My trials, tribulations, triumphs and more... - Arjuna.

Chapter 10: Appointment of Guru Dronacharya

On an auspicious day Pitamah Bhishma invited Guru Dronacharya to the court of Hastinapur to formally appoint him as our Guru. Before accepting the offer of Pitamah Bhishma, Guru Dronacharya laid down series of conditions, and said only when those conditions are agreed to then only he would accept the offer of Pitamah Bhishma.

Guru Dronacharya being a strict teacher asked Pitamah Bhishma that throughout our training period all of us would stay in his Gurukul just like his other students with the same basic amenities and facilities accorded to them. And, we will be allowed to visit our home only once in a year for few weeks of vacation. And, we will be treated no different to other students and we have to forego all our royal comforts and instead lead the strict life of being a regular student of the Gurukul. Our Pitamah Bhishma knew all these conditions were laid out for the benefit of the students. So, the students can fully concentrate on their training and come out of the Gurukul as formidable warriors capable of taking on any enemy army. Pitamah Bhishma without any second thoughts immediately accepted the conditions of Guru Dronacharya.

Later on that evening, a grand ceremony was held wherein Bade Pitashree honoured Guru Dronacharya with various kinds of offerings such as cows, agricultural land strips, farm lands and so on for accepting to train us in his Gurukul. Everyone in the court of Hastinapur knew the great knowledge and teaching skills Guru Dronacharya possessed in the field of weapons and everyone was sure that we will turn into fearless and formidable warriors under his tutelage. Guru Dronacharya was overwhelmed and moved by the grand ceremony and the immense respect given to him by Pitamah, Bade Pitashree, Vidur kaka and rest of the members of the Hastinapur court. He vowed before them that he would turn us into brave and fearsome warriors.

This was our last night to be spent at our home before we proceeded to Guru Dronacharya's Gurukul. Even though I was very excited to join the Gurukul and get trained under Guru Dronacharya but at the same time felt immensely sad to leave behind my mother, Pitamah, Kaka, Gandhari mata, sister Duhshala and my friends at Hastinapur. As I said earlier, for as long as I remember, I was always been an emotional and sensitive individual, so was already feeling restless with the impending thoughts of leaving my loved ones and tears were flowing continuously and my heart was aching tremendously. After a while, I was exhausted totally and did not even know when I fell asleep on the floor. Sometime later in the night, I felt some tear drops fall on my face and I woke up with a jerk and saw that I was in the lap of my mother who was caressing my head gently and tying my thick curly hair into a knot with so much of affection and was weeping bitterly in a silent manner. She was murmuring 'my little Arjuna, my beloved child, you don't know how much I love you my child. I acted strict with you, so you could have food at proper time and thus don't become sick. My child, my love for you is no less than the love your father and Madri mata had for you. You are my god gifted child who was bestowed to me after doing strict tapasya. You are an incarnation of ancient sage Nara muni my child. My child I'm so proud to be your mother. You are our shining light and bringer of our glory'. I was a bit shocked and surprised to see such vulnerable state of my mother. I never saw my mother in such vulnerable and emotional state, she always carried herself with tremendous dignity and composure even in the light of very difficult circumstances. So, I was totally taken aback at her current condition. May be, she felt that being away from her children for so long would be unfathomable for her and thus her emotions came out in the open. I did not want to prolong her agony further, so I cuddled into my mother and said "I love you maa and you are our inspiration. We seek our inspiration from you and if you show weakness at this time, then we will not be able to leave you behind and go to the Gurukul. So, please stop crying maa and bless us with success'.

She smiled at that and tapped my head gently saying my little Arjuna has become so matured at this tender age that he is able to compose his maa too. We had a hearty laugh and I slept blissfully in the lap of my mother along with my little brother Sahadev. The condition of Sahadev was similarly bad as Kunti maa. He was not leaving the vicinity of maa at all that day. He was very attached to maa from his childhood and he was weeping all day and it became very difficult for maa to control him.

Nakul too was feeling restless with the situation. Usually, we were used to see the naughty side of my most good looking brother, who always led life merrily and was a great company to be with. He always had a humorous streak in him to make the environment light. His one look was enough to make all girls drool. To see such a pleasant and happy looking boy in such distress and restless situation was overwhelming for my mother. She pulled Nakul to her side and patted him gently saying, we should go to Gurukul and excel in our training and bring glory to our beloved father and Madri mata.

Yudhi bhai was a picture of calm and serenity and was not showing any kind of emotion or stress. He too might have felt very sad to leave our mother and loved ones behind but was not showing any kind of such emotion before us. May be, he thought being an elder brother to all of us, he should show the way and act responsibly and therefore he always guarded baring his emotions in front of us.

Bhim bhai on the other hand was never good at hiding his emotions, he always bared his emotions openly in front of everyone. And, this time too, it was no different, he was feeling extremely sad. He did not even have his full quota of food the earlier night, as he was feeling depressed of leaving our loved ones behind. Also, Guru Dronacharya, upfront itself told that we students will only have modest amount of food during breakfast, lunch and dinner. The reason behind that was, only when we could curtail our desire and craving for food then only we will be able to train with complete focus and concentration. Also, excess food would hamper our agility and alertness during the training period. This was a kind of thunder blow to Bhim bhai as he was extremely fond of food and used to devour large quantities of food with ease.

The next morning the day of our departure to Gurukul, Duhshala's friends came to meet us. They were very fond of us and we used to participate in music events together. And, we all learnt music, dance and singing from the same teacher. They all were very sad and I felt pained to see such angelic faces in tears. For the first time, I let go my inhibitions and shook hands with all of them and asked them to forgive me, if I behaved in an arrogant fashion or ignored them earlier. Since, I was a reserved kind of person, so I did not like too much of closeness from Duhshala's friends, and may be because of that nature of mine they might have thought that I was arrogant and showing loads of attitude because of my looks and skills. I got a hint of this thought process of theirs from Duhshala earlier in the week, so I wanted to make mends on that and leave on a happy note. So, I shed my inhibitions and for the first time spoke freely with all of them and we had a nice time together.

I could clearly see the turmoil on the face of my beloved Pitamah Bhishma. After our arrival in Hastinapur from our ashram in the forests, our Pitamah did all he could to make us happy and wanted. He gave us all the fatherly love which we were dearly missing. How could I forget the memorable times I spent with my Pitamah Bhishma. The fact that I used to call him Pita instead of Pitamah and make him smile has been one of my cherished moments of my life. My Pitamah used to love and pamper me so much. He even used to argue with Kunti maa not to be strict with me. And, he used to say 'my little Arjuna, my son, you are our glory. Our future resides in the strength and valour of yours and you will be my successor as Commander-in-chief of Hastinapur, You will be the protector of Hastinapur'.

At around afternoon time, after we had our sumptuous lunch, it was time to bid farewell to our mata, Pitamah Bhishma, Kaka Vidur, Gandhari mata, Bade Pitashree, Duhshala and our friends. Finally the journey from childhood to adulthood has just started now...