MAADHAVI - A Love Saga Painted With Her Kohl Eyes

1-The Pot

Year 1265, in a small village of the kingdom of Suryambhah , sun is shining brightly and people are bustling in the market, busy buying or selling something.

There is a man dressed in a beige colored dhoti and a matching color cloth hanging around his neck, he has a tattoo on his right bicep, a red cloth tied around his waist, he is wearing silver bracelets on both wrists. His hair is open and falls down to his shoulders. His face looking serious and eyes as if searching something. Suddenly he stops and turns his neck slightly right and tells his companion

'Lets ask there' pointing his eyes to a nearby house made of mud.

The other man nods and turns his neck to face the house.

He is a man slightly younger in age but the light beard on his face gave him a mature look, his chest was covered under a maroon vest which he kept open to show off his dusky body. He has wrapped a maroon cloth around his head like a turban and is wearing a silver bracelet in one hand. His long legs covered in a beige dhoti like his other mate.

They both stop at the door of the house. It had walls made of mud, white lines decorating its walls and the roof was made of straws tied together which provided shade and protection from rain.

It was a house of one of the potters of the village.

'We want a pot with some carvings from Krishna Leela.' The man in maroon turban shouted a little to make his voice heard to the master of the house sitting inside.

The man who was sitting busy making a pot on his wheel stood up looking at them and washed his hands before walking towards them.

He looks almost in his late 20s but his tired face made him look like in his 30s. He wiped his hands on his dhoti quickly while walking towards them and said with a slight smile on his face.

'Umm...sorry, we don't do carvings on our pots. But we have some great quality plain pots.'

'No, we actually are looking for carved pots only. We came a long way just for that.' The man with maroon turban said with a sad smile on his face.

To which the potter thought for a moment before replying and said

'There are other potters in the next lane but if you only want something from Krishna Leela, then I would say go to Chandraprakash's directly .' he said with confidence

'Everyone knows his family settled here years ago from Mathura so their hand in carving or even painting Krishna leela is unmatchable. Many of the potters tried copying in the past but as I said its unmatchable.'

The two man looked at each other as if conveying something through their eyes.

The man with the tattoo on his shoulder asked with a normal tone' Where can we find his house?'

The potter replied 'Walk straight from here' pointing his finger to a particular direction.

'you will see a huge banyan tree, take a right from there and then you can ask anyone about where his house is. If there is anything more you want, I can provide you. We have diya, surahi...'

Suddenly the young man with the maroon turban cut him off 'Ahhh.....Thankyou my friend, maybe next time ' and patted on his right shoulder like a thankyou.

With that they both walked away from there in the direction of their new destination.

Chandraprakash's House

Amidst the scorching heat of the sun, there is a house made of mud surrounded with trees from all sides. The walls, windows, entrances all were covered in beautiful white hand paintings. There is a 20 feet long corridor which leads to the huge courtyard of the house. At the end of this corridor is a short heighted wall on both sides separating it from the main housing area. There is a pile of pots kept near this wall for selling and right behind those pots are some more freshly made pots soaking the heat of the sun. There are many individual huts on all side of the big house some with straw roofs and some with mud. The mud keeps the huts cool from inside that's why most houses in villages are made of mud and also because not everyone can afford stones to build houses.

There is a rush of buyers going in and coming out of the house, some are still bargaining while some discussing their requirements and at a distance there are two sets of eyes silently observing the ongoing commotion at this house.

'He seems famous' said the guy in maroon turban raising his eyebrows up, and dramatically curving the corners of his lips down while nodding his head in acceptance of this potter's popularity.

While the other man looked at the scene silently observing every detail, paying no attention to his companions dramatic skills.

They both walked towards the house and stopped right in front of the wall which separated the main housing area and the corridor. The wall was short that it only reached till their waist, so everything going in the courtyard was visible to them.

And then the maroon turban guy asked in a higher tone than normal to make himself heard in the chaos of the buyers. 'We want a big pot for storing Temple sweets.'

Hearing him the young man of the house walked towards them leaving his other clients to be taken care by someone else from his family and he asked smiling, 'So what do you want?'

The young man with maroon turban said ' A pot for storing temple sweets' and made a gesture with his hands to explain the size of the pot ' around this big'.

The man from potter's family nodded while trying to understand the requirement.

And then the first guy with tattoo on his right bicep added

'We also want a carving of any scene from Krishna leela, as this is for temple use.'

He said that and stood silent in anticipation of hearing a positive response, eagerness visible in eyes when suddenly a woman came out from the hut behind calling out to the young potter

'Bhaiya, Amma aapko bula rhi hain'

'Brother, Grandmother's calling you'

she was wearing a black lehenga choli, her head covered with a light see through veil. She was lightly holding up her lehenga as she was running playfully away from the hut, giggling and teasing someone while looking back. When she reached her brother she took one of the pots from the wall in her hands placing her lehenga down and she said

'You go brother, I'll take care here'

She turns her face towards her young buyers while pulling her veil a bit low with the other hand only leaving her lips to be seen.

*---------------------------------------------------------End of Chapter 1----------------------------------------------*