Story Unfolds :
At the deepest forest:
A boy of five was crying hysterically. He wanted to beg mercy for his this mistake. But how could he convince his mother that he had left no other way to do!! He was accused of stealing a horse while he was helping it!! This wrong accusation made him angry so much that he wanted to protect his and his family reputation!! At any cost as it seemed only one way to save it!! He did not want to aim his arrow at his father!! Even if he did not know that the person whom he was facing in the battlefield was his father Karna himself!!! He did not give his identity to the young Boy!!! He was Chitrasen the biological son of Karna who he knew him as his Foster father!!!
Chitrasen (1st son of Supriya)
"Mate, apne kyun nahin bataya hame yeah Satya?!! Kyun gopan kiya yeah!! (Mother, why don't you tell us that big truth before?!! Why you hide it from us?!!)" The young boy asked grumpily to his dear mother.
Her mother pressed her lips together to stop her tears. She had nothing to say!! It was really her mistake!! She had kept a father away from his sons!! He was not aloof!! Nor careless!! He was just clueless!! Of their existence!!
Devi Supriya (2nd Wife of Karna)
"Ha Maiya kahe nahin bataya tune hame?!! (Yes mother why don't you introduce us before?!!)" Satya asked in calm tone.
She lifted her eyes to face him. That boy was staring at her. In emotionless stony face. Like his father Karna!!!
Satyasen (2nd Boy of Supriya)
Before she could open her mouth to give any explanation a husky male baritone voice rang in her eardrum. It was very familiar to her. She knew the person whose voice it was!! Yet it had the same effect on her till now!! She shivered too hard!!! An electric current ran down her vein!!! It was of her husband Karna's voice!!!
"Putra, apke Mata ki dosh nahin hain. Hamare bhagya ki bidambana hain ki hame is paristhithi main milna pada!! (Son, this is not your mother's fault. It is a fault of our destiny that we have to meet here. In the battlefield!!)"
Both the boys looked at him. Chitra in teary eyes while Satya is calm eyes. The first one was impulsive yet over protective like his uncle Arjuna while the second one was level headed as his another uncle Yuddhisthir.
Anga Raj Karna (their father)
This man was standing tall before all of them!!! Yet they did not notice him till now!! They were so engrossed to converse with their mother that they ignored their father!!
He seemed angry yet his eyes were betraying him. His eyes were glowing with tears. They were hot red. In the failed attempt to suppress his tears. His face was stony and emotionless as usual yet his big doe shaped eyes were talking too much!!! This man was an enigma to these boys!! They just knew his identity!!! Not him!!!
"Maiya apko batana chahite tha. Agar Chitra Bhaiya ki haton se baan chal jata toh!! (Mother you should tell us before. Unless what will happen if our brother Chitra pull the stings?!!)" Her third son, Shatrunjay or Shatru, had asked her. In worried face. He was so scared to think about the result or the consequences. Of this battle. He had deep respect for his Chitra Bhaiya. In his thought he was the best Archer of India. He did not know that his elder sibling could not harm his father!!! Even if he was not on his chariot!!! A 5 yrs old boy was of no match to a 28-30 yrs old well known archer of India!!! That also their father who was considered as the mentor of their own mother Supriya!!! Supriya learnt her archery just by seeing the skill of a teenager Boy who had saved her life from a deadly tiger. Teenager Karna was her inspiration!!! Bhanumati was her teacher!!! She was like Eklavya of her Karna!!! She practiced everyday by recalling him!! She excelled in all the fields of warfare just to impress him!! She wanted to be perfect like him!!! She wanted to be suitable for him!!! She wanted to be apt for him!! She did not dare to challenge him nor she even dreamt to be his partner in the battlefield!!! She was happy to be his devotee!! She wanted to be like a good one to serve him!! But she had never told it to him!! She was also not vocal like him!!! She could not try to tell him how she loved him or how eagerly she was waiting for him!! She just maintained her silence!!!
Shatrunjay (3rd Son of Supriya)
All the guards were standing behind Karna. In worried face. They did not like the current situation. They had accused the sons of the commander. He could be angry to them. If it was Crown Prince Duryodhan then he had already beheaded them all. But this man was different!!! He was more reasonable and practical than the bad rumours about him!!! He did not do anything without thinking about it seriously!!!
Subandhu again came forward and folded his hands to Karna "Kshama kijiye. Par yeah balak doshi hain. In he dand milna toh chahiye!!! (I beg your pardon but those boys are truly guilty. They have to be punished.)"
"Parantu Pitashree Ham chor nahin hain!!! (But father we are not a bit thieves!!)" Satya clarified the story. He told everybody how they discovered the horse and hoped to help him.
Karna calmly came near the horse and patted on it's head. It neighed too cheerfully. He felt hurt!! Till now none was paying attention to it!!!
"Sindhu Ghotak, ap phir bhag gaye the na!!! (you again tried to escape. Isn't it?!!)" He asked him. With a soft smile on his handsome face.
The horse named Sindhu Ghotak had neighed hard. In cheerful voice. It had admitted it'd mistake!!! To him!! It had liked Karna!!! So it accepted it's guilt to him!!!
"Subandhu, inhe le jaiye (take it with you)." Karna addressed subandhu and gave the horse's buckle to him. It had followed him immediately. In happy face. It was not in mood of mischief!!! Not anymore!!!
Karna came towards Supriya and had touched her shoulders. She was still seeing on the floor with teary eyes. An electric current ran down her vein!!! His touch seemed magnetic to her!! Even today!!! Even 6 yrs back!! She too touched his palms. In this slight exchange of touch they silently had conveyed their own emotions to each other. Too perfectly!!!
H
e forgot to utter anything. He had so much to tell to her!! So much to ask from her!! So much to complain!! Yet he forgot everything!!! Just by seeing a glimpse of her!!!
Her condition was not opposite. She wanted to tell to much to him!!! Yet she too forgot them all!! He was now standing tall before her!! Unharmed and in one piece!!! She just could not believe her good luck!!! She was now seeing him!!! Just before her eyes!!! How could she thank her Gods!! To give her that opportunity!!! She was dying to see him!!! And he was now standing before her!! He was touching her shoulders!!! As if it was the sacred Day of their union!!! When she very foolishly asked him to stay apart from her!!! While she herself was unable to stay apart from him!!!
They looked helplessly at each other. As if it was the first day when they met each other!!! Their mouth were silent yet eyes were talking too much!! Both of them had the qualities to talk with eyes!!! In his eyes you could see frustration, anger yet happiness, pride and joy!!! In her eyes disbelief, grief, merriment yet sadness!!! They both stood facing each other!!! For some times!!!! Without even uttering a single word!!!
Then he softly whispered "Devi". He was addressing to her!!!
She cried aloud!!! This time in joy!! She was now sanguine that she was not dreaming!!! Like those when she awoke of seeing him calling her!!!! She missed his voice!!! His presence!! Him too!! In those six years her love and devotion for him did not decrease a little bit, instead it increased!!!!
All of a sudden young Banasen from nowhere ran to his father Karna and hugged his legs. His father looked at him and pulled him to his chest. The toddler laughed merrily. "Baba. Baba. (Dad. My father.)"
Banasen (5th Don of Supriya)
Karna ruffled his hair in affection. He pouted his lips cutely. In despair. In reality he was too happy. Then Karna dragged him towards himself and had pecked softly on his forehead.
Then he looked at the other four sons of his who were truly taken aback by seeing this interaction in between him and Banasen.
"Kya ap apne is Pita ko kshama kar sakte hain jise apki bare main gyan tak nahin tha!!! (Are you ready to forgive your this father who is really ignorant of you till now?!! Can you all?!!)" He asked them and folded his hands to those boys.
They looked helplessly at each other. Shatru to Dip. And Chitra to his own sibling Satya who nodded to him. To encourage him. To go at first.
Chitra reached to him first and then touched his feet. With devotion. He then lifted his flustered face to his father. In teary eyes. "Hame kshama kar dijiye, Pitashree. Hame gyat nahin tha. (Kindly forgive me. Father, I don't know your identity. By myself.)"
Karna stretched his left hand to him. He jumped on his father!! Then put his head on his chest. At last this boy had accepted his father!!! He was most angry of him!! For leaving them all alone!! In poverty!! He wanted to complain to his father!! But this man who stood proudly before them did not seem selfish or egocentric to him a bit who could leave his mother and his siblings to die alone!! He looked truly clueless himself!!! Of them!!! So he forgave his father!!! For his this unwanted mistake!!! You could see how much this selfless bot loved his family!!!
Karna hugged him tightly and let him cry. In his tears their mutual hatred and misunderstanding was going away. From their hearts!!!
Satya came forward and touched his father's feet with devotion. He was not clueless like Chitra. He had seen something that none had saw. He had heard his father's name!!! From his mother's mouth!! And from those army members!!! He had suspected that he was Anga Raj Karna himself!! Their father!!! You could see how much intelligent this boy was!! He was just 5 at that time!! Alas!! He had to die prematurely in the epic war of Mahabharata too!! Unless he would be a great king himself!!!
Shatru and Dip ran to their father too. They jumped in joy. Now their family was complete!!!!!
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Will it remain like this? Or some unknown disaster will fall upon them again? Stay tuned for more updates. Enjoy.
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Sorry,
Due to my health I can't add chapters everyday now onwards. I hope to do it soon.
Regards,
Amropali
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