Part-2 Chapter 5

Its strange. But its not entirely wrong. Human beings undergo a plethora of emotions in their lifetime. Every day, right from the moment the brain wakes up till the second it goes back to sleep, we float in the sea called emotions. At different points in time, we land in different islands which are concrete emotional blocks. We stay there for sometime , either enjoy the emotion or feel bad about it -depending on which island we have landed on.And then we move on - invariably move on. This 'moving on' is not the individuals trait, but the trait of the entire mankind. No human being cannot stay in the same emotion for a considerable period of time. We have to invariably keep moving on. Be it happiness, be it tears. But what is individualistic is the 'duration' that one holds on to a particular emotion. And this 'duration' depends on a number of factors. For instance, it might even depend on the time of the day. It sounds unnatural to believe people tend to cry for a loss more in the mornings than at nights, but that might be true. There is no reason why it should not be. May be when the sun is up and shining, nobody wants to undergo a loss. May be at the dark hour, we don't mind as much. There is more to it than just that.This 'individualistic duration of emotion' is too complicated that even the individual does not realize it a lot of times. For instance,the duration one can afford to relax in the pleasant air enjoying the evening breeze may be proportional to the time one can afford to cry for the loss of something near and dear. This might seem contradicting, this might seem bizarre ,but nature has its own beautiful inner laws that mankind is far from exploring.

It was the time of the day that did the trick for Sembaruthi.

As soon as Singarakannan started to row back to the palace, she fell back on the boat and drifted to deep sleep. It seemed really strange to Singarakannan. He had no idea who this woman was, but still he was starting to form opinions about her. 'She cannot be the spy from Pavazhanadu. I can't explain why she cannot be, but then she surely cannot be' - he thought as he rowed further. His body was aching again and he could not manage to row as fast as the lady wanted him to. 'What were the words...what were those words that she said a few hours back when i started rowing? yes , she said - 'there it is...there it is... the cloud...the cloud of something...was it the princess? was it something else? it doesn't make sense in any case. Hah, the princess... what abt her? isn't she the reason for all this. Had she not come to Sirpakalanji last week, would i still be doing all this? I don't know. May be not. What is this that i am feeling for the princess? Is it love? How can love possibly spring between me and someone whom i have never met before? Is this not just the beauty of the princess that has attracted me? Why then it would have attracted every youth in Sirpakalanji that day. But no, it was not her beauty. May be it was her presence. It was the air . Air? No, couldn't be the air . What else then? The fact that she is a princess made her a bit more beautiful to my eyes? No, even if she were ugly, i still would have felt good about her. It is true that you need to 'know' a person to judge him. But there are exceptions. When you meet the best person you will ever meet in your life, you realise it the moment you meet that person. That applies to love too. May be yes. Or may be i am convincing myself by figuring out reasons for all the stupid things i have done so far. Yes, Yes..that must be the case. Doesn't oli say that often - he has a wonderful way of putting it...Men often create reasons to explain their stupidity. Women don't bother to because it is afterall men they have to explain themselves to'.. Aah, here now... this lady is getting up.... is she going to shout at me again? i have to first figure out if she is a mad woman or not. Let me wait and watch how this unfolds'


Sembaruthi got up shivering. The sleep seemed to have no effect on her. She looked as pale as death. Her face was yellow. She was sick. More than that, she was shivering with cold. Singarakannan remained silent. He looked in the opposite direction as if he had not noticed her getting up.

Sembaruthi was going through terrible emotions too. She had stabbed the queen two nights back and the incidents that happened that night were steep and can never be forgotten till breathed the last time. She could not think clearly and that was expected. Huge heavy blankets of emotions had fallen over her and when that happens, we cannot escape loss of clarity. A lot of things had happened and the worst part of all that was the moment she stabbed the queen. She was manipulated - by whom she had no idea of. The fear of having killed the queen had slowly seemed to settled down but it had again sprung back from where it was hiding inside her brain. It came back again and again and she heard voices inside her head. All non human voices - shouting, screaming... and there were thousand hands that sprung out from the dark surroundings all trying to strangulate her. More than all that, it was the strange feeling of having betrayed by people she believed so much that was causing her all the pain.
And she shivered more.

It may sound foolish and wierd, but because thats how it is, thats how it will be explained. The sun at this point had come right on top of the head and the boat was moving in the middle of the sea. No other boat was visible as far as the eyes could see. The sun slowly started shining brightly and Sembaruthi felt warmer than before. She curled into herself more. It seemd , the more the heat of the sun she was feeling, the lesser the mental torture that she was undergoing. It felt strange to her why such a thing should happen, but she did not care to contemplate it further. But this new sensation which she for some reason felt as some magical ray of hope made her talk to Singarakannan which she might not have done at all had it been dark and gloomy.

"Ayya" she spoke in a slow voice

Singarakannan turned to her side. He did not expect such a soft voice .
"Devi"

"Where are we now?" she asked in a even softer voice

"We have covered quarter way to the palace Devi. We will reach there tomorrow when the sun rises"

She nodded her head. There was silence for a few minutes. Sembaruthi broke it again.

"Ayya"

Singarakannan turned once again. He was somehow convinced that she was not a mad woman afterall.
"Yes Devi... you are really sick. I will try my best to row to the palace as fast as possible"

" Yes, i am sick..." Sembaruthi muttered, more to herself.

" You seem to be really sick. I think this must be the first time you have had such an experience"

Sembaruthi looked at him with a hint of fear on her face.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean... water going into your lungs ... "

Sembaruthi thought for a while.
"Yes" she said without any hint of change in expression.

Singarakannan came up to ask something, but stopped himself and fell silent again. There was silence for a few more minutes. Sembaruthi felt that she wanted to talk to someone . And she could not wait till she met Eezhendiran. She wanted someone to confess the horrible things that she had committed. If imayaazh was here, she would have cried and fell on her lap. But will she ever meet Imayaazh again ? More than Imayaazh, she wanted to meet her husband maithreyan right at that moment. How foolish of her to stab the queen. Her hands started trembling again. 'If only it was not planned by Maithreyan, if only it was all a masterplan of the vaithiyar as it seems to be, if only i had been manipulated into doing a unthinkable crime....what then? what could i do? how will i explain my husband about what i had done? how can justify the king of pavazhanadu kunjidhapaadhanaar that i did kill his loving wife, but did not mean to? oh no .... i can't stand it anymore.... i am going to end my life here....right now.... the boat is in the middle of the sea .... if i jump now...this man cannot jump in to save me.... no he cannot.... i will die and then i won't have to hear people blaming me for all the terrible things i have done... yes...the vaithiyar will escape...yes, the world would think of me as a ruthless, cunning , spineless spy who killed the queen.... do i want that to happen... no ..i can't decide.... i can't decide... but i will take my life.... before that i will tell all i know to this man rowing the boat.... let him know all my secrets.... let him stop the war that will happen ... let him stop all the blood that will flow.... i don't care.... i can't stand this anymore... yes... i will tell him everything ...and jump into amudhu....the gods know iam innocent.... arivamudhar who sits at the top of madhiyamalai knows am innocent... i don't care what human mortals think ... but no day will my husband think that i did the crime... never will that happen... but if that happens.... i don't want to stay alive to hear that.... aah...here i go...god...give me strength to gather myself ...and tell this man everything.... everything that i know .... and then i will come to you... i will surrender in your arms.... '

Sembaruthi turned towards singarakkan and started narrating the strange incidents that had happened in the last four days. Singrakannan started getting more and more surprised as sembaruthi spoke abt what had happened to her in the last few days. His expression slowly changed from what he thought of as a hearing to confessions of a innocent lady to fear to more fear and even more fear.
At the end of it all he had stopped rowing the boat. He stood there like a madman, his eyes widened apart , his heart beating at infinite pace, his face showing strange fears of approaching gloom.

The reason for such a change was straight - he just simply could not stand the idea of the 'cloud of the princess' !

Part-2 Chapter-4

It was a huge arena. Hundreds of thousands of people had gathered around to witness a gore event that took place only occasionally in Eezham. The constant chat of everyone taking to everyone else kept on going for more than half an hour now.There were the peasants, there were the fishermen, there were the sculptors, the potters, the alcohol merchants, the rich, the poor, the beautiful, the ugly ,the young, the old - almost everyone in Sirpakalanji was present.
And most importantly there were the men of religion who were seated in the middle of the arena with their hands on their chins.

These people were considered the most powerful men in eezham after eezhendirar, the king himself. The mudhanmandhiri, the senadhibadhi, the Dhalapadhi.. everyone played second fiddle to these men. They were very few in number but they had dis-proportionately higher power than what their numbers were. They were not mere poosari's who performed pooja inside the kings palace and served as a bridge between the earth and the heavens, between the king and god. They were more than that. These men of religion had a major impact on eezhams economic and political system as opposed to the common life such people led in Pavazhanadu. It was a dark contrast which the sailors who went back and forth to Pavazhanadu and Eezham could observe and some of them felt really difficult to digest why somebody who was so powerful in one kingdom was as ordinary as anyone else in the other. Isn't everyone equal? If someone is really powerful and commands respect, shouldn't that be universal..like the king for instance? The Dhalapadhi for instance? How can one section of the society consider themselves better than all others ? It is as if saying that the fishermen..or the potter made all the political moves in Pavazhanadu! It is as if saying that the rats ruled the forest. It is as if saying that the stars were brighter than the full moon. Isn't everyone assigned a natural job depending on their capabilities? Can't he do just that and stop wishing for territories that doesn't belong to him? Can even men of god succumb to the love and lust towards power? Doesn't this prove that they are mere men and nothing more than that? Isn't thuravaram their main motto in life? Isn't renouncement the main theme in their life? ' . No body even dared to ask any philosophical questions and the truth of the matter was that only a very few sailors even thought about it in the first place. Even these sailors never even spoke of any such things to their friends and families as they knew it was like throwing buckets of sand on ones own head if they went against these power centers in the kingdom. 'As long as it did not affect my personal day to day life, why would i have to spend energy thinking about it' was a good enough explanation everyone gave to himself and it seemed to working well so far in Eezham.

Though no one really talked or claimed to know the reason behind this difference in power distribution in the two kingdoms, a lot of myths were doing their rounds all the time for years now. These Myths claimed that these religious men were promoted to such high ranks by Eezhendiran the first, about one hundred and fifty years back when he came with his army to this side of Amudhu. Eezhendhiran the first - one of the twin sons of Aadhirayan- was a staunch believer in religion and god and he consulted these men of religion more than his Dhalapadhis before taking any single political step in the kingdom. And as the sons of Kings became Kings, the sons of these religious men became their successors and tradition had been passed on for hundred and fifty years and even today the men of religion were very powerful in Eezham.

And it is these powerful men that Oli had been challenging!

Oli was in the center of the arena too. In fact he was right on the center where a huge circle was drawn with white sand to distinguish it from the rest. Oli's hands were outstretched and were tied with a rope to two poles on either side. So were his legs. His eyes were blindfolded and his face expressions suggested that he was already experiencing pain because of his outstretched legs. Such a sight was not normal. It meant that he was being treated as a prisoner who had done the worst of crime possible.

Only such prisoners were executed in the middle of the arena. They would be slashed with whips by heavily built soldiers till they accepted and repented for their mistakes or crimes. Normally even the strongest hearted prisoner would be made to cry in pain before the whips stopped. And then the children and the women would be asked to close their eyes. The crowd would now turn dead silent. Some of the weak hearted men would also close their eyes with their hands. Drums would be beaten and the sound would be deafening. The prisoners would be bleeding by then. When the drums stopped, two ferocious bulls would be tied to one pole each not facing each other. And a fire would be kept on the tails of these bulls. The burning would become intolerable to the bulls that they would run on either side as fast as they could. The poles whose base was not so strongly planted inside the ground would start to give away and then after sometime, it would happen!
Silence would engulf the area for a few seconds. Silence of fear! The crowd would have turned into frozen puppets in fear and pity!
Suddenly, a deafening cry from the throat of the prisoner will break the silence as the poles came out of the sand and the bulls rushed in either directions pulling the hands and legs of the prisoner that were tied tightly to the poles and as the bulls ran madly in opposite directions, the prisoner would be torn into five pieces,hands lying separate and legs lying separate.
It was not death. It was more. It was pain. Intolerable,unexplainable pain. It was not a sword that slashed the neck into two so that death was instantaneous. It was horrible than that. It was pure barbarism. As pieces of hands of legs fell apart, the blindfolded body if it managed to still survive would faint in terror.

And the men of religion would watch on.

Everyone in the crowd knew they were going to watch something terrible this day. But no one knew the reason. Normally the reason would be announced a day before the prisoners were brought to the arena. But this time there was no such announcements. Everyone in Sirpakalanji knew oli as a madman with no purpose in life. No one knew who his parents were or what he did for a living. Whenever he came and asked for food, they obliged. And that was it. Very rarely Oli spoke to anyone. And whenever he spoke, it was some philosophical nonsense that no one in the town understood. But no one could imagine why Oli would be a prisoner today. Why was Oli being subjected to this? What crime had he committed? Rumours spread in different directions among the noisy crowd. Someone suggested that Oli had stolen a diamond from the Oorarasar's treasury. Someone else dismissed that as foolish and amateurish and said that the only reason could be that oli loved the princess and was bold enough to go and ask the king the same. Someone was so confident that Oli had done something bad to one of the Poosaris. Someone believed that Oli had turned mad and should have spoken ill of the king to someone in the palace.

No one knew the truth.

The crime Oli had committed was this. He involved in an arguement with a local poosari at Sirpakalanji and the poosari had complained it to the men of religion at the palace. The initial idea was to let him go after making him come round the king's main temple a hundred times , but oli refused immediately. He said it was against his philosophy and there he brought trouble to himself. What started as a ordinary discussion on someones personal view of life went so wide and far that at one point the men of religion become so angry that they raised their hands at Oli. Matters would have settled down peacefully if only Oli had not retaliated. Unfortunately he did and that meant trouble. It was a sin according the law to even talk anything bad about the men of god let alone retaliation. Oli was immediately arrested.

And now he was here in the middle of the arena. The drums went hard and once it stopped, the bulls were brought in. A strange feeling engulfed everyone and a huge exclaimation 'Ho' came from the crowd. The official announcement asking children and women to shut their eyes came and a bigger exclamation of 'Aah' followed from the crowd. Sirpakalanji had never seen anything like this before. Two heavily built soldiers brought theepandhams with burning fire and moved towards the bulls.
The crowd fell silent.
Dead silence.
The bulls were tied to the poles and fire kept on their tails. They became agitated and in a second or two leaped forward and started to run at mad speed towards the crowd.

Oli started to scream in pain as if his lungs were burning in flames and in less than a five seconds, he was torn into pieces.

........................

"No" shouted SIngarakannan as he woke up startled. It took a few seconds to realise that it was all a dream. 'No.. this is not a dream...how can this be a dream....oh no Oli my dearest friend...are you dead for mocking the gods? But ... But ... No...Oli is not dead.... am i dead then? where am i? why is the world around me blurred? who is this lady in my boat?'

It took time for Singarakannan to settle down. It was a dream but most of it was true. And the truth was stranger than the dream. Oli had been arrested five years back and a huge crowd had gathered in the arena to watch him die. No one knows what transpired behind the scence, but Oli had escaped while being brought to the arena. He was not to be seen anywhere for an year from then and after that he suddenly started roaming the streets of Sirpakalanji much to the surprise of the common man. When asked what happened and how he became a free man, he never told anyone a single word. Every one knew there was some strong political motivation behind why Oli was let free and most peoples guess was that he was a Pavazhanadu spy and had run to Pavazhanadu and had stayed there the year after he escaped. No one dared to ask him questions for the fear of interacting with a prisoner and everyone started hating him. It seemed Oli understood their feelings and he rarely appeared on the streets after that. Again, what he did for a living or why exactly he was let free was a mystery even to Singrakannan.

And now there was this horrible dream.

Singrakannan sank into thoughts.
' What a horrible dream... why did i dream of such a horrible thing? Oli is a dear friend right from childhood... what does this dream indicate to me? Is there a problem for Oli? Didn't he say he was going to meet some like minded people in the forest? Who are these people? Why does he refuse to talk about them? Whatever it is... it is already late night... and here this lady lies like a corpse... why is she not getting up... she is alive no doubt, she is breathing . But her senses are not proper. It will take another day for her to get up... am i doing the right thing here? Why am i so confused today? The princess does not even know me... yes she did stare at me for a long time last week , but what does that mean after all? How did i assume that she likes me? And what was it that Nesaiaa thatha told this evening. He said the Pavazhanadu lady spies had kidnapped the queen....that means the princess would be in deep sorrow...how can i expect to meet her at this juncture and express my interest... what a fool of me to get into this act.... i am a fool, no doubt, iam the biggest fool i have ever known of... i call myself a romantic, but all that is nonsense... iam simple a fool... a fool who has decided to carry some lady whom he does not even know who to the palace... am i doing the right thing? not at all.... Nesaiaah says the war has started...what does it mean to me now? Why was father searching for me? To hell with myself....why was i not thinking about all this before i started with this lady.... i have no rights to carry someone i don't know with me... moreover i might never get to meet the princess especially after the announcement of the war... she would be kept in heavy guard and her every movement might be watched... lady spies... how bad these kings are... what do they gain by kidnapping the queen? why do these people enter into wars? Can't everyone live in peace...to hell with everyone... no... i have decided... it makes absolutely no sense to go to the palace with this lady now.... i will just be risking my life and this lady's life.... and my families reputation and all that... more than that , this lady is suffering ... she must be medicated... i have been such a heartless man to use this lady for my purposes instead of getting her some medication... to hell with the wars and kingdom.... why am i so confused?? no no.... i have decided... i am going to turn the boat back to Sirpakalanji... i am sure soldiers from the king's army would have already started coming to the coast... after all most of the battle has to fought in the coast ..either here or in Pavazhanadu... but i don't care for these battles...to hell with battles... such a waste of time.... i will take this lady straight to my mother and ask her to treat her ... it might take another day before she gets alright...what happens after that, let me decide later... let me turn the boat now'

Singarakanna turned the boat in the opposite direction as a sudden memory of Maithrey hit him. He stopped for a second... he looked up at the skies and said loudly ' Oh gods, I still love Maithrey from the bottom of my heart....but my mind does not allow me to get to her now... this lady whoever she is needs to be saved...and for once, i think i will go by my head than by my heart... oh gods... i repeat...i still love the princess like no man ever has loved a girl'

A drop of tear fell down from his eyes into the vast Amudhu and the boat started to sail towards Sirpakalanji.
The night passed at snails pace and Singrakannan was drowned in the memory of Maithrey. He tried not to remember her, but her beautiful face was coming back to him from everywhere...all around. He tried to look up at the skies and the clouds showed the princess's face. He looked at sea and the dark silent water showed him the princess's smile. He tried to sleep but something did not allow him to. 'Was it the dream? Yes it must be the dream...what a horrible dream it was....and what has that dream done? It has shown me the brutal reality of life at Eezham and has made me to reverse my decision... i don't know which decision that i took is correct... Hah...Oli..if only Oli was nearby..he would have given a clear answer to this question.... what clarity of thoughts he had! Of course, he had a lot of ideas that were totally unacceptable... but a lot more that made perfect sense... and what a friend he was... his mere presence gave a strange bug snug feeling... he was a magician...Oli'

And Singarakanna drifted into sleep.

The sun rose one more time from the east and the birds started their daily routine . The winds had settled down after the huge rains the previous day and things were as still and immobile as a beautiful painting in amudhu. Singarakannan woke up , this time without being startled and looked on either side. 'What a wonderful sight' he told himself as he saw the red rising sun and the beautiful reflection of the sun on Amudhu.. 'One sight - one sight that makes living for the next day worth it' he thought as he stretched himself and saw at Sembaruthi. She was as still as the waters in Amudhu. He kept his hand over her forehead to see if she was alright. She was not alright. Her forehead was burning like fire. 'I have to reach home as soon as possible... it won't be long before i reach home... just a few more hours and i should be there'
He tried to move the boat faster but was unable to because of the long ride the whole of last night and the drowning that had happened before that.

After a few hours of slowly moving the boat, he finally reached near Sirpakalanji. He was minutes away from reaching the shore when he saw the soldier tents at a distance. 'Hah, the soldiers as i expected' he thought and put the oar in with further force. Everytime he did that, an unbearable pain was felt in this elbow... 'Must have hurt myself while trying to save this lady' he thought and turned his head to look at Sembaruthi.
He got the shock of his life ! Sembaruthi was holding a knife against his chest. He put the oar inside the boat and looked at her in fear. She was looking really tired and worn out but her eyes were glowing with an unimaginable power , he felt.

"Wait lady, don't do anything silly.... i am not going to hurt you" he said.

"I have the option of hurting you or not hurting you... tell me the truth...where are you taking me to? " she pushed the knife a little more into Singarakannans' chest and it hurt.

"Wait ...no..don't do that.... i am not taking you anywhere... i found you in this boat yesterday and i saved you... my friend and i did you some medication and thats about it"

Sembaruthi was not convinced.
"What do you mean? You say you saved me yesterday... so where are you taking me today... i am not going to believe you.. tell me the truth... otherwise i won't hesitate to push this knife into your throat right now"

"Aah... is this what i get for saving your life... no no... i understand your situation... its a big story... your forehead is burning like fire. you need some immediate medication....there you see... there is my house... i will take you there...and my mother can do some medication for you and get you something to eat"

Semabaruthi glanced for a second at the direction Singarakannan pointed to.

"Which place is this? Is this Araimedu?"

"Araimedu? No.. i have never heard of that place... this is Sirpakalanji"

Sembaruthi's brow raised .
"What do you mean?"

"I don't understand your question devi"

"No, is this Pavazhanadu or Eezham?"

Singarakanna was shocked for a second... he took a few seconds to answer that question. Sembaruthi's knife was still on his chest.

"This is Eezham devi... may i know who you are?"

Sembaruthi's face experession showed fear and shock.

"Why are there so many soldiers out there?"

"Devi.. please put the knife down...we can first.."

Sembaruthi pushed the knife a bit more and Singarakanna let out a cry in pain.
He spoke quickly.
"Devi... they are the soldiers from the king's army i believe... there are preparing for the war i believe"

Sembaruthi was thrown into surprise. Fear clutched her. She put the knife down. She was frozen for a few seconds.

"Oh no, this war should not happen... this war cannot happen"

Singarakannan was as confused as a bat. He knew this lady was not dangerous but had something in her mind. Or was she out of her minds?

"What do you mean devi?... i am here to help you... why do you say the war should not happen? Do you at least know the reason for the war?"

"Yes...and if i am not wrong, iam the only unfortunate person who knows it... and if iam right, it must have something to do with Eezhendiran's queen as well"

"Aah... how do you know that? The queen was kidnapped by some lady spies of Pavazha...... wait.... are you....are you one of those lady spies who kidnapped the queen.. no... i won't leave you to escape alive from here if that is the case...and from the way you have been asking questions... i am sure you are one of those.... " Singarakannan quickly picked up the knife that Sembaruthi had put down... "Don't even try to escape... i will not hesitate to kill you... come with me to the soldiers there ... don't do anything foolish"

Sembaruthi was not even listening to the threats of Singarakannan. She was starring bluntly at the vast expanse of the skies for a few seconds ....As she was looking above , it seemed she was searching for something...her eyes widened like a cat searcing for a prey in the dark. Singarakannan did not know what to do.... Suddenly she turned towards singarakannan in a flash and said in the strangest of tones he had ever heard a women speak,

"there it is..there it is... the cloud .....the cloud of the princess... i have seen it.....there is no time left... take me to the palace immediately... i need to meet the king.... these soldiers can't help me.... if you think i kidnapped the queen...think so...i don't care... but take me immediately to the palace... i want to talk to the king... "

"and that is because" Singarakannan trembled as he asked.

"that is because....", Sembaruthi shouted like a mad woman, "i am the only person living who can tell your king where his queen is and am the only person who can save this kingdom from a brutal and bloody war "
Singrakannan drowned in surprise.
And after a few seconds singarakannan was seen moving the boat to the palace once again - this time with absolutely no more clarity than the previous time...and as he started to move two faces appeared in front of his mind's eye... one was Oli's and the other is.... anybody's guess!

Part 2 - Chapter 3

"Don't you think we should take her to your house?" murmered Oli as he was squeezing some herbal leaves between his arms so that the medicating liquid fell over Sembaruthi's forehead. He continued "The ladies in your house, your mother and your sister , they can take care of this lady better than we ever could". He stopped for a second to look at Singarakannan - "What are you thinking about Singa? You seem disturbed"

"I am disturbed" - a monotonous voice of Singarakannan replied. He was sitting on a rock bench inside the meenavar-mandabam as heavy rains were making a huge noise outside. The rains seemed to stop now and then but every time they changed their minds and started pouring heavier than before.

"I am sure you are having a bad headache Singa. A lot of water would have gone inside your lungs. It was unnecessary for you to jump into the dangerous Amudhu especially with the wind and rain."

"Oli, that is what keeps disturbing me"

"which is what? the winds, the rains?"

"yes- the winds, the rains"

"What about them?"

"Oli, i have gone into the amudhu a hundred thousand times before today right from my childhood. I have battled winds and rains even in the middle of amudhu and still have successfully bought gold from the deep sea. It is unbelievable that i lose out today , that too on the shores... i can't believe this.. i will never be able to convince myself with a good explanation for why i gave up"

Oli smiled.
"The sea inside our minds sometimes generates waves infinitely bigger and powerful than the sea outside, Singa. And when that happens, you cannot but drown. What you need is some peaceful sleep , nothing else"

"You were right when you said that i am in confusion Oli.. i really am in a big confusion.. my mind was so confused that i for an instance thought that the lady here was none by the princess herself ... Look what danger has this confusion has put me in... i feel ashamed and irritated. Isn't there a solution to all this?"

"Confusion is the penultimate step of Clarity Singa... just relax and things will be alright"

"Hah, you are talking more like a friend than a philosopher there Oli... you were the one who said confusion is more dangerous than danger itself"

"Yes i did, and i still say so"

"You seem to contradict yourself"

"Well.. i can certainly explain how i don't contradict myself ... but before that can you please pass me on those leaf bunches... It is nothing but luck of this lady, whoever she is... that some traveler has left behind these herbal leaves... her shivering seems to have reduced significantly in the past two or three hours... but i still think we should call for more help.."

Singarakannan passed the leaf bunch as he asked,
"Whom do you think this lady is , Oli?"

"I don't know.. seems to be someone from the palace"

"Yes, even that's what i think... must be some powerful man's daughter"

"or wife"

"yes.. may be... or may be somebody from the king's elite dancers group "

"or may be one of princess Maithrey's thozhis"

Singa rose up in a flash.
"Oli... is that possible? Could that be a possibility? will this lady know the princess?"

"I was just making a guess" Oli smiled.

"Oh, if only, if only that was true.." Singa seemed lost in thought. After a few moments of silence, Oli asked -

"What would you do if it was true?"

"Well, then do you think i would have any problems entering the palace... i have a real reason to do so..."

"Of course you can... so assuming she knows the princess, you are very clear in what you will do... isn't that so?"

"yes... certainly"

"There is clarity for you my friend... do you at least now accept that confusion is the penultimate step of clarity?"

Singa did not seem amused at all as Oli would have expected. He instead raised his voice in opposition.
"Hah.. Oli,what a mean way to prove your theory! you have just assumed something that could never be true... what if it is not true? what if she does not even know the princess.. what is she not even from the palace...what if...what if she is say... from the other side of amudhu... anything..anything is possible .. there are thousands of possibility out of which you have stated one and have kindled my emotions... just to add strength to your philosophy... it has served nothing but adding more confusions... where is the clarity you talked about Oli? where is it? i don't seem to have it at all! Confusion is all i am left with"

"Calm down my friend... i did not mean to hurt you... think about this carefully... i said confusion is the penultimate step of clarity...i did not say clarity always follows confusion though! Your outburst suggests the same... you are confused.. only if you think about the situation properly and deeply in silence, would you ever get rid of it...i just hinted that this lady could help you get into the palace... it does not necessarily be true that she is the princess' thozhi.. but as long as she does not wake up, why can't you assume that she is so"

Singa was shocked for a second at Oli's response. He never expected such an idea to have originated in Oli's mind. He spoke as slowly and silently possible.
"Oli, if i understand you correctly...you are trying to say that..."

Oli interrupted.
"Singa, i am just asking you to give this woman a nice name and take her to the palace before anybody else finds out!"

At this point, the rains had stopped completely and the scent of soil was strong in the air. Singarakannan seemed excited at the idea that he ran for a second across the breadth and length of the meenavar mandabam for unknown reasons. He finally settled down on the rock bench where he had been sitting a while ago and started biting his lips. He thought deeply in silence for a few seconds as oli finished up his medication with leaves on Sembaruthi's forehead.

Finally after a few minutes of silence, Singarakannan broke it with a question.

"How do i take her to the palace? I can't take her on a horse... i can't take her on a Palakku either. How else can i carry her especially when she is sick and unconscious too?"

"I don't know ... " Oli replied instantaneously.

"This is not fair Oli.. you gave me the idea and now you are confusing me further"

" I would love to stay on and clear your confusions Singa, but unfortunately i cant..The rain seems to have stopped and i need to go now to meet a few like minded people inside the forest...don't worry about anything...but think about whatever you are doing very carefully... you have two options... take this lady to the palace or take her to your mother... in any case, make sure she gets alright... she looks so unnatural for a person in the kind of boat that she arrived in and that too without anybody to row her... i am sure once she wakes up, she will have a story to tell too"

"Oli, are you sure you want to leave right away"

"I came just because you asked me to come Singa... you know very well that people here don't like me... and now that the rain has stopped, they might come out of their huts and the more people i encounter, the more i may cause them irritation. I think it is better for me to leave now..."

Having said this, Oli tied his long hair as a plait and took a wooden block to cover his head and went out of the Mandaba.

Singarakannan looked around inside the Mandabam. After a few seconds, he looked outside the mandabam and stared at Amudhu for a minute or two..
'Oli has gone too... what should i do now? Should i take this lady to my mother? isn't there a better way out? There seemed to something in what Oli said right now... what was it?'
Suddenly,something sparked in Singa's brain and he got excited.
' Boat! The boat ! Hah! I should take her with me in a boat .. yes.. there is nobody in amudhu right now... i can row till the capital along the sea ..that will take me atleast a day's time.. that is i will have to row the whole of tonight and i will reach there by tomorrow before the sun goes right above the head... and then.... and then what? I will still need to cover atleast half a day's travel by walk to the palace. But before that won't this lady get up? What if she starts screaming ? How will i convince her of what i intend to do? Or what will i do even if she doesn't get up.. how i can take her to the palace? Well, i just need to convince people that i found her on the sea and want to leave her in the palace.. oh my god... why don't i have some good imagination... i just need to cook up a good story that people would believe... aah..i don't have time left..the rain has stopped.. fishermen might start coming out of their houses... i need to go before anybody comes to this mandabam... i will have a full day's time while rowing... i shall rack my brains then to come up with a story... Maithrey... it is for you that i am doing all this... this may be a sin, but i don't care... when i meet you, i will tell you what a pair of beautiful eyes can do to a man... and then i will kneel down and ask for your hand! God, this is a great chance.. and i need you to help me with it '

Singarakannan started lifting Sembaruthi as slowly as possible making sure she is not hurt by any means. Once he had over his arms, he turned back to move out of the Mandabam when he got the shock of his life! Someone was standing right in front and staring straight at him. It took a few seconds for Singarakannan to realise that it was the local old man Nesaiaa. Nesaiaa has once served the king's army but now was so old that he has almost lost his eyesight

"Who is it?" whispered Nesaiaa with a trembling voice

Singarakannan just moved a few steps away from the sight of him and replied.
"Thaatha ,it is me Singa,... i came here because it was raining heavily.. and i ... i am leaving now thatha"

Nesaiaa spoke slowly and shiveringly.
"Ahh..Singa, i just now met your father on the way... he seemed worried.. he was looking for you my child..and he has every reason to especially in this state of affairs. And... is it that i am seeing you carrying someone my child... my eyesight has become very bad these days.. it has become so bad that it feels to me that you are carrying a woman" And Nesaiaa laughed with in between coughs.

Singa felt embarrassed. He had to finish this conversation quickly and get out.
"Ah, yes thatha... your eyesight has indeed become poor... this is not a woman .. it is a man"

"Who is it?"

"aah... it is a man thatha... someone you may not know"

"Who?"
Singa thought for a second.
"Hah.. in fact you might know him"

"you haven't told the name yet my boy"

"Oli! its Oli thatha.. he just drowned in the waves... i saved him, and did some immediate medication and am taking him back now "

"Oh, Oli..that young man who was idiotic enough to say that there was no god in front of all religious people...
you better stop roaming with him... your father would be even more worried ... especially after what happened in the morning"

Singarakannan was almost near the door of the Mandabam ready to rush out when he stopped for a moment and turned back.

"Why, what happened in the morning?"

Nesaiaa shook his head .
"What do you mean my son... don't you know the news?"

Standing up still with Sembaruthi over his arms started paining for Singarakannan.

"I haven't heard of any news from the morning thatha... can you please let me know quickly what has happened... is someone in trouble?"

At this moment, a huge sound echoed all around the Mandabam . It lasted for atleast half a minute and nobody moved from their places where they were standing... The sound that came from a distance stopped and it was immediately followed by a series of even more heavier sound of hammer blows over metal sheets.

Singarakannan had no idea what was happening. He looked at Nesaiaa to see if he was going to talk something.

Nesaiaa spoke with a raised voice .

"There is it my boy... there it is... the answer to your question... i am a old man now.. but i have been waiting to hear this sound all through my life.. and now it is here...finally after all the speculation and discussions that would have happened in the morning... i can proudly die any moment from now on... this sound will make the bloods of all young men in the country boil.. this sound will make everybody rise and rush ... this sound will determine everything... hah...if only i could be young and energetic like you..."

Singarakannan interrupted.
"Thatha, stop! what are you talking about...what is happening?"

Nesaiaa replied in a bold voice.

"War has begun my son, War! Eezhendirar has declared war against our enemy pavazhanadu! Blood will flow in amudhu in the next few months no doubt, but we will emerge successful"

Singarakannan was shocked. This was the first time a war was happening in ages in Eezham. He took a few seconds to gather himself. He then asked in a trembling voice,

"What is the reason for this sudden war thatha? There seemed to be no indication of any war till yesterday, not even talks of any immediate announcements"

"Aah... that is the worst part my son....both the kingdoms were preparing for war always... but this time, our enemies have gone a bit too far..."

"Like how?"

Singarakannan even before listening to the response decided that he will rush to the boat irrespective of what was going to come. He had no time left and
just had to run as soon as the reply comes. Nesaiaa breathed in for a second. It seemed he was gathering strength to give a reply. He finally spoke as loud and clear as he could.
"Unimaginable reason Singa... just unimaginable reason for a blood filled war like this to begin..... Pavazhanadu's king Kunjidhapadhanaar has managed to do the worst thing that a king has ever done in history... he will repent for his fault very soon.... he has to.. i am sure we will win the was and once that happens, his head won't stay over his neck - especially after he dared to kidnap Eezhendirar's queen using his lady spies"!

And Singarakannan took off from the place with Sembaruthi over his arms!

Part 2 - Chapter 2

The waves were silent with the occasional attempt that they made to reach out to the huge rocks that were on the shore. It seemed as if the rocks were unhappy princesses who did not anymore want to talk to the wave princes because of unknown reasons. The wave princes in spite of their loved ones anger were continuously making their attempt to reconcile them.
A cold and heavily windy day it was at chirpakalanji and the air was so chill that fishermen stayed inside their huts , some to the amusement of their wives and some to the opposite. A few happy families sat together singing songs in praise of the lord and the king , a few other just married couples were thanking the winds that kept them together and singing to each other only with their eyes and a few more older natives were praying in quiet for the wind to calm down and the rain gods to stay away.
Any visitor to Chirpakalanji on this particular day would not have found the village particularly impressive after all.
The wind and the approaching rains which the dark gathering clouds were hinting had driven everybody into their huts and what one could witness outside was nothing but the wave princes and the rock princesses. There was of course the occasional mischievous lad who would escape the clutches of his mother and rush to the sea , but when did mothers lose to mischievous kids? They had their own tricks to bring their children back home into safety.
In spite of the seeming deserted feeling one got on seeing the shores of chirpakalanji,a closer look however revealed something interesting. Was there absolutely no one outside the huts? Well there was indeed a secret rock princess hiding behind tall tree soldiers so that she was out of sight for the normal viewer. The wave princes probably feared of such a beauty and did not even dare to come near her. Surprisingly,the rock princess was not alone though. There was a strong human figure that was sitting alongside. We are not sure if the rock princess had an eye open for the male figure that was sitting beside, but what we are sure is that the male figure itself was deeply immersed in thought of a princess - not the rock princess but yet another young and beautiful princess.

A cold breeze hit Singarakannan's face and his wavy hair jumped up for a second and settled down back to where it was. He seemed lost in thought staring at the blue sea forever for hours now. The continuous buzz noise that the waves were making sounded like music that some magical flutes were playing into his ears. They seemed to be rhyming of a name to him.. the name that gave him strange sensations and stranger feelings about himself. How could one unknown woman turn a man's life upside down? Why was all this not happening to him so far? yes, there were beautiful women in chirpakalanji too.. but noone had made him feel like this before.The feeling he got when he saw the princess a week before was different. The similies that he had laughed at all these years were beginning to ring bells now. A huge splash of an unknown form of energy could be felt inside him. Rocks, trees, waves, birds - almost everything that he saw made him remember her for some reason or the other. Some times the reasons were natural. Sometimes they were so unnatural that the only way they could remind him of her was because he wanted it to be that way.

'No, this can't be coincidence, there must be something more about Maithreyey that has attracted me other than her divine beauty. Was it her eyes? Aah, the eyes. they are the most powerful weapons that a women can possess. The eyes. No doubt, every poet uses it to give an extra grip to this work. The eyes. What about them? How can a look, something that does not have a form or shape be responsible for driving men to such an extent so that they will do anything? Aah the eyes. There is absolutely nothing wrong in getting lost to them. In fact, it is something every man must experience in his life time. Fools are the saints who can't appreciate the beauty of these beauty, even more foolish are their attempts to find out the divine .. what else could the word divine possibly mean ?.. it is nothing but what the look that spread from Maithreyey's eyes onto mine. It is more powerful than the sword, than the the dagger, it is the eyes , the eyes, only the eyes'

"Singa" a polite voice broke his chain of thoughts and he looked up to see who it was.

"Aah, Oli .. good that you are here... who else can save a man's life but his best friend"
Oli was a weak looking young man with a long beard and longer hair that fell over his shoulders from the back and over his eyes on the front. He now politely smiled at singa and sat beside him.

"Singa, no-one can save a man's life .. moreover the danger here does not seem to be so dangerous after all"
"What do you mean Oli? i don't seem to understand"
"Before i tell you what i mean, you should tell me what you meant when you said your life was in danger"
Singarakannan spoke in a surprised tone.

"When did i say that my life was in danger?"

"From your looks , atleast it seems so to me. If not in danger, you are probably in confusion. But my dear friend, confusion is more dangerous that danger itself. It more often than not succeeds in making a person indecisive and doing nothing while danger on the other hand makes men react faster and quicker"

"Aah, oli please don't start your philosophical talks.. i neither understand them nor do i wish to"

"Singa, philosophy is a totally misused word in the world we live today my friend. Philosophy according to me is nothing but the keen observation of human life and trying to understand its beautiful intricacies. Anyone who wishes to practice the art , the best place is to start exploring his own inner self"

A cold breeze blew over the friends faces. After a few seconds of silence, Singarakannan replied

"Oli, what do you think about being in love?"

"Well, i assume you are talking about the love towards a woman and not towards nature or art or anything else"

Singarakannan smiled gently.
"Atleast for the moment, please do assume that"

Oli adjusted his position. His voice was gentler than before.

"Love is a beautiful opportunity to explore yourself. You get to know more and more about yourself once you are in it. The intelligent man grabs the opportunity and becomes a philosopher, the ordinary man succumbs to the beauty of love and falls into it"

"Hah, Oli...you speak as though love is a trap"

"Life itself is a trap, Singa...let alone love"

"I never have and never shall agree to what you say...Romance is the essence of life.. the attachment and bonding that love can create, nothing else can... the object of attachment might differ at various points in time of a man's life..right from childhood till his death.. but there is a continuous and involuntary attachment to something or the other always..and this i shall call as love.. and this alone keeps life rolling ... it is certainly not a trap as you crudely put it oli... life is a gift from the god, not a trap"

"A lot of these gifts that the so called gods that you mention comes along with something called pain..."

"Pain..hmm...Oli, if you won't mistake me, i shall speak my heart out here... I hate philosophy because i feel it is nothing but an escape route to avoid pain... Getting away from everything just because you can avoid pain...is that a brave thing to do? never... the joy is to go through the pain and come out successful... isn't that more interesting and more romantic? isn't that the way one should live rather than hiding from pain? "

"Pain and pleasure are superficial my friend... the eternal does not have any of these... if you say you will endure pain just to enjoy a future pleasure, it means you have neither understood pain nor understood pleasure in the real sense"

"Well, i can certainly try to understand if you can enlighten me on it... though i won't guarantee you that i will accept what you will say"

Oli smiled. He adjusted his position again. This time it felt to singarakannan that he is going to listen to a long explanation.

"Imagine there is something called eternity... the horizon that you see far away there...assume that is eternity... the place where nothing is everything and everything is nothing... the purpose of human life is to reach there... i don't believe in what our scriptures and temples teach and i have been abandoned by our temples for this... but i don't care much... all our temples teach us the following: they make us believe that there is a god sitting in that horizon and governing our lives... even worse that they make us think that these gods have shapes and forms and names and families and what not... these were careful aids that some saints chose to help men reach the eternity that i told you before.. but they have been carelessly understood and practiced. God has over time has become nothing but a go-to man for two things... to get a wish fulfilled and to get you out of a bad situation... think about it carefully for a minute and you will realise that those are the only two reasons when you sincerely worshiped...well, these two things are nothing but the pleasure and pain that you talked about. So any discussion to understand pleasure and pain in the right sense, needs a discussion of the so called gods"

Oli stopped for a second.. it started to mildly drizzle.

"please do continue"

"The purpose as i said before is to reach a state where you will understand that everything and nothing are one and the same... that is the state of 'perinba'. The pleasure, the pain and the associated god with these two are the states of 'sitrinba'. It is unimaginably difficult to reach perinba in the world we live today... contamination in hundreds of walks of life including religion have made us not even realize why we all are here for... but there are few who really want to get there, to fight the way through the waves and reach the horizon... and for that we need to be out of all these contaminations... pleasure, pain, god, love , money all of these. But from outside you feel it is an escape route... well when everybody is in the wrong way, the right way does seem to be wrong"

Singarakanna sighed. The drizzle was becoming heavier by the second.

"Oli, i accept that i understand only a part of whatever you said.. and i apologize for critisizing your choice of lifestyle. But i personally don't think i can ever live a life that you lead...i shall continue to be god fearing and i shall continue to be a romantic... in fact, after all this that you have told me, i am going to tell you that i am in love and i am not going to be surprised at all if you will laugh at me for that"

Oli shook his head.
"certainly not Singa, why would i laugh at you... realization is like casting sozhis on sand.. The exact time when you get everything on the same side is not in your control... but keeping on attempting by throwing the sozhis is the best you can do... now that you have said you are in love, i will hug you for that and ask you the name of your unexpected lover".

Oli opened his arms and hugged singarakannan for a moment.
Singarakanna spoke.
"I am certainly going to tell you who she is, but why do you think she is someone unexpected?"
Oli smiled gently.
"Well, why else would you start a conversation in a shivering weather by asking me to save your life"

"ha ha, you caught me there... you are right oli, as always... the lady i fell in love with is not an ordinary woman... she is the princess of the kingdom- Maithreyey"

A huge thunder broke down from the skies as if it signaled something to Singarakannan.

"I am really happy for you Singa,but at the same time i am also concerned. Have you expressed your interest to the princess? i believe she was here a week back along with the queen for the meenavar festival.. did you talk to her then?"

"Well, yes, for a few moments"

"Good, so how does she feel about you?"

"Well, we spoke for a few moments - but only with our eyes oli, sound , i felt,was unnecessary for our communication. And from what her eyes spoke to me, i am sure she feels the same way as how i feel towards her"

Oli ran his fingers over his long hair.

"This is a dangerous world to take the language of the eyes so seriously my friend... i think you should meet her once again and use words to express your interest. eyes are a beautiful and colorful means to communicate , no doubt, but words are needed to put things in black and white"

"Oh you are absolutely right Oli, but i wonder if i can do that a all... and that was the whole point of confusion i have been in for the whole of last week"

"what is your confusion"

"how do i meet her again?"

"go to the palace"

"thats easier said than done... i can't go to the palace unless i have a reason to... our king you know is not as what they say about the king on the other side of amudhu... it is atleast thirty years since the common man was allowed to enter into the palace without any real emergency"

Oli sank in thought for a few seconds.
"you are right about that... i don't know if a person like me can help you out in this but.. especially someone abandoned by most people in the kingdom "

"i know you can't oli,.. but somehow i feel you have some magical powers that when i stay in your company, i can always find a way out... "

"well, if i can guess, you are going to say next that i am a godsend to you"

"i don't care if you don't agree oli, but that is the truth... Right from childhood, till today, i have had all my success only when i have been with you... the more it happens that way, the more i get attached to the concept of god... "

"i will only say to myself that all this is silly, my friend totally silly"

At this point, it had become dark and a huge thunder broke into their ears. Heavy rain started and the trees started to swing like mad saints singing around huge fires. Singa and oli got up from the rock they were sitting over and started to run into the meenavar-mandabam that was at a few jumps distance. Oli went in first and as Singa was about to get in, for some reason he had totally no idea of, he turned back towards to sea. What he saw took him completely by surprise. At a distance from the shore, he could see a boat jumping over the waves as if it had lost control. 'There is no single fisherman out in amudhu today. Who possibly could be in this boat?' . He could not get an answer however hard he thought. He observed the boat for a few seconds and realised that it was in a terrible danger of being thrown away by the waves and the wind as no one seemed to be rowing it.
'Is there someone in the boat or is it empty? How did i miss it all along? Where is it coming from? What if someone in danger? Let me rush'
He jumped out of the Mandaba and rushed towards the boat. Oli came out for a second and shouted at Singarakannan as to what was happening.
Singarakannan replied as he was running towards the boat
'Get in Oli, the rain is too heavy . Be inside the Mandaba, i shall check who is in the boat and come back'
The sharp rain was right on his face and he could not open his eyes completely. He slipped down at a few places but managed to get up and keep running towards the boat. He reached the sea now and had to get in and swim for a minute or two before he got to the boat. He jumped into the sea and at the same time a mammoth wave came down with a huge sound and the boat was thrown up on the air and fell upside down in the water with a huge splash. Singarakannan realized that there is no point in moving towards the boat and managed to bring his head up and see if there was anyone who was thrown out of the boat... he found nothing. Suddenly he thought he had risked unnecessarily by jumping in and felt really uneasy. A lot of water had gone into his mouth by now. He started to swim back swiftly towards the shore cursing himself for making such a stupid move by jumping into the sea when it was raining heavily.

We don't know if we should attribute it to luck or to the gods, but for some unknown reason Singarakannan, despite his uneasiness turned his head one last time to look if he could find someone at all . This time he was caught by a shock of his life. What he saw was an young woman drowning unconsciously into the deep waters of amudhu at a distance!

'Am i seeing someone i know? Am i seeing someone at all? What is this that is happening to me? Why do i feel as if i have lost balance? Am i drowning myself? Is it a woman there? Do i know her?is it...is it by any chance the ..the princess? No way, what on earth can bring the princess here at this time of the evening..that too in such a small boat? It must be someone else...but she seems to be from the kingdom... the jewellery that she seems to be wearing...who else other than someone in the kingdom could it be.... oh god, i don't know if what iam asking you is even justified... give me some luck... i shall fight into the waters and save that woman... oh god.. you have always helped especially in the magical presence of Oli ... help me one more time... give me some strength to save that lady...and if iam not asking for too much... let that lady be the one to whom i have lost my heart to....Let her be the princess herself so that i can save her and say how i feel towards to her... or atleast... if she is not the princess, let her help me reach the princess somehow... Lord Eezhendiraa....give me strength...."
A huge wave rose and covered singarakannan entirely... A similar wave drowned the unconscious woman at a distance.

At this instance, Oli jumped into the sea.

Sembaruthi had arrived at eezham in a manner she would had never ever even imagined of!

Part 2 - Chapter 1

The story of Singarakannan is totally contrary to what one expects from a fisherman's son.
Born to a fisherman and his second wife (whom he had married after the death of the first), Singarakannan grew up entirely on the banks of river Amudhu in a small village called Chirpakalanji. The village previously called Meenthurai had acquired its new name recently because of the wonderfully skilled sculptors who started migrating from various parts of the kingdom and settling in the village. There were two main reasons why sculptors did that. The officially communicated reason was that there were huge rocks on the banks which can be used to carve beautiful statues. But as every migration in history , there was a hidden reason also. In this case though, it was a open secret. Everyone in Chirpakanji knew that their oorarasar swaminathar was an art fanatic and wanted to build a huge museum on the river bank in memory of his wife that would contain ten thousand and one statues of his beloved lady love who had died recently in a terrible earthquake that had shook the village. So the open secret was that the sculptors who did not make a great living , found this as an excellent opportunity to convince the oorarasar to begin the project as soon as possible so that they can get to work. Though so many sculptors had moved into the village, Swaminathar was not convinced if he had found the best talent to get his work done. Moreover another important problem that was running on the back of his mind was that , making such an announcement to build a museum might put himself under pressure from the king Eezhendiran because of the amount of money that will be spent on this. King Eezhendiran who ruled from this side of Amudhu had absolutely no interest in Arts . His aim was to conquer Pavazhanadu someday or the other and become 'the' ruler. So he hated the idea when someone announced that a oorarasar had spent money on developing art in the kingdom. Now if Oorarasar Swaminathar made such a decision and announced it, he knew he would get into unnecessary trouble from the king. But all said, Swaminathar still wanted in the deepest of this thoughts that the ten thousand and one statues to be carved some day or other other and so kept postponing the idea by saying to his Mandiri's and Dhalapathi's that the quality of Sculptors were not good enough. This postponement had been taking place for more than ten years now right since the day his wife died . So all the sculptors who had eagerly moved into the village started becoming jobless and got irritated at the same time. As any community of people who were jobless, irritated and also large in number, they started turning their interest into other useless activities like picking up fights with the fishermen who lived in a few villages in and around Chirpakalanji.
These small petty fights rose gradually into hatred and eventually into hand fights and even further into local mass fights before the oorarasar himself had to involve to settle things down. When asked what the problem was and why such a fight had picked up in the first place and what was the claims of the sculptors, some ingenious sculptor who assumed the position of the leaded came up with the wonderful claim of changing the name of the village from Meenthurai to Chirapakalanji. It was surprising even for the sculptors as to how such a claim had come from thin air. But isn't this a strange trait that one can notice in all human beings. Why only human beings? Even the trait is visible in a lot of animals. The very fact that somebody is fighting for you makes it reasonable to accept any claim made on behalf of you. The logical implications are not cared for. The reality is thrown to the dogs. The only emotion that takes over is pride and hence you start feeling that the claim itself originated in your own head and slowly start thinking that it is rightful to fight for your claim and if the situation calls for it, even die. Thus the sculptors who started with petty fights with the fishermen now had a bold reason to fight for. They all in unison felt that Meenthurai rightfully belonged to them and hence should be renamed as Chirpakalanji. This made the fishermen even more angry and their anger blew out of proportions when the oorarasar accepted to the name change request. No one could understand why such a change was even required in the first place. But the head of the fishermen community who happened to be Singarakannan's father maintained a cool head and convinced the fishermen that this was not worth fighting for. Most fishermen protested initially, but later after hours of talks with the head accepted that there was not much in a name and they will find their own ways to prove better than the sculptors in the development of the village and the kingdom as a whole. This even surprised the sculptors as they were expecting a bigger fight with the fishermen . They thought the constant fights with the fishermen was an opportunity to make the Oorarasar Swaminathanaar look up and find that they were jobless and eventually make him revive the ten thousand and one statue idea of his.

A decade had passed since the migration and the sculptors were still jobless. To great surprise, some of them had even turned fishermen. There was no talks of the big grand museum anymore. The number ten thousand and one itself had become a joking point of the common man. For instance, a young boy who played on the river banks with his friends would steal his friend's kite. When his friend demanded him to give it back, he would look up far far beyond and say ' it is in the ten thousand and one museum'. And that in their language meant, it is gone!

Singarakannan, the son of the head of fishermen community Giridharan was whom we started this story with but in course of time had to digress to set up the surroundings . A naughty boy by nature, Singrakannan grew up on the banks of Amudhu. He started accompanying his father to the fishing at the age of seven and the very first day he went sailing towards the center of the deep and boundarayless Amudhu, he become obsessed with the blue. It was his first experience to witness what the word huge and boundaryless really meant. The scene that he saw that night when he lied down on the wood of the boat and looked above was simply amazing. The blemishless skies spread all over gave a feel of a huge dark black blanket ready to fall over the world anytime. 'Aah... what a powerful fall that would be ... oh god , please don't make the skies fall down' prayed young singarakannan. And even more head spinning was when he looked to his left and right. Amudhu was as silent as it could get. As far as he could see, it was only water. His father had once said 'Singara, this is not water that we go into everyday. It is gold as far as we fishermen are concerned'. Though Young Singara did not understand how this could be related to gold, he developed a desire to go into the middle of Amudhu as soon as possible. And now he was there. Right at the point. The exact center of Amudhu. Or so it seemed. How can you pin point the center of a boundary less experience? Singarakannan was not only excited. That day brought a god like picture into his mind. He had heard his mother say that the incomprehensible is the god and from the vast expanses of the sky and water and the meeting place of both at the horizon that he was viewing, he was pretty sure that all this bigness and beauty combined should have something to do with god. Something.

Years passed and Singara turned into a strong young man. He wall tall and was handsome. He understood the nuances and tricks of fishing and whenever he went into Amudhu, the fishermen community was certain that he would come back with a price catch – gold. Though he was the best at what he was doing, though he enjoyed every moment of being in Amudhu looking for huge fishes, there was something these days that was affecting him internally. 'Is it the fights between the fishermen and the sculptors?' he would ask himself. ' May be.. but why should that bother me so much. Why am i not getting peace of mind? What is this mental block that stops me from doing anything useful. And more importantly, why is it that i start losing interest even in Amudhu these days? It is absolutely true that i love being in Amudhu. But still, it is not the same these days as it was even an year back. What could be the reason? Or should i ask myself 'who could be the reason?' '

Well , when a young man starts asking himself such questions, there could be only one answer to it. In the case of Singara, the object of the answer had presented itself a in front of him a few days back – Maithreyey, the most beautiful princess Eezham had ever witnessed!

The Cloud Of The Princess - Part 1Chapter 25

Language sometimes does not provide words to describe one's feelings completely. Sometimes its love,sometimes its hatred. Sometimes its pain, sometimes its happiness. Sembaruthi was in a very similar state. The feeling that she was undergoing also could not be completely expressed in words. But on the contrary to emotions mentioned before,the closest substitute to her emotional state might be 'unimaginable fear'.
Yes!
What the Vaithiyar had said were not words. They were rocks thrown right on her face when her hands were tied behind'. You know the rock will fall right over your face and smash you. You know it is going to happen in a split second's time from now. You know you will suffer pain that you have never suffered in your lifetime before. It felt as if it will just be a split second and death will be instantaneous, yet it felt as if the world had come to a standstill. Everything seemed frozen in time. Space seemed meaningless when time was frozen. It is the moment. It is eternity. It is infinite pain. It is nothing. It is everything.It is blackout. It is lightning

It is fear.

Sembaruthi took a resolution.
'Tonight, if i shall die, i won't care. But tonight if i shall die without knowing if i have served or betrayed my motherland, i will certainly go to hell. That would have been the worst possible thing i would have ever done. I swear to god and myself that i will not let that happen. I will do now what the Vaithiyar has instructed me to , but if i don't get answers to my questions even after a while, i will start going by my instincts'.

She jumped out of the tunnel onto open space.
Darkness ate her. A blast of extremely cold wind blew over her face. It felt even more colder because she had come in the dusty tunnel till now and was profusely sweating.
'Move to your right and find the first tree' was her first instuction from the Vaithiyar.
She walked to her right. Suddenly a streak of light hit her face. Her eyes shrunk instinctively. She realized it was moonlight and a huge tree at a distance was hiding her from it till now.
'How surprising that it felt as if it was Ammavasya till a few seconds back while it was actually a Pournami day?' . She had seen a tree to her right at some distance and was carefully walking towards it. A thought struck her mind. 'May be the tunnel's mouth was carefully and skillfully constructed so that moonlight did not enter it even on a full-moon day. I am for sure caught in the middle of a few extremely intelligent people. But the big question is what they are using their intelligence for? For the benefit of Pavazhanadu or to betray it? By the way which place is this? It seems not really unfamiliar. Oh... there at a distance. What do i see? Is it not Madiyamalai? Yes, it is. But what is this? How can this possibly be the case? The shape and height of the cliff resembles Madiyamalai in every aspect. But where is the hill temple? It is missing! How can that happen? No no..i might be making some mistake here. This can't be madiyamalai. This has to be something else. Oh..no no..it is Madiyamalai. No doubt about it. Ah..now it is clear..How silly of me not to realise that this place is just on the other side of Madiyamalai. The hill temple is not right on the top but at a small distance from the top of the hill. Looked from this side of the hill, the temple is completely hidden from view. But this means the tunnel has started from Kumudhini's house which faces Madiyamalai temple and has ended here which is facing Madiyamalai's back. Such a big tunnel this is then. How did someone build such a big tunnel without anybody noticing? Intelligence. Yes. Pure Intelligence. That is the only word that comes back again and again. Such tunnels require years to be built. To imagine a size of this tunnel, it must have taken atleast three to four years to build this. But...But that means, the construction should have started when i was staying right here in Araimedu three years back. It feels so strange that people have been constructing tunnels right below where i would have been standing when we girls met daily at the foothills of Madiyamalai. It really feels strange ... rather frightening'.

She had reached the tree she was aiming to reach.
Now she recalled the second instruction of the Vaithiyar.

'Wait until you see something happening.If my guess is correct, you will find a Palakku coming very near to you in sometime'

'Who possibly would come to such a deserted place in a Palakku at this time of the night? And why should i stab that person.Oh my god! What a terrible night this is going to be.The vaithiyar says it will not be a Man who will come in the Palakku. Of course it will not be.Men never travel in Palakku. But which lady could it possibly be? And why should i stab her? I can't even imagine that there is a lady of such skills who can even shake up the Dhalapathi and Vaithiyar Elanchezhiyanaar that they have to resort to such techniques as to stabbing her from the back. I will certainly want to look how this lady looks like. How powerful her eyes would be? Does the Dhalapadhi know this lady ? Has he met her before? Why was i chosen to stab this lady? And more importantly what is this lady planning against the kingdom ? What are the Dhalapadhi and Vaithiyar afraid of? How can a lady possibly do something against the king? Didn't the Vaithiyar say that the king was not being targetted? So who else would they target? It must be someone in Araimedu. Otherwise why is all this happening right here? May be it is Sethupadhiyar , the oorarasar of Araimedu. But that looks improbable.No No... I think i should stop this guessing game. My head is paining like hell. How long would i have to wait. It is too cold here.. oh my god.. don't you have mercy on this poor girl? '

A sharp sound interrupted her flow of thoughts. The sound was familar. It cannot be dismissed as mere sound. Neither was it music. Nor was it noise. It was mesmerizing. Sembaruthi was shocked to death. It was exactly the same sound from a flute that the mysterious person sitting on the rock was playing the night before at the Durga temple.

Sembaruthi suddenly knelt down and hid behind a bush under the tree. There was no one that she saw in the vicinity. Terror started to eat her up slowly. Her mind was racing in such speed and with such confusion and fear, that she was not even able to correctly guess which direction the sound was coming from. Her eyes moved rapidly in all directions to see if there was any human movement.
Nothing.
Nothing at all.
She tried to look at the direction of the mouth of the tunnel to see what the Vaithiyar was doing. She was shocked for a second. The tunnel was not there! 'The Vaithiyar should have closed it. Did he see the person playing the flute? Is that why he has closed the tunnel? Where is this person playing from? Why has he stopped playing now? Can it be like this? Oh my god.... i don't even want to imagine such a thing. Can it be the Vaithiyar who played the tune? Yes... it could be... the sound seems to have come from the direction of the tunnel. Now what does that mean? Was it the Vaithiyar who was sitting on the rock last night? Or was it the Vaithiyar who screamed out loud when the stone hit him? And now the tunnel is closed and the sound has stopped. Whom did the Vaithiyar signal to then? Oh...how long do i have to wait here. This place feels like a graveyard. Oh .. it will be a graveyard for the woman i will stab. Oh my god. I will be a killer. Not in the wierdest of dreams have i imagined myself in a hopeless position like this...'

A Palakku was approaching her from a distance!

Once the Palakku comes, the people who carried the Palakku will walk out of the place. And once they are out of sight, you need to make your moves quickly for you will not have time left later on. You need to get into the Palakku and stab the person inside. And then drag the person' body behind the tree where you will hide. And then get back to the Palakku and sit inside it till someone comes

That was the second part of the instruction. Even after a while since the Vaithiyar told her that,his dynamic voice reverberated as waves inside her brain.
She hid herself a little more for no particular reason.
Four strong men were carrying the Palakku. They certainly seemed not like Sevagars who carry palakku. 'Who are these people? Ah.. here they keep the palakku right in front of the tree that was hiding the tunnel from the moonlight. And now..exactly as the Vaithiyar said, they are moving out of the place. How far should i let them go before going into the Palakku and ..and...stabbing the woman inside? Let me wait for a minute. I need to mentally prepare myself for this act'

A minute passed in absolute silence. Even the wind had stopped to witness the mystery behind the happenings of the night. The trees were silent. There was no sound. Neither human nor animal. Neither from a flute nor from wind. It was like a painting, the entire place. Captured by an able painter on is canvas. Sembaruthi thought of her father for a second . Why she did so cannot be answered with certainity.
Her hands began to shiver. She took out the little knife that she had hidden so far. 'What am i going to expect now? Who am i going to expect now? Lord Arivamudhar will take care.. Yes it is always best to leave it to the Almighty when things go beyond your sense of understanding...'

Sembaruthi began to walk in quick steps towards the palakku.

She reached the Palakku.

She came around the wrong side of it so that when she opened the screen, she would not face the person inside but only look at her back. She did not have the courage to stab a woman on her chest from the front. No way can she do that.

She was there.
She just had to pull the screen away and push her knife right into the back of the person sitting inside. 'Can i do it? Can i not? Even I can know the answer only after a few seconds'

She took a deep breath.
She pulled with amazing force the golden cloth that was covering the Palakku.
She closed her eyes tightly and pushed in the knife as fast as possible.

Silence!

More silence!

The least expected reaction for a knife stab - Absolute Silence!

She opened her eyes slowly in fear. Tears were already flowing down her cheeks. Tears of terror!
She was expecting someone to cry out loud. Nothing like that happened. Why?
It was pitch dark and she cold just make out that she had stabbed a lady on her back. She now had to pull this lady outside and then go and sit inside the palakku. She pulled the woman with tremendous difficulty to the tree. And when she was about to rush back to the Palakku, she saw in moonlight that the lady's mouth was tied tight with a cloth. And her eyes were closed. she probably had fainted already and thats why did not shout when stabbed.
The face was not clear but Sembaruthi had a sudden feeling that she knew this lady. She had seen her before for sure. But who is she? 'Oh my god. Have i killed someone i know? I can never be forgiven for such a thing that i have done' .. She turned around and ran towards the Palakku and jumped inside it. Her whole body was shivering. She curled into herself and tightly closed her arms. She was in a huge shock and was not in the right mental state to make decisions other than what the Vaithiyar had asked her to.
A part of the screen that she pulled open to stab the person inside was still open. She sat in the Palakku staring blankly at the open dark space outside.

A minute or two passed in silence. She heard footsteps outside. 'Is someone coming to take the Palakku? No,it can't be. Only one person's footsteps is heard. Atleast four people are needed to carry a palakku. Who could it be?' She could not control herself and opened the screen a little bit more. At a distance she saw a person running as fast as possible towards the Palakku.'It will be atleast a minute before he reaches here. But who is he? Oh...is he not Jayendiran? Kumudhini's brother? Yes it is him..But .. What has he got to do with all this? The way he is running, it seems he is rushing towards the Palakku. Oh no..what is happening to him? Why is he falling down? This is unbelievable. He has been attacked by a knife that has been thrown from a distance. Should i go out of the Palakku and help him out? Yes... i think i should... '. She started to get out of the palakku when she heard four or five people's footsteps at a distance. She suddenly dropped the idea of going out of the Palakku. 'I can't go out now. I don't know if i can go out now. May be i should not. Let me first look at whats happening.' She looked carefully in the direction Jayendiran was coming. A black figure was now moving Jayendiran's body out of the place. It dragged the body behind a huge tree that was at a distance. Then the black figure rushed towards the tree where Sembaruthi had put the body of the lady whom she had stabbed from behind. It took the lady on its shoulders and started to rush away.

It was at that moment, a single moment that Sembaruthi saw it!
The eyes... the eyes of the black figure glittered in moonlight.

The eyes... the same pair of eyes Sembaruthi saw three years ago!

It was the Vaithiyar!!!

Sembaruthi was speechless. It all had happened in a few seconds time. She decided to get out of the Palakku. She started to come out when she saw at a very close distance the same four people who had left the Palakku at this place exactly a few minutes back. She could not get out now. No way. She will get caught red-handed. She slid back inside.

In a few seconds, the palakku started to move!

Sembauthi was looking like an innocent deer caught in between tigers.
She reflected for a second on what she had seen. She derived a few conclusions.
'The Vaithiyar is the culprit. He played the flute . He went inside the tunnel. He came out from
a different mouth of a tunnel. He threw a knife at his own son Jayendiran. He then dragged his body behind the tree. He carried the body of the lady that i had stabbed and escaped before these men who are carrying the Palakku came very near it.'

And suddenly, what possibly could be the biggest shock of that night came to Sembaruthi as a realisation of what she had seen in the moonlight a few minutes ago.

'I know the lady whom i stabbed. Yes...Yes... I certainly know her. Not only me...the whole of Pavazhanadu knows her. Oh my god! I just stabbed to death Queen of Pavazhanadu -Maargazhiyal!'

Sembaruthi fainted inside the Palakku that was slowly approaching a destination which she had no clue of!


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END OF PART 1 (MADIYAMALAI) OF "THE CLOUD OF THE PRINCESS" (ILAVARASIYIN MEGAM)
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