Arjuna: Each Scar Narrates A Tale...

Episode 1

Enjoy the little things today. One day, you might realise that they were the real things.
An adventurous journey sure seems to be heroic, to narrate in front of others, but the one who has lived it, knows that they were never enjoyable...

The scorching sun of summer was up already with me and the two Madreyas fooling around the orchard with a basket.
We stopped by almost to the middle of the orchard, and there stood the huge mango tree, with its hollow and decaying trunk. It was quite old, with little saplings growing between it's giant roots that were breaking out of the soil.
This tree had a special place in my heart, owing to the fact that we grew under it's shed, and for it's mangoes that we have eaten.

I swarmed up the tree and chose the a tough arc-shaped branch to sit on. Meanwhile, throwing ripen mangoes towards Sahadeva to collect them.

The little lad shouted, staring up the tree.
"Bhrata Arjuna! Let me get those mangoes, you should come down or I am climbing up too!"

"You have said that for the tenth time Nakula, are you afraid of heights?" I teased.

It was a true bliss for me, to tease these two little brothers of mine, though Sahadeva was easy to be teased for he is quite shy but when both of them joint hands, my plan would always backfire...Oops!

"I am coming!" Soon enough I had him sitting beside me and chewing mango while I just gazed at him thinking if he climbed up here to pluck mangoes for Bhrata Bheema or to eat them himself. Suddenly my gaze fell upon one of the mango on the branch behind Nakula, and this mango was comparatively larger and appearing to be even more delicious.

That fruit is large and juicy enough to quench my thirst, so I should get it but if I move towards it, the elder Ashwineya will probably notice it soon enough. As an excuse, I gave Nakula a hug, while trying to reach the mango behind his back though it was a bit far and thus I tried to pushed him back, little by little.

"Bhrata! Bhrata, don't push me over or we both are going to—"

Creak!

We both lost balance, along with that so-called tough branch, and fell off. Though our luck was quite good that my nerd Sahadeva had already sensed it sooner and called Bhrata Bheema who caught us in his pair of strong muscular arms.

"You two troublemakers would never change!" He exclaimed giggling and craddling us in his arms.

"We were just collecting some mangoes..." Sahadeva spoke. "For you, Bhrata."

Even Sahadeva have grown a cheesy tongue and what else would I expect when he's hanging out the whole day with Nakula or me.
So as I expected, Bhrata Bheema placed us back on our feet and rushed towards the basket of mangoes.

"By the way, Bhrata Arjuna, why did you gave me that dangerous hug?" Nakula questioned.

My brain quickly started searching for some excuses. "Well, I haven't given you a hug since days, so I just gave it."

"On a tree branch? Bhrata, are you serious?"

"Probably—"

"You are a bad liar, Bhrata," Sahadeva complimented, earning a glare from me.

Leaving a straight expression on his face, I decided to just point out at that large mango, which was enough to make the twins understand the reason for that dangerous hug.
I held up the broken tree branch and made a few attempts to pluck it, though they were only attempts without any success.

"What are you brothers up to?" Inquired a manly voice, seemingly coming from behind.

As the voice reached out my ears, it took me just a few seconds to leave whatever I am doing and ran up to the figure with arms spread and a loud squeal, "Pitashree!"
And then the man would pick me up in his arms and twirl round, giggling.

How could I forget that little tease from my two mothers, it was always the same dialogue that I could easily guess what's next.

"Showering all the love on your father, did you forgot your two mothers?" Mata Kunti along with Mata Madri said in unison, while caressing the hairs of Nakula, Sahadeva and Jyesth Yudhisthir who was standing beside Mata Kunti.

We reached out to Bhrata Bheema because even mata-pita knows that he will not move unless he burps, pating his stomach as the indicator that all the food is finished.
Sahadeva would always take up the task of narrating these incidents to our parents. Whenever he would narrate, the characters in his story, or better say 'us', would quarrel to take the seat near him. That also had a reason, because whenever we nudged our elbow, he would understand the gesture and then exaggerate the good qualities of the one who gestured, in his story.

As his narration was done, mothers took us back to the cottage. But today, suddenly father stopped me. He picked up the same piece of broken wood and asked me to bring him, his axe with a strong thread.

With the axe, he altered it. Giving smoothness to hold, with blunt edges and a perfect curve shape. Later, he tied the thread on its both ends. Plucking off another thin branch, and sharpening it on one end, he held the big wood piece as a bow with the branch as an arrow.

The arrow pointed at that mango. Father pulled the string till his ear and with a loud twang, the tiny pedicel by which it was hanging, broke off. Arrow dug in the soil behind with the mango on the ground. Witnessing that wonder, my attachment to that mango disappeared, instead now I felt attracted to the bow and arrow. My eyes glittering as father gave it to me.

"My little Krishna, do you think that your father wouldn't remember how you used to climb up the stone where my bow was kept and then stare at it, ever since you had merely started to walk on your knees?" He smiled at me warmly, and bent down to my level.

"This bow is now yours, but you should not use sharp arrows, for you still need training."

"Hmm!" I nodded with joy, and ran towards the cottage to show my brothers while father followed me slowly with a chuckle...

~Arjuna..

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🥺 First episode is here, meh Arjuna got a bow! *Dancing*
😶Mango ki wajah se kitna fyada ho gaya re...

Btw, my readers already know that I use episode instead of chapter cuz when you write a novel, a chapter is quite large but I can't stuff it all in one part. 😛Also it feels like a visual series going on.

🥺👋🏻Next chappy me milenge...
                         ~Parthvi