In the Wake of the War

Chapter-7

"Come on pitamaha!!" Vrishaketu wheedled. "Tell him, pitamahi!" Vrishaketu demanded, turning to Radha.

After hours of whining, he had finally managed to convince his Grandmother to move to the Palace of Hastinapur at least, if allowed, if not the Palace of Anga, but his Grandfather still would not accept.

Radha looked at him amused. "I'm afraid you'll have to do all the convincing yourself, my dear." She said. Vrishaketu huffed and turned back to Adhirat.

"My boy," Adhirat repeated patiently for the twentieth time, "I used to work as a charioteer in the castle. The castle is my workplace. And thus, it cannot be my home."

"The castle was your workplace. It is no longer your workplace. Thus it can be your home now." Vrishaketu insisted again.

Adhirat shot Radha another helpless look and she simply shrugged.

Vrishaketu held his breath. He felt that after all these hours and endless repititons of the same arguments, he might finally win.

Frustrated, Adhirat massaged his forehead. 

"You know Pitamahi Gandhari and Pitamaha Dhitarashtra! You like each other! You'll get along just fine!"

His grandfather sighed in exasperation. "That does not mean we can simply stay in that Palace."

"You can, if given permission!"

"Dhitarashtra is no longer Maharaj. The permission must come from the Samrat himself. Has he given permission?" Adhirat asked pointedly.

"I haven't asked yet." Vrishaketu muttered mulishly.

"Then how can you even consider asking us?" Adhirat asked, literally throwing up his hands.

"What if I do get permission, though? Will you come then?"

"Fine. Fine." Adhirat said finally. 

Vrishaketu immediately hugged him and then Radha and then flounced out of their home and back to the castle, presumably to get 'permission'.

"How will he face the Pandavas?" Radha asked her husband softly.

"I don't know. I really don't." Adhirat shook his head. "And if by some miracle he succeeds, how will we go to the Palace and face those men?"

"The better question would be, how will we face their Mother?" Radha sighed. "The answer would be: we won't. We cannot deny our grandson anything, but even if we stay in that palace, I'm sure that we, who are not any royalty, can certainly manage to avoid them."

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As Vrishaketu came back to the palace, he did not know what to do. Finally, he had found a way for his grandparents to be in the Palace where they would be well taken care of and it would be easier to meet them whenever they came to Hastinapur, but how on Earth would he go about fulfilling it?

He had convinced his grandparents to come, but how would he talk to the Pandavas?

Could he perhaps get his mother to ask them?

No, he told himself sternly. That would be the coward's way. And the son of the great Maharathi Karna is certainly not a coward.

Well, the Universe seemed to want to test him immediately on his resolve, for at the very next turning of the corridor, he came face to face with the Pandava that he wanted to see the least.