The Cloud Of The Princess - Part 1 Chapter 19

The Pallakku reached Araimedu.

Sembaruthi and the girls got down one by one. Jayendiran, the one year younger brother of Kumudhini and the only son of Vaithiyar Elanchezhiyanaar waited to receive the girls from Ponvilayur and took them inside the house and showed them places to be seated. It was a happy moment for Jayendiran to meet the friends of his sister after a long time.

“Welcome Devi, Welcome back to Araimedu. We in Araimedu are the happiest people in Pavazhanaadu right now to be blessed with your presence. And Kumudhini I am sure must be the happiest girl in earth to meet her old friends again before she goes to the other side of Amudhu. I Hope the King and the Dhalapadhi are in the best of their spirits back at the capital. We are all indebted to them for our lives.”

Sembaruthi replied after a gentle smile.

“The King and the Dhalapadhi are doing well. And Thanks for the warm welcome Jayendira. We have known each other right from our childhood days and it is really happy to see you and everybody else here again. If you think Kumudhini is the happiest girl on earth, then I will have to disagree with it. Do you think we are all not as happy as Kumudhini? In fact we are even happier, especially because we are back to our own Araimedu. Wherever we live, doesn’t the place where we spent our childhood remain the best place in our lives? Don’t the games we played there remain the happiest times in our lives? And more importantly don’t the friends we gained there remain the closest in our entire lives? It feels as if I have found some missing part of my body back by being here. I don’t know if it is the heart that constantly beats yearning to be here or the brain that constantly thinks of this place or the eyes which long to see this place again. Jayendira…. I just can’t wait to see my Kumudhini. Where is she? It’s been three long years since I have come here. And I think my heart will not allow me to wait any longer”

Jayendiran smiled gently.

“Devi, I am sorry if I don’t have good news for you. I kindly request your heart to prepare itself to wait a little longer before it can flush out the deeply buried seed of friendship. Kumudhini is now with her husband’s mother and it is a customary practice as you know for the mother of the bridegroom to talk to the bride a day before she leaves her birth place to begin the long new journey with her husband. I have always wondered what the groom’s mother will talk to the bride for so long but I found only yesterday from the progidhar’s that the practice involves among other things a promise from the bride to accept the groom’s mother as her own mother and a promise from the groom’s mother to accept the bride as her own daughter. But why do they do it in a separate room , I don’t know.”

Imayaazh cut in

“Jayendira… I think you should stop wondering at things that are meant only for the girls. If you need options to wonder at, I can provide you some. What about thinking why the sword you have is curved rather than straight or why not…”

Sembaruthi interrupted.

“Imayaazh. Have it started it again? Jayendiran is no more a boy that we know of. He is a soldier now in Oorasars Sethupadiyaar’s elite army and we must be proud of it. You can’t behave like that to him”

Jayendiran cleared his throat.

“Devi, let me tell you one thing. If the flowers don’t have a fragrance, they are not flowers. If the fruits don’t taste divine they are not fruits. So does everything in this world have its own characteristics. Imayaazh is not an exception to the rule. If not for the wit she has, no one would even believe she is Imayaazh. Even after fifty years from today I can’t imagine an old Imayaazh sitting at the corner of her house chanting slokas. I would rather imagine an Imayaazh running around and playing with her grandchildren …. and if my guess is not wrong, she would probably be giving them a tough time too”

The girls burst into laughter. Sembaruthi laughed her heart out. She then spoke

“Imayaazh. What do you have to say for this?”

Imayaazh, as if was waiting for the question, fired back

“Akka…. my answer is same as what I told before. The Elite soldier should pick better things to wonder and imagine at. Even I hate to imagine myself fifty years older. And I wonder why he should do it?”

Sembaruthi saw a spark of light in Imayaazh’s eyes. She turned to Jayendiran and saw him trying to control a smile that was balancing itself between his lips and was in the danger of falling out anytime.

Sembaruthi cleared her throat and spoke.

“Jayendira… I have totally forgotten something as we have been speaking and laughing here. Let Kumudhini come once she is done with the groom’s mother. We won’t disturb her immediately. In the meantime can we meet your father and get his blessings. We would be very happy if we can do that”

“Why not Devi? … My father would be really happy to meet you all. Even yesterday night at the dinner, he was mentioning that he would be happy to see you and talk with you. I was quite surprised initially when he told that but only later realized that he had received a message from the Dhalapadhi about your arrival. And you must know how happy Kumudhini was when she heard that. It was like seeing the moon change into the sun”

“What is that Jayendira? The moon changing into the sun?” - Sembaruthi asked.

“I meant her cheeks Devi. Those which were white changed into red because of happiness. Like a lotus covered by a rose”

Imayaazh had no intentions of sparing Jayendiran at that remark.

“Akka. It is a real pity that wars don’t happen frequently in Pavazhanaadu. Is it not because of the lack of wars that soldiers try to become poets?”

“Everybody is a poet in his own world Imayaazh. I, Jayendiran am a Poet. Devi, Sembaruthi is a poet. My Sister Kumudhini is a poet. Why, the King of the nation, Kunjidhapadhanaar is also a poet. But once I have said that, I have to say this too. While everybody is a poet in his or her own world, only some are poetry themselves”

“That was a spark of brilliance. What do you say Akka” Imayaazh looked at Sembaruthi and started to laugh. Everybody in the room knew that it was sarcastic may be except Jayendiran.

Sembaruthi did not want to let Imayaazh go in her way and wanted to spare Jayendiran.

“Jayendira. I don’t wish to drag this conversation. Let us go and meet your father if possible”

“So shall we, Devi. Please wait while and go and find out if it is the right time to meet him”

Jayendiran left the place to go and check if his father was free. Though the Vaithiyar was busy attending someone, Jayendiran did not want to disappoint the girls. He rather asked them to wait in the Vaithiyar’s room while his father would finish talking to whom he was. Also he mentioned that he had to leave to do some works that were pending before Kumudhini left for Eezham.

Sembaruthi thanked Jayendiran once again for the warm welcome before he left the place after showing them the way to the Vaithiyar’s room. The girls opened the door that Jayendiran had showed them and entered Vaithiyar Elanchezhiyanaar’s room. Sembaruthi suddenly felt it was totally different from where they had been sitting so far. The place was so silent that she could hear her own heart beating. All the girls had become absolutely silent. It was a huge room with a number of doors. Sembaruthi counted them by glancing across and there were nine in number. Though Sembaruthi had known Kumudhini and Jayendiran right from her childhood, she had never come to this room. May be it was obvious that at that age, she never had a desire to go and see how the Vaithiyar’s room really looked like

Sembaruthi immediately understood that she and the girls had entered from one of the backdoors of the room. She could see the vaithiyar’s back at a distance and there was someone sitting right in front of the Vaithiyar. Both of them were silent and the man opposite to the Vaithiyar had his eyes tightly shut for some reason. The place was very dimly lit with only three flame torches at the top, each far away from each other and Sembaruthi wondered why they were arranged so. Moreover she was surprised to see the Vaithiyar attending patients even a day before his daughter was leaving for Eezham. She had heard a lot of things about Vaithiyar Elanchezhiyanaar. He was regarded as the best Vaithiyar in Araimedu. Though people all over Araimedu and its surrounding villages knew him, there were only a very few outside Araimedu who knew him. She assumed it was mainly because he never traveled outside nor did he want to spread his name around.

She also knew that he was not only a doctor. He had mastered several arts. Some of them Sembaruthi knew of were astrology, painting and sculpting. She had often heard people say that he was very different from the other Vaithiyars. Some said he used magical powers to cure people but Sembaruthi had not given it much thought so far. As far as she knew, he was her closest friend’s father and that was all about it. But now after seeing the vaithiyar’s room, she felt very strange. She even thought if all those said about the Vaithiyar were really true at all. The room had a peculiar feel. She felt vibrations inside her body especially near her neck. The vibrations suddenly increased a second. The next second it suddenly decreased. She did not know what was causing the vibration. She felt as if things inside her heart were trying to flush its way out through the mouth and got struck near the neck. She had gone through a lot of emotions over the last day and a half. Especially the previous night was really scary. She still had not found an answer to whom she had hit with the stone. She had not got a chance to talk with the Chief Sevagan in private and so was still confused with why he had tied a cloth around his head. She also had begun to doubt the Poosari for reasons she did not know clearly. The things that Maithreyan had said to her were still echoing in her ears like hot fire balls. Bad dreams had haunted her the night before. She felt as if she had unnecessarily fallen into a trap that she did not want to get into at all in the first place.

Problems, problems, problems!! Confusions, confusions, confusions!! They were the only things that were ringing constantly in her mind. She feared for the unknown and she had to find some way to get out of it. Coming back to Araimedu and meeting known people after a long time did help her relax a bit, but she knew it was only temporary. She had to break out of this iron shell that she had wound around herself. She no more wanted to be a snake dancing to unknown mysterious tunes. She wanted to be a rock. Immovable. Strong.

She needed peace. Permanently!

Sembaruthi suddenly opened her eyes. She realized she had lost herself in disturbing thoughts for a few moments. She understood she had heard something at a distance and opened her eyes. What was it?

She heard sound that vibrated in a peculiar frequency. It greatly pacified her speed of thoughts.

“Slowly open your eyes bhaktha”

“Ayya”

“How do you feel now bhaktha?”

“better Ayya”

“do you think you are completely alright now?”

“Ayya. When I had my eyes closed, I was in a different world. It was peaceful there. It was beautiful there. The fruits were sweet, the people were sweeter.When I open my eyes, I am in the same old poisonois world. The fruits are bitter. The people even more. And I not peaceful here”

“Good”

“Ayya”

“Tell me bhaktha”

“Is there not a medicine for peace?”

“bhaktha”

“I have gone to a number of vaithiyars all around Pavazhanadu. But nobody seems to have a medicine for peace”

“what made you think I have it bhaktha?”

“I don’t know ayya. But I strongly feel you have the medicine for peace”

“good”

“can you give me that ayya. I need it badly”

“sure”

“where can I find it ayya?”

“bring me the little golden box that you see in the left corner”

“in a minute ayya”

“here it is ayya. Does this contain the medicine for peace ayya?”

“it does bhaktha”

“can I have it ayya?”

“yes you can have it Bhaktha”

“if so, please give it to me immediately ayya. I need it badly”

“but I need something from you bhaktha before I can give you this”

“I can pay you in land or in gold ayya”

“how much bhaktha?”

“how much ever you desire ayya”

“or is it how much ever you don’t desire bhaktha?”

“ayya?”

“I don’t need land bhaktha. Neither do i need gold bhaktha. Instead,I need a promise”

“what is it ayya?”

“promise me you won’t desire anything bhaktha”

“I promise ayya”

“here is your medicine of peace. open the golden box and you shall find the medicine of peace”

“ayya. thanks a lot. I shall open it immediately.”

“ayya… you have betrayed me. the box contains nothing”

“bhaktha…you have cheated me too”

“what do you mean ayya?”

“you have broken the promise you just made”

“how is that ayya?”

“didn’t you desire to see the medicine of peace when you opened the little golden box”

“yes I did”

“so did you break the promise ….”

It did not stop there but Sembaruthi suddenly felt a lot more relaxed after hearing the conversation between the Vaithiyar and his patient.