Samsāra

Chapter Thirteen

‘How long will you remain mad at me Gandhariji?’ Ajiona asked from her teacher, peeking at her from under her hair.

For all the expression on the woman’s face Ajiona might have not spoken at all. She was gathering her things and rose to leave. Ajiona grabbed at her hand.

‘I apologise for deceiving you,’ she whispered. ‘It was not my intention but it seemed a good idea at that time, I did not know who to trust and I needed to learn who would be my friend or not, can you be angry at me for wanting to be certain?’

Gandhari closed her eyes, shutting them tightly as if she hoped the girl would disappear like a bad dream by the time she opened it. Finally she spoke, ‘I was angry, not anymore. I understand your reasoning.’ She said and opened her eyes.

‘You forgive me?’ Ajiona prodded.

Gandhari gave a small grudging smile. ‘I forgive you child.’

Ajiona’s returning smile was wider and brighter, her green eyes sparkling.

When Gandhari left, Ajiona had two muhurtas to herself before her next tutor came in, it was meant for lunch but as her attendants bustled around her to set out lunch, Ajiona flopped against the floor and closed her bleary eyes. She was exhausted. Her day schedule was hectic barely leaving time for herself and her thoughts. The typical day that was twenty four hours in Ajiona’s world was thirty muhurtas here. Each muhurta was forty eight minutes long and her day started before sunrise when she did her yoga and taichi practices, during the muhurtas with the names Brahma and Samudram which was between 04:24 am to 06:00 am which was then sunrise, Rudra. The first two muhurtas after sunrise Ahi and Mitra (06:48 – 08:24) were for Gandhari and she was taught how to read and write, the two muhurtas following muhurtas Pitr and Vasu (08:24 – 10:00) were for Aadarshini. The two muhurtas after Vasu, Varaha and Visvedeva were for bathing and an early lunch before Takshika swept in for her discourse in music for two further muhurtas Vidhi and Sutamukhi. The two succeeding muhurtas, Puruhuta and Vahini were for her dance teacher, Baijanti, two muhurtas after that Naktanakara and Varuna were for Aamaya, Aryaman and Bhaga the two muhurtas before Girisa, sunset, were for spiritual discourse, then two muhurtas, Ajapada and Ahir-Budhnya, for bathing again and dinner. Pusya and Asvini after dinner time were for philosophical discourse after which she would have to meditate on her lesson for two muhurtas, Yama and Agni before she finally went to bed and wake up the same time.

This was of course was the schedule for Somavaram, Monday, on some days like Budhav aram (Wednesday),  Sukravaram (Friday) and Adivaram (Sunday), she got the two muhurtas before sunsets free and she was able to go to the garden and maybe have a chat with Bahubali who always brought the monkey, Rudra, along. Ajiona highly suspected the monkey was not a monkey, not truly but it hardly came out of its hiding place when she was along, only creeping out of shrubberies when Bahubali appeared then he would perch on the prince’s shoulder and give her a non-monkey look. Today was Mamgalavaram, Tuesday, so she had Gandhari for the two muhurtas before lunch. Her script was getting better; the letters looked less and less like a baby’s attempt at holding a pen for the first time. Her reading went smoothly also, she could read three paragraphs without trying to swallow her tongue.

She was dozing off on the cool floor when she felt someone loom over her. She cracked out eyelid open and Pragya filled her vision.

‘It’s time for you bath Devi,’ she said quietly.

Ajiona was tempted to say no in a childish way and perhaps grab the foot of the bed, the vision of Pragya grabbing her legs and dragging off to the bath made her smile. Just the way her mother had when she was ten, Ajiona had suffered from carpet burn and gotten all the ice-cream she could eat for her sufferings. The thought of her mother sobered her, her chest constricted and she inhaled and exhaled rapidly to stave off tears.