, I'll love to just stay silent and nod and smile...

 And, suddenly my hand went up to touch my throat out of its own accord. I was pretty startled by the oddness of my own behaviour. I chuckled softly to myself as Indra turned towards me, frowning. Oh! How did I forget that they have stronger senses than humans? "Umm.. nothing.. sorry", I muttered to him with a sheepish smile. "O no.. its alright my son..", he replied generously. Then the real subject of my curiosity came up. "How does this chariot fly, In-- Pitashree..?", I asked enthusiastically. "Its all about the Deva technologies, my son. These technologies are not very technical, though. They are pretty much related to the divine energies.. All courtesy to the Neelkanth..", he concluded, his voice heavy  with some emotion   which I recognized as a combination of Bhakti, regret and sorrow. His face fell and the look on his face reminded me of the face of a child who has been separated in the huge crowd of a fair from both his parents. A part of me said that they should be regretful for not being able to save the life and honour of Sati, but the other part said that I should somehow try to put an end to the sorrow of the Devas by telling them that their ultimate Lord and his Lady aren't lost in void, their another saviour and support-- Lord Vishnu and his wife too aren't lost. I thought of giving the hint of some metaphorical vacation to him, but well, who am I? Just a human. Maybe Indradev is the lucky man's Godfather, but just like all other humans, he too isn't supposed to know about all the past events or the absence of Shiva-Sati or Lakshmi-Narayan-- their hopes and faiths will be shattered. But, luckily for them, some of them already know that Lord Krishna is the avatar of Lord Narayana; something is better than nothing..  

As I ascended the final stairs to the doors of Heaven. And, realization with respect to memory, hit me.... My last visit here holds the memory of that fateful meeting with Daksha, the insults which I paid no heed to, and She did-- on a very different yet very similar occasion, later on. Oh no.. Shut up all these HIGHLY infuriating thoughts! Concentrate on the NOW, you are a warrior!  Well, I didn't have to struggle long to get out of the disastrous chain of thoughts; someone else was all too eager to do that... HELL!!

I looked up to Indradev's enthusiastic call to see an unexpected sight, as feared. In front of me, stood Apsara Urvashi with a sacred thali to welcome me. As I have heard quite a few times before, she was indeed beautiful, befitting the background of the Heavens. But, just like everything in here, she was also missing that particular X-factor that brings life to a wax doll. Actually, she looked much like the crystal-doll showpieces we usually have at the royal palaces. Even then, she lacked the 'innocent eyes' factor. Her golden (Golden?! Actually, yes...) eyes shined with centuries and millennia of experience in the field of impressing people. Her very fair skin shined with the usual heavenly glimmer which everyone here had, making her lose a little more of the factor which makes people look like they are really 'alive'. She plastered a plastic-smile on her face, a very bright plastic smile, and rotated the Arti thali in front of me for a few times before throwing some unique Nandankanan-special flower petals on me, and moving aside to let me enter. ---- Thoroughly boring.... 

That literally worries me. If I am already bored now, how am I going to survive here for the next fortnight! I really should never have come here!

Soon Indradev..err...Pitrashree, showed me my chamber. All crystally-marbley and cold... Not cold in the real sense, but lifeless enough to feel so. I kept my Gandeev straight on the bed.. No where else and just as I was about to sit down, a lady knocked lightly on the 'beautiful' doors. I immediately walked to the doors and opened it to find another seemingly beautiful celestial nymph. But, in all honesty, even all their beauties added up together can come nowhere near the bronze-skinned Goddess who had transformed the gorgeous Indraprastha Royal Palace into a real home for me. Infact, I guess I am sinning in ever trying to draw a comparison between Shiva's Shakti and these nymphs of Heaven. Whatever... She handed me a large silver plate tucked with shining clothes and jeweleries. I should have known this was coming by... I slightly nodded a 'no' to her and clarified, "I guess I am quite good in what I am wearing, for now. And, kindly don't get me all these sorts of clothing... I hope you have already noticed the kind of light embroidery dhoti and angavastram I am wearing. Clothes o this sort and on a white base would do just fine. Thank you.." I was about to retreat further into the room with a formal and polite Pranipaat, when she suddenly called to another lady standing a little away from the door. She came up carrying a shiny plate and a shinier glass on it. "Rajkumaar.. Devraaj has instructed us to give you this. Please do drink this.." Although not much enthusiastic, I realized that I should, like a true gentleman, allow my God father and the celestial nymphs of his place serve their guest a bit. I nodded curtly yet politely and took the plate from the lady, careful not to touch her anyhow - I wasn't foolhardy enough to not understand what a single accidental touch could lead to here. They bowed formally and left as silently as they had come. I peeked into the drink in the glass - a not-so-pleasant whitish colour. What the hell is this!   I kept the glass on a table in the chamber and then slowly slid down a pristine smooth and white, probably special marble, wall at the far end of the chamber to slowly sit on the floor. I brought out the precious pearl-pendant necklace out of my waistband-pouch, and then placing my arms on my knees began inspecting it closely. I turned it around a few times, watching the tints of shine change in the magical reflected lights of the Heavens. Then, slowly bringing it a little closer to my nose I slightly sniffed at it. That was sufficient. Her aroma filled my whole body and my heart, reminding me of one of those tranced evenings in my Hastinapur chamber's balcony, the evening when Uruvi graciously left her hypothetical space in my life..... When I had once again sunk in Her trance, the amazing evening which led Mata to understand my heart and fix Our marriage. 

A knock on the door brought  me out of my pleasant trance. Oh!! I can't believe this is where people want to come to attain PEACE... There is simply no term called peace or solace here!           I went up to the door again, sliding and sliding the precious piece of jewellery in my waistband-pouch. I fixed my slightly crumpled Angavastram, expecting it to be my Godfather, and opened the door. Oh no! Trouble; not redefined; just multiplied... Much more than ever before...

It was Urvashi. The glimmer in her cold golden eyes made my instincts jump to action and I immediately began getting all my intellectual weapons ready. They only way to turn her down was a polite yet strong 'NO' and a strong string of logics. Though, I honestly have no clue whether any of that will be of any avail or not.. I may not step-back from using my last and final resort tonight. Lets see what fate has in store...

"Madam..? May I know what brings you here ?", I wanted to add a 'now', but that would clearly make zero sense in the Heavens. Her eyes widened just a slight bit and her lips parted, as if in disappointed surprise and then her brows frowned. "Madam? Oh! You are making me feel like 'old and senior and revered'... I don't want this lot of respect, you know. I would love to receive some other feelings and expressions from you, gentleman.." HELL! "Now don't behave like you don't know what I mean... Uloopi, Aarya, Chitrangada, Subhadra, Alli, Rekha and the bronze-skinned beauty..", her eyes narrowed as she carefully side-stepped by Krishnaa's name-- good for her. "I know all the names and the stories as well... So exciting.. Just fit of you. No beauty is fit for you, handsome one.. No beauty, other than Urvashi..." her hands agilely reached mine and the touch nearly froze me. As if the words weren't disgusting enough! Now this cold touch...! I remembered my beloved's touch-- blazing with the fire of purity, love, passion and devotion... My hands retreated of their own accord-- such an impressive reflex! Impressed, aren't you, Urvashi!? Her eyes darted to her now empty hands and then back to my eyes, as if trying to read my mind through them, but, I knew she would hit an empty wall. How could these cold eyes ever look INTO mine? Cold eyes and even colder fingers, thoroughly disgusting!! I stared right back. She tried to make a move again, "Oh come on.. Don't be so boring and righteous and all, now.. You are in the Heavens! Have some fun! I promise to give you the best night of your life.. Something that you have never experienced.. Never.. With none of those ladies.. Not even with the famed beauty...", her voice rose a bit at the end, and something snapped within me. I am sooo done with all this non-sense! I had tolerated the previous ones! But, now... Now that I know who I am, now that I know just HOW MUCH I love Her, no more tolerating nuisance, no more breaking her heart! 

I raised up a palm at her and shut my eyes tight, trying to control my temper, still. "As far as my knowledge goes, you were married to one of my ancestors and even bore is child. Doesn't  this proposal sound a bit inappropriate to you yourself?" She laughed bitterly, as if I had just said the world's most hilarious joke. "Past is past, my dear Arjun... Forget and move forward, that's the theory.." Oh well.... "Then just forget that you ever came here and LEAVE..", I said coldly. She froze for a moment and then... all hell broke loose...

"How dare you reject me, Apsara Urvashi!", she nearly screeched at me. "I guess you really have no tiny bit of clue about the 'bronze-skinned beauty' who happens to be my chief queen and the love of my entire existence. If you did, your this arrogance about looks would have evaporated in a flick second, I bet!" She glared coldly at me as I glared right back. "YOU!!", she almost trembled. "So much arrogance about your praised manhood!! I curse you with a a lifetime of lost manhood!" I stood my ground, not flinching the slightest bit. I had enough confidence on myself to know that I will soon come up with a solution to this, and 'lifetime' means I am safe till I am here. Well.. that presents with a lot of possibilities, indeed.. I simply turned around and stood still till I heard her leave and then closed the door.

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Dearest Readers,

So sorry for changing the name of this chapter.. Hope you like where this story is slowly going... And, do comment your views.. I indeed love reading the constructively critical reviews..

~With immense love and gratitude,

Bristi <3

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