A Heart of Gold

Chapter 2: Champanagari and Shon

Nestled on the banks of the Ganga, a half hour  journey from the Hastinapur square on foot, lay Champanagari, the colony of the Hastinapur charioteers. A long winding street in front would be filled all day long by people selling horses and carts, saddles and horseshoes, buckles and girths and bites and eye-covers. There were people who would mend broken wheels, insert pins, change buckles and do a hundred other things. At they end of the lane, a long queue of chariots stood - big, small, light, heavy, useful and decorative. Sometimes, when special orders came from the palace, new chariots were made. Among these chariots sat men, whips in hand, smoking and chewing betel, who waited to be called to drive them. Adhirath was one of these people. He was the assistant charioteer of the Grand Regent of Hastinapur, the great Gangadatta Devavrat Bhishma. Whenever the Grand Regent went out, he would be there to take him out, dutifully following the head charioteer - a young man just stepping out of adolescence - called Satyasena who, being the best handler of the reins in the ghetto, quickly got the job after his father died on service.

Vasusena's arrival in the colony's dingy streets sparked tremendous interest among the residents. People flocked to see the boy who had filled Radha's barren womb. It took nearly a month for the excitement to die down. Nonetheless, the dwellers were quick to reject the name Vasusena, and he became more familiar as Radheya - son of Radha. Radheya grew among the plethora of broken, tumbledown huts and shelters made of tarpaulin hung on bamboo poles and learnt to play in the dirt and dust and live among the horses. He soon became fast friends with Satyasena's twin sisters Vaishali and Vrishali - both of whom were the same age as him. As for Radha, she seemed to be forever entranced with her son, hugging him, kissing him and carrying him around in her arms.

When Radheya was just five, after he had fallen from the top of a haystack and hurt his knee, his father took him and his mournful friends to the main town square to cheer them up. He found himself dazzled by the chaotic splendor of the market and the wares that hung from shop windows. There were rows and rows of mouth-watering sweets and fruits, cloth sellers were displaying silks of dawn bright cream, and where the road bifurcated into two, a little away from the roar of fishmongers, stood an old man selling pretty glass marbles. Beside him, Vaishali gaped at the huge stacks of necklaces, and even tomboyish Vrishali looked longingly at the bangle seller beside the temple door. A big, black, dusty ox with a bell around his neck  hobbled down the street through the hubbub of sweat and hookah smoke. Several people held out their hands, touched the ox, and brought the hand up to their foreheads in obeisance. Radheya's father picked up a small bag from a goldsmith in exchange for a pouch of coins. When asked about it he said, "Radha chachi's sister's sister-in-law is having her baby shower in a few days. We will be going there. Radheya will stay with you two. This is for her."

"Chacha, what is a baby shower?"

"Vrishali, it's a baby shower. Babies fall like rain."

Adhirath turned away to hide a smile as the twins argued, gladdened by the improvement in the general mood. Radheya pointed out importantly, "Considering that none of us have seen babies falling like rain, isn't it more likely that people will be showering blessings on the child? Or bathing the child?"

Desperately stifling a laugh, Adhirath approved of this answer and hurried homewards, leaving the kids to run behind. He couldn't wait to tell Radha about the success of the trip.

The charioteer couple left for the ceremony two days later, leaving Radheya - who was too young to travel that far - at Satyasena's house. Satyasena and his mother accepted their charge with great enthusiasm, and even before the couple could say goodbye, the young trio had busied themselves with some imaginary game that involved a great deal of whinnying on Radheya's part, and an even greater amount of bleating on Vrishali's, while Vaishali ran about swinging a long, thin stick at their backs. Satyasena, who tried not to think of where the stick might have come from, hoped that the game was about a shepherd leading his livestock home and not Vaishali hitting errant horses and goats. Life was going to be difficult if the latter was true.