The Cloud Of the Princess Part - 1 Chapter 14

Sembaruhi had to make a decision. It was pitch dark and her heart was beating faster than ever. ‘Should I stay here, and find out what this mysterious man is up to at this time of the night? Or should I go back and sleep with Imayaazh and others as before? This man was not the Poosari for sure. The Poosari had a hunch that was significantly observable. Moreover there was no way by which the Poosari could have climbed up the rock where this man was sitting now. ‘ .

She thought for a second without being able to decide on her next action.

‘Fortunately the man is not facing me and I could hide in these bushes if he turns back.

But from what the Poosari had said, there was nobody except him in this temple. So who would this man be? Does he know the Poosari? Does the Poosari know him? Are they involved in something together? But why would he play a flute at mid night. The music was not captivating either.

More than anything else, Sembaruthi was beginning to get afraid of the wild animals that she could hear moving beneath the bushes. She knew she could not control herself from shouting if some animal pounced upon her from beneath the bushes. And if that happened, this man on the rock will surely turn and look at her.
'I need to find out who this man is. He is facing the opposite side and i have to make him turn to my side. But i cannot reveal myself to him. That would be too dangerous. So I cannot just make a loud noise and make him turn. I have to do something’. She thought for a second or two. She bent down and made sure the bushes hid her completely. She looked around to find something. She picked up a stone which fit her palms and started to aim at something. After a second, she aimed at a distance and was ready to throw the stone with full force. Her idea was to hit the bark of a tree that was at a distance. The sound of the collision should make this mysterious man turn to his right and look at the tree. She knew she would not be able to fully see his face even then. But at least she should get a glimpse of how he looked like. And she was certainly confident that she could find out from seeing his eyes if he was the one whom she saw in Madiyamalai.

Though she was sure she will not get caught by throwing the stone, she was shivering from fear. Her hands had already become wet with the moisture. 'What if he does not hear the sound of the collision? He is playing the flute and there is every chance he might not hear it. That would be asking myself for danger' she thought. She decided to wait for the music to stop.

The pace of the tune suddenly accelerated. It was only for a few seconds. Sembaruthi felt her head swirling. The tune again slowed in pace. She had never heard a tune like this before. It was neither pleasant nor cacophonous . It gave a peculiar feeling that one normally gets when a sharp object runs over a metal block.

Sembaruthi was still waiting in the bush for the music to stop. Every second passed like a year. Drops of sweat began to bubble out of her temples. Her nervous system was now as tight as a vibrating sting with both ends fixed and could break down anytime.

The music stopped.

She knew she had to do it now.
She took aim once again, gathered all the force into her shoulders and threw the stone towards the bark of the tree.

It was a totally unexpected sound.
A man's cry in pain broke her eardrums.
Sembaruthi looked towards the tree in terror.
She was profusely sweating now.
She could not see anybody.
The cry of the man stopped as if the man had forced his own hands over his mouth to stop the noise.
After a second she turned swiftly towards the rock where the mysterious man with the flute was sitting.
She found empty space.
She was eaten up by fear.
'Who did the stone hit? Is there someone who is watching me in the dark? Are there more people around me in this deserted place? Where is this man who was sitting over the rock? Has he seen me? Is he moving towards me? Or has he jumped and run away to the other side?'
She started to shiver. Her eyes opened up to look deeper into the dark.
She decided it would be fatal to stay back in this place anymore. She had to run for her life and reach the Mandabam where the girls were sleeping. Without hesitation, she fell on her knees and crawled inside the bushes towards the Mandabam. She suddenly realized in fear that the sound she was making as she was crawling inside the bushes was exactly what she had heard a few minutes back and what she had assumed to be those that some wild animals were making. 'There is every possibility that there were men inside the bushes watching that mysterious man with the flute. But how many? And how many of them knew that I am hiding here?' The thought made her move faster inside the thorny bushes.

After a minute, she was inside the Mandabam. She made sure she locked the door as tightly as possible. Everybody was in deep sleep. The only torch that was burning on the top was throwing long shadows of her onto the walls. The atmosphere was as silent as death. She considered if she should wake the girls up. She decided against it. 'There is still a chance that nobody would have seen me. If that is the case, then waking up the girls would just be creating more problems. But in any case, let me be doubly alert. If in case something happens, let me shout and wake the girls up. I cannot sleep anymore tonight. Let me keep a watch on the window. Hope nothing happens' she tried to encourage herself.

Her heart beat had not slowed down yet. She did not lie down but sat on the floor below the torch carefully looking out of the window. She could only see the moon in the skies. The place outside was looking as if nothing had happened at all. She took the small knife she had and the very sight of it gave her some relaxation. It took half a minute or so before which she became normal. She began to think. A thousand questions hit her on the face.

‘Is this all a co-incidence? Or has someone been following me right from the beginning of the journey from Ponvilayur? No. It can’t be the case. The men in the dark would have still been there even if i had not gone. I was certainly not what they were looking for. It was the man with the flute whom they were looking for. Did I make a mistake by throwing the stone? May be the mysterious man was expecting somebody to come and may be they would have discussed something tonight. Did I spoil somebody’s plan? Should I have waited some more time and heard what they would have discussed? Does this somehow relate to what my husband told me? Nothing is clear except that I did a stupid thing by throwing the stone. What if somebody had seen me? Have I not put only myself but all these girls into deep trouble now? Was the Poosari hiding somewhere in the dark? Or … or…. Could it ever be like this? Was it the Poosari whom I hit with the stone? But if there was something important that the Poosari knew would happen here tonight, why did he allow us to stay here in the first place? The Poosari did not sound even a bit tensed when he spoke with us. No it can’t be the Poosari. The cry in pain was that of a young man. It was not the Poosari for sure. It was not the Poosari for sure. It was not the Poosari… It was not’

Sembaruthi drifted slowly into sleep without finding an answer to most of her questions.

The Cloud of the Princess Part - 1 Chapter 13

Sembaruthi, Imayaazh and three other maids sat in a circle near the sannidhi of Durga after worshiping the Goddess and coming round the temple thrice. The Poosari was not found in their vicinity. The Sevagars were standing as a group at the corner of the temple with their hands tied and they were awaiting orders from Sembaruthi to either withdraw to sleep after the long day that had tired them out or to carry out any other errand that still might remain.

The Sevagars normally had a tough life to live especially when they were asked to wait by their masters. The masters would normally gather around and discuss about the local politics of their villages or about profit and loss in their business or about the threatening war that could break out any moment. And when they discussed such important things, they got irritated even if they were disturbed by the slightest sound that a Sevagan standing at the corner made. And once they get irritated, the punishment that they gave the sevagars could be as harsh as one could imagine. So the sevagars would be very careful in such situations. Moreover they were not supposed to overhear what their masters speak. Though most of the talk would be unintelligible to them, they were not supposed to even hear a word of them and if it was found that they had heard something and leaked that outside, they could not even dream of living a day further. This was really a tough part. All the sevagars by natural instincts were completely loyal to their masters. But the problem was when you don’t speak in a group, you tend to listen. And more the mind tries not to listen to something, more it listens to it. The problem with all the masters was that they never cared to send the sevagars out once they get involved in a discussion. And the sevagars never left the place without being instructed to. So to tackle the situation, normally when the masters start to speak, each Sevagan would start to dream of something or someone. In most cases it was his lady love. Most of the sevagars were in their prime youth as the job demanded tremendous physical strength and prime youth is the time when the shrunk flowers of love start to blossom in the heart. Moreover as they had to be away from their dear ones for months, their thoughts in these situations naturally got filled with their lover’s beautiful face, those charming eyes, that curvy mouth, the sweet voice and what not. And that cloud of innocence mixed with purity, ruggedness and love would make them forget all that was happening in front of them. It would not be entirely wrong to say that they would not realize even if their master’s head was cut into pieces right in front of them and a part of it rolled down their legs. They would be lost in the wonderful land called dreams away from all the brutal realities of life and the only thing that would make them come out it was the loud clapping of the hands of their masters followed by the harsh sound ‘Sevaga’

The Sevagars who were waiting at the corner of the Durga temple did not get a chance to jump into dreams. Sembaruthi called the chief Sevagar to where she was sitting along with others and he came there running and bowed.

“Sevaga! I understand all of you must be very tired. But none of us have had our food yet. The Poosari said that he has food sufficient for the five of us. He has gone to his hut at the back of the temple to bring it for us. We shall happily eat that and sleep here tonight. But all six of you are very tired and won’t be able to carry the Pallakku tomorrow if you don’t eat and sleep properly tonight. The Poosari says that you need to go to the next village on the east to find food. It seems the village is a bit far from here but we cannot do anything else now. I want all of you to go and come back here before sun rise tomorrow morning. Don’t involve in fights with the drunken people on the streets. We can’t waste any time on that and shall have to start from here as early as possible.”

The Chief Sevagan seemed not very convinced about the idea. He hesitated for a second or two and his hesitation was clear from his expression change. Sembaruthi noticed it and said

“Sevaga! Don’t worry about us. Even I was a bit worried when I asked you to bring us to this temple. But with our Poosari here, I am certainly sure that even a speck of harm cannot be caused to us. I’ve known him for years from my childhood and I respect him as much as my father and I am sure he can guarantee our safety here.” She now turned towards the girls and continued the sentence. ”Sevaga , If you still think we may be attacked by somebody, you need not worry at all -as we will be certainly saved by this girl sitting here and the small knife she has with her. I don’t rely on the powerful army in Ponvilayur that your Dhalapadhi has been building for years awaiting war from places only god knows. But I rely more on Imayaazh’s knife. Which thief can attack us after seeing this gorgeous face that can bring men of highest esteem down to their feet? Won’t the thief put his weapon down, bow, kneel and beg Imayaazh so that she would turn and look at him once again with those magical eyes? What do you say girls? Am I not correct?”

“Akka! I wonder if you can talk a single sentence without mentioning about the Dhalapadhi. Somehow or other you connect everything with him Akka. I am just not sure how you are going to overcome his absence for the next three days. I think we will have to send this Chief Sevagan Sivaraman to bring back the Dhalapadhi before sun rise tomorrow rather than going in search of food now.”

The Chief Sevagan looked for a second at Imayaazh. He then turned back towards Sembaruthi and said

“Rani… It is Dhalapadhi Maithreyanaar’s order that I must stay with you whenever you go out. I have already suffered once for not doing it and I don’t want to do the same mistake again. But more than my suffering, I would want you to be safe Rani.”

“Sevaga. I clearly remember that incident when a frightened bull had come racing towards me outside the temple in Ponvilayur. But it was no mistake of yours for not being there at the moment. I think the Dhalapadhi would have been angry with you for that. I apologize on his behalf. But this seems to be a deserted place Sevaga. And I don’t see a mad bull around either. So I am sure we girls are as safe as we would be in the palace. So please go and have some food so that you can be ready for tomorrow’s long journey.”

“I go by your word Rani”

The Sevagan bowed again and left the place. After a few seconds, all the Sevagars who were standing at the corner left the temple. The girls started to discuss something among them. In a few minutes, the Poosari came there carrying a few cloth covered bamboo baskets. As soon as seeing him finding it difficult to carry all the baskets, the girls stood up and rushed to him to get those baskets. The Poosari gave the baskets to them with a gentle smile. He said

“Sembaruthi, let us go to the small Mandabam outside the temple. It won’t be proper to have food inside the sannidhi”

“Sure Ayya. Let us go. Girls, let us go to the Mandabam.”

They went to the Mandabam which was more deserted than the temple itself. It was a small hall with a few paintings of Durga on the wall. All the paintings depicted the goddess in a blood thirsty mood with tongues out and all eight hands with weapons stretched out in eight different directions and it sent a slight lump down the throat of the girls on seeing it. The Poosari did not seem to look at the paintings. ‘He would have seen it numerous times and so it does not frighten him’ thought Sembaruthi. The only light source in the Mandabam was a dim torch that was kept at a corner at a height that was not directly reachable from the ground and the dim yellow light from it that was falling on the paintings made it even more frightening to look at. The girls were all silent for a few seconds on entering the Mandabam and they could hear the eerie sound of the cold wind that was blowing trough the window. Sembaruthi looked out of the Mandabam through the window. She could see at a distance the dark figures of the Sevagars walking towards the east as a group. Something about the atmosphere seemed strange to Sembaruthi but she could not guess what.

The Poosari spoke.

“Sembaruthi, Imayaazh and all of you. Please sit down girls. We need to talk about a hundred things. “

The girls sat down in a circle.

“Ayya… Why is this place so dimly lit? It is frightening me” said Imayaazh. Though it was Imayaazh who said it, the expression on all the girl’s faces suggested the same.

The Poosari laughed gently and said

“Imayaazh. How nice to hear your voice again. I am thankful to god to have met you all again. It takes me back into those days when I was in Aaraimedu. The best part of my life was spent in Aaraimedu. I got married there to my wife who is no more. My son Chandra was born there. And I was blessed by Oorasar Sethupadiyaar to take over the temple proceedings at Madiyamalai Arivamudhar temple. But today when I am counting my days, I am here in this deserted place which is so dimly lit. Nobody even comes here Imayaazh. Only the Passers-by and occasional people from the Kingdom come here. And even they come during the day. During nights, only me and the Durga devi stay here. Nobody else does. So there is no reason to be surprised why this Mandabam is dimly lit ,Imayaazh”

“But why did you then choose to serve this temple ayya? There are hundreds of temples in the Kingdom where you could have gone”

The Poosari sank in thought for a second. He spoke after a few second’s silence.

“There is a reason for it Imayaazh. I was so much attached to the Madiyamalai temple that I felt really bad when I broke my legs. I could not bear the feeling that I will not be able to serve the lord in the temple anymore. People around me suggested going to Ponvilayur and serving in the huge temples that Padmanabar had built thirty years back. But I did not want to be one among hundreds in those temples. I normally get attached to the god whom I serve Imayaazh. I searched for a temple where I alone could stay and serve the lord. After three months of search, I found this temple. This place has not been occupied by the common men for more than sixty years ever since the earth shook here during Mahendiran’s rule. So this temple which was built during his rule had suffered major damage and was permanently closed when people who stayed here relocated to different places around. I decided this would be the best place for me to spend the last days of my life and so immediately shifted here”

The girls seemed a bit relaxed now. One of the maids served the food to the girls and the poosari and they all started to enjoy the delicious food . Their talk slowly shifted to different topics concerning the Kingdom, the Dhalapadhi, the King, the Temple, their purpose of visit and many others. After sometime, the talk slowly shifted to Kumudhini. The Poosari said

“Oh… Kumudhini. Yes I remember her too. She is the daughter of Vaithiyar elanchezhiyanaar – isn’t she? I will be grateful to the Vaithiyar throughout my life. But for him I would have never recovered from the pain I had in my legs. He and his daughter were the one’s who took care of me when I had broken my legs. She was such a good girl, Kumudhini. I am very happy to hear that she has got married. Please do convey my best wishes to her when you girls meet her.”

“Sure Ayya. She should be fortunate to receive your blessings.” said Sembaruthi.

Imayaazh who was really silent throughout the discussion suddenly burst out in laughter. Everybody stopped speaking and looked at her. She could not control her laughter. She said

“Ayya Poosari...Something seems to be strange. The only people who were present when akka rolled down from the top of Madiyamalai were you and the Dhalapadhi. Now following akka, you also have rolled down from the top. I am just wondering who the next victim is?”

Sembaruthi’s expression changed to indicate that she was not very enthusiastic about the joke. She turned her neck to some other side.The Poosari not noticing this continued

“Aah Imayaazh. Do you think the Dhalapadhi will ever lose his own balance and slip from the top of the hill? No way my child. That will never happen. Was he not the one who saved Sembaruthi when she fell down from the top? He should have been a strong man to stop a girl rolling down at that speed. Moreover I did not even know it was Sembaruthi who was falling from the top. I was coming down from the top after having completed the day's services to the lord when I heard a loud female voice. I assumed somebody had fallen down and immediately rushed down to see Sembaruthi rolling down into the Dhalapadhi’s hands. At first I even doubted the Dhalapadhi for having harmed her but then after a few seconds I realized that he was the one who had really saved her.”

Sembaruthi suddenly turned towards the Poosari and looked into his eyes. It was only for a second. She immediately turned away and started looking at where she was looking before. After this she did not participate much in the discussion that continued between the girls and the Poosari. Something had caused a problem to her and she was not able to come out of it.

After finishing the food, the Poosari showed the girls a place to sleep. Sembaruthi thanked the Poosari for the food and went to bed along with the other girls. The girls were also very tired and slowly started to drift into a peaceful night's sleep. But Sembaruthi was thinking about something for a long time. A number of things came rushing to her brain about the hill temple incident. She could not understand something. She tried shifting places in her bed but could not get over the incident. It was coming back again and again. She decided to stay calm and slowly recall whatever that happened on that day.

On the particular day the incident had happened, she had seen Kangeyan at a distance, wanted to escape from him finding out, grabbed the medicine from Kumudhini and climbed up the hill, heard the maduoli when she was halfway up, turned to see her friends walk away, decided to run back to the temple, saw the Poosari’s burning eyes in the flame torch’s light, fainted and fell down. This was what she assumed had happened.

But now she was sure there was something mysterious about the whole thing.

The Poosari had said that he had heard a girl shouting at the peak of her voice when he was coming downhill and rushed to see who it was when he found her rolling down the hill. If that was the case, then who was the one whom she saw on turning immediately to run towards the top of the hill? Those burning red eyes in the light of the flames haunted her till date. She was now sure it was not the Poosari. From what the Poosari said, he was no where in the picture when she fainted. So if it was the Poosari himself, there was no reason for him to lie that he was not near her. If it was not the Poosari, then the Poosari would have surely seen the light from the flame torch that the man was holding. But he never mentioned anything of that sort. So in either case the Poosari was lying. But why would the Poosari have to lie at all? What secrets does he keep with himself? Was the reason he gave for shifting to this deserted place the true reason? Who was the man who was holding the flame torch? Whose were those powerful and frightening eyes she had seen in the dark? Was it a man for sure? Or was it a woman whom the Poosari knew?

At this juncture a strange sound from outside the Mandabam was heard. Sembaruthi was shocked for a second on hearing it. She could not figure out properly where the sound was coming from. She could not even understand what sound it was. It seemed to be coming from a musical instrument but there was no particular tune to the song. She turned to see if anybody else was awake. All the girls were in deep sleep now. ‘Who could be playing an instrument in the middle of the night that too in no particular tone?’ She could not guess. ‘It may be the Poosari‘- Some voice from inside her heart told her. She was getting frightened every second. Though the tune was not proper, it was sort of mesmerizing. She had heard in stories about magical tunes that could render people inactive. Was the Poosari trying to do something? She could not decide if she should go out and check who it was or stay back and sleep the night off.The fact that she had sent the Sevagars away was even more disturbing to her. She decided to stay back and closed her eyes. The sound stopped.

Suddenly,Some strange instinct made her rise up and walk in slow steps.

It was frighteningly silent around her.

She came out of the Mandabham and it was pitch dark and shivering cold. The strange atmsphere made her heart beat faster every second. She carefully looked around in all directions. She could not find the Poosari anywhere.

She walked cautiously till the place where her Pallakku was lying.

The song was heard again behind her back.

She turned in fear.

She saw nothing.

She sensed some wild animal running inside the thorny bushes with a screeching sound.

The sound stopped again.

Everything was dark and silent.

Nothing moved.

She turned to her left.

She saw in the moonlight the back of a dark figure sitting on a rock with a flute in hand.

The sound started again!

The Cloud of the Princess Part - 1 Chapter 12

The first reaction on reaching the Durga temple was that it was not a very safe place to stay in. Especially because it was already dark and there was no male companion for the girls from the palace. Of course the Sevagars were there but they could not be relied upon. They must be very tired having carried the Pallakku for more than half a day now and it won’t even be minutes before they fall off asleep. It would be merciless to ask them to stay awake and guard the girls while they slept comfortably.

The initial plan that Maithreyan had suggested was to reach Chief Painter Chinnayar’s palace before it got dark, spend the night there and then start early the next morning and reach Araimedu before the sun set. Though the plan was good and workable, Sembaruthi had not liked it. Everything was right about the plan except the halt at the Chief Painter’s palace. Sembaruthi for some unknown reason had developed hatred towards the chief painter. And since Imayaazh had said it would take time for them to reach the painter’s palace, Sembaruthi immediately changed her plan. It was a boon in disguise for her and she grabbed it with both hands. If at all she wanted to attach a reason to dislike Chinnayar, she could succeed only with a childish reason. Three years earlier, when Sembaruthi had first come to Ponvilayur after having married Maithreyan, she was given a very warm welcome all across the palace. She was introduced to each and every minister and she was initially even frightened because she could not even remember all their names. But irrespective of who it was, she was praised for her beauty, especially her eyes had got a great deal of attention and more importantly everybody wished the couple a great married life. But when she was introduced to the Chief painter Chinnayar who was in his late sixties, he saw her up and down and said “You have got luck Devi… Hope it stays with you throughout your life. Let me wish all prosperity for the young couple”. Sembaruthi had hated those words. It looked to her as if the Painter was playing with words. If not for his expressions, she would not have thought so. It was a wry expression and it clearly sent the message across that he was totally disinterested over the wedding. But after that incident, she never had the chance to meet the Painter and talk even a few words to him. So she could not make out why he would be unhappy with the marriage at all.

Though she did not see the Painter after that, she heard a lot about him after a year of her marriage. He was planning to paint the best painting that had ever been painted and too of the King right in front of the throne. Everybody was talking about it in the palace and every time she heard someone mentioning about it, she purposefully diverted the topic. She was not particularly interested in this and was surprised when the King had actually shifted his palace for more than three months just because the painting was being done. She wondered how good the painting could be and when the piece of art was completed finally, she was also invited to the palace to take a look at it. She had gone along with Maithreyan to view the work and her first reaction was that it was a masterpiece. But immediately her mind changed and she felt it was just another painting. Nothing was wonderful about it. Just because the painting was done in two parts, one on the ceiling and another on the floor, it cannot become the best ever done. Moreover the colours used were not very impressive. There was a particular area in the painting where the colors were applied shabbily. She dared not to speak about it outside but a sense of satisfaction filled her heart just because she did not like the painting.

Was it pure human tendency of not liking somebody’s work because you don’t like the artist, which had made Sembaruthi hate the painting and find faults in it? Or was it her innate talent in painting which she had inherited from her father’s gene that had made her find faults in the painting? It will not be possible to decide because art is for the human mind to cherish and chew upon and the exact critic for an artist is himself and not anybody else. Every stroke made in a painting is because the artist wanted it that way and every word written in a poem is because the poet wanted it that way. It would do a world of good if the poet is satisfied with his poem and the painter with his painting rather than the poet wanting the painter to praise him and the painter the poet. Unfortunately enough, the human mind has only one single rule to follow and that is to follow none.

The Durga Devi temple was not very welcoming. It seemed deserted and there were very few torches burning now than what she had seen from a distance. Somebody should have put it off. Or even the cold wind that was blowing could have put it off. The Sevagar chief asked if he could go in and find out if somebody was there and Sembaruthi agreed. She along with her maids got down from the Palakku and was waiting outside the temple. It was already dark and the air was getting chiller. The girls covered themselves with their dress to avoid the cold, but the other Sevagars were standing without even covering their chests. It clearly showed that they were really tired and needed some rest and they were enjoying the cold air that was blowing over their faces.

After few minutes of waiting, Sembaruthi saw two figures coming out of the temple. It was dark on this side of the temple where they were waiting and it was difficult to spot immediately who were coming. Sembaruthi realized immediately that the man coming in front was the Chief Sevagar. She could easily figure that out with the way he was walking. There was a second figure that followed the Chief Sevagar and it was walking in a pretty slow pace. Sembaruthi could somehow sense that she knew this slow moving dark figure. The outline of the body, the hunch and the pace of the walk were all very familiar. As the two men approached near the girls and when they came under the torches light, Imayaazh immediately spoke in excitement.

“Akka… can you see who is coming behind the Sevagan? Is it not our old poosari of Araimedu? Or are my eyes cheating me?”

“Imayaazh… Don’t you worry! You are not that old to be cheated by your own eyes. Even I think it is our poosari of Arivamudhar temple. But I am not sure why he is here now? And that too at this time of the night.”

“Akka… I think he is now staying here in this temple. I remember hearing from someone that he lived no more at Araimedu. But I did not know where he left to and why he left. I guess this must have been the temple where he has shifted to”

“Let us not jump into conclusions Imayaazh… The poosari is here. Let us ask him and get it clarified”

It was indeed the old poosari who along with Maithreyan had saved and brought Sembaruthi back to her home when she had rolled down from the hill.

He seemed older and worse than how he had looked then. His hunch had pushed him more towards the ground and his face had shrunk and appeared with more lines of flesh that had loosened with age and probably worry. The old man did not seem to have realized who had come. He put his hand over his forehead to avoid the light from the torch falling directly into his eyes and said in a characteristic old man’s voice

“The sevagan says that somebody from the King’s palace has come to this small temple. I am really sorry. My eyesight has become very poor and I can’t see you clearly. May I know who has come to this god’s place? ”

Sembaruthi felt sorry for the poosari. The poosari that she knew and could remember was the one who had advised her number of times to go back to home before the Madhuoli broke. She could not have even imagined seeing him like this three years ago. '
Time' is the worst weapon to play with- especially after you see grandchildren - she told herself.

She spoke in a soft voice

“Ayya… Yes, we are somebody from the King’s palace. But I don’t wish to introduce myself to you like that. I know you better than anybody in the King's palace at Ponvilayur. Ayya...Do you remember painter Araivazhagar of Araimedu. I am his only daughter Sembaruthi. Ayya do you remember me ?”

The old man made a few quick moves of his neck. He seemed excited. “Sembaruthi! Is that really you? Oh Sembaruthi…How wonderful to meet you again after so many years. How are you my child? How are your parents? How is Dhalapadhi Maithreyanaar? It is god’s grace that I have met you again before this old man’s soul passes away”

Sembaruthi cut in “No need to speak so ayya… Lord Arivamudhar will not let you down. And all our prayers are always with you. Your service is needed for this Kingdom for many more years to come ayya”

“Aah… that is what I am afraid of Semabaruthi… The lord will never be kind to me anymore. If I remember correctly, it was after a few months of your marriage when I skid down and broke my legs while climbing up Madiyamalai. Since then my legs have are almost disabled and I can no more walk properly, let alone climbing Madiyamalai. I wanted to spend the last days of my life in the Lord’s sannidhi but he seems to have different plans for this old man. I was forced to make my son takeover the temple proceedings in the Madiyamalai temple. And instead of staying bed ridden and dying without a use to anybody,I thought i shoule continue what i was doing but may be in a different place. So i came here last year to spend my final days. It is none but Durga Devi who sits in this temple whose grace is holding my life still”

Sembaruthi was really moved by the poosari’s story. A drop of tear flowed down her cheeks. But the old poosari could not even see it clearly. Sembaruthi did not know how to respond. There was a moment’s silence and it was embarrassing for her. But fortunately for her,the poosari himself spoke.

“Sembaruthi… I am really sorry to have made you stand here for so long. Please do come inside my child. We have hundred things to speak.”

After saying that he turned towards the temple and started to walk slowly. As he walked he spoke without looking back at the girls who had started following him slowly

“Sembaruthi… How wonderful it was when I was in Araimedu! Especially with all you young girls doing all sort of mischief and pranks. More than you, I miss all those days my child. And I even heard that that one of your friends, the girl with the big mouth …I forgot her name… I heard that she is also with you… Has she not come here now? Oh… Now I remember… was it not Imayaazh? Yes it was Imayaazh.She was such a sweet torture for me when I was in Araimedu…Has she got married yet? Her husband must be a poor man to have married a girl with such a big mouth” And He laughed to himself after saying that. It seemed the old man was laughing his heart out after a number of years.

A known female voice cut in.

“Ayya Poosari…. The torture has not ended yet. And neither has it got married. It will continue to torture till your soul stays in Pavazhanaadu … Don’t expect anything less than what you got in Araimedu. And the torture is now right behind your back...”

Of course! It was Imayaazh.

The Cloud of the Princess Part 1 Chapter 11

King Kunjidhapadhanaar was seen with a bit of concern on his face as he asked the question to Dhalapadhi Maithreyan.

“Do you really think Pavazhanadu is safe from the outer world at all?”

After a few minutes of silence in the room, Dhalapadhi Maithreyan who was now seen sitting in front of the King’s throne said in a pretty low voice

“I am not sure my lord… But I have made arrangements to find out”

The King’s expression became a bit relaxed. He seemed excited.

“Arrangements… even before we discussed the situation… You are a gift to me from the gods Maithreya… You are undoubtedly a gift… So tell me… what are the arrangements that you have made?”

“I am just doing what a Dhalapadhi must be doing my lord… and I am afraid if I am really doing it the right way or not” – The voice had a tinge of worry in it.

“Aah… Worry…. To the mastermind Maithreyan?? I am really surprised. “

“Well… Ayya… With the way things have developed in the last few months, I should say it is not really favorable for the Kingdom. A number of complex political changes are expected to happen anytime in the next month or so and depending on what will happen, we might have different problems to tackle… And I am really worried because I am just not able to guess what will cause what now... “

The King thought for a minute and then spoke.

“I can understand your situation Maithreya… And this mysterious message we have received just adds to the confusion… I sometime even get the feeling that people around me are acting strangely for a few months now… I can also sense some big disaster to break out anytime… I unfortunately have no option but to wait for it to happen…. “. The king paused here and after a second or two spoke in an aggressive tone as if he had realized something suddenly.

” Warriors are men who kill their enemies by slashing the sword on the face…and take pride in the blood that spills out from the enemies neck and mouth as he falls down dead… I am a warrior! I can fight anybody face to face… but as a king I just can’t be a warrior alone… I need to act as a manipulator. I must pull people’s legs and get things done. I must attack men from behind when they least expect it and kill them psychologically...Personally I hate this Maithreya… I wonder how I was born in the bloodline of Thiru Aadhirayar, the most cunning manipulator that the world knows of… I just do all these sins because it concerns the welfare of the people. That is my only solace.”

“And that is exactly why a King needs the Dhalapadhis and Mudanmandiris my lord. Haven’t you heard and read poems and verses that say Thiru Aadhirayar himself depended a lot on his favorite Mudanmandiri Kesavanaar to tackle difficult problems”

“True Maithreya… I think even I should leave all the political problems to you and the Mudanmandiri and go to the top of Asuragiri and live the pure life of a sage…How wonderful would that be… to get up before the sun rises, to have a cold shivering bath in Amudhu, to meditate for hours together, to eat fruits right from the trees, to think always of god and be peaceful for eternity”

“Ayya… I think that is not going to happen any time now and I think the people of Pavazhanaadu are not going to let you do it that easily…I feel we have something important to discuss now and we better do it right away”

The King who had lost himself in thought got out of it and spoke as if he was in a hurry.

“You are right Maithreya… let us discuss about the message that I received… what do you think it tries to convey? And more importantly whom do you think would have sent it?”

Maithreyan adjusted his position in the chair. He cleared his throat and spoke.

“It is not very easy to answer the questions you are asking my lord… especially because the message doesn’t have much to say except that it warns of an upcoming disaster in the Kingdom from the outside world. Moreover the way it reached us is really interesting. The message has been given to one of our soldiers who receive written pleas from common people every alternate povurnami day, screens it based on importance and forwards it to his higher official. The official does similar screening and passes on to his higher official. Only the messages that pass more than ten such levels of screening and those that are really important reach you. The others of course are forwarded to the concerned authorities for immediate action. We normally don’t expect people to put down their names in the pleas unless they are specific to individuals. This practice is being followed for over three years now and I have not even heard of a single occasion where the pleas have been written just for fun. The common people don’t misuse it because of the efficiency with which our authorities investigate the problems of the people and get it solved immediately. Another valid reason that I could think of is that, most of the common man does not know to write. He would want someone else to write a plea for him. So I really doubt if it is a common man who has written this message. Because he might not even be sure that it would reach you. The underlying system in place is transparent from him. He only knows that a soldier collects his pleas periodically and somehow it gets translated into actions. Of course if he needs to meet you, he always can do it by giving the right reasons to the officials. Moreover you travel across the kingdom and meet the common people very often. So nobody would want to convey such an important message in such a manner”

“So you are sure this message is something we need to worry about.”

“Exactly my lord… but the problem is the target at which we must be worried about”

“What are the possibilities?”

“Many.”

“Like?”

“Let me list them down for you. The first and foremost target we must be worried about is King Eezhendiran who rules Eezham. It was more than a century before, when King Sugumaran and his twin brother Eezhendiran fought among themselves and tore Pavazhanadu into two parts. The Eezhendiran of today is the seventh generation of the Eezhendiran who split the Kingdom. The other side of Amudhu has always been a problem for us. Though we have somehow managed to have trade relations with sailors traveling from Eezham to Pavazhanadu and Pavazhanadu to Eezham, we have never have had good solid relations with them. The sailors always live in fear and terror for they never know when a war can break out between the two Kingdoms. And from what I hear from my spies, Eezham is silently preparing a war against us. I use the word ‘silent’ because this preparation has been going on for more than five years now and the preparation is almost over. They can attack us anytime this year and though we are preparing too, it is going to be tough for us to stop them if they attack us right today.”

Maithreyan gave a pause and continued.

“Eezham is a known evil. It is a problem that lies right in front of our eyes. It is a battle of power and pain, of swords and blood – face to face, chest to chest. So even they are to attack us, we will get the information at least a day before. So there is no reason I can think of this message relating to Eezham though we may not throw the issue away just like that. There are more problems that are inside the Kingdom than outside. Let me list them too.

We have hundred and thirty Oorarasars in our Kingdom, with hundred and twenty of them controlling not more than ten villages. The remaining ten are the powerful

Oorarasars - controlling from ten to fifty villages. The Oorarasar of Araimedu and the surrounding villages is Sethupadhiyaar- a man of iron heart. As you know, he removed all the men from his army a few years back because they had succumbed to alcohol addiction. It was a bold move and all of us, here in Ponvilayur praised him for it. But in a few weeks after the incident, the group of soldiers who were thrown out started to get together in nights and planned a secret operation. Their aim was to join hands, become powerful, attack Sethupadhiyaar when he least expected it and claim the post of Oorarasar. When I first heard about this plan from my spies, I laughed at it. This as because, even if they get successful in throwing Sethupadhiyaar out of the post, the army from Ponvilayur would attack them and crush them into emptiness. But as time went by, I heard shocking news from my spies which made to revisit my opinion on this secret group. The secret group had actually started to convince soldiers of other armies under other Oorasars to join them in their mission so that they can throw away all the ten powerful Oorarasars at the same time and combine all the villages under them. Now that meant trouble. I least expected this from them. But the problem we had was that the group was meticulously organized and it was even difficult for us to spy on and find out who was the leader of the group. It took us more than a year to find out a few big names in the group. I initially planned to have all these people arrested immediately but then went against it. It was a wrong idea because if I did not give proper reasons to arrest them, it would result in several problems from other Oorasars who are not very much in our side. They are always looking for a chance to protest against us and I did not want to make a silly move. I waited for a while before I got an idea. You had ordered us to arrest people throughout the Kingdom who drank alcohol in the day time. I used this as an opportunity to arrest some of the big names of the secret group and throw them into the underground prison here in the palace. The fact that these people were already been thrown out of the army for consuming alcohol helped a lot to make others believe that they were arrested for the same reason again. “

The King was floating in surprise.

“Maithreya… I never knew that such a group existed at all. Why did you not mention it to me before?”

“Ayya… initially I thought the group could not do much at all. But later when I found they might turn dangerous, I arrested them before they grew in size. So I was under the impression that the group was destroyed forever. So I did not have to tell you about them. But with this message, I am just thinking if it might have been from this group which has become very powerful without out knowledge.”

The King spoke in a frustrated tone.

“Better late than never. We need to watch them more carefully Dhalapadhi. Make arrangements for that. And tell me who others can are the suspects. And what other things am I unaware of”

“Ayya… Forgive me for not having informed you about the group. And it was not hidden from you purposefully. Time and situation made me not to inform you about it. Hope you understand my lord”

“Yes I can… Tell me about the other possibilities Maithreya”

“There is one other possibility ayya. I have informed you this before and even warned you several times. Let me just re-iterate it again.

It is the powerful alcohol merchants who may have joined hands together against us my lord. There is every reason for us to believe that they might go against us. Though we have announced to give gold and silver to them to stop selling alcohol, I can see nobody really satisfied my lord. We have discussed over this a number of times and we have not yet come to a conclusion. But one strange thought arises in my mind now. Since a considerable part of the alcohol is brought to Pavazhanaadu from Eezham via Amudhu, there is a slim possibility that the alcohol merchants might have agreed upon something with Eezhendiran though I have no idea what. “

The king thought for a while.

“May be you are right Maithreya. Even I have the same doubts. There are a hundred things we must think of before proceeding. And we must make sure we must pick the right one among the hundred and attack” The king closed his eyes and looked towards the ceiling. Things started to sink in slowly.

There was silence in the room for a considerable period of time. After a while, a slightly shivering voice of Maithreyan broke the silence.

“Ayya…”

The King opened his eyes and looked at Maitreyan.

“Yes Maithreya … tell me… You sound different suddenly? What is up?”

“There is one more possibility that we have not thought of at all”

Maithreyan’s expression changed suddenly. His eyes had widened and he looked a bit afraid.

“Oh… What is that?”

“If that is true, then it could be the worst thing that could happen to Pavazhanaadu”

“Please tell me what it is Maithreya… You are making my blood boil”

Maithreyan measured every word he spoke. And as he spoke, the Kings expression changed slowly to resemble the fear of pain and death of a goat about to be slashed into two pieces.

“Whatever we have discussed so far are just problems on the south of Asuragiri. But we may never know if someone from the unknown mysterious land on the other side of Asuragiri has sent this message to mark our end. And if that is the case, then we are absolutely naked to the solutions my lord”

The Cloud of the Princess - Part 1 Chapter 10

More than a century earlier, on a sunny thingal morning, Mudanmandiri Kesavanar was taken by surprise when a soldier announced that King Aadhirayan wanted to meet him.

‘Lord almighty has been sick for over a year now. The vaithiyars have lost hope in what they could do and are raising their hands up towards the sky if asked about the Lord’s health condition. It has been several weeks since the King has even spoke to any of the officers, be it the Dhalapathi or Dhanamandiri. Only Maharani stays with the King all day and night. Pity that old lady. She is such a kind woman. But it seems even she has gone to the thiruvizha in Erudhur to pray for the King’s health. The King would be alone now. Both the princes Sugumaran and Eezhendiran are not in the capital. Sugumaran will return only afternoon and Eezhendiran only in the night. The brothers have already split the kingdom into two parts and it is such a painful sight to see the young princes fighting like this. Does he want me to do something to stop the princes from fighting? Oh iraivaa… Will they ever lend their ears to this old man’s words? The princes are as stubborn as their father. Once something is decided, it is decided. And until Lord Aadhirayan ruled, it was this quality in him that did all the good for the kingdom. But now it is the same quality in the twins that is causing all the trouble. It pains as if a sharp knife ran across my chest to see them dividing the kingdom into two parts. Aadhirayar built this sorgaboomi inch by inch. He gave his blood and flesh for this place to reach the stage it is in now. But now the kingdom is in the verge of a civil war. Peace in Pavazhanaadu hangs down without balance from a slender thread - which is the life of Almighty Aadhirayan. If the gods are against Pavazhanaadu and something unfortunate happens to the Lord, then nobody can stop a civil war. The streets will float in blood. Men will be killed mercilessly. Women will be widowed. Children will die of hunger. Poverty will slowly eat up the kingdom. To add fuel to the fire, the twins are equally powerful. They both have equally powerful armies. This just means more problems. If it was a one sided affair, then one of the two will climb the throne after defeating the other. But both are equally talented, equally cunning. It will be many years before the war will come to an end. And before that this beautiful land where the divine river Amudhu runs, will become a grave soaked in blood and hatred.

I need to do something about this. I have to speak to the Lord before things go out of reach. I shall meet him and beg him to call his sons and talk to them. I shall ask him in the presence of the Queen. She will be back before the moon. If the king does not listen to me, he will listen to the Queen for sure. And it must be easy to convince her. She will understand the situation both as a Queen and as a Mother. Yes. I shall do that. Let me meet the King after the queen comes back tonight’

Mudanmandhiri Kesavanar having thought for a while turned towards the soldier and said ‘I shall meet the Lord tonight. Give him the message. You may take leave now’

The Mudanmandiri turned towards the other side and started walking slowly with a hunch that age had gifted him. He walked till the door and turned back to see the soldier still standing there with a confused expression.

Mudanmandiri spoke slowly.

“What is the matter Durai? Why are you still waiting? I shall meet the Lord once the Queen comes tonight. Please convey the message to almighty. Is there something else you want to tell me?’

The soldier came a few steps towards the Mudanmandiri and spoke as if he was whispering.

“The Lord wants to meet you immediately’. He paused for a second and looked to his left and then to his right. After making sure nobody was listening to them,

he continued.

‘The Lord wants to meet you when the Maharani is not in the palace.’

Mudanmandiri had not expected it. He showed a hint of surprise in his face but that was only for a second. He recovered immediately and his face returned to its original old man’s look.

He coughed twice and spoke.

‘Oh yes! The Lord must have called me to talk about the death sentenced prisoners who need to be terminated. He never allows Maharani to hear such talks. Don’t you remember that once Maharani heard about the methods we handle to kill prisoners and fainted on the spot? Oh… She is such a pure lady with the goddess of peace staying permanently in her heart.’

The soldiers reply came without any modulation in the voice.

‘The Lord wanted me to convey you that he wanted to talk to you about something very important and it had nothing to do with the prisoners in particular.’

The Mudanmandiri coughed again. This time he was not able to control the surprise that had settled on his face.

‘This is very uncharacteristic of the Lord. He would have never given so much of detail to the soldier. But in a way it does bring out his sharp intellect. Aah haa… people say he is in his death bed and will not live long. But even now his mind is as sharp and politically bent as it was on the day he first saw Pavazhanaadu from the top of Asuragiri. How brilliant of him to have guessed that I would have thought that the meeting might concern the prisoners. It means he wants to make sure that I go and meet him today. And that too before the Queen comes back to the palace. So this means he has been patiently waiting all these days for an opportunity to talk to me when Maharani was not in palace. This should be of very high importance then. I better go and meet him immediately’

Mudanmandiri ordered the soldier to leave and after a while went to the King’s palace. The moment he entered the room where the king was lying on the bed, two soldiers closed the door behind him and left the place hurriedly. He saw the King lying on the bed in the center of the huge room with gigantic pillars in all sides that were as high as a coconut tree. But the huge room which would normally be buzzing with activity of the palace women was now as silence as death. Only the king was there in the center of the room lying on the bed. Not even the waving girls were around. This gave a shock to the Mudanmandiri.

‘The Lord should have ordered everybody out and must have been waiting for me. How foolish of me to have delayed so long’ The Mudanmandiri thought.

He walked up near the king, bowed down and said without rising up

‘Ayya… I am a sinner. I should be punished. I have made the almighty wait for me so long. I deserve death’

The king still lying on the bed smiled gently and spoke

‘Kesavanaarey… The whole country is eagerly waiting for my death. And I know I won’t live long either. Though everybody says that he/she prays for my life, nobody really wants me to live. There are only two people who want this old man who is no more of use to anybody to still live in this materialistic world. One is my Queen. And another is my reliable Mudanmandiri. And I don’t want to be unfortunate to see any of these dying before my soul departs this beautiful land. You are not a sinner Kesavanaarey… You are going to be the savior…. the god sent savior of Pavazhanaadu… please rise up and sit beside me.’

The Mudanmandiri rose up and sat near the king.

‘I am older than you my lord .My brain has become as bad as a stone with age. And I can’t really guess what you are having in your mind. With the current situation of Pavazhanaadu, with both the princes not in good terms, I don’t understand how I can be the savior of this land. But I swear on my life that I shall do anything if I can really be the savior of this land. It was forty five years back when I swore in front of Almighty arivamudhar that my life would be dedicated to the growth of Pavazhanaadu. And until seven years back, I should say I was happy with the way I had served this kingdom. But for the past seven years, I have had no idea what has happened to the princes. Some bad misunderstanding between them has split the kingdom into two parts and seven years is too long a period for them to join hands and be brothers again. But I am dying to do anything that I could to prevent things from getting out of control. I hear that Sugumaran’s men have already started fighting with Eezhendiren’s men in some parts of the Kingdom. This is no good signs at all my lord.’

Aadhirayar adjusted himself to a comfortable position and spoke

‘Kesavanarey… Do you think I am happy seeing my sons fight like this? Do you think I want them to kill each other and die? Not at all Mudanmandiri … Not at all. But there are certain things I have kept to myself all these years and have told nobody at all… not even you… not even my queen. And I think I have to tell them to somebody before I die. And the time has arrived now. Unfortunately I cannot tell them to my Queen since she may not be able to digest the animal that I have been over the years… she never will be able to fathom me as such a cruel person. And so I have no other option but to tell them all to you. Will you carefully listen to whatever I narrate?’

Mudanmandiri’s heart started to beat faster. He knew what he is about to hear are top secrets that no body other than the King himself knew of. And he could see that all of what the king will speak is not going to be pleasant at all. He adjusted his throat for a second and mentally prepared himself for what was coming.

‘My ears are always for you my lord’ he said.

Aadhirayar again adjusted his position in the bed and this time he was lying facing the ceiling. He started to speak and as he spoke his expressions changed from nostalgia to fear to sympathy to love to force at regular intervals.

‘Pavazhamozhiyaal was my Queen even before I discovered Pavazhanaadu. I loved her more than any man can love a woman. She was a part of me and I a part of her. We were not separate entities but a single life intertwined as two different bodies. But the gods were not very happy with our relationship. They denied us a child. Even after the common people moved into Pavazhanaadu and everybody was settled, there was no successor for the throne. I was too worried about this. But I had no doubts that there would be one day that the gods would bless us with a beautiful child. And my prayers did not go waste. Pavazhamozhi became pregnant after fifteen years in Pavazhanaadu. I think you might remember how I celebrated the news with all the officers including you. It was only after a few days of Pavazhamozhi becoming pregnant that I got a strange thought in my mind. And the thought was really disturbing.

Pavazhanaadu is separate from the outer world. Nobody even knew that such a place exists at all. Before coming here, we were all residing on the other side of Asuragiri before we came here. When we were there, we had constant battles with the Maadhavaa Kings. We made an intelligent decision to move all the common men to Pavazhanaadu and then start a battle with the Maadhavas from the other side of Asuragiri. We purposely lost the battle and we created an impression that all the men and women fled for their lives into the forests. Even now the Maadhavas who have conquered our previous kingdom on the other side of Asuragiri are under the impression that our Kingdom is entirely destroyed and none of us even survive. It is because of the excellent planning and execution that we were able to successfully fool the Maadhavas. I have very little doubt even today if the Maadhavas know that we have survived and built an empire on this side of Asuragiri.

But who can predict the future? Neither you nor I. And this was the disturbing thought.

If the Maadhavas somehow climb up Asuragiri say after hundred years, just think of the situation.

Pavazhanaadu will be a peace loving Kingdom. It will have no competition at all. So nobody would even learn to fight. There might be no soldiers. There might be no weapons. And that means, it will easily succumb to the Maadhavas or whoever attacks it.

This thought was intolerable for me. I immediately rushed to the palace astrologers and asked them about the child that Pavazhamozhiyaal will give birth to. They all predicted that it will be a male child. A healthy male child.

But it was not what I wanted.

I wanted twins to be born.

I desperately wanted two male children.

But it was not going to be Pavazhamozhiyaal who would grant me twins.

The astrologers said with thumping authority that I would be blessed with twins if I married Kanimozhi, Pvazhamozhi’s sister.

The gods were against me. I was torn between patriotism and love. If Pavazhamozhi gave birth to a healthy child, he would rule after me.

But I did not want that to happen. I did not want to lose Pavazhamozhi as well. My mind burst into infinite pieces. I did not know what to do.

I needed twins to be born.

Oh my god…

Patriotism took over love.

I mixed poison in Pavazhamozhi’s food on the day she gave birth to a dead child. I lost her forever. In fact I had killed her with my own hands’

Aadhirayar could not speak anymore. Tears were flowing like a river from his eyes. The Mudanmandiri who was sitting in front was seen in shock. He could not manage even a single word. His eyes were wide open and he was blankly starring at reality. The words had not sunk into his heart yet. He had not expected to hear even a single word of what he was hearing.

After a few moments of silence, Aadhirayar wiped off the tears and continued speaking.

“I married Kanimozhi. She gave birth to twins as I wanted. Both were male children.

We named them Sugumaran and Eezhendiran.

A part of my plan to save Pavazhanaadu had succeeded.

Exactly twenty years later, I had to execute the second part of my plan.

And that was to…. to create enmity between the closely knit Sugumaran and Eezhendiran.

I did this with the help of our Dhalapadiyaar. I forced him to get his daughter Nandhini married to Sugumaran. I knew Eezhendiran was in love with Nandhini and I knew only a woman could break the relationship between two close brothers.

And things from then on happened exactly as I wished. The brothers started to break up and the Kingdom was divided into two.

The army spilt into two, one on Sugumaaran’s side and one on Eezhendiran’s.

And it has been seven years since it has happened.

The hostility between the brothers has now reached a state where they don’t see each other, where they don’t send messages to each other and where they are just waiting for me to die.

And when I die, I am sure a civil war will begin in the Kingdom.

And that is the third part of my plan. “

Mudanmandiri was seen like a rock. He did not know what to talk. He had always wondered in awe about the political capabilities of Aadhirayar but this was something unexpected. To make a decision to kill Pavazhamozhi whom he loved beyond description was unimaginable. The patriotism that he has towards this sorgaboomi cannot be explained by any mortal. Tears forced itself out of the Mudnamandiri’s eyes. He spoke in a broken voice

“Ayya… I have no words to describe your love towards this place. I should say, the words you have spoken now have landed on my head as thunders from the sky. It is very difficult to believe the fact that whatever that the world thought had happened because of fate were all controlled by you. I am still in a shock. It is as if a fierce snake had spit venom into my throat. I still don’t understand your plan my Lord. Why did you crave for twins and why did you purposefully create hostility between them?”

“Kesavanaarey … As I said, if after hundred years, somebody from the other side of Asuragiri attacks Pavazhanaadu, we must be prepared to handle it. If the Kingdom does not have an army just because it has no competitors, it is bound to death. So I had no option but to divide Pavazhanaadu into two. Even if I had had two children and had given them half of Pavazhanaadu each, they would still happily rule their own lands but won’t have enmity and so will never fight. And it is very dangerous not to have competition. When your swords don’t have work for a long time, they won’t work when you really need them to. So I had to split Pavazhanaadu into two and also create enmity between the two kingdoms. To achieve this, I needed to have twins and they had to fight. So I had to commit all these sins just to save my kingdom. I will never reach heaven I know. But I shall happily see fro hell my land protected forever from strangers. “

“Ayya… Do you think you have done any good for the land by splitting it into two? I am afraid of something. Since both Sugumaran and Eezhendiran are equally talented and powerful, the war that will start soon will not end very easily. Both the brothers will fight tirelessly and the result would be death everywhere. Nobody will survive and your dream would be shattered to pieces”

Mudanmandiri saw staright into the King’s eyes. The reply from the King made the ground beneath the Mudanmandiri break into pieces.

“Ayya… Did you think that I would have not thought about that? As I said earlier, I need you to become the savior of this Kingdom. And for that to happen, you have to execute the last part of my plan. Here it is:

Immediately after my death, you might walk straight to Sugumaran and ask him to declare himself as the King and wage a war against Eezhendiran. Eezhendiran would wait to pay respects to my soul and would not expect this attack. He would be made to flee to the other side of Amudhu. And once he does that, he would consolidate his own army. He would attack Sugumaran from the other side of Amudhu but then that would not be a civil war anymore. The war would be fought in the middle, in the battleground and the common man would be safe. Since both of them have equally strong armies, I have no doubt that the war will not favour anybody. It will soon fade itself after a few years with lakhs of soldiers dying. And when everything settles down, the Kingdom will be divided into two with armies alert always and that is what I need…

Ayya… Will you do this favor for me? Will you do this favor for Pavazhanaadu? Will you be the savior of this land? Please save this sorgaboomi from destruction. You are the only one who can do it. And if you don’t do it, then all my forty years of sins will have no meaning at all. They will remain as sins and haunt me forever…. Will you do it Ayya?”

Mudanmandiri Kesavanaar was looking down at the ground and he was drenched in tears. There was silence in the room for more than a considerable period of time. After a while, he slowly lifted his head up to see the King. What he saw was the worst sight in his whole life

The King had poisoned himself and was lying dead in front of him with blood flowing out from his mouth.

The Mudanmandhiri was shocked for a second. He suddenly realized that this must have been the last step in Aadhirayar’s plan. The realization hit hard on his chest. He wanted to shout for help. He wanted to call the doctors immediately. He had hundred things running in his mind at the same time. He wanted to save the king somehow.

A distant sound of a soldier announcing someone's entry into the palace was heard feebly.

A sudden thought filled his mind.

‘I cannot save the King now. I have more important work to do’

Old Mudanmandiri Kesavanaar got up and briskly walked out of the huge room straight into Sugumaran’s palace.

The Cloud of the Princess - Part I Chapter 9

If not for the sudden jerk in the palakku that she was traveling, Sembaruthi might never have got up from the wonderful dream she was floating in. The hill temple incident was as fresh in her mind as a new born baby. Delicate, soft and inducing a spring of tears from the heart every time she thought of it. She loved every single moment of it and lived every moment of it whenever she thought about it. She had never expected Maithreyan to have proposed to her in such a situation. Neither did she understand what had made him propose to a girl of her background. The inner ego deep beneath her heart had kept on whispering till date that the beauty of her eyes was the fuel that had immolated Maithreyan’s passion. But her outer ego suggested that it was neither her decision nor Maithreyan's decision that united them but his almighty lord Arivamudhar’s decision that had brought them together. She had visited the hill temple at least a dozen times in a week after his proposal and every time she climbed up the hill, she would be overfilled with joy. Maithreyan had come back after two weeks and married her and had taken her to Ponvilayur. They were blessed by everybody in Maithreyan’s family, King Kunjidhapadhanaar, Queen Maargazhiyaal, ministers, poets, soldiers, palace women, and everybody she met in the first week of stay in the palace. It was a dream come true for the poor painter’s daughter. To be honest it was never a dream for her at all. It was purely god’s wish, she could sharply sense and she was just a mud toy that danced to the lord’s tune.

She woke up from the dream in a flash. The palakku was shaking abnormally and fear clutched her face. She could see all of her maids shaking to and fro and she decided to scream for help. Her expressions changed to that of a terrified female deer caught in between two male tigers and she started to sweat profusely. She sensed that the speed of the palakku had increased considerably and she had to stop it somehow.

Finally the sound blasted out of her throat as the word ‘STOP’ came out like a thunder blowing apart two clouds on either side.

The palakku came to a halt. Sembaruthi’s breath settled down slowly. She looked at her maids. Everybody had a puzzled expression. She did not understand.

She threw questions at each one of the maid’s faces “Why are you all looking at me like this? What is happening? Why did the palakku move so fast? Speak up girls… tell me what is up with you all?”

Imayaazh answered slowly.

“Akka… It was me who suggested moving the palakku a bit faster. The sun is already away from the head and it has started to get dark. We have to reach Chinnayar’s place as soon as possible. The way we were moving, we would have never reached Chinnayar’s place before it is very dark. And he might get worried about us. And Akka, don’t you remember me asking you for permission to move the palakku a bit faster? And don’t you remember nodding your approval? I think you were asleep. I should not have gone by you nodding your head. I am really sorry Akka. I won’t do the mistake again. “

Sembaruthi was ashamed at herself. She had nodded her head without her knowledge. With such an important assignment on hand that Maithreyan had given her, it was really stupid of her to get lost in thought like that. ‘ I have to be more careful. I must control my senses. I should not allow them to take over me.’ She told herself.

She turned her head towards the screen that was separating her from the sevagars, pulled it across and spoke.

“How long will it take to reach Chinnayar’s place from here?”

A male voice replied.

“We started a bit late in the morning raniyaarey and so it will be very difficult to reach Chinnayar’s place before the moon comes over the head...”

“How many of you are here now?”

“Seven sevagars rani… four to carry the palakku and three more running with torches along with us “

Sembaruthi thought for a moment.

“Ask one of the three to run to Chinnayar’s place and convey him the information that we won’t be able to come to his place. Make sure he talks as politely as possible “

“Sure rani… but then where do we stay tonight?”

“We shall go to the Durga Devi temple with lights that I can see at a distance from here.”

“Sure rani… but I am just worried about the comfort that you will get in the temple”

“That is not your problem Sevaga… we can adjust… just take us to the temple there”

“As you wish raniyaarey”

She closed the screen and turned back towards Imayaazh.

“Do you girls have any problem staying in the temple tonight?”

Nobody replied.

After a moment’s silence, one of the maids replied

“We are worried about your safety Akka”

“I don’t think Pavazhanaadu’s men would come inside a temple drunk. And I assume there must be a poosari in the temple who would take care of us. And there are the sevagars who are with us. Moreover this place seems to be like a desert. There is no town or village here. And so the chances of men roaming around after getting drunk is very low. Moreover we all have knifes with us. That should be enough to save us for the night. What do you girls say?”

The mention of knives to save themselves had made the girls look terrified. They were avoiding Sembaruthi’s eyes and were looking at each other.

At this point a shrill sound came from a distant nowhere. It had suddenly become much darker. It made Sembaruthi shiver and gave her a chance to revisit her decision of going to the temple. But something stopped her from calling off her decision. The palakku had by now picked up speed and was now moving steadily towards the Durga temple and a Sevagan had already started running towards Chief painter Chinnayar’s place to announce that the girls were not coming there. Semabaruthi and her gang of girls had just to wait and watch how the night unfolds upon them.

The Cloud of the Princess - Part I Chapter 8

The brain wakes up first. Then the ears do. And finally the eyes. Sembaruthi was lying in a state where her brain was partially awake and her ears were starting to hear sounds. Though she could not clearly understand the words that were being spoken around her, she was able to figure out that there were more than two males present and at least one female discussing something around her. Her brain slowly adapted to the conditions and she could hear better now. But she did not prefer to open her eyes as she was experiencing torturous head ache and opening her eyes would just increase it. She decided to stay as she was and lend her ears to the discussion that was going on around her.

“These girls are all ready to get married now. But they never understand the seriousness of our advices. They do things on their own and then suffer like this. May be the women should have never been let out. Padmanabanaar spent his whole life to make them bold and courageous but what is the use?. Kunjidhapaadhanaar is now following whatever his father had left behind. But these kings never realize the practical problems. The more we let our women stand up and talk and be bold and all that, the more the problem. Look at her mother. She has never gone to the madiyamalai temple alone in her whole life. Either I go with her or her father took her when she was young. And there was no problem at all. But look at these girls. They go there daily, and however we advice, they come back just before the madhuoli. I always knew there would be someday where she would not return before the madhuoli. But for you and the poosari, I would have lost my daughter altogether. I have no doubt that you are no one but lord arivamudhar himself in human form.”

It was a steady voice with pauses in-between to breathe air in. The flow was like that of a log in a river which stumbles over rocks occasionally.

Sembaruthi took no time to figure out that it was her father. But she was not able to guess the voice that followed. It was a young man’s voice and it sounded dynamic and powerful yet polite and sweet. The flow on contrast was like a waterfall that has no obstructions on the way.

“Ayya … This is the tenth time you have thanked me. And I don’t think I deserve it at all. Would you not have found back home a girl who shouts, faints and rolls down the rocks bruising all over her body? I did nothing big ayya … but I think I have to contradict you in one point that you have. King Kunjidhapaadhanaar is not an ordinary king. He knows the right thing to do at the right time. He has a brilliant mind that overflows with generosity and humanity. He is committed to serve the people and always looks at the practical side of solving people’s problems. Though I understand that your daughter should not have stayed in madiyamalai for so long, I don’t think it was wrong for them to go there at all. I still wonder what made your daughter climb the hill at that time of the day. And I don’t know what sort of friends she has who would not accompany her to the temple but stay back downhill and keep laughing”

A third male voice was heard now. It was also a familiar voice for Sembaruthi, but she was not able to recognize it immediately.

“Well said dhalapadhiyaar … I have also advised these girls a number of times to go home early but they never care. But then, who would care for a old poosaari who has nothing much to live for except experiencing the glory of the lord’s creation and sustenance of life forms”

The young man’s voice was heard.

“Ayya… It is very humble of you to talk like that. Don’t we all know that poosaris are our pathway to reach almighty himself? If not for you, lord arivamudhar who sits on top of madiyamalai would not get the garlands he wanted and would not get the abishegams he deserved and more importantly would not receive the prayers of all men and women who climb uphill to seek a solution for their problems.”

The poosari’s voice sounded like a overflowing can of milk.

“Dhalapadhiyaar Maithreyarey… It is a great honor those men like you are bringing to Pavazhanaadu. The god’s have granted you excellent knowledge in a young age. This old man’s only advice is to ask you to use all of them for the development of Pavazhanaadu and its people. “

At this point a female voice was heard. It was Sembaruthi’s mother.

“I hope dhalapadhiyaar and poosariaar will honor us by having food in this small home today.We shall be happy forever if the Dhalapadhiyaar could stay here for the day”

Sembaruthi’s father spoke in a quick tone with occasional coughs in between.

“Yes Yes… How foolish of me to forget that. I am really sorry for not having asked my wife to serve you anything. I hope Dhalapadhiyaar is staying here in aaraimedu today?”

Maithreyan spoke.

“Thanks a lot ayya… It would be really wonderful to have food in a home like this where the goddess of peace and beauty would want to live. But unfortunately I am not in a position to do so. I have two reasons for it. First one being that I need to be in lakshanur by tafternoon to meet the local heads there for implementing stricter laws to stop common men from alcohol addiction. I think you know that i was here this week in araimaedu for the same reason. I see a lot of people consuming alcohol even during day time and as per King Kunjidhapaadhanaar's orders, i have imprisioned over three hundred men in araimedu. The second reason i can't be here is that I don’t want to disturb you unnecessarily when you have to take care of your daughter. I suggest you to call a vaithiyar immediately, so that she recovers soon. She must in terrible pain which she might not feel immediately but start feeling in a day or two. But there is one thing i was not able to find out. And that is about the irresponsible friends your daughter has. Ayya... I would want you to ask her friends and know the truth behind why they had sent her alone uphill. I would not prefer such friends who won't be with you at times of danger.They are useless if they don't come infront of you when needed. Hope you understand it.”

At this point Sembaruthi became agitated. She knew that it was her own decision to go uphill and it had nothing to do with any of her friends. She had already tolerated him talking bad about her friends before. She could not tolerate it any more. She rose up from her bed in a flash and spoke as harshly as she could like a snake spitting venom on the prey.

“Dhalapadhiyaarey… I have been hearing what you people are discussing. It is not good to talk something before you know what you are talking about. You have no right to talk about my friends. Especially when they are not here. I wonder how Pavazhanaadu has such people in key posts . It was really disgusting to hear you talk about my friends like that. I won’t tolerate it anymore"

Sembaruthi’s father was shocked to see her talk like this and he rose up swiflty to slap her on the face. Maithreyan moved quickly to stop him from slapping by holding his raised hand. Then, he turned towards Sembaruthi and gave a gentle smile and spoke.

“Aah haa… I seriously doubted if you were really sleeping at all. Now I know that you were not. I just wanted to make sure you got up and saw the man who saved your life and brought you here. I had no other option but to talk like that so that you would get up yourself. But if you think your friends are really good and caring, tell me why they did not accompany you to the top?”

Sembaruthi was in two minds now. Something in Maithreyan seemed to be magnetic. Something that she was not able to overcome. She had not seen his eyes while shouting at him but for a second now their eyes met , a spark ignited somewhere down her heart and it proved fatal. She immediately cursed herself for having spoken like that. She knew she was laid into a trap by this handsome man in front of her. He had kindled up her emotions and made her rise from the bed. 'May be he did not have the intention of talking bad about my friends at all' she thought. 'But how did he know that i was awake? Was he watching me all along the discussion? Did some slight movement of my eyes made him find out?. He should be a brilliant observer to have found that out... Or...Or... was it just some tacit understanding of his mind and mine that made him find out?' The more she thought about him, the more she sensed that she was being pushed down some strange dark tunnel called attraction by millions of hands that seem to be popping up from everwhere around her.

Suddenly there was a unbearable sound followed by dead silence.

She came back to her hut from nowhere. She was standing alone without anybody to support. Her father had not yet put down his raised hands. She realised that Maithreyan had asked her a question and was waiting for an answer.She had to make up an something.

“That is not something I could tell you. It was something very private. Is it a rule that a innocent young girl should tell everything she knows to the Dhalapadhi of the Kingdom? I have never heard anything like that”

Maithreyan smiled again. His eyes directly looked into hers. She felt as if his hands were clutching her neck. She took her eyes off him. He spoke as slowly as possible.

“I have no doubts that the common man can have his own privacy… Even the king cannot interfere in it…let alone the Dhalapadhi. And so can you – the one who claims to be an innocent girl… But if the innocent young girl...” He gave a pause here. It seemed deliberate.

Everybody was looking at the Dhalapadhi now. The atmosphere seemed to have become static. Each one, Sembaruthi’s father, her mother, the poosari and Semabaruthi herself were expecting a different reply from him.

His reply came in a slow pace but with an authoritative voice.

“But…if the innocent young girl becomes the Dhalapadhi’s dharmapathini, then I assume she has to say it to him”

The heat of the atmosphere soared up and it seemed the hut where they were in would burn in plain air. It took heated discussions among Sembaruthi, her father, mother and occasionally the poosari before a conclusion was reached. Maithreyan was as hard as a rock and as cool as the winter cloud throughout the discussions. All throughout the chaos that was happening around him, he kept his eyes fixed on sembaruthi's eyes while still answering calmly to the questions that her parents were asking.He knew exactly how things will turn out from here and just waited patiently for them to happen.

Afterall he was in love with Sembaruthi.

It does not take years to fall in love. Love is instantaneous. It can bloom between the thorn and the rose, the fruit and the root, the beautiful and the ugly, the rich and the poor, the prince and the damsel,the princess and the poet, between any two souls that vibrate with the same frequency for the unknown.

It can bloom anywhere, anytime.

And in Maithreyans’case, it was a dark night when the most beautiful girl he would ever see rolled down from the top of the god's hill to right below his feet.