Sootputra: The Unsung Hero

Nobility

"I would understand if you have any bitterness in you. You don't have to hide it. You can let it out."

"What are you saying? Bitterness towards you!? Sure towards your father, but I can't have an ounce of hostility against you. " Said, Karna. It was hard talking to him after so long. On one hand, nostalgia gripped me and on the other a fear of disappointment. "And I'm not the only one who is carrying bitter feelings. Am I?"

"True, there were some unsorted strings in me when you left without saying a word. I even practiced my archery, sometimes imagining you at the end. But more than hatred, more than enmity, it was like a guilt," He looked at his hands. They had scars where the string of a tense bow peels the skin when stretching. 

The feeling was all too familiar. Wounds heal but they behind scars. 

"Frustration and regret that I am the one who forced you to leave. Because of my family, you had to leave yours. "His eyes had drowned in tears when he closed them.

"My father had yet again ruined another boy's life. Just to make sure that his favorite student gets to be on the top. Eklavya also left soon after you. Where'd he go, no one knows? "

He was gritting his teeth with every word he spoke. I saw his palms form into a fist. The veins boiling up to the top.

"My father is the worst scum, the worst of all the teacher." The nails must dig into his palms by now. It was hard to know how he felt. MY parents never ignored me. The love and pampering was something I forsake myself. So I didn't know how to help him.

"He ignores his own son and ruins the lives of others. Is that a Man of Honor? How can I love a man like that? What qualities does he have to be proud of him? To look upon" I patted his shoulder. His both hands were busy wiping his eyes. There were callouses on his palm. He must have trained hard these past years. With this up close, I could see his fingers. Almost all of them had cuts from the bowstring, especially the thumb. You need a good thumb for an archer. And he had a strong one.

"At least his Guru isn't like that," I said, mortifying. 

He was now stable, though his eyes were still a little wet and glaring. The teeth were pinching the flaking lips as he heard my words.

"Actually, he is. Or he was." I told Ashwathama the entire story, hiding nothing from him. About the lying, about the training, and about the curse. I don't know if I made the right choice by telling him. My intuition just said that it would make him feel better.

"In fact, I think it's inherent. Parshuram and all of his previous disciples including Bhisma are like that.

You don't know the way he looks at me. That discriminating look, like he's disappointed. But he barely knows me. I just can't stand it. Someday I just wish we have a battle and I would get to punch that old man."

"Vas....Karna, I'm sorry. Your story is something else.

How can he do that? All those years of devotion, hard work, penance, and worship. Just to get cursed!? That's preposterous." At least now he was focusing on something else for a change. Even though the topic he selected was a little uncomfortable.