Satataharitam - Short Stories On Narayana

Viraha

A/N: Guyssss! This chapter is inspired by two songs of a legend who passed away recently. Can you people guess which ones they're?

Also a very experimental and clueless way of writing. I've never written like this, inspired by lyrics, before. So i hope it's decent-

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She held his portrait in her arms and adored it. She did it all the time.

But when she saw his face and couldn't help the tears that rushed down her cheeks, she knew it was getting very hard.

She tried in vain not to think about him all the time. But when she did actually remember that he wouldn't be back for the next many years, the pain would come in bouts. It would kill her on the inside.

Every time she reminisced about having him by her side, she'd lose herself in his memories for much longer than she'd realise.

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He tried not to recollect her at all. For he knew, that if he did, he'd not be able to stay strong.

Only he knew how much he missed her. Fourteen years. He had committed to this himself. Nobody had asked him to do it. In fact, he was even happy that he had decided to serve his brother.

But that did not ease his pain even one bit. He tried to tell himself that what he was doing was for the greater good. And more often than not, he succeeded in tricking his heart into believing this.

But when he didn't succeed, and her face came before his eyes in his daydreams, he couldn't help the tears that would follow. Sometimes, he thought about her and couldn't help but sob in solitude.

But even then, when he would see her charming smile in between his tortured sobs, when he would see her consoling him in his rather comforting daydreams, his tears would stop. He would smile. He would cherish the moment.

Before returning to reality.

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She would be lying if she said that she hadn't seen those torturous illusions of him seemingly returning, walking towards her with nothing but love in his eyes.

The number of times she had been tricked by this was tremendous. She would even hear him speak to her on days that were harder than others. She never spoke back, because all she would find herself doing was cherishing the moment and adoring him.

She knew it was but an illusion. But if that was what could give her the solace she yearned so much for, if that could give her the feeling that he was present with her, then why wouldn't she just play along?

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The liveliness in him, his enthusiasm and excitement, his participation in activities that anyone would deem as fun reduced to such a great extent. It was like he had lost all the life in him too, when he lost his Urmila's company.

He had tried every way he could possibly think of to soothe his heart, to give it some amount of reassurance that things would be okay even when he had to stay away from her.

But his heart wouldn't fall for it. His heart knew as well as he did that as long as the source of his joy wasn't by his side, nothing would really be okay. Even to smile would be a pain. He would perhaps get used to it. But that would not be the same as it going away.

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The flame still kept burning, their love still pure and only increasing for one another. But no more was there any light. With him gone, all the flame brought was pain. It didn't do the job of brightening their lives, and it looked like, for fourteen years, that wouldn't happen.

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For her to digest the fact that after a long wait of almost, just almost fourteen full years, he was now at the jaws of death nearly impossible.

All she saw at just the dreadful thought was his eyes, beautiful, ones that always spoke to her.

But not this time. They were closed.

Her life depended on them. How could he do this? How had he let something happen to him? He had promised he'd be back.

Her day had always started knowing that his he would be there. But she knew that if his eyes closed, it would bring a wave of darkness, and loads of tears. The difference between her life and death depended on his eyes - they needed to open again.

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Wherever he was, however he was, he always felt her presence in his heart. At times, all he could see would be her.

But when the realisation would strike, that it was just an illusion, his heart would break into pieces that he thought couldn't be put back together. But he managed to do it every single time.

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A/N: Short little chapter!

Okaaaaaaaay so I tried exploring son thing new so if the content doesn't seem that great, then kshama. But I really enjoyed writing this.

This was inspired by two songs of the legend Lata (Mangeshkar) Ji. This turned out to be a tribute to her. It's wonderful how her songs fit so well in this scenario.

So idk if any of you guys found out. The songs were "Voh Jab Yaad Aaye, Bohot Yaad Aaye" and "Teri Aankhon Ke Siva Duniya Me Rakha Kya Hai"

Also this is perhaps the shortest chapter, content wise, that I've EVER written. Only 700+ words. Even my first Inseparable Princes chapter was like 850+ words i guess. Woah this is small XD

Also that title! I came up with something in English which itself makes me proud! But better options are welcome lol 😂

Okay, so that's all! Thank you so much for reading! Byeddhesbyssegh! 💖😁