The light rays of the Sun peeped inside the chamber. The mild morning breeze blew the white long curtains, spreading a calmness inside the chamber.
They stirred in their sleep, as Yudhisthir blinked his eyes open. He immediately hissed softly, as a mild pain shot through his neck.
And the first scene that came to his view was the calm face of an unconscious Panchali. A soft smile made its way to his face, as he got up from the floor.
His actions made his brothers also to break their slumber.
There was a complete silence as none of them spoke a word. Sahdev slowly made his way to the window, and drew the curtain off, from where the soft sun rays were teasing her face.
"I think the bandages should be changed. It has soaked the blood and herbal medicine." Arjun suggested, his voice was too low.
Yes, they knew she was unconscious but still they didn't want to be any discomfort to her.
Nakul and Sahdev took their seats on either of her sides. They slowly took a hold of her arms, and opened the old wrapped up bandages.
And the harsh cuts came to their view. Two on her left hand, and one on her right.
Arjun and Bheem removed their gazes from the signs of her self harm. While Yudhisthir felt a knot forming in his throat, watching the sharpness of the knife that left its territory on both of her arms.
He passed two bowls of water and soft cotton clothes to his twin brothers, while both the latter slowly washed away the dried up blood and the medicinal paste.
The twins re-applied the herbal paste over her wound, and wrapped it up with fresh white cloth.
They worked on her head, as Nakul slowly opened the old bandage and cleaned the wound, while Sahdev applied medicine on her forehead and wrapped fresh cloth.
"Is everything done?" Yudhisthir asked softly.
"No Jyest, we have only applied the medicine. She needs to drink herbal syrup for a better recovery." Nakul mentioned, and looked at Bheem.
"Bhrata Bheem, can you please accompany me to the kitchen? Actually, I need to prepare that." He added.
"Sure." Bheem obliged, moving out with Nakul.
"Let us go and fresh up till they make the syrup." Yudhisthir suggested, as the rest of the three too moved out of the chamber, not before taking a soft glance at her calm unconscious figure.
The water boiled with medicinal herbs, Nakul added ginger and turmeric too.
After boiling it for several minutes, the water turned into a colour of dark brownish, while Bheem placed a colander over a bowl, into which Nakul poured the ingredients.
The fresh liquid syrup was ready, and at last he added honey to make it taste better.
"The medicine is ready but how are we going to feed her? She's not in her senses." Bheem questioned his brothers, after returning back to the chamber.
"Moreover it's time for the Court session. Jyest and all us should be present over there according to the protocols ." Nakul stated, as they sighed.
"Do one thing, Arjun and Nakul stay here. Meanwhile Bheem, Sahdev and I will manage in the Royal Court. I don't think anyone will say anything about your absence." Yudhisthir suggested.
Well his duty called him and he was helpless in that matter.
"Bhrata Arjun, please hold her up. I will feed her this medicine." Nakul stated, as Arjun nodded.
Phalgun sat on the bed, beside her, with his soft gaze fixed on her.
He didn't like how she laid on the bed with those white clothes wrapped up. He forwarded his hands to her shoulders, making her sit.
With being unconscious, she leaned towards Arjun. Her head falling over his chest along with her luscious hair.
Arjun removed the strands of hair from her face, motioning to Nakul, who sat on the opposite side.
Taking some liquid in the spoon, he blew air as it was hot, and took it to her lips.
Arjun touched her chin, parting her lips letting Nakul feed the medicine syrup.
Panchali gulped it unconsciously three to four times.
She coughed ever so lightly with the last spoon of medicine, making them a little conscious about her health.
Arjun patted her back, while Nakul wiped lips with his Angvastra, letting his elder brother lay back Panchali down on the bed.
They pulled the duvet to her chest, and drew off all the curtains.
"Let her rest Bhratashree. We should proceed towards the Royal Court." Nakul suggested, to which Arjun nodded.
A month passed by in a jiffy, with the Pandavas always being beside her, helping her unconscious state with everything.
From time-to-time medicines to changing the bandages, they did all the needful.
Not to forget the constant fear of something that may happen to her always stayed inside their heart.
Well, that was because after two days of that unfortunate suicide of Panchali, Sahdev didn't find her state to be just unconscious.
After lunch on that day, he consulted with Nakul and the Royal Physician, and conducted some tests.
And the results were what Sahdev dreaded the most.
"What does it mean when someone slips into a state of Coma, Sahdev?" Yudhisthir had asked him the question, himself dreading something that's serious.
By his question, Nakul had broken into tears falling on knees, but Arjun supported him by his shoulder, being baffled.
"What is Coma, Sahdev? Why is Nakul behaving like this?" Bheem asked, gulping a knot that formed due to an unknown fear.
There was a momentary silence, where the three elder Pandavas awaited the answers.
"Coma is -" Sahdev choked while speaking, his eyes didn't budge away from Panchali.
"It... It is a prolonged state of unconsciousness of a person."
"Be clear, Sahdev." Yudhisthir asked, frowning heavily.
"That means a person would be unconscious for days or weeks or months. It can also take years for that person to gain consciousness back." He said, hearing audible gasps from his brothers.
"And is she..." Arjun trailed off, asking. Though he knew the answer.
"Also there's no surety of gaining consciousness back because there have been some cases that after the Coma stage, the person may...die." Sahdev completed, with an absolutely dull and emotionless voice.
And from then they had been fighting an inner battle with a certain fear of losing her.
For a month, they were deprived of sleep at night while in the morning, they couldn't focus on their work.
Arjun later confronted Krishna because he had told them that she would be awake within the next two days.
The reply was somewhat understandable, "You all weren't in a state to get another shock, Parth. If I had told you about her prolonged unconscious state at that time, you all wouldn't have taken the information well."
The entire Hastinapur were grief stricken for their Yuvrani's health.
Kunti and Gandhari had been fasting, offering prayers to Mahadev for the quick recovery of Panchali.
Bhanumati also wanted to join them, but she was strictly not allowed to do so as she had a child to take care of.
In that one month, Aryan too tried to contact Panchali but couldn't. Later, he came to know her suicidal stunt through Dusshala's letters.
The current of shock that he got after reading the letter about Panchali's suicide, couldn't be comparable.
It was as if his heart was ripped in pain, that he couldn't be there when she needed him the most. And he was very sure, if he had been present over there, he wouldn't have let her take such a drastic step.
Yes, he had faith in Krishna and somewhere his faith won, because Krishna saved Panchali.
Well, the messenger did take time to deliver the next letter, when after few days, Dusshala pointed out that Panchali had slipped into Coma state.
Coma... The prolonged unconscious state which could take days, weeks, months and years to gain back sense. And also maybe never come back normal.
Aryan was torn between his responsibilities towards his unwell father and his best friend. Not knowing what to do, he wrote to Krishna for help, who assured him about Panchali's health and advised him to stay back in Saurashtra itself.
On the other hand, the Pandavas were slowly breaking from inside in a grave fear.
Nobody could point what they had been going through as the days passed by, because they carried out all the duties as Royal Princes.
They made up their mind in utter determination to heal her. From changing the bandages to feeding the herbal medicines and liquid soups as time-to-time meal, they made it all perfectly.
And at night, they stayed awake making some conversation and talking to her, as if she was alright and listening to them.
If someone noticed this gravely, they would be able to understand the grief hidden in their voices and normal facade of their faces.
And this continued till a whole month until the fortunate and the most awaited day finally graced its presence.
A light hue started spreading across the sky, indicating the time of Dawn.
Panchali's fingers stirred ever so lightly, while her eyebrows furrowed lightly.
After what like an eternity, she blinked her eyes. A blurry vision was what she was greeted with, at first. Taking her own comfortable time, she moved her eyeballs, taking the unfamiliar Royal ceiling in notice.
A wave of tiredness washed over her, while feeling her throat dry. A strong headache blessed her, as she shut her eyes tightly.
She was about to touch her head out of reflex, but felt a tug on her left hand.
Slowly, she turned her head and the little frown vanished from her face, after taking the sight in notice.
Her left hand was in a firm clutch of Arjun, who was apparently sleeping on the floor in a sitting position, keeping his head against the bed.
His hand held her, in a firm yet soft clutch. She didn't know why she looked at him a little longer, who slept peacefully, with his lips parted a little open.
The slight dark circles under his eyes didn't go unnoticed by her.
Panchali didn't know why she didn't take her hands back. Maybe that would let his peaceful sleep break...?
Removing her vision, she gazed up at the ceiling, letting Arjun sleep well.
Feeling an itchiness due to the dry throat, she coughed softly breaking Arjun's sleep, who had his eye wide open watching Panchali conscious.
"Yuvrani..." His shock filled voice resonated in the silent chamber.
He immediately got up, ignoring the sharp pain on his neck, and poured water in a glass.
Settling himself beside her, he held her shoulders, making her half sit with supports of cushions, he held the glass to her lips, making her drink.
While Panchali finally felt her throat alive, as if it got the first rain after a long time of drought.
Her tired eyes darted to Arjun feeling overwhelmed with unfamiliar emotions, when he wiped her lips, with his Angvastra.
"How are you feeling now?... Oh, sorry wait, let me call Nakul and Sahdev." Arjun kind of panicked in restlessness, and before she could stop him, he dashed out of the chamber.
While Panchali sighed feeling an extreme pain in her head. She touched her head, and frowned feeling a bandage over there.
What happened to me? She thought, in confusion.
"Jyest, Bhrata Bheem, Nakul and Sahdev..." Arjun called in urgency, while they looked up being alerted.
Instead of sleeping, they were once again awake the entire night because apparently they were studying some foreign high standard medicinal books for Panchali's treatment.
But their concentration broke with Arjun's panic filled voice, letting their every vein turn alert.
"Jyest, Yuvrani..." Phalgun panted for breath. But he better knew it was not the time.
While a certain knot formed in their stomach, as all the worst possibilities crossed their mind which they didn't want to think ever.
"Arjun, calm down. What happened to her? And why did you come running?" Yudhisthir asked, somewhere dreading.
Well, since last month, nothing was going well with their mental state.
"Yuvrani... She...she is...awake." Arjun finally revealed.
There was a momentary silence around the chamber, when he slowly nodded his head with a contented smile.
An old hope that they left somewhere in the corner of their hearts, had rose again with the sudden unexpected news.
Wasting no more time, they rushed to her chamber, and the sight that greeted them was something they craved for a long time.
Sitting with the help of cushions, Panchali was awake. After a whole month, she had finally gained consciousness.
Everything at once rushed through them. The previous agony and helplessness were replaced by joy and ecstatic.
The previous constant restlessness was replaced by pure relief.
A lone tear that held contentment slipped from Yudhisthir's eyes with a soft adoration reflecting from it, as he took the image of Panchali being well.
It was as if Bheem felt finally being alive and free after the clutches of that constant fear of losing her, and now watching her well, was what he had been waiting for a long time.
Arjun choked in happy tears, which he wiped immediately. No more tears, she had finally came back.
There was a constant fear of her death, that had been bothering both Nakul and Sahdev. Because, Coma was quite dangerous and coming back to life was something next to impossible, as no one knew the surety of the well being of that person. But now all the fears get replaced with relief.
And now looking at her consciousness, they felt as if she was the water body that they finally got, after travelling for days in a desert being thirsty for water.
"Why are you all standing there? Come inside." Panchali's hoarse voice reached them, feeling them with a whirlpool of emotions.
That voice. Her voice, was what they were craving to hear since a month.
Watching her lifelessly laying on the bed continuously for days, had made them somewhat suffocate to no end.
"How are you feeling now?" Yudhisthir asked, softly stepping inside the chamber.
Panchali sighed at his question, not knowing what to answer when she herself didn't know what had happened to her amd how she ended in the unfamiliar chamber.
"I don't know why I am feeling exhausted and heaviness in my head. It's paining..." Panchali trailed off, touching her head and hissing in pain silently.
"The effect of medicine has faded as you had taken it last night." Nakul said, reasonably, moving towards the bed side table to make the medicine again.
She frowned in confusion, "Medicine? Last night? But I don't remember taking any medicines last night. I just slept after having the dinner. It was Navami night, right?"
The words from her stilled them in their position. Navami was a month ago and she had been unconscious since then.
Maybe that's the reason she was thinking it was still the time of Navratri.
"Actually, it's been a month since Navratri." Bheem stated, making Panchali baffle by his statement.
"A month since Navratri? Are you kidding me? It's an ongoing eve..." She stated, softly though the perplexity in her voice was noticeable.
"Yes, it's been a month now and..." Arjun paused, for a moment to find the anticipation in her face.
"And?"
"And you were unconscious for a whole month." He completed.
"What...?" She gasped, the things were going overhead.
"Unconscious for a month? You mean I was in Coma for an entire month?" Her shock filled voice resonated in the chamber.
Now it was time for the brothers to be perplexed, thinking how did she know.
"That's right. You were indeed in a Coma since Dussehra, and now it's been a month since then." Sahdev mentioned, making her more baffled.
"What? But why? And how did this happen? I-I was fine then what happened suddenly that I slipped into Coma stage for an whole month?" She questioned all at once, while slowly they too were growing confused.
Did she not remember that she had committed 'suicide'? Not to forget that she openly stated it was great to die than stay alive with them?
The previous hurt came again rushing back.
"First have this medicine." Nakul forwarded a small bowl. His voice was straight.
"Huh?" Panchali frowned, looking at the dark brown substance. It looked disgusting!!
"That's the medicine. You'll feel relief after taking it." Sahdev stated, getting a blank glance from her.
She took the bowl from Nakul, glancing at the liquid, she scrunched her face at the nasty smell that hit her nostril. However, a look of amusement crossed the faces of the five brothers.
A feeling of nausea churned till her throat.
"Eww, this is disgusting. I am not having this." Saying that, she was about to drop the bowl to the floor, but Nakul was quick enough to stop her.
"What are you doing? And no matter what the taste is, you must have this medicine." Nakul stated, quite baffled at her behaviour.
"No, I am not going to have this. It smells gross. I will lose my taste bud forever." She snapped back, a soft whine laced her straight tone.
"Didn't you add honey, Nakul?" Yudhisthir asked, having a sympathetic expression on his face.
Well, he knew how the medicine tasted worst. And he knew his younger brother who being a doctor would do everything to make his patient have the nastiest tasted medicine ever to make them fit and fine.
"I did, Jyest. If she doesn't have the medicine, how's she going to know." Nakul mentioned.
"No, you didn't pour honey." She retarded back, objecting and frowning at him.
"But-"
"I am not going to have this and that's final." She stated her decision firmly.
Nakul looked at his brothers in helplessly, in return got a sympathetic gaze from them.
"Uh- please have the medicine, or else the pain will just increase and it would take time to heal also if you skip the medicines." Sahdev stated, trying to make her understand.
"But, just look at this disgusting substance. Nobody can have this, it looks too bitter." She stated, taking a glance at the medicine in Nakul's hand, and then scrunched her face in disgust.
"This is medicine. Isn't it ought to taste bad yet effective?" Nakul said in the most obvious way.
Panchali gawked at him blankly. Literally watched him.
"Oh, then why don't you have this first. I promise, if you drink this substance, I would do too without any other word." She challenged Nakul, making tongue tied.
"I can help." Arjun started. "You just take the medicine at once meanwhile I shall hold a spoon of honey close enough, so that you can immediately have that."
"But-"
"Trust me, we won't let you down." He assured her, while she just blinked her eyes at him, thinking about his words, before nodding softly.
She reluctantly took the medicine back from Nakul, who was apparently biting his inner cheeks to stop his smile looking at her scrunched face.
As said, Arjun came up to her, dipped a spoon in the bowl of honey and showed it to her.
She gulped, and shut her eyes tightly, while the Pandavas only felt sympathetic towards her.
Holding her nose tightly, to stop the odour, she brought the bowl to her lips, and gulped the bitter substance at once.
Her throat was cloaked with the disgusting taste, and she wanted nothing but to throw up.
But to her relief, Arjun fed her the honey almost immediately and she was quite grateful for that.
"Was that okay?" Yudhisthir asked, gaining a look and then a nod from her, making him smile.
"You freshen up with the help of Malini and other maids. We have to go, it's time for Morning Veneration." He added, while Panchali nodded absentmindedly in thought.
Why was she wearing a lehenga? She thought.
"Stop."
Turning back they noticed a heavy frown on her face.
"Who changed my clothes?" She asked, taking them off guard.
The slight offended accusation that laced her tone went well noticed by them, as their inner self scoffed at the irony.
Because once again she misunderstood them.
"Since you were unconscious for a month, Mata, Dusshala and Bhabishree Bhanumati helped you with changing everyday. Sometimes Malini and Priyamvada Kaki, who is the personal handmaiden of Mata, too helped them." Yudhisthir stated in a straightforward, giving the informations.
The frown that marred her face, was replaced by a surprise while her eyes held a glint of guilt for suspecting them in such a way.
She couldn't hold the truthful eye contact, hence looked at everywhere but them.
"Hope all your suspension has faded." He added, with a straight face.
Meeting with his eyes again, Panchali felt at the loss of words, and watched them leave the chamber.
She sighed heavily, with numbers of question going around her mind like a constant loop.
What happened to her? How did she end up being in a Coma stage for a month? What led her to this condition? Why were there fading scars on her arms, as if someone deliberately sliced a knife through her skin?
And what shocked her the most was, she was in unconscious for a month? A straight four weeks?
No, she would turn insane if this continues and have no answers.
It was as if a little part of her memory had vanished just like that.
Greetings Loveliest Readers,
So yes, Panchali has returned after a long time being in Coma.
Well, showing Coma was necessary as she jumped from a height and it must have an effect and be realistic. Or else, it would look like a fantasy tale, where nothing ever could happen to the heroine.
That was it. Tell me your thoughts regarding the chapter.
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Thanking You,
Hiya