THE CLOUD OF THE PRINCESS

Part-2 Chapter 5

2009-11-02T10:42:00.003+05:30

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

2009-07-20T15:43:00.005+05:30

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

2009-07-10T09:57:00.003+05:30

"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

2009-06-18T16:07:00.008+05:30

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

2009-03-22T08:50:00.004+05:30

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

2009-01-16T21:05:00.005+05:30

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!

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

The Cloud Of The Princess - Part 1Chapter 24

2007-10-21T02:31:00.000+05:30

It was windy and heavily raining. The noise of the downpour was unbearable. It was constant without even a little pause in between. But the even more terrifying sight was what was happening around. Tall trees were dancing in the wind and they were all on fire. It was total chaos all over the place where no human beings seemed to exist. Or may be all of them were thrown out of the place by the wind. It looked like a forest. And all the tall thick trees were on fire. The smoke that covered the place was choking. The heat could be felt. The winds and the heavy downpour were making the place colder and colder while the fire was making it hotter and hotter. It was not a place where men could live for sure. Or may be - may be .... could it be like this? Yes it has to be like that. This is what is people describe as Hell. It perfectly fits the description.

It suddenly felt different. Somebody must have sprinkled water over the face. The senses whirled for a minute. It felt as if some unknown circular force was acting on the forehead.

It felt heavy. Slowly it settled down.

Sembaruthi woke up.

Vaithiyar Elanchezhiyanaar was looking at her. His face was full of peace and calm. The eyes looked so different now. But still there was no doubt that this was the exact pair of eyes that stared at her three years back. When she fell down from the top of Madiyamalai.

But what does that mean now? How can it be the Vaithiyar? If it was the Vaithiyar, then what does that hint at? No... My mind is not stable. I have lost my ability to think, let alone derive conclusions. I shall just wait for the Vaithiyar to talk. I have no other option now but to surrender.

The Vaithiyar spoke

"Sembaruthi... are you alright now?"

"Physically, yes"

"What is the mental block that you have?"

"Who are you?"

"Don't you think that is a funny question?"

"I know you understand what i mean? Why did you ask me to close all the doors? Why are the doors not opening? Are you going to ... going to.. kill me?"

"Did the Dhalapadhi send you here for that? Didn't he give you a job to do? "

"Yes he did. But i am no longer going to do that. I no longer have faith in you. Because you are not just a Vaithiyar. You work against Pavazhanaadu"

"You don't have to have faith in me. But you need to have faith in the Dhalapadhi. "

"Let me ask you directly. Three years earlier, i saw you in Madiyamalai with a torch light. Isn't that true"

"How does that make me work against Pavazhanadu"

"Your eyes... that suggests more than what you think. It seems calm now. But it was not so when i saw you in Madhiyamalai. They were burning red like hell then. They showed me a traitor. They showed me an animal"

The Vaithiyar smiled and spoke as gently as possible.

"Don't you think the claims you are making are baseless? Was your mind steady when you saw me three years back? Was it not filled with fear already? Were you not expecting a particular person to jump out of the bushes at any moment? And was it not at that time you saw my eyes glowing in the light from the torch? But Sembaruthi - the problem now is, i have very little time. Something very important is at stake. You have to make up your mind immediately. You either have to believe me and follow me to where i take you to or go back from this room. I shall wait for another minute for your decision. But keep in mind. Your husband is not an ordinary person. His powers are unlimited. Sometimes his reach is greater than the almighty Kunjidhapaadhanar himself. And what you are doing now is, doubting your husband's brilliance. Doubting the erstwhile Dhalapadhi Maithreyanaar's acumen. And all this you are doing based on no stern evidence whatsoever"

And the Vaithiyar fell silent.

Sembaruthi's heart started to race. She had to make a decision. And quick.

The Vaithiyar did not sound convincing to her. But then, so did her thoughts.

'Could the Dhalapadhi have been tricked by the Vaithiyar? Is the Vaithiyar playing a game here? But what is the purpose of it? What can he possibly do with me? Is he going to hide me somewhere? And then ask something in return from the Dhalapadhi to let me out? No way. That will never succeed. My Husband will not even hesitate to sacrifice me if it will save the kingdom. And iam proud of that. But i will not let the Dhalapadhi take such a difficult decision. I will kill myself the moment i think i will be used and manipulated to get something done against the Kingdom. Here i have the knife. Let me count on that. Let that go into the throat of the enemy. If need be , let it go into the my throat too.' She glanced a second at the knife and thought as if she was talking to the knife itself ' Iam counting on you. I am taking this decision only because you are with me. And please don't hesitate to come and save me when the situation demands. You will still be saving me even if you are going to kill me'

"Yes. I shall go with you" said Sembaruthi.

"Good. Hope you have the knife with you " said the Vaithiyar without any modulation in voice.

Sembaruthi was shocked for a second.

"Are you a mind reader?" she asked with a slight shiver in her voice.

"I shall answer that question soon. Follow me now", said the Vaithiyar and went across the room. He went to a corner and knelt down. He knocked the floor twice. Paused for a second - Knocked it twice again. Paused for a second - Knocked it once more.

A small circular opening was now visible in the floor. The Vaithiyar slowly went down through it. After the whole of his body went into the whole, he turned his head and looked at Sembaruthi. Her expression suggested that she was in shock and surprise.

She slowly moved towards the opening. And went inside it in the same way as the Vaithiyar had done.

It was completely dark inside the opening and it seemed to be a passage that led to somewhere. It was not like a normal passage. 'It must have been done by a very careless constructor' thought Sembaruthi as she was walking along the passage with the Vaithiyar going in front of her. The Vaithiyar was moving pretty quick and it was very difficult for Sembaruthi to adjust to his pace. There was a common technique to move inside secret passages even without absolutely any light. That was to put your fingers into a small hole that would normally be on both the walls of the passage. And move your fingers with the hole. And that would lead you to the other end of the passage. Sembaruthi had heard this technique from her husband a long time back and was using it now. But it surprised her completely to see the Vaithiyar move without doing that. 'May be he has walked in this tunnel for so many times now...' she thought. She suddenly felt strange. She was sweating.

The Vaithiyar spoke in the dark as he was walking.

"Sembaruthi.. This passage may seem to be not well constructed... But that is not because of the person who constructed it. It was because of the lack of time to actually construct it"

"Where does this lead to?"

"You will know that in some time"

"And what am i going to do once we get there"

"Well.... it is better that i tell you that now rather than wasting time once we get there. But before that, let me tell you one thing. If you are trying to find the path with your fingers inside the hole in the wall, you might just get lost"

Sembaruthi froze.

"So, Sembaruthi... you better follow my voice rather than the hole.. This is a complicated passage. It has more than one mouth. We need to go to the right place. "

Sembaruthi still had her fingers in the hole. For some reason she thought she would lose the way if she took her fingers out.

The Vaithiyar continued. His voice expressed concern.

"Iam really sorry to take you in this passage without explaining anything. I fear we will be late if i have to explain everything from the beginning. So i will try to be as concise as possible. So listen carefully to whatever i say.

Me and the Dhalapadhi have found strong evidence of a group of people who are planning something against the kingdom for more than three years now. This group calls itself 'the cloud of the princess' the reason of which we don't know at this point in time.

But what we know is they are potentially very very dangerous. They do not tackle things face to face. Their moves are very well calculated and they have their people spread across the Kingdom and this includes men, women and children. Their first big step is planned tonight when the moon reaches the top of the head. And what they have planned to do is the unthinkable"

The Vaithiyar paused.

Sembaruthi asked in a low voice.

"Are they planning to hurt the king from the back?"

"That was what we thought initially. But that does not seem to be the case"

"Then is it anything to do with the Dhalapadhi?"

"No.. It is neither concerned with the Dhalapadhi"

"Then who else in the Kingdom would they target?"

"We are not sure. We just have a person in mind and we can verify only when we reach the destination"

"So what am i supposed to do now?"

The Vaithiyar paused for a second.

"Take a left now. Your fingers would take you to the right."

Sembaruthi felt ashamed. At the same time, she was now pretty sure she can believe the Vaithiyar. Though whatever he was saying was all shocking, she was expecting something in these lines though she had no clue of the exact problem. She took her hands off the hole and followed the dynamic and magnetic voice of the vaithiyar.

The Vaithiyar continued.

"Yes. Sembaruthi. We will reach the place very soon now. You have to do something very carefully. You need to get out of the hole and go and hide behind the first tree that you can see on your right. Wait in the place till you see something happening. If my guess is correct, you will find a Palakku coming very near to you in sometime. Listen carefully now. 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. "

Sembaruthi could not believe what she was hearing. Her whole body was now shivering in fear. The job that the Vaithiyar had given was unimaginable. Her husband had hinted that she might get into a lot of troubles, but now just hearing what was expected from her itself was giving her qualms.

' Oh my god.... I will never be able to stab someone and then drag the body a distance' she thought.

"We are there." said the Vaithiyar.

Sembaruthi saw a streak of light at a distance. It was moonlight creeping into the closed tunnel through cracks. She was getting nervous by the second. Her head was aching like anything. She was sweating profusely. ' Should i do all this ? Why did i chose to come here... this is the biggest mistake i have ever made in my life'

"Sembaruthi.. you need to go now. Follow exactly whatever i say. I shall be watching your moves from here"

"I don't have the courage to do this... i am really afraid. I can't just do all this properly. I don't want to do it...."

"It's past that stage devi. And the Dhalapadhi would not have chosen you without a reason for this job. There is nothing wrong when you are doing it for the kingdom. Have faith in yourself. You will be triumphant"

Sembaruthi was still hesitant to go.

"But why do you think i will be able to stab a man from the back better than anybody else ?"

The Vaithiyar replied after a minute of silence following a huge sigh.

"Devi....The Dhalapadhi is pretty sure that the person you will stab is not a man"

The Cloud of the Princess - Part 1 Chapter 23

2007-05-27T13:36:00.000+05:30

Chapter 22 (a short English summary)

Imayaazh who had been pulled into a room by Kumudhini a few minutes back was as confused as a bat at the happenings around her. She tried to make sense out of whatever she knew from the Sevagan and Kumudhini, but none of the information that she had gathered had fit into one big puzzle. She decided the best possible solution to her confusions would be to talk to Sembaruhi, and so went to the Vaithiyar's room. To add to her surprise, the room was locked. She then decided to wait for Jayendiran to come back from wherever he had gone. Deciding so, she came out of the House again to look for Jayendiran. This is when she saw at a distance a group of unknown Soldiers in horses tying up her Sevagars with the trees. Three of the Soldiers then rushed towards Imayaazh on their horses. One of them started speaking in a rude tone. He said that the soldiers had orders to imprison the Sevagars and take them and the Pallakku along with them to Melur. Moreover he said in a even more rude tone that new Sevagars and Pallakku would soon follow to Araimedu. And then he along with the other soldiers flew away in their horses with the Sevagars and the Palakku.

Imayyazh who was already confused with what had happened over the last half an hour or so was now in the peak of confusion.

She stared blankly at the scene in front of her.

Chapter 23

Imayaazh had to make a decision. 'Should i wait further for Jayendiran or should i go to the hill temple and meet Kumudhini?' she asked herself. It was a tough decision to make. Especially because Kumudhini had asked her to bring Sembaruthi also to the foothills of Madiyamalai. 'Can i go inside the house and find Kumudhini?' she thought for a second. She dismissed the idea immediately. 'I can't go in now. The house is already getting crowded by the second. And a group of people have seen the Sevagars being forcefully carried away along with the Palakku. It would have already raised a number of doubts in their minds. They would have surely seen me talking with the soldiers on the horse. And if i go inside now, i for sure will have to face a few questions for which i have no clue what the answer is. Let me better go to Madiyamalai. And I need to go alone. I can't wait for Akka to come out now. Kumudhini might have already left for the hill temple through the back door. Yes. She would not have got a chance to go out of the house through the front door even if she wished to. Who would not get doubts if the bride goes out of the house the day before she has to leave to her husband's place? But it is true that Kumudhini wants to get out of the house. And that i am sure is not without a very important reason. She probably is in some sort of trouble. She might need some immediate help. Even if it is not her, somebody very important in the Kingdom is in trouble for sure. And there must be some link to that person with Kumudhini. Who could that be?'

The words that Kumudhini had spoken came back to Imayaazh's mind in a flash.

'KaarMeni Senkann Kathir Mathiyam Pol Mugathaan'

'Who could these words possibly point to?'

She began to walk in quick steps towards the Hill temple.

''KaarMeni Senkann Kathir Mathiyam Pol Mugathaan'

She repeated the words to herself once again.

'This possibly refers to a very powerful man in the Kingdom. And who else could be more powerful than the almighty King Kunjidhpadhanaar himself. But the King is not in Araimedu for sure. He was in Ponvilayur a week back when the Arivamudhar Thiruvizha happened. So he must be in Ponvilayur now. Yes. There is a remote possibility that he might have started to Araimedu after the Thiruvizha, but i can see no reasons why he should. Normally if the King went out of the capital, there would be a number of ceremonies that happen before that. All the chiefs of the Kingdom, the heads of soldiers, group of important ministers would gather together to discuss and outline a strategy as to what to do in case the enemy King from the other side of Amudhu declares war in the absence of the King. And when such a discussion happens, no women will be let into the King's palace for more than half a day's time. Nothing of that sort happened in the last few days. 'But From the things that have happened so far today, i can't dismiss anything just going by my instincts or by the normal routines. There seems to be a number of mysterious things happening in the Kingdom. And if i am guessing correctly, somebody is planning something against the King. Oh.. But what makes me guess that? I have no base for guessing so. Again, i am falling prey to my own instincts. Akka rightly says that women should not involve in politics. They are not for the softer species that god created. I can realize the truth of what she says only now. Am i not confusing myself with too many things that might never be true at all? Yes, it is true that I have tried to involve myself in knowing about the politics of the Kingdom as much as i can all these days.

Kings have fascinated me right from my childhood. I played when i was young, not with flowers and mud toys but with swords and knives. I did not know that women could not become soldiers at that young age. I dreamt of going to the war and fighting enemies, chopping their heads off, piercing through their flesh and relishing blood... but nobody told me that women were restricted from doing that. Only when the flowers of maturity blossomed upon my heart, did i understand the reality that life offered in Pavazhanaadu to women was so different from what i had imagined as a little child. Wasn't i shocked to understand that i would not be able to achieve what i dreamt of? Didn't i suck in all my desires of childhood into nothingness slowly then? Didn't i stop dreaming about what i really wanted to be? I had to do that to live peacefully. I had to do that to co-exist with other women. I had to do that to survive in this women unfriendly Pavazhanaadu. And slowly in a few years, the desire to be the most powerful woman in the Kingdom slowly faded off. But it so happens that god is not cruel always. He gave me one last opportunity .And that was when Akka had to go to Ponvilayur when she got married to the Dhalapadhi. Of course i knew i cannot go to the war and fight. That would never happen in my lifetime. But that gave me an opportunity to go to Ponvilayur, the capital of the Kingdom. The 'power-base' of the Kingdom. The place where all the crucial decisions of the Kingdom were made. My childish dream of fighting wars had put on matured clothes over itself then. It was no longer fighting wars that i was interested in. It was moving the pawns. Yes.... controlling and moving the crucial pawns of the Kingdom. Didn't i want to slowly understand how powerful men think and act? Oh yes...i did...i did. Did not this phrase called 'power' give me sleepless nights?. Oh yes... it did.. it did. But thankfully i no longer am a slave of this shapeless irritating monster called . Things that have happened in Ponvilayur for the last few years in my life have made me shed all my desires to be 'powerful'. I now clearly understand that it is much happier to live in heaven without power than to rule in hell with all powers combined. Oh my god... why am i thinking all these now? What has happened to me? Am i not the sweet, witty, engaging Imayaazh that people think i am? Am i not the loyal and dearest thozhi to Akka Sembaruthi, the wife of the most insightful Dhalapadhi in the Kingdom? Am i not any other humble girl in Pavazhanaadu who sees the King and Queen as the god and goddess? I have to be that. I have to be that. Is it not true that if you pretend to be someone for a considerably long period of time, you become that someone itself? I have been pretending a totally different life for years now. And i have almost become that someone whom i wanted that world to know me like. But what is happening to me today? Why am i going back to how i was years ago? Can't i get out of all this? Will i not be free again? I don't wish to rule anymore! I don't want power! I don't wish to be a princess anymore! I have had enough in the past! Let the clouds of confusion that cover this unpromising princess' eyes be shattered by the purity and love for Akka Sembaruthi and Pavazhanaadu that lies deep below my heart. Ayyo...Yes...I accept...I did go to Ponvilayur for that particular reason which i wish to forget. I have forgotten that completely now. I am not bound by anything anymore. The iron threads that had wound me tight are no more around me. I work no more for anybody. I am free now. Neither that nor him can trouble me anymore. All i need is peace. Eternal peace! "

Huge Fireballs exploded inside Imayaazh's chest and her heart was now full of smoke and ashes. She knew not where her legs were taking her to. She had lost direction. Her eyes were half closed. She was not in a position to recognize figures. She increased the pace of her walk. A constant heavy beat of huge drums were hearing on both her ears. She tried not to concentrate on anything.

'Am i in the middle of a forest? Or am in the middle of a fire? Am i shivering in pain? Or Am i standing in rain? Is the earth below my feat shaking? Or it it the brain above my forehead that is?'

The spell was broken!

It was Kumudhini.

Imayaazh realized that she had reached the bottom of Madiyamalai and it was Kumudhini's touch that brought her back to reality.

"What happened Imayaazh? You look so different than how you looked in the house?"

Imayaazh managed a smile. Her head was still swirling. She pulled herself back to being normal. Things that had happened over the past few hours came back floating into her mind at blinding speed. She answered Kunudhini's question without any confusion.

"I think i look no different Kumudhini. It is your eyes that are looking differently at me than how they were looking at me in your house. I saw a fear in your eyes when you pulled me into the room. And i have been trying to find out the reason for that without much success"

"Yes. Certain things have happened Imayaazh. And i really fear the consequences of it."

"I hope you are not referring to your marriage Kumudhini. I guess it is too late to fear the consequences now. And i am sure Sendaamarai is a perfect match to you ". She smiled hard after saying this.

Kumudhini waved the joke away.

"Imayaazh... i understand that you are in no position to know about the importance of what i am about to say. But before that, where is Sembaruthi?"

"Akka is discussing something important with your father i guess. The door through which I, Akka and the other girls entered your father's room is locked. I tried to open it, but was unable to. I thought i should wait for Akka to come out, but it was already late and so started to come here."

There was a sudden change in Kumudhini's expression. Imayaazh was sharp to notice that.

"Do you think i should have waited for some more time and brought Akka here?"

"No...may be Yes... I don't know Imayaazh. "

"Tell me Kumudhini. Is there some problem?"

Kumudhini was almost shivering as she spoke.

"Imayaazh ... I am not sure what is happening in my house for the past few days ... there are a few mysterious things that i have noticed but what you said just now seems to me the most mysterious of them all"

"Kumudhini... calm down a bit... let us sit somewhere and discuss" Imayaazh put her arms over Kumudhini's shoulders and patted her gently.

"No Imayaazh... we might not have time to sit and discuss things"

Imayaazh responded slowly.

"I don't understand anything... tell me everything one by one. First of all, tell me what was so mysterious about the statement that i made?"

Kumudhini looked straight into Imayaazh's eyes and asked

"Are you sure you saw the door of my father's room locked?"

"Yes i did"

"And are you are my father was inside the room when you left?"

"Yes. I am sure"

Kumudhini's voice was filled with fear.

"Imayaazh... i have been living in this house right from the day i was born. And until hearing to what you said just now, i was sure that none of the nine doors in my father's room had any kind of lock at all"

There was a shock in both the girl's faces. There were standing still for a few seconds. Imayaazh was the first to recover.

"Kumudhini ... let us not confuse ourselves over this thing... i might have not seen properly if the door was locked or not.... please tell me the reason you wanted me to come here. I think that is of more importance now than this trivial fact"

"This is not a trivial fact for sure Imayaazh .... In fact if my fears are true, it might be linked with why i wanted you and Sembaruthi to come here"

"But you haven't told me the reason yet"

Kumudhini looked at both the sides of her shoulders to made sure nobody was listening. She reduced her voice to such an extent that whatever she uttered was audible only to Imayaazh.

"Imayaazh. Do you remember the day when Sembaruthi met our beloved Dhalapadhi for the first time when she rolled down from the top of this very same Madiyamalai? I think it was almost three years ago"

"Yes i do remember it"

"And do you remember that i was trying to play a prank on you by giving a medicine that my father had prepared"

"Yes"

"Let me tell you quickly a few things that happened before i brought the medicine to this place three years back. On that particular day, a man and a girl had come from Lakshanur to meet my father. I had neither seen the man nor the girl before. My father received them well as he receives any other visitor and asked the purpose of their visit. The man told my father that the girl who was with him was his daughter and she had not found the right groom and she was getting older by the day. If you remember, i had told all you girls that my father gave the girl a 'manamarundhu' and asked her to go to the Sannidhi of the next temple that she visits where she will find her husband. I sometimes help my father with the medicines and so was there in his room on that day. I followed my father's instruction and took this medicine from where he told me to give it to the girl. It was then that i saved a piece of the medicine to show it all you girls later that evening. But what i wanted to tell you is different. It is not about the medicine or the incidents that happened later that day. It was about this girl whom i saw. There was something remarkable about this girl that i could not discern when i saw her first. After a few minutes, i realized that it was her blue eyes that had caught my attention. Yes. Her eyes were the most beautiful i have ever seen over a girl's nose. They were magnetic, i should say. In fact i had become jealous of those eyes that very instant. Oh, those eyes Imayaazh. You should see them to feel their magnetism. Their power to tie down the onlooker. We would have seen fishes floating in serene blue sea water. But those eyes were the exact opposite. They were like blue round clouds that were floating inside the vast expanse called the skies. She looked like a princess Imayaazh. A princess of the tales that our grandmothers told us. Princess of the far far away land! And though i never saw her after that, i could not get myself or my jealousy out of her eyes. It took me a few months to forget her and as years passed by, i slowly had forgotten her completely."

Imayaazh tried to finish the rest of the story.

"I am sure you saw her again somewhere. And what happened after that"

"You are right. I saw her at a distance unexpectedly in my house the day before yesterday. As you know there are too many visitors from all my family who have been staying her for the past week and i was initially surprised to see her. Then an unusual idea from nowhere crept through my mind. Since she had come to my house, i wondered if she was one of my distant relatives. I tried to remember how my father had greeted her father three years back but i was not able to. I don't know why, but i decided for sure that she was related to me. And that gave me a wonderful idea. If only she agrees, i would take her as my Thozhi to Eezham. The idea seemed amazing to me. I felt as if i had already achieved what i wished to. But i realized immediately that i had to talk to her and convince her. I went in search of her in the house. It was only later that night that i could find her. She was at a distance walking in between the crowd, moving upstairs. I followed her without any of my family members knowing about it. She walked to the terrace that could be reached through the stairs at the corner. I was for a second surprised. There was nothing in the terrace that could excite her. It was very small and could fit only one person comfortably at any time. I hid myself in the room below the terrace which no one had occupied. I locked the door of the room so that no one knew i was inside. I did this because, from the room to which i went, i would be clearly able to see through the moon hole what was happening in the terrace. And since it was not raining for some months now, all the moon holes in the houses were kept open. "

Kumudhini paused for a second and looked at Imayaazh.

Imayaazh's curiosity was clearly showing up on her face. She could not wait to her what happened after that.

"Continue Kumudhini. What did you see and hear through the moon hole? Was there a secret lover to this cloud eyed princess? Was he someone you already knew of? Or... Or was there something more deadly than what i am imagining? I am not able to control the flight of my random imaginations Kumudhini. Please do not pause. Continue"

"I have to continue Imayaazh. I have to. The words that i heard there were deadlier than your wildest imagination could let you comprehend. Those words shocked me, froze me, and stopped my heart beating or whatever you call it. There were lethal words. Words that girls like you and me who know nothing about Politics and Kingdom will never utter. There were Imayaazh, words that had my head swirling"

"Politics... Kingdom.... So does this relate to what you told me in the room?

'KaarMeni Senkann Kathir Mathiyam Pol Mugathaan'... Is this what the blue eyed girl told?"

"If she had told only those, i would not have been interested. She spoke something more. Something that had to do with the man pointed to by the phrase you just told."

"What was that something?"

"Revenge. In the form of abduction"

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know the details Imayaazh. And that is why i am too confused now. I don't even know whom she was speaking to. I could see no one through the moon hole. But even the way she spoke was not very discernible. She had a totally different slang. That i could not interpret very easily. The only thing i could make out was that there was somebody very important in the Kingdom who fits into that particular description against whom some group of people including her are trying to take revenge. And their first part of the plan is to abduct that person to some unknown place on the Povurnami day which happens to be today. Imayaazh, i might not have full details on this. But i am sure this blue eyed girl is not any other girl who has got out of her mind. Her slang may not have been very clear to me. But the intensity of her speech was absolutely death sharp. She was speaking as if she was passing on her part of some crucial information to a group of people. But i am sure not more than one could have been at that terrace at that time. I don't know to whom she communicated the information, but i am sure it has to be taken seriously. Moreover this girl has been probably roaming in Araimedu for three years now. Or if not in Araimedu, probably in Lakshanur."

"Did you tell this your father or your brother?"

"No"

"But Why?"

"Two reasons Imayaazh. The first reason was that I did not want to create confusions when the whole of my family had gathered to send me off to Eezham. I knew what i had heard might be something really important. But i dared not to speak a word about it to anybody in my family. Not even to Jayendira. He can be trusted for sure. But he is not the one who would sit simply once i said that. He would go in search for that blue eyed girl, put his sword across her throat and frighten her to get the information he needed."

"So what made you stop from doing that? That is what we need ... is it not so Kumudhini?"

"It is right. But there was one more reason which stopped me from explaining this to Jayendira"

"And that is"

"The blue eyed girl never came back from the terrace downstairs"

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know. I know i sound silly. I sound foolish. And no one is going to understand what i am trying to say since i don't have the best of explanations for everything i saw and heard. First of all, i did not see whom she was speaking to. Secondly, I did not understand clearly what she was speaking except for a few facts. Thirdly, i do not know where she disappeared from the terrace. All of this sounds like a fairytale ...doesn't it? If you feel like this, then i don't know how Jayendira or my father would have felt. I would have told all this to my mother if only she was still alive. I needed a woman to tell this. A girl who would understand my feelings. A girl who is far away from politics and Kingdom. And that was the reason i was over excited even yesterday night at the dinner when i heard that Sembaruthi and you are coming to Araimedu. I decided to wait for you before proceeding on to tell this to others"

"Kumudhini. I understand your feelings. It will be no doubt hard for a girl who is leaving her parents and brother to know all these just days before her departure. Now that you have told it to me, release all the strings that were holding your head tight till now. We shall first find out who is this man indicated by the phrase and how is he going to be affected"

"I have been trying to think of different people over the last two days. I am not sure whom it actually points to"

"Tell me one final thing Kumudhini. Is there any specific reason you think what i told you about the doors of your father's room is linked with whatever you have told me just now"

Kumudhini started to say something. At this point, the girls heard a horse' footsteps at their back and turned swiftly to see who it was. It was Jayendiran who was smiling as he was slowly coming towards them.

"Akka... i knew this young girl beside you would have hundred secrets to share with you... but why don't you share them in our house itself. When the whole of the family is searching for the bride in the house, here she is, at the bottom of the hill temple with an old friend discussing important things about the Kingdom i guess"

He laughed loudly after saying that. Imayaazh and Kumudhini looked at each other for a second. Jayendiran continued.

"Tell me Akka... what brought you to this place at this time?"

Imayaazh did not let Kumudhini answer the question.

"Jayendira... please stop teasing your sister. It was me who brought her here. And we were discussing how disrespectful are soldiers in Araimedu who would dare to take away the Sevagars and the Palakku of the Dhalapathi's dharmapathini without even giving an explanation"

Kumudhini was surprised to hear this, but did not let her emotions show out through her face. She knew Imayaazh was making something up.

Jayendiran sat up straight on the horse and spoke in a slightly higher voice with aggression.

"Soldiers in Araimedu being Disrespectful? I don't believe this! Tell me what happened Imayaazh. There should be a better explanation to what you think"

Imayaazh told him a part of what had happened about the soldiers who had come and imprisoned the Sevagars and taken away the Palakku. The moment she finished, Jayendiran jumped down from his horse. He spoke with increased aggression.

"Aah... did you say they will send new Sevagars and Palakku from Melur? How dare they think Araimedu does not have Sevagars and Pallaku? There is already political tension between Araimedu and Melur. Now this incident if known the honorable Oorarasar Sethupadhiyaar will surely result in a civil war between the villages."

"I don't understand Jayendira. Where is this Melur? I have never heard of that place before. And who is the Oorarasar there? "

"Melur" Sarcastically remarked Jayendiran. "That is the name they have given to their place now. They think they are higher than all other villages in Pavazhanaadu and hence call themselves the people of Melur. They already have strained relation with Araimedu because of some trading problems. The common man thinks that the soldiers in Araimedu are sitting idle, but this is the reality. There is a tremendous amount of training going on in the camps. An internal civil war will for sure happen sometime this year. And once that happens, we will be able to completely destroy and take over this so called Melur people"

"Jayendira...but that has not answered any of my questions except the reason why the Soldiers behaved rudely. Who exactly is the Oorasar in Melur? And why would their soldiers come and imprison our soldiers and take away our Palakku?"

"I don't have any explanation as to why they did all that. But i can tell you who the Oorarasan of Melur is. It is someone who doesn't deserve to be the Oorarasan at all. It is someone who took over the position just a year back because his brother who was the then Oorarasan died unexpectedly. It is someone who has no relation to the art of wars. It is someone who can only paint wars but not fight wars"

"And who is that person?"

"It is the idiot Chinnayan ... the man whom the whole of Pavazhanaadu is praising for the Kannadi Oviyam that he painted in the King's palace."

"Oh!" Exclaimed Imayaazh.

The puzzle fell in place.

She could understand both the behavior and the actions of the soldiers from Melur.

'Last evening, Akka had sent a Sevagan to rush to chinnayar's palace to inform him that they would not visit his place to stay. And that Sevagan might not have delivered the message in time. Chinnayar who had anticipated Akka to arrive in time would have got worried since there was no message from her. So he would have assumed that the Sevagars would have plotted something against Akka's wishes and taken her somewhere. So he would have sent his soldiers in all directions looking for the Sevagars and Palakku and to imprison them if found. Moreover from what Jayndiran says, there has already been political instability in the relations between the villages. And so there was no reason why the Soldiers from Melur acted so rudely to me'

Imayaazh's face without her knowledge looked up into the skies as she was thinking all this.

Jayendiran who was watching this keenly remarked, "I am really sorry for what happened Imayaazh. But i don't understand one thing". He smiled as he said that.

Imayaazh looked at Jayendiran with her beautiful eyes.

"What is that you don't understand mighty soldier?"

"I am not able to interpret the way you were looking above all this time. As if you were the Aandaal who sung Thirupaavai looking for lord Vishnu to come down from the skies and give you back the garland that you tried on yourself and then offered it to him"

Imayaazh blushed for a second. She knew she was talking to the man of her dreams. She knew these were moments that she would treasure for her life. She knew though there were hundred things to worry about, this conversation was making her feel on the top of the world.

But!

The words Jayendiran had just spoken sounded very differently to Kumudhini. It had triggered a new hidden cell in the corner of her brain. She jumped in excitement. The excitement immediately changed into fear. Her face became pale. She was shivering now.

Tears started to flow from her eyes as she panicked to her bones.

She had just found out whom the following words pointed to.

'KaarMeni Senkann Kathir Mathiyam Pol Mugathaan'

And then the Madhuoli warning shrieked!

இளவரசியின் மேகம் பாகம் 1 அத்தியாயம் 22

2007-05-05T01:54:00.000+05:30

கடந்த அரைமணி நேரத்தில் நடந்து விட்டிருந்த சம்பவங்கள் இமயாழை கதி கலங்கடித்துவிட்டது என்று சொன்னால் அது மிகையாகாது. ஆம்! சேவகன் நேற்று இரவு நடந்ததாக சொன்ன சம்பவங்களை மனதிற்குள்ளேயே அலசி ஆராய்ந்துகொண்டே வந்தவள் குமுதினியின் திடீர் பிரவேசத்தை சற்றும் எதிர்பார்க்கவில்லைதான். ' எதற்காக குமுதினி தன்னை தனி அறைக்கு இழுத்து சென்றாள்? அய்யோ! அவள் என்னாவேலாமோ சொன்னாளே ? அவள் பதட்டமாய் இருப்பதை பார்த்தால் ஏதோ பிரச்சனையில் சிக்கி தவிப்பவள் போல் அல்லவா இருக்கிறது? என்ன பிரச்சனையாக

இருக்கும்? ஜயேந்திரன் சொன்னது உண்மையென்றால் அவள் இத்தனை நேரம் அவளது அத்தையிடம் அல்லவா பேசிக்கொண்டிருந்திருக்க வேண்டும்? இல்லை இல்லை! அக்கா இப்படி பேசி இருந்தால் கூட எதையோ கண்டு பயந்திருகலாம் என்று நினைக்க தோன்றும் . ஆனால் குமுதினி தைரியசாலி . நிஜமாகவே ஏதோ நடந்திருக்க வேண்டும். என்ன என்று கேட்பதற்குள் எங்கே ஓடிவிட்டாள் இவள்? அக்காவையும் அழைத்துக்கொண்டு மதியமலைக்கு வரச்சொல்லியிருக்கிறாள் என்றால் இதில் ஏதோ விஷயம் இருக்கிறது என்பதில் சந்தேகமே இல்லை . அதுவும் அவள் கடைசியாக சொன்ன வாக்கியத்தின் பொருள் என்னவாக இருக்கும்? "கார் மேனி செங்கண் கதிர் மதியம் போல்முகத்தான்" எதற்காக இதை நம்மிடம் சொன்னாள்? நாட்டில் முக்கியமான யாரோ என்றல்லவா சொன்னாள் . அதுவும் அறைமேட்டில் இப்போது இருக்கும் நபர் யாராய் இருக்கும்? ஒருவேளை ஒருவேளை ... அக்கவாக இருக்குமோ? அய்யோ... அக்காவுக்கு ஏதேனும் பிரச்சனை ஏற்படுமோ? கடவுளே ... அப்படி மட்டும் எதுவும் நடந்து விட கூடாது... அய்யோ... முடிச்சு போட முடியாத விஷயங்களுக்கு முடிச்சு போட தோன்றுகிறதே... சேவகன் சொல்லுவதையும் குமுதினி சொல்லுவதையும் கோர்த்துப்பார்த்தால் குழப்பமாய் இருக்கிறதே... அக்காவை யாராவது பொன்விளையுரிலிருந்து தொடர்ந்து வருகிறார்களா? அப்படி இருந்தால் குமுதினிக்கு அது எப்படி தெரிந்திருக்கும்? இல்லை இல்லை... இப்படி தான் இருக்க வேண்டும். அக்கா நேற்று பூசாரியை கேட்ட கேள்விகளை வைத்து பார்த்தால்

அக்காவும் நேற்று இரவு அந்த பல்லக்கு இருந்த இடத்திற்க்கு போயிருக்க வேண்டும்.

ஒருவேளை யாரையாவது எதிர்பார்த்து கூட சென்றிருக்கலாம் ... அந்த எதிர்பார்க்கப்பட்ட

நபர் அக்காவுக்கும் குமுதினிக்கும் மட்டும் தெரிந்த யாராவதாக இருக்கலாம்... அந்த நபரிடம் அக்கா

ஏதாவது காரியத்தை பல நாள் முன்பே ஒப்படைத்திருக்க வேண்டும்... அந்த காரியத்தை குறித்து

பேசுவதற்க்கு சென்றிருக்க வேண்டும். ஆனால் அங்கே ஏதாவது பிரச்சனை ஆகியிருக்கும்... அதனால்

அக்கா கையில் கிடைத்த கல்லை விட்டு எறிய அது குறி தவறி சேவகன் மேல் பட்டிருக்கும் ... ஆனால்

இதற்கும் குமுதினி சொன்ன வாக்கியத்திற்கும் என்ன சம்பந்தம்? இல்லை இல்லை இப்படி யோசித்து

கொண்டிருந்தால் கண்டிப்பாக குழப்பம்தான் மிஞ்சும். இதற்கு ஒரே வழி அக்காவை பார்த்து பேசுவதுதான் '

செம்பாருத்தியை பார்த்து பேசுவதற்க்காக அந்த அறையை விட்டு வெளியே வந்தாள் இமையாழ். தானும் மற்றவர்களும் சற்று நேரத்திற்க்கு முன்பு வைத்தியரின் அறைக்குள் நுழைந்த அதே கதவின் அருகில் சென்று நின்றாள். கதவு சார்த்தி இருந்ததை கண்டு சற்று ஆச்சரியப்பட்டாள் . திறக்கலாமா வேண்டாமா என்று ஒரு நொடி யோசித்தவள் , திறக்கலாம் என முடிவு செய்து கதவை வெளிப்புறமாக இழுத்தாள் . கதவு திறக்கவில்லை. உள்ப்புறமாக தள்ளிப்பார்தாள் . திறக்கவில்லை. 'எதற்காக அக்கா கதவை சார்த்தி கொள்ள வேண்டும்? ' எவ்வளவு யோசித்தும் பதில் கிட்டியப்பாடில்லை. 'நடப்பது நடக்கட்டும் என கதவை தட்டி விடலாமா?' என ஒரு நொடி யோசித்தாள் . சட்டென அந்த என்ணத்தை மாற்றிக் கொண்டாள். 'ஜயேந்திரனை எப்படியாவது கண்டுபிடித்துவிட்டால் போதும். பிறகு கதவை திறந்து உள்ளே செல்வதா, இல்லை வெளியே காத்திருப்பதா என்று முடிவு செய்து கொள்ளலாம்' என நினைத்தவள் மெதுவாய் திரும்பி மறுபடியும் அந்த பிரம்மாண்டமான வீட்டின் வெளியே வந்தாள். சற்று நேரத்திற்கு முன்னர் அவளது கண்களில் தெரிந்த அதே போன்ற காட்சி மறுபடியும் தெரிந்தது. தூரத்தில் தெரிந்த ஆலைமரத்தினடியில் சேவர்கார்களும் வேறு சில குதிரையின் மேல் அமர்ந்திருந்த வீரர்களும் வாய் சண்டையில் ஈடுபட்டிருந்தனர். 'மீண்டும் பல்லக்கை கேட்டு யாரேனும் வந்திருப்பார்களோ? இல்லை இல்லை ...இவர்களை பார்த்தால் படைவீரர்கள் போல் அல்லவா இருக்கிறது .. அதுவும் பத்து பதினைந்து பேர் இருப்பார்கள் போல் இருக்கிறதே இவர்களுக்கு நம்முடைய சேவகர்களுடன் என்ன சண்டையாக இருக்கும்? அய்யோ இது என்ன புது குழப்பம்.... சேவகன் நம்மை நோக்கி அல்லவா கையை சுட்டி காட்டுகிறான். ஆஹா .. குதிரயிலிருந்து வீரர்கள் கீழே குதிக்கிறார்களே ..நம்முடைய சேவகர்களை மரத்தொடு கட்டி போடுகிறார்களே ... இது என்ன அநியாயம் ?.. இந்த நேரம் பார்த்து அக்காவும் கதவை சார்த்திக்கொண்டு விட்டாள். இதோ மூன்று வீரர்கள் குதிரையில் நம்மை நோக்கி வேகமாய் வருகிறார்கள் ... இவர்கள் யாருடைய வீரர்களாய் இருக்கும்? ஒருவேளை தளபதி யாரையாவது அனுப்பி இருப்பாரோ? தளபதியின் வீரர்கள் என்றால் எதற்காக சேவகர்களை கட்டிப்போடவேண்டும் ? ஒருவேளை இப்படி இருக்குமோ? சேவகன் சற்று முன் சொன்னதெல்லாம் கற்பணை கதைகளா? தளபதி ஏதோ முக்கியமான விஷயத்தை பற்றி நேற்று முந்தைய நாள் யோசித்துக்கொண்டிருந்தாரே ... அதனால் எல்லோரையும் சிற்ப மண்டபத்துக்கு போக சொன்னாரே சீச்சீ எதற்காக மனதை போட்டு குழப்பிகொள்ள வேண்டும் ? இதோ குதிரை வீரர்கள் அருகில் வந்துவிட்டார்கள் .. இன்னும் ஓரிரு வினாடிகளில் அவர்களே விஷயத்தை சொல்லுவார்கள் . அதுவரை எதையும் பற்றி யோசிக்காமல் இருப்பதே நலம்' என முடிவு செய்துகொண்டு மிக சுலபதிற்கு வந்துவிட்டிருந்த வீரர்களை பார்த்தாள் இமையாழ். அருகில் வந்து குதிரையை நிறுத்தி அதிலிருந்து கீழே குதித்தான் வீரன் ஒருவன். வணக்கம் கூட சொல்லாமல் நேராய் விஷயத்திற்கு வந்தான்.

'தேவி தங்களின் சேவகர்களை சிறைப்பிடித்துவர எங்களுக்கு ஆணை இடப்பட்டுள்ளது . இதை தங்களிடம் தெரிவிக்கவே இங்கு வந்தோம்' என்றான் சற்று திமிரான தொனியில்.

இமையாழ் அந்த சேவகனை வெறித்தது பார்த்துவிட்டு கேட்டாள்'

தளபதியின் சேவகர்களை அனுமதியின்றி சிறையில் அடைக்கும் உரிமைக்கொண்டாடும் தங்கள் தலைவன் எவன்?' .

'தேவி தாங்கள் பெண் என்பதால் எங்கள் வாட்கள் இன்னும் உறையிலேயே இருக்கின்றன . தாங்கள் இப்பொழுது கூறிய வார்த்தைகளை ஒரு ஆண்மகன் கூறி இருந்தால், இந்நேரம் அவனுடைய கழுத்த்து மேலே தலையை காணோமே என தேடிக்கொண்டிருக்கும்' என்றான். இதை கேட்ட மற்ற இரு வீரர்களும் தங்களுக்குள்ளேயே சிரித்தனர்.

' உங்கள் வாளைவிட உங்கள் வாய்தான் நீளமாய் இருக்கிறது . நான் கேட்ட கேள்விக்கு பதில் அளிக்காமல் உங்கள் வீரத்தை பறையடித்து கொள்வதை பார்த்தால் தாங்கள் படைவீரர்களா இல்லை படைவீரர் வேடம் போடும் கூத்து நடிகர்களா என சந்தேகம் எழுகிறது. உங்கள் ஒத்திகைக்கு விருதாளியாக எனக்கு விருப்பமில்லை. சேவகர்களை கட்டவிழித்துவிட்டு தாங்கள் செல்லலாம்' என்று கூறிவிட்டு அந்த வீரனை கண்கலாலேயே எரித்து விடுவதை போல் முறைத்தாள் இமையாழ்.

'தேவி. தாங்கள் தளபதியின் துணைவி என்பதால் தங்களிடம் சொல்லிவிட்டு வரும்படி எங்களுக்கு கட்டளை . சொல்லி விட்டோம். இனி எங்களுக்கு இங்கே வேலை இல்லை. தங்கள் சேவகர்களையும் தங்கள் பல்லக்கையும் மேலூர் சிறையிலும் சிற்ப மண்டபத்திலும் வேண்டுமானால் வந்து பார்த்து கொள்ளுங்கள். இன்னும் சிறிது நேரத்தில் எங்கள் சேவகர்களும் எங்கள் பல்லக்கும் இங்கே வரும். தாங்கள் அதை வேண்டுமானால் ஒத்திகை பார்க்க பயன்படுதிதகொள்ளலாம்' என்று கூறிவிட்டு ' வாருங்கள் செல்வோம்' என்று அருகிலிருந்த மற்ற இரு வீரர்களை பார்த்து சொல்லிவிட்டு குதிரையில் ஏறி சிட்டாய் பறந்தான் அவன்.

'வந்தவர்கள் யார். எதற்காக சேவகர்களையும் பல்லக்கையும் இழுத்து செல்கிறார்கள்?' என எதுவுமே தெரியாமல் விழித்தாள் இமையாழ்.

The Cloud of the Princess Part I Chapter 21

2007-05-01T00:45:00.000+05:30

Imayaazh and the three other girls who came out of the Vaithiyar's room discussed how to search for Jayendiran in the huge house with people constantly moving here and there. Imayaazh taking charge decided that three of them will go in diffrent directions to look for him while the remaining one stayed near a hall that seemed to have a lot of paitings. If anyone did find Jayendiran, they would bring him to the hall and then the girl who waited there will set off to bring the other two back while the one who found would stay in the hall. The girls seemed to accept the plan. Imayaazh then sent two of the girls to search for Jayendiran upstairs while she decided to search for him outside the house but within the premises. 'That will be the most probable place where i can find him' she thought and it brought a smile to her face. While she had really enjoyed when Jayendiran carefully hinted that she was a poetry herself, she did not let it out through her words. Though her words expressed exactly the opposite of what was in her mind, she made sure that jayendiran understood what she meant by the expression of her beautiful eyes. In a way it made pefect sense.Is it not the eyes that speak more between lovers than the lips ? The reason probably is because, even when the lovers are at two corners of the world, it is the eyes that help them to see their loved ones on the other end of the world as if they were right infront of them. And so it is natural that they speak through their eyes even when they are close together. Moreover every girl has a unique language that her eyes speak. And the only person who can understand and interpret those slight movements of the eyes is the one who has her heart with him. In Imayaazh's case, she had known for years that it was Jayendiran. And she knew Sembaruthi was wrong when she denied Jayendiran and said that she was the happiest person in Pavazhanaadu at that instant. Sembaruthi had only two reasons to be the happiest person. One - She was back to Araimedu after three long years. Two - She was going to meet Kumudhini, the girl she loved a lot. But Imayaazh had a third reason and that was of course to meet Jayendiran. When Imayaazh decided to move to Pavazhanaadu along with Sembaruthi as her Thozhi, she did not even think much about Jayendiran. Though he was very well known to her even then, she did not think that she would miss him. But the strangest of emotions bubble out of seperation and for Imayaazh it slowly happened when she was in Ponvilayur. Her thoughts for reasons she did not know of, kept on shifting to Jayendiran. His image always stayed in her mind and once in a while when Sembaruthi would see a painting of a soldier and ask if it resembled someone, she would somehow bring Jayendiran into the discussion. Sembaruthi slowly began to understand this but never asked her on her face. She would purposefully start discussing about heroic soldiers that Pavazhanaadu has seen in its history and though Jayendiran had no place in that list, would be brought somehow into the topic by Imayaazh. And when Imayaazh cut a joke against Jayendiran sometime back, she looked at him with a beautiful expression that was full of love. And Jayendiran did return it back and she was the happiest person in Pavazhanaadu at that instant by far, she knew. But a moment after that, she also understood that Sembaruthi had also noticed this and was a bit worried if she would take it in the wrong sense. But now, Akka herself had sent her to find Jayendiran and that means, she does approve of him as her soulmate. That gave immense happiness to Imayaazh and so it is very very natural to expect her to go in the direction to search where he most probably would be found.

But unfortunately what Imayaazh found outside the house was not Jayendiran. It was rather a group of people at a distance trying to indulge in a quarrel. She could not immediately make out who the people were and was neither interested in knowing who it was. But something in particular caught her interest. A man at a distance seemed to be someone she knew of. 'Oh...What do i see? That man is wearing a white cloth around his head. Is he not the Sevagan that brought us in the pallakku here? He seems to be involved in some quarrel with someone. Let me go and see what it is about'

She rushed to the place and before she could reach there, the quarrel seemed to have ended. Imayaazh still wanted to know what was happening and asked the group of Sevagars about it.
The chief sevagan asked all other sevagars to leave the place and they left immediately. Then he turned towards Imayaazh and spoke

"Devi... There is nothing to be worried about. It is very common for Sevagars to involve in quarrels in new palces where they go to. We can settle this ourselves. We don't want to disturb you for simple things"

"That's ok Sevaga. It dosen't matter. You can tell me what happened. I will atleast know why men quarrel"

"As you wish Devi. Two men who seem to be locals came asking for this Palakku. We initially thought they were joking, but they seemed to be serious about it. When we refused to give it, they started to quarrel. They did not know that we were seven of us and thought i was the only one here. When our Sevagars who were at some distance came here, the men ran away seeing them"

"Why did they say they needed the Palakku?"

"Devi... they seemed like mad people. They did not give me any reason why they wanted the Palakku. But i am pretty sure that they are not in a balanced mental state"

"Sevaga. I doubt if they are really what you think them to be. Moreover common sense tells me that it is very rare to see two mentally imbalanced people come together and talk to somebody and even go to the extent of quarelling. may be i can think of one thing. They probably drank alcohol somewhere illegally and wanted to hide somewhere not to be found by the soldiers. And they would have thought for reasons only god knows, that the palakku you carry is the best place for them to hide" She laughed as she competed the sentence.

The Sevagan also managed a wry smile.

Imayaazh continued.
"Do you think my explanation is correct?"

"Devi... i think i need to tell you something that happened last night."

Imayaazh became curious
"What is it?"

"As you know, I and other sevagars left for finding food last night to a nearby village. On my way,there was a heavy wind and i realised that i had not tied the palakku to any tree and it would possibly fall down from the position it was in. So i rushed back to the Mandabam when i found from a distance that somebody was trying to lift the Palakku. I could see it in the light of a flame torch that one of the persons was holding though i could not clearly see the face of the person. When i moved faster towards the flametorch, somebody put the flame torch off and it was totally dark. The dark clouds had covered the skies and i could see nothing without moonlight. I decided to slow down my steps when i heard somebody play a strange tune in a flute. I initially thought it was some animal that was making the noise, but later realised it was a flute. I stopped where i was and decided not to move till the music of the flute stopped. I was still for sometime when without the sligtest of my expectation, a huge stone hit my face. I fell down in pain. I heard a few footsteps here and there and there nothing moved. I got only after the moon came out and slowly moved towards the Palakku. Everthing seemed to be as i had left. I have no clue who hit me with the stone or who tried to lift and move the Palakku. Since these two men asked me for a Palakku now, i thought it could be someone who has followed us right from the Durga temple."

Imayaazh was totally surprised .
"Why didn't you tell us about this before?"

"Devi...i thought it would be better not to mention it to you and confuse you since nothing had happened to the Palakku. Moreover i was not very sure of what exactly happened and who exactly was there last night. "

"Ok.. Don't tell this to anybody else unless i ask you to. Not even to Akka. Do you understand that?"

"Devi...but"

"No ... do what i want you to... don't question back"

The sevagan fell silent. Imayaazh began to walk back towards the House.
She had a few things running parallely in her mind. She had just heard that morning Sembaruthi asking the Poosari questions that sounded really wierd. She thought Akka must have had a bad dream. But now some of those questions made sense. And it made sense only if Akka was there outside in the dark last night. 'Did Akka throw the stone at the Sevagan?No it cannot be. She asked the poosari why he had tied a whote cloth around his head. If she had thrown the stone herself, she would have never asked such a question. So did Akka try to move and lift the Palakku? That will never be possible either. Where could she have found a flame torch that the Sevagan was mentioning? ' . Suddenly a strange thought crept into her mind . ' Is Akka involved in something that we don't know? And does it concern the Vaithiyar in some improbable way? Is that why she sent all of us out?'

Imayaazh hurried towards the Vaithiyar's room to find Sembaruthi . She reached near the door and tried to open one of them when a hand unexpectedly pulled her hand from the back. She turned instinctively and somebody dragged her into a nearby small room as quickly as possible and locked the room immediately.

It was Kumudhini and she was sweating and breathing hard.
"Imayaazh. I have no time now. Just listen to whatever i say with utmost attention and care. And come to the bottom of the hill temple along with Sembaruthi in the evening. We need to discuss something very very important. Listen to this very carefully.

'KaarMeni Senkann Kathir Mathiyam Pol Mugathaan'
[black skin red eyes. Man with face like the sun and the moon]
Think of someone in the Kingdom who fits into this description.
Someone in the Kingdom who is really powerful and someone who can probably be in Araimedu now.

I have to go now. I shall meet you in the evening without fail."

And she pushed opened the door swiftly and rushed out running.

Imayaazh stood motionless as she saw the door swing infront of her eyes.

The Cloud of the Princess - Part I Chapter 20

2007-04-30T22:52:00.000+05:30

The conversation between the Vaithiyar and the person whom he identified as 'bhatha' ended after a few minutes and the so called bhaktha left the Vaithiyar's room after get his blessings one more time. The Vaithiyar not knowing that the girls were waiting behind, closed his eyes and started to meditate. Sembaruthi became a bit worried on seeing this. She had expected Jayendiran to have informed the Vaithiyar about their arrival. She did not have the courage to go and disturb the Vaithiyar herself. Even if she had the courage, she would have preferred not to do that. A part of the reason was the peculiar room where she was in. The strange vibrations were still there , but it did not increase and decrease randomly anymore. There was a constant pace to it and she could connect it with the recital of the magical phrase 'ohm' .
She was not sure what to do next except waiting for the Vaithiyar to see and call her. 'It might never happen as he is facing the opposite side and may just get up and go out of one of those doors. ' she thought looking at the five doors that were on the opposite. She decided to wait for a little while before deciding on something. She communicated the message through her eyes to the girls who were sitting nearby. The girls seemed to have understood the message and adjusted their positions as if beginning a wait for a long time.

The wait continued longer than what she had expected it to be. Slowly she began to lose hope about the Vaithiyar seeing and calling her when something suddenly occurred to her. 'I intend to meet the Vaithiyar and discuss what my husband has told me. But i cannot do it with all these girls. The matter concerns the kingdom and it is of utmost importance and secrecy. Is this not an opportunity that is coming my way now? I should make the best out of it. Let me send the girls out to look for Jayendiran while in the meantime i shall go and talk with the Vaithiyar. This is not a small house where these girls will find Jayendiran very easily. This is the biggest house in Araimedu, only after Oorasar Sethupadhiyar's palace. And with Kumudhini leaving tomorrow, hundreds of her relatives have gathered here. The girls will be stopped by every other person they meet in their way and they will have to spend at least a minute with each of them talking about the usual things. Moreover it is very possible that Jayendiran has left the house to do something outside. Yes. He did mention that he had some work to do before sending Kumudhini off. Let me hope that he is not in the house at all. So in any case it will take the girls at least the time to climb and get down a cocunut tree before they find Jayendiran. But...that is only one side of the story...even if the girls don't find Jayendiran soon enough,will i be able to disturb the Vaithiyar who is in deep meditation? Will he be angry at me if i did that? Haven't i heard about angry saints cursing people who break their thavam?. But from what Jayendiran suggested, the Vaithiyar wanted to see and talk to me. It is obviously about the message that my husband has passed across. So why not i go and wake him up myself. It is for the benefit of the kingdom and if i don't do it, i might repent for it later. Moreover there are too many mysterious things that have happened in a day and a half. The Vaithiyar seems to be the best person who can give a solution to the questions that are troubling me. Yes.I think i should wake the Vaithiyar up. And once i send these girls out, i have to be really quick. If luck is against me,I might not get more than a few minutes to talk with him alone and i should make the most of it'

Sembaruthi turned her head slowly and spoke something into Imayaazh's ears.Imayaazh listened carefully and passed the message across to the other girls in the same way as Sembaruthi did. After a few seconds, all the girls except Sembaruthi got up one by one without making any noise and left the room. Sembaruthi after making sure the girls had gone a few steps away,slowly got up without making any noise. She looked around carefully and made sure no one was watching her. With steps resembling a tigress hiding behind a bush, moving cautiously to pounce on its prey, she walked towards the Vaithiyar. She could suddenly feel that the vibrations began to increase and decrease randomly again. 'Oh my god. Is my head swirling? Why are these vibrations increasing and decreasing again. Is someone controlling these vibrations or is it my state of mind that corresponds to these vibrations. Am i walking properly?Or am i falling down into a bottomless dark pit? There is some force in this room. Is this man only a Vaithiyar or is he some sort of a magician? Is he controlling my actions? Here i am in front of him. I have no other option but to wake him up.'

"Ayya. " She called in the mildest of voices possible. She did not know what to expect. She was not even sure if the Vaithiyar had heard it at all.

The Vaithiyar responded without opening his eyes. His voice echoed synchronous with the vibrating frequency.

"Sembaruthi. Quick. Run.Close all the nine doors of this room. You have already wasted a lot of time"

Sembaruthi was shocked to hear the Vaithiyars reply. 'Did he know that i was waiting for him? So why was he meditating all these time then.' She could not think any more. She felt as if something beyond was controlling her. She ran across the circular room closing each door as quickly as possible.
She closed all the nine doors when a slight doubt entered her mind if she had properly closed the eighth door. She went to recheck if the door was closed properly. She tried to push the door to see if it opened but it did not. She suddenly realised that she had not locked any of the doors but still they could not be opened by pushing. She pushed the door in front of her even faster but was not able to. She felt as if she had fallen into a trap. 'How can i open these doors now? I am sure it cannot be opened from the other side. But if i cannot open from it even from inside, then what does all this mean?' she could not find any answer.
The Vaithiyar was still sitting in the middle of the room , meditating.
Sembaruthi checked if the knife she had in her waist was still there.
It was!
She moved slowly towards the Vaithiyar. She came now in front of him.

She was about to ask what the Vaithiyar was up to when the words jammed in her throat. Her head broke into infinite pieces. Her body was drenched in sweat. She witnessed a terrifiying sight.

Oh my God!
The eyes!
The eyes!

The same eyes that made her faint and roll down Madiyamalai three years back!
The same horrific eyes!

Sembaruthi screamed and fainted down locked up alone in the Vaithiyar's room.

Dhalapadhi Maithreyan's chief ottran was starring at her with his red blood eyes.

The Cloud Of The Princess - Part 1 Chapter 19

2007-04-23T00:01:00.000+05:30

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.

The Cloud of the Princess - Part I Chapter 18

2007-04-01T14:35:00.000+05:30

Three men were sitting inside a beautifully decorated Mandabam in the Kings palace. All four walls of the mandabam were painted with beautiful drawings depecting natural scenaries. Pictures of different seasons were drawn from left to right following the actual pattern of change of seasons. The perfection of the paintings seemed to baffle the ordinary viewer with its beauty. Especially a painting of the powerful winds accompanied by a hard and vociferous downpour uprooting a huge tree from its base was a masterpiece. It would have made anybody who saw the painting wonder if the artist really sat in the middle of the strong wind and fierce rain while he drew it.

All three men in the room were silent and they had three different expressions on their faces. Their state of mind could be easily compared to the paintings on the wall. King Kunjidhapadhanaar was biting his nails and seemed a bit tensed and confused and his state of mind was similar to the tree blown off by the powerful winds. Dhalapadhi Maithreyan seemed calm and composed and focused on something that he was thinking. His state of mind was similar to a painting that showed a girl in the dark carrying a log of wood on her head as she was walking down the hills finding her path to her home with the help of moonlight. She was focusing both on the rocky path that she had to take and the log of wood on her head that cannot slip off. And so was Maithreyan trying to strike a balance between a number of things that were running inside his head. The other person in the room was Kangeyan and certainly more than the other two, his state of mind had the perfect match to a painting on the wall. The painting showed two ferocious tigers pouncing fiercely over an escaping bear. The bear was just out of reach of the tigers. But that is all that the painting showed. It would have been anybody’s guess that the bear would have not figured anywhere in the painting had the artist captured the scene a few minutes later.

The King cleared his throat and began to speak.

“Dhalapadhi…. what do you think about what Kangeyan has told us now?”

The Dhalapadhi turned to look at the king.

“Ayya… I understand only a very few things from what he has just told us now. We need some more clarification on what exactly happened three years ago on the day when Kangeyan was arrested by my men.”

The King looked at Kangeyan.

“Kangeya! Tell us whatever you know. And you shall get the suitable reward that you are looking for”

“I have told you everything my Lord. I don’t understand what exactly the Dhalapadhi is trying to know". He paused to stare at the Dhalapadhi. It was clear that there was a wave of anger and hatred flowing between the Dhalapadhi and Kangeyan.

Maithreyan cut in.

“I am looking for the truth. And exactly the truth. I don’t want your own stories to be intertwined with the facts. It doesn’t make you any better than what we think you are.”

Kangeyan shouted.

“Do you think I care for what you think about me? Never. I have told the truth and only the truth. And I have told it only because I respect the King and not any other officer who works under him. Not especially those who would dare to marry a girl when she was supposed to marry someone else”

The King interfered before Maithreyan could respond.

“Kangeya… stop it. If you show disrespect to the Dhalapadhi, it is being disrespectful to me. And I won’t tolerate it. If you wish to have what you want, answer whatever the Dhalapadhi asks you. You have no right to speak as you have done now. Don’t think I won’t do anything to you just because you know a bunch of secrets that I don’t. I would very well forget about the cloud of the princess and other such things but behead you at this instant and roar my heart out at your blood that would flow down the floors of the Mandabam”

The voice echoed back and forth and it took a few seconds to die off.

The last few words especially sent a shiver down Kangeyan’s spine. He started to sweat. He realized how stupid he had spoken. He knew he cannot miss a golden opportunity like this just by speaking from his heart. He had to speak from his head. Without giving way for emotions to flush out through his words. He can tackle the Dhalapadhi who had taken his lady love away from him later. More important things need to be done now. He wanted to rule seperately. If this was the chance for it, then there was no reason why he would miss it. He replied without any expression looking at the king's face .

“I am prepared answer the Dhalapadhi’s questions.”

The ever calm and composed Maithreyan seemed irritated at the remarks Kangeyan made about Sembaruthi. But he knew it was not the time he should lose his temper. . He shall save it for the future and unleash it on Kangeyan when the right time arrives. There were more important things to do now and personal emotions had to stay back. He thought for a moment or two and started asking the questions.

“Kangeya. Let us go back three years in time and see what happened on the day when you were arrested. Let me remind you a few things. These are the things that my lord…even you may not be aware of. Kangeya…on that particular day, you had come to the bottom of the hill temple in Araimedu and when you went near a group of girls standing there, you were arrested by my men. I know you were not drunk that day. But I arrested you because some of my men had given me information about the secret group you were forming and I wanted to arrest you all.My first question. why did you come to the hill temple on that day?”

“To meet the girls”

“Do you want me to believe this?”

“I never told so. It is up to you to believe it or not. My Lord ...if the Dhalapadhi wants to provoke me and make me lose my temper, unfortunately he will not be able to do so.”

Maithreyan continued without letting the king to respond.

“If you came to meet the girls, tell me one reason why you wanted to do so?”

“I came to meet my Sister’s daughter. In other words the wife of the Dhalapadhi of this kingdom.I don’t remember the reason why though”

“If you don’t remember, let me remind you a few things. When you came there, your sister’s daughter … the wife of the Dhalapadhi...Sembaruthi was not there in the group. She had gone up to the hill temple. But the first question that you asked after coming there was not about Sembaruthi. It was rather aimed at Kumudhini, Vaithiyar Elanchezhiyanaar’s daughter. I remember the exact words that you told her. ‘Kumudhini… Wait’ were the words. And don’t tell me you wanted to know where Sembaruthi was when you told that. It doesn’t make sense. I am not that big a fool to beleive that either. Tell me the truth. Why did you want to meet Kumudhini? “

“You are clever Dhalapadhi. “

“That does not answer my question”

“Why do you want to know all those things? I have told you what you want to know. The Cloud of the princess will not spare you much time. It is already the second povurnami of Sittirai. You can torture me. You can behead me. But they will take over you. That is bound to happen. The mighty kingdom called Pavazhanadu that the mighty king Aadhirayan built would break up into pieces. It will happen for sure especially if the clever Dhalapadhi will waste time at this important juncture by asking unnecessary questions about some unimportant group of girls who have no relation with the Cloud of the princess or the matters of the Kingdom”

The King interrupted

“Dhalapadhi… even I am quite surprised at your questions. What are you trying to arrive at? How does his meeting with Kumudhini help our cause”

Maithreyan took a deep breath.

“Ayya… if Kangeyan will not tell what happened on that day, then I think I need to tell you. I just was waiting for things to fall from his mouth…but that might just not happen. He is too stuborn and too foolish to under estimate us.

So let me make things clearer. So that we don’t misunderstand or misinterpret the situation.

On that particular day, I had gone to the hill temple beacuase I had one of my Ottran waiting for me at the top of the hill with some information. We had planned to secretly meet on that particular evening near the Sannidhi of the hill temple when he would share all the information that he had collected in the previous month about various things i had asked him to spy for. But before I went there, I saw Kangeyan coming that way and I thought it would be the best chance to have him arrested. So I arrested him and then went up the hill. It tuned out that the information my Ottran had was related to Kangeyan. My Ottran had been following Kangeyan for a while since he was one among the secret group that planned against the oorasars and he was surprised to see what Kangeyan had been doing a day before the arrest took place. The night before all this happened, Kangeyan had followed a group of men to a forest outside Araimedu and had overheard a few things. Unfortunately my Ottran who was following Kangeyan was not able to hear what Kangeyan had heard. Kangeyan had not slept the whole night and the next morning the first thing he did was to rush to Kumudhini’s house. Since he had not slept the whole night, his eyes were blood red. And on seeing this, the soldier outside Vaithiyar Elanchezhiyanaar’s house misunderstood that Kangeyan was drunk refused to let him in.

Kangeyan searched in different places to find Kumudhini, but was not able to. Finally in frustration, he went to the market place that afternoon and slept off. This is when my Ottran left Kangeyan alone and went to the hill temple as we had already planned the secret meeting in the hill temple a long back. And if you remember my lord, my beloved wife Sembaruthi had seen somebody in the hill temple and had fainted the same day. It was none but my Ottran. It happened so that my Ottran was waiting for me a long time and since I was busy with the arrests, he thought I would not make it to the temple that day. Moreover he thought it would be important to follow Kangeyan rather than waiting for me. It was also getting dark and so he started to walk down the hill when he saw an already frightened Sembaruthi. Sembaruthi on seeing the red blood eyes of my Ottran lost balance and started to roll down the hill. My Ottran was about to help her when he saw light flashing from the somebody’s flame torch .He ran away int he opposite direction not knowing that it was the Poosari who was coming down after finishing the temple errands. If I had met my Ottran on that day, I would have known a lot of things long back. But I could not meet him for a long time. And when I met him and when he told me all that had happened, I did not guess that there would a secret group called the cloud of the princess. I miscalculated the whole thing since I had already arrested all the important persons of Kangeyan’s secret group and I thought everything was over. But it doesn’t seem so”

The King was in shock as he listened to the Dhalapadhi’s story. Kangeyan was hundred times more shocked than the King. He had never expected the Dhalapadhi to know so many things that he thought only he knew.

The king spoke

“Dhalapadhi…. things are really frightening me now. So if you know everything that Kangeyan knows, what else do we need to know from him?”

“Ayya… if I had known everything that Kangeyan knows, then I would have found out and destroyed this so called cloud of the princess a long back. But I need to know exactly whom Kangeyan followed into the forests the night before his arrests and what was spoken exactly on that night “

Both the King and the Dhalapadhi turned towards Kangeyan. Kangeyan’s look passed from the king to the Dhalapadhi. It seemed he was mentally preparing to answer the Dhalapadhi’s question.

“Dhalapadhi. You know almost everything. I shall tell you the missing facts.

I first came to know of this group when I was sleeping below a tree in the crowded market place a few months before my arrest. Normally secrets groups would exchange information in secluded places like forests and dilapidated Mandabams. But this group seemed different. They exchanged their secret informations in crowded places. So that they will neither be suspected nor can be followed. Moreover the place was so crowded and noisy that nobody would even hear what they spoke about. I just woke up from my sleep when two men were talking about bringing the king and the kingdom down. I should say I was also thinking in the same lines at that time and so their speech caught me in sudden interest. I pretended to sleep and continued to listen to them. They were clever than I expected. They never mentioned a name in the Kingdom. Their speech was I suppose following some wierd method that I could not understand. Except that they were planning something against the kingdom. And planning to attack some important personality in the kingdom. I tried to follow them after their talks ended. Each person went in a different direction and so i followed one of them . Bu unfortunately i lost track of him in the crowd. I did not talk about this group to any of the members in my group. I wanted solid information before i could do something about it. After a few months by pure co-incidence,I saw them again but this time their place of information exchange seemed to have completely changed. For some reasons I don’t know, they chose a hut in the forest to be their place. I followed them till the hut. I understood that they had a big plan to bring down the kingdom and to execute the plan they needed at least three years. They agreed on the exact date when they would start their attack. And that was the second povurnami of the sittirai month after three years from then. Though they spoke tamil like all of us do, their usage of words was so confusing that an ordinary person like me could not find out much by lisstening to it. After that i kept a close eye on one of them. Though i could not find out where he stayed or what he did, I got only one more chance to follow him and that was on the night before my arrest. On that night ,they discussed a few things that I again did not understand much. But one thing was clear. There was one man in that group who had been living in Vaithiyar Elanchezhiyanaar's house for a few months. Though I did not know the exact reason why they chose the Vaithiyar’s house, I thought it was a blessing in disguise for me. I wanted to meet that person and talk to him about my group so that we could join hands together. And I could not sleep that night. The next day I went to the vaithiyar’s place to find that man there and the Dhalapadhi has told everything that happened after that”

The King looked at the Dhalapadhi.

The Dhalapadhi looked at Kangeyan.

“Do you have any other information?. Why did you plan to meet that person rather than finding more about them by following them. You said you wanted solid evidence before proceeding. And what evidence did you get?”

“Aah… that is the scariest part of all….I forgot to tell you something. I understood that it would be of no use to follow them from then on because of a peculiar reason. And exactly because of that reason, i decided to find out that man in the Vaithiyar's place rather than following him till the forest everytime”

“What was that?”

“They had decided on that night to change their place of information exchange and secret meeting. They had also decided o something else”

"What was it?"

"To change the mode of exchanging secrets"

“And that is?”

“They decided not to exchange secret information verbally”

“then how did they plan to do it?”

“music"

“What do you mean”

“A flute…. they signaled through the strange music of the flute!!”

The Cloud of the Princess Part I Chapter 17

2007-03-03T11:36:00.000+05:30

It was midnight!

The moon had come out well and was shining like a silver plate in the dark sky.

The air was chill and the wind was heavier than usual. The tall trees danced like mad sages shouting and running around lit fires chanting unobvious hymns.

Nobody seemed to be on the streets of Ponvilayur, the capital of Pavazhanadu. Normally the soldiers would be seen roaming here and there, but even they had retired to bed. The star’s position in the sky was the indicator the soldiers used to find the time when they should retire to their homes. But the stars today were not at all visible and looking up the sky was equivalent to feeling blind. It was black but for the moon.

Without the stars, the soldiers had to make a decision on their own to go back to their homes and not surprisingly all had all made a decision to leave early. ‘After all who would be even willing to try to steal from the houses of Ponvilayur which was ruled by his almighty, the all powerful King Kunjidhpadhanar with huge support of the erstwhile Dhalapadhi Maithreyan and his superb skilled army?’ was their theory for doing so.

And it had seemed to work well till today.

The dark figure moved cautiously until it reached a small Mandabam in a deserted street. It peeped into the Mandabam from outside. It was pitch dark and there was no way it could have found anything by just looking inside. It waited for a while outside the Mandabam carefully hiding behind one of the pillars. Somebody even with a flame torch could not have identified the dark figure hiding. Nothing happened for more than ten minutes.

The place was dead silent.

No movement. No sound. No light.

The dark figure suddenly came out from where it was and went into the Mandabam without making even the slightest sound. Why did it go in suddenly? Was there a reason behind it? It should have seen the dim light from the flame torch at the end of the street. But why did it hurry into the Mandabam? Was it a soldier who was coming with a flame torch? Did the dark figure wanted to hide itself from the soldier?

The flame torch was moving closer to the Mandabam. Somebody was aiming to come to the Mandabam for sure. It possibly cannot be a soldier. Or can it be a soldier who was coming carefully towards the Mandabam after making sure all other soldiers had left?

The flame torch moved into the premises of the Mandabam. Huge shadow of a man fell on a pillar outside the Mandabam. It was exactly the same pillar the dark figure had been hiding a few minutes back. The man was holding the flame torch and he stretched his hands out a bit. The flame torch changed hands. Yes. There were two men who had come to that place. One of them was holding the torch till now and he had just given it to the other person. The first man bent below as if trying to find something at the bottom of the pillar. He stayed in that position for a few seconds. He rose above after a minute and took back the flame torch from the other man.

“Everything is fine. You can go in. Walk straight till you reach a pillar. Stay there till something happens“

The second man started to move inside.

“Wait”

He turned back.

“Try something bad and you just can’t imagine what will happen to you”

He walked into the Mandabam without responding.

It was dark outside and it was darker inside. The man felt as if a black heavy blanket was covered tightly over his face. Nothing was visible. He was proceeding with slow steps. The next step he made was out of pure hope that there would not be a deep pit below. It was freezing cold at that time of the night but a drop of sweat committed suicide by jumping off from his temples. Was he shivering? Was he tense? We could not guess in the dark.

He collided with something hard and stopped. ‘Pillar’ – his mind suggested. He did not move further. He decided to wait till something happened. And he craved for the wait to end soon.

A minute passed without anything happening.

“Kangeya!” A huge sound echoed from all corners of the Mandabam. It heard like a wave that swiftly passed across the Mandabam creating a strange feeling in the listener’s stomach. The Pillars of the Mandabam should have been built in positions selected with utmost care to bring in such an effect.

‘It should have been built with precise mathematical calculations so that the listener would not able to guess where the speaker was standing inside the Mandabam’ Kangeyan discerned.

Yes. The man who collided on a pillar a second before was Kangeyan. Kangeyan from Araimedu. The one whom a soldier had described as the Kolaiveeran to the King and the Dhalapadhi that morning.

Kangeyan was standing in the dark looking at all directions to guess the source of the sound he had heard. It did amaze him that the sound was crystal clear though there were echoes from all directions.

He replied in a firm voice. “Who is this?”. Surprisingly to him, his voice did not echo all around the Mandabam. For a second, an unusual fear of the unknown clutched Kangeyan’s throat. ‘Why doesn’t my voice echo all over? Whom am I speaking to? Is there a man somewhere here? Or am I imagining things? No… I understand it now. Yes. It has to be like that. The echo would be produced only when someone speaks from a particular place in the Mandabam. The Pillars should have been designed keeping a particular place in mind’.

A wave hit him again.

“Did you not know why you have been brought here? And don’t you know whom you are talking to?”

“I quite know the reason why I have been brought here. Just that I did not know that the Dhalapadhi would fear to come and talk straight into my eyes. I have already killed two hundred men in the prison. I am fed up of seeing dead bodies. I will not hurt you Dhalapadhi. You can come out in front of me.”

“I can execute you if I wish to. You don’t have a reason to talk against me”

Kangeyan roared in reply.

“Neither do I have a reason to talk sweet to you. I am not Sembaruthi to flatter you and praise you for things you never did. I am Kangeyan. I am the lion. Not a meek cat. I am an army. Not a single human being. “

“You have no rights to speak of a woman whom you no longer have control upon. She might have been your sister’s daughter. But now she is somebody else’s wife. It is against the law to speak how you did just now and you can be brutally terminated for it”

“I expected to discuss something else here. Unfortunately the Dhalapadhi of the Kingdom seems to like talking about women more than anything else.”

At this point, light from a flame torch fell on Kangeyan’s eyes. His eyes shrunk instinctively and it took a few seconds to see what was going on. A man was standing with a torch in his right hand.

It was not the Dhalapadhi.

The man roared.

“Did you ever think I was afraid of you? You might be a lion. But I am hundred lions tied together, roaring and pouncing. I am powerful than you ever can be. And if you think in your dreams that you can replace me, let that better end in your dream. “

Kangeyan was shocked to death. He was expecting to see the Dhalapadhi but whom he was seeing was even more powerful. An uncontrollable fear clutched Kangeyan’s face. And it showed out well. He was looking with terror at the burning red eyes of the King Kunjidhapadhanaar.

The King spoke in a much calmer voice.

“Kangeya! I could have asked you to come to my palace and could have talked with you. But I did not do that. Not because I fear you. Not because I think you are dangerous. But because you know something the importance of which you may not understand now. I accept you are a great warrior. I know that you were thrown out of the army for consuming alcohol. But do you know why you were thrown into the prison? Not because you consumed alcohol. But because you were planning something against the Oorasar in Araimedu. And you could not have even guessed that. Doesn’t this show that the Dhalapadhi is more cunning than all of your secret army? I know some of your men are still roaming out trying to gather strength against the Oorasars and throw them out of power. But I don’t fear them at all. They can pose a threat only as long as they hide in the bushes. Once they come out, we can thrash them into nothing. But I fear something else. Something that you know. Something that you mentioned to the soldier in the prison. Something about the Cloud of the Princess. What is it? Who is it? I know you know the answers. Tell me Kangeyan. If you tell me the right answers, I will even consider giving all your secret army a separate piece of Pavazhanaadu to rule from. You can be the King there. You can make your own rules there. Nobody shall be restricted from alcohol consumption there. It shall be your land. Your mud toy. You can shape it as you like. But tell me before that about the cloud of the princess.”

Kangeyan had recovered from fear.

“Cloud of the Princess is the name of our secret group. The group that you just promised to give a part of Pavazhanaadu to”

“It is a lie”

“What makes you think so?”

“Your secret group was never well formed. There were too many internal politics among yourselves that you did not even decide on one leader for your group. There was no way you could have agreed upon a name for your group. You just communicated by using the term ‘oorasan’ whenever people of your group met secretly”

Kangeyan was stunned to understand the King’s knowledge about his secret group.

He was silent. A lot of things were running in parallel inside his mind.

“Tell me Kangeya… I have already agreed upon giving land to you if you tell me what you know about the cloud of the princess”

Kangeyan remained silent for some more time.

He asked suddenly.

“Which month of the year is this?”

“What?”

“Is this the month of Chittirai?”

“Yes. But why are you asking that?”

“And when does the Povurnami fall this month?”

“Don’t test me Kangeya? Why do you want to know all this now?”

“Tell me my lord. When does the Second Povurnami fall this month?”

“Didn’t you see the moon when you came here. Tomorrow is the Second Povurnami”

Kangeyan shouted in fear.

“Oh my god. The cloud of the princess have already started attacking their first victim”

The Cloud Of the Princess Part 1 - Chapter 16

2007-01-11T00:02:00.001+05:30

A Day before Sembaruthi and her gang of girls started to Araimedu from the Durga temple, Dhalapathi Maithreyan and King Kunjidhapadhanaar were discussing about the mysterious message that the king had received the previous day. Dhalapathi Maithreyan had looked from different angles the possible reasons for the arrival of the message and finally said

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

The King was shocked to hear this at first. Though something at the back of his mind had suggested that there could a slight possibility for problems from the other side of Asuragiri, his senses somehow refused to accept it. There was always an aura of mystery on the foothills of Asuragiri. Common people did not live right on the bottom of the mountain. They lived at least a distance of two villages apart. So this part of Pavazhanadu, right below the mountain looked more or less like a forest.

Thick thorny bushes that had grown without leaving a gap in between, huge trees that prevented sun’s rays from entering in, forest monkeys jumping from tree to tree, venomous reptiles moving silently between bushes were the only inhabitants of this location. There were thousands of tall trees all over and it was said locally that some or the other adventure monger who once in every while tried to cross this place never ever returned back. It was also a known fact for the common man that this place was fertile a century ago and was purposefully converted into a death zone by King Aadhirayan who had founded Pavazhanaadu. Nobody these days even dared to go near Asuragiri. There were two reasons for it. One was the simple reason that people who had gone there before never came back. The second reason was that, in Padmanabar’s rule, an army training base was setup right after the area of the forest and no common man was allowed to even enter into it. This way Padmanabar, the father of Kunjidhapadhanaar not only prevented the unnecessary loss of human lives because of the death zone but also found a safe and comfortable place for the King’s special army to hone their war skills.

The Special army had three main jobs. The Primary job was of course to practice the art of fighting. The other two jobs were considered more important and a few selected officials were appointed to carry it out. The second job was to make sure nobody from Pavazhanaadu passed to the other side of the army base into the foothills of Asuragiri. The third job was to make sure there was nobody who came in from the other side of Asuragiri into Pavazhanaadu. There was a problem with this job though. Since it was very difficult even for the army men to penetrate into the thick forests below Asuragiri, there was no way to know if someone came from the other side. Moreover the secret tunnel that Aadhirayan had built more than a century back was now totally inaccessible. During Aadhirayan’s rule, there was a narrow path in the middle of the forest known only to very few men through which the tunnel could be reached. So there was a small group of army men always guarding the closed tunnel. King after King had made sure there were army men guarding the tunnel. But towards the end of Padmanabar’s rule, a totally unexpected problem occurred. A mighty earthquake occurred at different parts of the Kingdom and the forest below Asuragiri was one among those terribly affected. Hundreds of tall trees had fallen down over each other entirely blocking the path towards the tunnel. So there was no way by which the tunnel could be reached. That was the reason Padmanabar had come up with this idea of setting up the army base just after the forest region so that it served more than one purpose.

Kunjidhapadhanaar had followed Padmanabar’s implementation and the army base still stayed near Asuragiri. But the hold over the tunnel had ceased the moment the earthquake occurred and the army though was trying to make sure nobody came from the other side, did not have the least idea if the tunnel was still in tact or had opened up due to the earthquake!

The history behind the Asuragiri came into Kunjidhapadhanaar’s mind in a flash on hearing Maithreyan’s words. The King now looked into the Dhalapadhi’s eyes and roared like a wounded lion.

“Dhalapadhi… Do you mean to say that the tunnel could have opened up now? That would mean disaster to this land Dhalapadhi… This land needs to be saved!I can’t bear the insult of losing this land that had been worshipped and revered like god for hundred and fifty years now by all my predecessors. Till the last drop of my blood sticks to my skin, I would fight for this eternal land Dhalapadhi…. Go immediately…. warn the army near Asuragiri… let them prepare for a war… Destroy the forest that blocks our way to the tunnel. Destroy the trees, destroy the animals, and destroy everything there. Let that place become as barren as a graveyard. We need to find out and kill our enemies Dhalapadhi… We can’t sit here, relax and discuss the politics of the possibilities of the source of this mysterious message. I am sure it is the Kingdom on the other side of Asuragiri that has sent us this bold warning. It may be the Madhavas. It may be anybody else. But let us not wait to see the face of the enemy before we sharpen our swords. Let the war bells ring. Let all the armies from all over the Kingdom gather near Asuragiri. Let us shock the enemy. Let our swords pass into his throat before his eye falls on our face. Prepare everyone. This Sorga Bhoomi will see a war for the second time. This time it MUST have a result. It is either victory or a courageous defeat. This is the only way we can pay respect to this land that has been the homes for millions of us for more than a century. Rise up! Unite! Let us go for the kill.”

The King was sweating now and he had almost up from his throne. The Dhalapadhi had never seen the King speak so furiously. He was shocked and his expression clearly indicated it. There was a silence for a minute. The ferocious words of the King were still echoing between the ceiling and the floor. The Dhalapadhi rose up from his chair, walked across with his hands tied behind. The King was looking at him like a madman who had been beaten up for reasons he did not know.

The Dhalapadhi turned and spoke.

“Ayya…I need you to listen to me carefully. From what I hear from my different secret sources, even I am strongly under the impression that this message has come from the outside world. But there is no reason to ring the war bells immediately. The method they are handling is very different and from what I can think of, this is a calculated move they have made. They are looking at the chances for a war in the future. That is for sure. But if the wanted to wage a war, why would they send a secret message through an unreliable source. They would have either sent a messenger to us or would have blasted in with their army without prior information. This message is something very serious. It means they are aiming for something more than just a war. They may not even wage a war if they get that something from us. But what that something is, I have no clue off. If in case, it is something we don’t lose by giving, we might just not end up having a war after all. So if we make our armies alert now, we are just making them doubly alert. We need to go in their way and find out what they are up to. And as I told you before, I have made a few arrangements to find out the exact mystery behind the whole developments that have taken place”

The King’s breath settled down. He looked with surprise at the Dhalapadhi.

“Aah… I am confused Dhalapadhi… I am really confused. If you are just going to tell me that you have made arrangements but never tell me what they are, how would I be able to come to a conclusion? Tell me at this moment about the arrangements that you have made to find out the problems surrounding us”

The Dhalapadhi came nearer and started to speak. At that moment both the men heard some noise and turned towards the door. A Soldier came running in. His face was eaten up by terror. He was profusely sweating and his hands were shivering.

The King commanded in a rough voice

“What brings you here when I have ordered everybody out? And why are looking like a fool?”

The Soldier stood like a stone without answering.

The Dhalapadhi spoke.

“Ayya… He is my soldier. Let me check what has happened.” He turned towards the soldier and asked

“What has happened Maanickam? Were you not supposed to be guarding the prison now? Is there some problem there?”

The Soldier replied with a trembling voice.

“ Big Problem Ayya. A ‘Kolaiveeran’ has emerged today among the prisoners in the underground prison after three years. He commands dismissal. And he is continuously blabbing something that I don’t understand but feel is very important”

The Dhalapadhi was shocked to hear that.

‘Kolaiveeran’ was a disturbing concept found out by Aadhirayan and practiced in Pavazhanaadu. It was actually a term given to one prisoner who manages to kill all other prisoners in his prison and emerges out alive. Such a prisoner was normally let out of the prison and in most cases made to join the royal army as a token of acknowledgement for his bravery and skills. The underground prison these days had at least two hundred prisoners and it was very rare for one to emerge out successful. There were only few cases of ‘KolaiVeerans’ emerging out thorughout the history of Pavazhanaadu and in all those cases there had been less than fifty prisoners at a time. The recent imprisonment of hundreds of people for alcohol consumption had made many to go to the underground prison and so the count had raised to around two hundred. So to imagine one killing everybody else and coming out successful was astonishing and at the same time shocking for the Dhalapadhi.

He asked the Soldier still not recovering from the shock.

“Who is he? And what is he blabbing continuously? “

The Soldier fear increased as he spoke the sentence. He trembled for words and finally managed,

“He is Kangeyan from Araimedu and he says that Pavazhanadu will be destroyed very soon by the cloud of the princess!!!”

The Cloud Of the Princess Part 1 - Chapter 15

2007-01-08T21:47:00.000+05:30

Gentle rays of the rising sun fell on her eye lids as they opened up like blossoming flowers to see the entirely new world that god had created for man that day .

It took a while for Sembaruthi to realize what had happened the previous night. She had determined not to sleep the whole night but had fallen asleep without her knowledge. Her first reaction on opening her eyes was to see if the other girls were safe. She turned her head up expecting the girls to be still sleeping after a long day’s journey. What she saw took her totally by surprise. All the girls had gathered together and were standing in a semicircle around her. Their expression showed fear and they were looking at each other now after seeing her wake up. Sembaruthi passed her look from left to right. Everybody had the same expression.

‘They are definitely worried. But why?’ Sembaruthi thought for a second. She immediately realized the reason. She along with the other girls had slept at the corner of the room away from the window. But now she was here, near the window, sleeping in an uncomfortable position with her back to the wall. ‘Now they will ask what happened last night. What do I reply them? Should I tell them the truth? Will they even believe it? Who is going to believe the story that a dark figure was playing an uncharacteristic tone in a flute in the middle of the night and there were a number of people who were hiding behind the bushes and trees and listening to the song that was being played. And what reason would I say them for going and hiding behind the bushes and watching this mysterious man? No way. I cannot tell them what happened. That will raise unnecessary doubts in their minds. But then what else do I say? I can’t sound stupid either. Imayaazh may seem a funny girl. But she is as cunning as a fox. She’ll immediately find out if I lie. ’ Her mind was searching rapidly for an answer. She took her eyes off the girls and looked towards the door. She saw the Poosari walking slowly into the Mandabam.

The Poosari came in and gave a surprised look on seeing the girls having gathered around Sembaruthi.

“Is anything wrong? Sembaruthi … What has happened to you my child? Are you sick?”

Sembaruthi saw something and was thrown into confusion and fear. The Poosari had wrapped a white piece of cloth around his forehead and had it tied behind his head. Questions flew into Sembaruthi’s mind at a rapid pace. ‘Why is the Poosari looking different today? What is the cloth that he has tied on his forehead? Can it be like this? Did the stone I threw hit on the Poosari’s forehead? Is he trying to hide the wound? How can I find out?’ She could imagine the Poosari walking towards the man playing the flute in the dark. As he was nearing the tree, the stone should have hit him and he must have cried out in pain. But … But the cry in pain definitely sounded younger than the Poosari’s voice. May be it was the Poosari’s accomplice who lived here. But the Poosari said that nobody lived with him in this place. Was he lying? Yes. He must have been. It could definitely not be a coincidence for so many people to have gathered at this obscure place without the Poosari’s knowledge. She was too confused to decide something.

Imayaazh spoke with a voice that expressed worry.

“Ayya…Even we don’t know what has happened to Akka. She was sleeping next to me last night. She had told us to get up as early as possible to leave in the morning .We all got up and got ready and only before a few minutes we realized that she was missing. We started searching for her and found her here below the Durga painting. It is a surprise how we did not realize that she was sleeping here. May be the pillars here and the wall in between hid her from us. “

The Poosari’s voice now showed more worry.

“Sembaruthi. What is this my child? You are not a girl who does things without reason. Is there something that happened last night? Were you afraid of something? There are a number of forest dogs in this locality. Did something like that frighten you? Do tell us my child. Look at your friends. All of them are worried. Shall I call the doctor from the next village? You can take rest here today and start to Araimedu tomorrow.”

Sembaruthi responded with a voice that had no emotions.

“I am fine. There is no reason to postpone the journey to tomorrow”

One of the maids who was standing on the left corner asked.

“Akka. You sound very different. What happened last night Akka?”

All the girls asked the same question at the same time.

“What happened last night?” “What happened last night?”

‘The question has been asked! How am I going to answer this? What happened last night? If it is the Poosari whom the stone hit, then I will not let this old man get away easily. If he is up to something big here, I will find that out. He can’t just talk like a sweet caring old man and escape from me. Here I go. Let me see how he will answer this.’

Some idea had shaped up in her mind at the spur of the moment. She spoke whatever that came to her mind. Her voice still showed no emotion.

“I did not get sleep last night. May be because I had slept for a while we were traveling in the Palakku. So I got up and walked here and there in the Mandabam. That is when I saw this Durga Devi Painting. It was looking frightening especially because of the dim light from the torch that was falling on it. The forest dogs were also shouting somewhere at a distance and I was almost shivering with fear. I decided it would be safe to go back to sleep and turned back. It was at that moment that somebody hit my head with some sharp object. The pain was terrible and the unexpected blow made me fall down right here with my back to the wall. I am alright now. The pain has ceased but a few questions have not.” She now looked straight into the Poosari’s eyes and asked the questions. The so far emotionless speech had faded and the words that followed were spit like fire balls from her mouth onto the Poosari’s chest.

”Ayya Poosari… Who do you think this mysterious man could be? Did you not say you were alone in this temple? Or are there more people in this temple even without your knowledge. Or may be you just think it is the Durga devi in the painting who hit me from behind. What do you say for this Ayya?”

The Poosari looked more relaxed than ever.

“Sembaruthi, It surprises me when you talk like this. Of course I said I am alone in this temple. But I did not mean it in the sense that you have understood it. Take this for an example my child. Do you think I prepared all the food that we ate for dinner last night? I am an old man my child and I no more have the strength to cook for a number of people. Of course I have a boy who helps me at it. But it is highly improbable that he would have hit you from behind. I saw you girls locking the door the moment I left the Mandabam. So how could this boy have entered in? No way Sembaruthi. Moreover look to your left. See the metal bar lying there. May be it was kept balancing on this painting on one end and on the window the other end. And May be you came from the right and turned back to your left. And hit the bar and it fell down.”

Sembaruthi was stunned by the explanation that the Poosari gave. ‘How could he come up with such an explanation immediately? And so he accepts that there is one other person other than him here. He might either be the man with the flute or the one who got hit. I have to see him’

“Ayya... You may be right. But can I see that boy you mentioned just now?’

“Sembaruthi! There is no reason on earth why you should doubt him my child. But unfortunately what I am going to say will just add to your doubts. The boy has left early today morning to see his family in Lakshanur. But if you are doubting him, it is like doubting me” The last few words came strongly.

Imayaazh responded.

“Akka. Even I feel that the Poosari is right. Especially when he is so confident about the boy’s innocence. And I think there is no point in staying here further. We are already late and it would be better if we can start immediately. The Sevagars have also come back. The chief Sevagan came and announced that they were ready to leave anytime. If you can get ready, we can leave Akka.”

Sembaruthi was still looking at the Poosari.

“Imayaazh. Before we leave, I just have to ask the Poosari one more question.”

The Poosari looked at Imayaazh for a second and spoke. “Ask me my child. What do you want to know from this old man?”

“Why have you tied a cloth around your forehead?” She paused for a second and continued, ”As if somebody hit you with a stone.”

All the girls in the Mandabam were looking with a confused expression at Sembaruthi. The Poosari also showed a hint of a confused look for a second.

He recovered immediately. “I am not sure of the intent with which you are asking this my child. But the reason is simple. Today is the second Pavurnami of the chittirai month. It is a custom for a Poosari to tie this on this day before he starts the proceedings in the temple. Today is an auspicious day my child. And the whole of this week is favorable for people who begin long distance travels. You girls were mentioning last night that Kumudhini got married a month back. She could have very well gone to Eezham with her husband immediately after her marriage. The reason why she is leaving this week must be because of this. Also, you could have seen a number of travelers on your way yesterday while coming here. Success is sure in all endeavors for people who travel this week. Hope all of you have a good journey today. I am really happy that you were able to come here. I should say I am lucky to have met you after a long time. But the only thing that worries me is that, my child, you seem to be disturbed and frightened unnecessarily” He looked at Sembaruthi.

Sembaruthi did not reply. There was silence for half a minute. Imayaazh broke the silence.

“Akka. Get up and get ready. We shall wait in the Durga Sannidhi.” Sembaruthi got up and left the place without speaking much.

Imayaazh turned to look at the Poosari.

“Ayya. I think Akka is afraid of something. She should be alright once we start our journey. We shall take care of her. And I apologise on her behalf.”

The Poosari gently smiled. He came closer to Imayaazh and spoke in a low voice.

“Imayaazh. When women start worrying for unknown reasons there can be only two reasons. One – They are missing their loved ones too much. Two – They are beginning the divine journey towards motherhood. In Sembaruthi’s case, it can be either one of these”

Imayaazh gave a quick smile.

“Ayya Poosari. I never expected old god fearing Poosari’s to be so informed about a young women’s mind”

The Poosari smiled.

“Experience teaches you a lot of things Imayaazh. Some of them don’t stick. Some of them stick for ever”

All the girls went to the Durga Sannidhi, prayed to the goddess and waited for Sembaruthi to come. After she came, Imayaazh thanked the Poosari and they started towards the Palakku. Sembaruthi did not speak a word throughout. She came out, went into the Palakku along with the other girls.

The Sevagars were waiting and as soon as the girls entered, the Pallakku started moving north towards Araimedu.

More than half an hour passed and the Pallakku had gained a steady speed now.

Sembaruthi had still not spoken a word.

She had closed her eyes immediately on entering the Pallakku and had not opened it since then.

Suddenly her eyes opened.

She stared hard at the maids who were chatting on the other side.

She turned in a flash and pulled away the screen that was separating the Sevagars who were pulling the Pallakku and her.

She saw with red eyes the Chief Sevagan Sivaraman with a white cloth tightly wrapped on his forehead!

The Cloud Of the Princess Part - 1 Chapter 14

2006-12-30T23:11:00.000+05:30

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The music stopped.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Cloud of the Princess Part - 1 Chapter 13

2006-12-16T14:01:00.000+05:30

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“I go by your word Rani”

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

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

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

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

The Poosari spoke.

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

The girls sat down in a circle.

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

The Poosari laughed gently and said

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It was frighteningly silent around her.

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

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

The song was heard again behind her back.

She turned in fear.

She saw nothing.

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

The sound stopped again.

Everything was dark and silent.

Nothing moved.

She turned to her left.

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

The sound started again!

The Cloud of the Princess Part - 1 Chapter 12

2006-12-10T01:45:00.000+05:30

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

She spoke in a soft voice

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A known female voice cut in.

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

Of course! It was Imayaazh.

The Cloud of the Princess Part 1 Chapter 11

2006-12-04T00:22:00.000+05:30

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The King thought for a minute and then spoke.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“What are the possibilities?”

“Many.”

“Like?”

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

Maithreyan gave a pause and continued.

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

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

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

The King was floating in surprise.

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

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

The King spoke in a frustrated tone.

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

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

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

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

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

The king thought for a while.

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

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

“Ayya…”

The King opened his eyes and looked at Maitreyan.

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

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

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

“Oh… What is that?”

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

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

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

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

The Cloud of the Princess - Part 1 Chapter 10

2006-11-27T01:29:00.000+05:30

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

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

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

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

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

Mudanmandiri spoke slowly.

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

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

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

he continued.

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

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

He coughed twice and spoke.

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

The soldiers reply came without any modulation in the voice.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The king still lying on the bed smiled gently and spoke

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

The Mudanmandiri rose up and sat near the king.

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

Aadhirayar adjusted himself to a comfortable position and spoke

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But it was not what I wanted.

I wanted twins to be born.

I desperately wanted two male children.

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

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

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

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

I needed twins to be born.

Oh my god…

Patriotism took over love.

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

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

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

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

We named them Sugumaran and Eezhendiran.

A part of my plan to save Pavazhanaadu had succeeded.

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

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

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

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

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

And it has been seven years since it has happened.

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

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

And that is the third part of my plan. “

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A sudden thought filled his mind.

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

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

The Cloud of the Princess - Part I Chapter 9

2006-11-21T23:27:00.000+05:30

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

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

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

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

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

Imayaazh answered slowly.

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

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

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

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

A male voice replied.

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

“How many of you are here now?”

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

Sembaruthi thought for a moment.

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

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

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

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

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

“As you wish raniyaarey”

She closed the screen and turned back towards Imayaazh.

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

Nobody replied.

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

“We are worried about your safety Akka”

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

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

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

The Cloud of the Princess - Part I Chapter 8

2006-11-13T00:46:00.000+05:30

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The young man’s voice was heard.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Maithreyan spoke.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Suddenly there was a unbearable sound followed by dead silence.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Afterall he was in love with Sembaruthi.

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

It can bloom anywhere, anytime.

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

The Cloud of the Princess - Part I Chapter 7

2006-11-12T02:22:00.002+05:30

Sembaruthi did not even have the flimsiest of ideas to eat the medicine that Kumudhini was talking about. She had no plans whatsoever to marry and it was a sort of surprise to herself that she had got the medicine from Kumudhini and started to climb the hill. Of course there was a reason for it. When the girls were discussing about the remarkable medicine that would show you your soul mate, Sembaruthi casually looked at the opposite side to where the discussion was happening. She saw a man walking at brisk pace in their direction but he was quite far off from them and it was not very clear who he was. But it is perfect human tendency that some unknown factor alerts the mind of forthcoming problems. It happened exactly in the same manner for Sembaruthi. The man was a little bit closer now and though only the outline of his body was visible, Sembaruthi was pretty sure this was going to end up in a problem. She was sure that it was Kangeyan, her mother’s younger brother and he was as usual drunk and was searching for her. She thought Kangeyan would never search for her at this place but fate seemed to be working against her. She did not have time to think as he was fast approaching and she had no other option but to run away from the place. ‘And there is no doubt that Kangeyan is drunk. So even if the girls are going to tell him that I am in the temple above the hill, he would never be able to reach there. Even if he starts climbing, he is sure to slip on some rock and get his head broken. Hope something good like that happens’ she thought and looked back at the group. That is when Kumudhini made the tempting offer. And Sembaruthi did not hesitate for a second to take it with both hands.

She was halfway up climbing the hill and a lot of things were going through her mind. Kangeyan was not this bad before three years. It was only after he joined the army under Sethupadhiyaar that he got addicted to drinking. He came home drinking most of the nights and shouted for no reason at all. There were no wars happening in the kingdom now and that made the army men lazier. Kangeyan slowly lost his skills of fighting and fell deep into the habit of drinking.

Sethupadhiyaar was not like any other oorarasar. He was very strict, and when he found out, was not ready to tolerate men in his own army addicted to alcohol. He took a bold decision and terminated all the men in the army who were addicted to drinking. Though he was left with very few men in the army now, he was content. ‘The wars are not happening and it is better having these useless men out than in’ was his reasoning. And Kangeyan was one among those who was culled by Sethupadhiyaar. That was some two years back and since then Kangeyan had not found any work. It was even rumored in araimedu that a secret group had formed against Sethupadhiyaar by the people who were thrown out of the army, and Kangeyan was a major element in it. But Sembaruthi never cared for the politics that was happening in the town. What she was worried about was the constant pressure that Kangeyan was applying on her parents asking them to get her married to him. Sembaruthi’s father was a painter and his earnings were meager that it was difficult to run his own family. Though he was sort of afraid of Kangeyan, he did not want to marry his daughter to him unless he found himself some work and stopped drinking. Sembaruthi would silently pray that Kangeyan never found work.

These days the problems Kangeyan was causing had grown considerably. He stopped forcing her parents to marry her to him and started to directly forcing her. Whenever he talked, it did not make sense. He was drunk most of the times and would blabber irritating words of love to her. She hated the smell of the wine that men drank and did not even want to be near Kangeyan. Her respect to him had completely dwindled over time and she just wanted to stay as away from him as possible. There were some times when he was not drunk and what he talked then made sense only as much as it made when he was drunk. His speeches were mostly related to Sethupadhiyaar and how bad a oorarasar he was. He would say

“Sembaruthi…It will not be long before the criminal Sethupadhi is ousted from the position of oorarasar. I am not telling this because he threw me out of the army. I am telling this because Eezham is silently preparing for a war against pavazhanaadu and as araimedu is on the banks of amudhu, it might very well be the first place that Eezham would attack. And when that happens, with the size of the army that Sethupadhi happens to have now, it would take only the time it takes for the swords to come out of the hilt and cut the neck to conquer araimaedu. But before Eezham attacks us, we men who were thrown out of his army will throw away Sethupadhi and become the oorarasar. Who knows, if everything happens right, even I may become the oorarasan after Sethupadhi. If I become the oorarasan, just imagine how proud your father and my sister would be to see their daughter the wife of a oorarasar. You just don’t understand that you are made by the gods for me, Sembaruthi. We will be the best couple that pavazhanaadu has ever seen and …’

Sembaruthi knew he was blabbing. She hated politics but she knew the basics. There was no way to become a oorarasar by throwing away the current one. Oorasars were appointed by the king to take care of certain number of villages and they had their own army. Though they had their armies, the money for the armies’ maintenance came from the king’s treasury. The king can anytime change the oorarasar if he found somebody was not performing his role properly. But it was an unwritten rule that oorarasar’s chose their successor themselves and the king just approved it. And this successor would be normally the current oorarasar’s son and it was as if he was the king in his land. Sethupadhiyaar had got the position from his father and it was his great great grandfather’s lineage that was ruling araimedu and the villages around for over hundred years now. There were always threats and groups against oorasars throughout pavazhanaadu’s history but none of them had been successful in throwing away a oorarasar. The king respected the oorarasar a lot and never interfered in the local administration. It was a healthy political hierarchy that pavazhanaadu had developed and what Kangeyan was talking would have sounded as stupid to a common man as it was sounding to Sembaruthi. Even if the remote possibility of Kangeyan’s group succeeding in throwing off Sethupadhiyaar from the position happens, it will not last for long as the king’s main army from ponvilayur would storm in and their number and strength would be incomparable to the little secret army that Kangeyan was blabbing about.

Sembaruthi had started avoiding Kangeyan for some months and did not want to get caught by him now. She was walking swiftly without looking back and it was becoming dark and the path was getting less visible. She had to make each step carefully and one wrong step may just be the cause of a free fall. The air had chilled considerably and her hands wrapped her body instinctively. She had considerably slowed her steps when she suddenly heard a shrill sound from a long distance. The moment she heard the sound, she turned with a jerk.

It was the ‘madhuoli’.

It meant danger.

She could indistinctly see at a distance down the hill, her friends speaking with some man and she was very sure it was Kangeyan.

Her heart beat faster. It would get really dark before she got down. And it would be the time when the drunken men took to the streets. She was afraid.

‘What a silly girl I have been. What are my options now?’ she wondered. ‘I can either go up the hill and stay in the temple the whole night and then come down in the morning. But that means my parents would be frantically searching for me. But one of those girls would surely inform them that I am safe. Or I shall run down the hill as fast as I could, somehow avoid Kangeyan and join my friends. Oh! …what is this? What is happening? Who are the other men who are nearing my friends now? They must be friends of Kangeyan-People who were thrown out of the army along with him. Oh …my god… what has happened to Kumudhini, Devaki, Thamarai and Imayaazh? Where are they leaving to without me? And how can this happen?? Are the god’s against me tonight? Why is Kangeyan climbing up? Is he not drunk? He seems to be walking steadily. I can’t go down now… I have to run as fast I could to the top and reach the temple. Let the god who sits there save me. ‘

And she turned towards the top of the hill with tremendous pace ready to start running.

She got the shock of her life.

A dark human figure was standing right in front of her almost as close as touching her.

It had a flaming torch in it's hands and the reddish glow of the flames fell on it's eyes and they were staring like burning balls at her.

She shouted in fear at the peak of her voice, fainted, slipped and started to roll down the hill.

The Cloud of the Princess - Part I Chapter 6

2006-11-06T01:09:00.000+05:30

Sembaruthi was already halfway climbing up madiyamalai and she was really moving fast. All the other girls were still at the bottom of the hill and were wondering why sembaruthi was so keen in eating the medicine that kumudhini had given her a few minutes back. The girls instead of following sembaruthi up,started a discussion among themselves.

Devaki asked the group, “What has happened to this girl? I thought she was the one who did not want to get married soon?”

Imayaazh replied, “Haven’t you heard our grandparent’s saying devaki? The girl who refuses to marry will be the first to marry.”
The group started to laugh. When the laughs faded, thamarai asked kumudhini in an excited tone “kumudhini. Please tell me.. Does the medicine really work? I don’t doubt your father’s skills, but I am wondering how such a medicine could be prepared at all?”

Before kumudhini stared to respond, imayaazh cut in – “adiyey thamarai! I think you are the one who should have taken the medicine. You seem to be the one who wants to get married as quickly as possible… take my advice for it thamarai… You don’t need medicines to find your soul mate... You just need wide eyes... Keep searching... you will surely find one jumping down into your house up from the skies”

“Aah… imayaazh now I know why the roof of your house is open… I can imagine you dreaming all night … with your eyes wide open of course” responded thamarai.

Normally imayaazh would be the one who would get the better of others in the group. Now this comment of thamarai made the girls laugh like anything. It took a while for the laugh to fade off.

Devaki spoke now. She was considered as the good girl among the five. Also was she the most intelligent. Even imayaazh would not normally comment on her. “Kumudhini… I can see what thamarai is asking. How could a medicine find you your soul mate? Did your father really prepare this? Or was it just another story that came into your mind last night?”

Kumudhini smiled gently and said “very true devaki…very true… but it is not a story that came to my mind last night. It is really a medicine prepared by my father. But it is called as ‘manamarundhu’. It has no effect when taken in. Only the one who consumes it starts to feel that she has taken a medicine and her problems would end. Most of the time the problem is in the person’s mind and this is the best method to solve it”

Imayaazh was fast to react. “adi paavi kumudhini… what made you think we have problems in our minds? “

“That was for fun, my dear imayaazh… and even I am surprised why sembaruthi took the medicine. It was purposefully aimed at you”

The girls began to laugh their heart out.

Things that happened after this instant were quick. The girls were laughing among themselves and did not watch what was happening behind. A man with red eyes was walking swiftly towards the group. It seemed as if he was targeting someone in the group and was almost running to catch her. The man was well built and the way he was approaching the girls looked as if a huge demon was preparing to ruin a small city by kicking off huts and pulling out and throwing away trees. The man was very close to the girls now and devaki was the first to notice him. She got terrified on seeing his face and shouted “ayyo… look out everybody… he is coming to attack us”

The man stopped in front of the girls who were shocked by his unexpected arrival towards them. They all started to run away from the place when they heard a voice that hit their ears like a hammer hitting a nail

“Kumudhini… wait…”

Horror jumped into kumudhini’s face and she looked at him with a terrified expression.

Before even she started speaking, a group of soldiers jumped out of a nearby bush with swords raised high and took hold of the man. Four of the soldiers grabbed him from all sides and the fifth one who looked like the leader of the group commanded the others. ‘Take him to ponvilayur.’ And the soldiers dragged him out of the place. Then he turned towards the girls and spoke ‘It is already late in the evening. Don’t you know it is unsafe to be here at this time of the evening?’

Kumudhini was still in terror. She was not able to speak anything. Devaki was keenly watching the man who was now at a distance, trying unsuccessfully to get out of the hold of the soldiers. Thamarai and imayaazh looked at each other. Finally imayaazh spoke. ‘We normally stay here in the evenings. But today it has become quite late. We did not hear the ‘madhuoli’ ring yet. So we thought we could stay here for some more time.’

Madhuoli was a kind of indication system that pavazhanaadu had developed. After sugumaaran – one of aadhirayan’s twin sons who had ruled from the west, his son asokan climbed up the throne of pavazhanaadu. And he was not as good as his father in implementing strict laws to govern the people. He was too lenient and this led to increase of crimes in the state. Only towards the end of his rule, he realized that the crime rate in the kingdom had gone up considerably and then tried to enforce laws to control them. Though he was partially successful, he could not change a few practices that had developed during his reign.

Men, both soldiers and common men, had started the habit of consuming huge amount of alcohol. They drank all the day and all the night and this affected productivity. More importantly, men who were drunk bet up their wives and children and it was pathetic to watch. As more and more men started to fall for this habit of drinking alcohol at all times of the day, women found it very difficult to even walk on the streets. Men who were only beating up their wives and children, even started to beat up unknown women on the streets. Women found it hard to survive and since the strongest political men also had fallen for this practice, they did not dare to complain the king about it. Asokan’s failure in stopping alcohol consumption continued with his son singamugan, the next king of pavazhanaadu. Mahendiran, the one that followed him was not successful either. By the time mahendiran died, the men had turned so powerful, that women were treated very badly. They had to live every day with fear and tears. Pavazhanaadu was going through one of the toughest phase in its history and no king for nearly 100 years was able to control it.

Then came Padmanabar – the most respected king of Pavazhanaadu after Aadhirayan. Padmanabar thought that using force was not a solution for this problem as none of his soldiers would accept to stop men from drinking alcohol when they themselves were addicted to it. So he called in all the wealthy merchants who sold alcohol and announced them that they would be waived off tax if they sold alcohol only at certain periods of the day. This was a great opportunity for the merchants. They knew addicted men would come anytime they opened their shops and so they will still have the same amount of sales. And with no tax, they will have just more gold and silver than they had now. They welcomed the proposal and accepted to open their shops only after sunset. And as an indication to women, padmanabar had also asked the merchants to tie a huge bell in front of their shops and ring it daily when they opened the shops. He convinced the merchants explaining them that it would not only be an indication to women to be careful, but also for men to come to their shops.

And so every alcohol merchant had a bell called locally as ‘madhuoli’ which they would ring to indicate that their shops were open.

Now as imayaazh indicated about the madhuoli, the soldier seemed to have gone into a diferent era where all the history came into his mind. He recovered himself after a second and replied

‘I think I should not blame you girls after all. King Padmanabar started the madhuoli concept before which it was very difficult for women to come out of their houses. And only after this have women gained some confidence and have started to come out for the past ten years or so. And don’t worry girls. His honourable King Kunjidhapaadhanaar is going one step forward to stop this problem. He has sworn to his father on his death bed that he would totally eradicate the practice of consuming alcohol from Pavazhanaadu. It won’t be long before which you permanently stop hearing those ‘madhuoli’ bells ringing. And it won’t be long before men like him who was about to hurt you after having consumed alcohol during the day from illegal sources are controlled and destoryed’

And a shrill sound came from a distance. It was the ‘madhuoli’.

The soldier smiled gently at the coincidence and said ‘Well they say things spoken out will happen when a bell rings. And this bell is ringing now just to indicate its own death… but first things first. I would request you girls to leave the place now immediately’

Kumudhini had still not recovered and she started to move away first. Imayaazh and thamarai were uncomfortable and were not sure if they should go or not. Devaki took her eyes off the soldiers who were dragging the man away and said to the soldier ‘I think we made a mistake… we were discussing about something and we did not realize that it was time for ‘madhuoli’ to ring. One of our friends who was with us has gone up to the temple. We can’t go without her.’

The soldier seemed skeptic. He looked at devaki for a second to find out if she was speaking the truth. ‘Why did your friend go to the temple at this time? And what about you girls? Why did you not accompany her?’ he asked looking into devaki's eyes.

The girls looked at each other for a second. Devaki spoke slowly ‘We were all planning to go. But she started before us. We were about to go too ,and all this has happened’

The soldier still was not convinced. He could see devaki trying to avoid his eyes.He said ‘I don’t advice you all to stay back till she comes down. I’ll go up, find her and take her to her house. You girls go along with my soldiers to your respective places’ He turned and looked at a group of soldiers who were standing at a distance and chatting. on seeing him, three of them came running. ‘You three go along with these girls to their places and I will meet you on budhan in the capital’ He commanded.

And the girls started to depart with the three soldiers as the head of them started to climb up the hill. As they went along the narrow streets of araimedu which was getting darker every second, all the four girls but kumudhini started to think about the soldier they had just met. He was handsome. He was strong. He was courageous. He was soft yet powerful in his words.

And suddenly an interesting thought crept into their minds...

‘may be…may be the medicine that sembaruthi ate is going to work after all’

The Cloud of the Princess - Part I Chapter 5

2006-11-02T23:05:00.000+05:30

Hundred and fifty years earlier, pavazhamozhiyaal, the queen of aadhirayan was crying in pain. Pain that was more mental than physical. Pain that a woman should never experience. Pain that hits your heart with sharp edged stones when your first child dies before even making the first sound on earth. Pavazhamozhiyaal cried her lungs out on the dreadful day when she had given birth to a dead child. A male child. who if had lived would have changed the course of history of pavazhanaadu. But now it lay aside her as a lump of matter that neither moved nor cried. There was dead calm in the aura of the silk bed where pavazhamozhiyaal was lying except for the continuous sound of pain that started somewhere deep below her heart and was directed towards the sky , translating into deadly words of woe as they reached the ears of those brutal gods who were comfortably sleeping up there. The gods woke up, stared bluntly at pavazhamozhiyaal and spoke the worst words that pavazhanaadu had ever heard before ‘Oh lady…. may you come here too’

And the shrill started to fade off.

Pavazhamozhiyaal cried one more time in helplessness and her soul prepared itself for the unknown journey towards the unknown worlds.

Aadhirayan, normally praised by poets as the man with an iron heart stood by his wife's side and also by all those poet’s words. Not a single drop of tear came out from his eyes. Those eyes were not red. They were rather yellow , depicting neither fear nor pain but an unknown stem of disease, the roots of which started to pierce harder into his heart.

It was regarded as the karuppu aandu in pavazhanaadu’s history.

Exactly an year later, pavazhanaadu celebrated in joy. aadhirayan had married again and this time his new queen was safe after giving birth. To double the happiness of her and the whole of pavazhanaadu, she was blessed with a pair of twins. Both were male. And aadhirayan thanked the almighty silently as he went back to his palace after kissing his queen on the forehead.

The kids grew up fast and they were seventeen in no time. They had mastered all the skills that a king must have and were as powerful as rocks physically. They had the wondrous looks of aadhirayan and were even more analytical than him. All the knowledge that aadhirayan had kidnapped into his land were taught to them and they were teeming with confidence and pride.

It was then on a sunny morning day, old and experienced mudanmandhiri kesavanaar had come up to aadhirayan , bowed and said

‘irayey… I don’t wish to say what I have to say now, but if I don’t tell it now, it might affect not this old man but the whole of pavazhanaadu’

aadirayan started to laugh. His laugh became a roar in a while and he uttered with a voice that shook men with hardest of hearts, let alone old kesavanaar

“I know ayya… I know… is it not about who becoming the next king?.... ‘

There was a worried look in the mudamandiri’s face

‘Yes …’ he replied without emotions.

‘Time shall decide that my dear old reliable mudanmandiri…. time shall decide the fate of this god’s land’

And time had something very bad to give back.

Slowly, small problems began to pop up between the twins sugumaaran and eezhendiran. Though both of them were as close as possible for seventeen long years, a split up was occurring slowly but surely. They were controlling themselves for their father was still ruling the country but they knew it was not going to be for long before that old man died. But in the meantime the soldiers and the army had slowly started to divide into two groups, one supporting sugumaaran and another eezhendiran.

And the old man did die after seven years.

Immediately after his father’s death, sugumaaran declared himself the ruler of pavazhanaadu. And ordered his men to attack eezhendiran. eezhendiran who ,though was expecting a war , did not expect it on the immediate day after his father’s death. The unexpected attack made eezhendiran and his men to flee from the palace. A civil war broke out and the streets started to float in blood. Men, dogs, women, goats, children, cows and every other thing that came in the way of the two armies were killed. It was a deadly sight especially because no war rules were followed and a pang of horror hit the poor and the common man. Men and women started to flee along with eezhendiran’s army to safer places which did not seem to exist at all. The war of death continued for two years and at the end of it no one was a winner. eezhendiran had run away to the other side of the majestically huge river amudhu that aadhirayan had seen as blue line of water from the apex point of asuragiri some fifty years ago. A significant part of the common men had also transferred their homes to the eezhendiran’s side. Slowly , eezhendiran built up a army of his own and declared himself the king of eezham – the name he gave to the land he had occupied on the east of river amudhu while sugumaaran continued to rule from the west of amudhu without renaming the name of the land that his father had discovered – pavazhanaadu.

The thought of every old man who had survived the civil war and was on either one side of amudhu was similar.

‘The twins have spoiled the beautiful land that the father had built with his blood and flesh’

And it was very true.

Except for one man who had a slightly different idea – mudhanmandhiri kesavanaar.

The Cloud Of The Princess Part I - Chapter 4

2006-10-31T00:03:00.000+05:30

Sembaruthi was not very happy with the way things had turned out in the morning. She knew that her husband was not the sort of man who would very easily grant permission to go and meet kumudhini. He was a stubborn man and the whole world knew it. But what the world did not know was the magic to melt the stubbornness and to make him fall on his feet. And she had just intended to use that magic weapon against him this morning. But it had not worked. Everything was shattered into pieces. The aim was achieved comfortably - the aim of getting permission to meet kumudhni. But she would have been the happiest woman in pavazhanaadu if only the permission had been granted without the additional message that maithreyan had slowly spoken into her ears. Every word of it brought a strange chill to her spine. She was almost shivering when he had finished telling it. And he was as solid as a rock even after having conveyed such a dreadful message. He had slowly taken his head off her and said in a voice that literally shook the ground below her foot ‘sembaruthi… if you can do this successfully, the whole of pavazhanaadu would be grateful to you… but if you don’t, my dear sembaruthi… at least save your precious life–for I don’t want me to be called as the creature who showed his own wife the way to the grave’ and a drop of tear lost balance and fell down from his eyes. Today was the first day she had seen tears on the mighty man’s eyes. But strangely, she had not broken down at that instant. ‘Politics makes men stranger…and my husband is the perfect example’ she told herself.

‘akka’ she heard a voice from opposite and suddenly realized that she had spoken the last sentence louder than she had intended to.

She lifted up her face to see one of her maids looking at her surprisingly. The maid bent her face towards her and with a smile that escaped out through her lips, said “akka… you are dreaming about dhalapadhiyaar I guess...aren't you?’ . She did not even complete the sentence as the three other maids who were sitting around started to laugh together. Sembaruthi could not understand what was happening at the first instant. only after a few seconds she realized that the maids must have heard only the words ‘my husband is the perfect example’ and not what she had told before that.... ‘May be I did not even tell the first sentence loud…strange enough’ she thought. And the thought of how the words the maids had heard would have sounded to them made her uncomfortable. She swiftly turned her face to the side where no one was sitting and spoke in a angry tone ‘look imayaazh…neither did I dream about your honorable dhalapadhiyaar nor was I sleeping in the first place…. I was just thinking about something…. please don’t imagine things’ .There was silence for a second.

And she turned to the three maids who were still laughing without making noise and said angrily ‘look here girls… if you are not going to stop laughing, we are not going to meet kumudini…we stop our pallakku right here and I shall ask the sevagars to immediately turn the pallakku towards the palace ..What do you want me to do?’

Imayaazh immediately replied ‘ why akka… are you not able to let dhalapadhiyar alone in the palace even for a single day?… don’t worry akka… no goat or dog will eat our honorable dhalapadhiyar off…. and we will be back next budhan….which is not a very long time from now’ . And at the moment she completed saying it, all four including sembaruthi burst into laughter. And on seeing sembaruthi laugh at the joke, imayaazh commented ‘I know what you were thinking about akka…. was it not the hill temple incident that happened three years ago?’

Well… sembaruthi was not thinking about the hill temple incident that happened three years ago, but now that incident came into her mind at tremendous pace like a powerful arrow that was just let go of the vibrating string of a bow.

Sembaruthi, iniyaazh, kumudhini devaki and thamarai were young girls then and they all gathered daily without fail at the bottom of the hill madiyamalai. They spoke about anything and everything that girls whom the fragrance of maturity had started to tie its first knot around would discuss. Though the practice of meeting below the hill had been around for more then five years, the girl’s topics these days had changed considerably from what it was five years back. These days, it was always regarding men. And most of these men would be fictious characters… men whom the girls would have heard in stories or men whom their imagination would have given a pair of sparkling eyes, a heavy broad chest , a pair of tight shoulders and a dynamic voice. Sometimes they even discussed about men whom they had seen in their houses or in the temple or near the lakeside or wherever. But irrespective of the geography, the content was the same. And that particular day was no different. Except that kumudini had an entirely new approach.

Kumudhini was the first to speak and she was excited.

“Listen, my dear girls… “, she said in a high voice with both hands held towards the sky and all four girls turned towards her. iniyaazh was quick to respond

“oh my dear kumudhini…. from the way you look and the way you command us, it seems you have found a daring soldier as your soul mate… how bad of you not to inform us before your marriage….we would not have grabbed your husband off you ….we are not arakkis…we are your thozhis”. And the group started to laugh.

kumudhini waited for a second for the buzz to settle down and continued

“Girls… I have not found my soul mate yet… but I have a medicine which if you eat, will show you your soulmate immediately…”

There was silence in the group for a second at the end of which everybody started to speak at the same instant. Kumudhini somehow understanding that everyone in the group was asking the same question ‘how’ but phrasing it differently, clapped her hands thrice as hard as possible and everybody’s attention turned towards her.

‘As you all know, my father is a vaithiyar… and yesterday I saw him give this medicine to a girl from lakshanur. She had come with her father and it seems she had not got married for a long time. My father gave her this medicine and told her father, ‘ayya… this medicine if taken with the sincere thought of getting a soulmate, will immediately show your daughter her husband in the moolavar sannidhi of the next temple that she visits… and make sure neither this medicine nor your visit to me is told to anybody else. ‘ kumudhini stopped to look at the group. The group was watching her without even battling their eyelids. thamarai spoke ‘ and do you think this really works kumudhini?’ . kumudhini’s response was sharp and quick . ‘The whole of this town and the twenty four villages that surround the town respects my father and the medicines he makes.. so it is purely your choice to believe it or not…if you people are so very interested, may be one of you should try it once…and here we have a temple ready for us to visit…' and she increased her voice a bit to say 'who is now ready among you to eat this and test it out immediately?’

The whole group fell silent. kumudhini’s eyes went from one girl to another in the group. Normally sembaruthi would have been the most silent in the group. But strangely enough, she spoke breaking the silence. ‘I shall try it kumudhini’

Everybody was shocked to see sembaruthi respond. But they recovered quickly and kumudhini without wasting much time took a small round ball of medicine and gave it to sembaruthi. Sembaruthi closed her eyes, prayed for a second and swallowed the medicine. And even before anyone expected, se was half way climbing up the hill to reach the temple.

The Cloud Of The Princess Part I - Chapter 3

2006-10-26T23:49:00.000+05:30

"None of the kings in history has had such a wonderful architectural masterpiece in his court" the painter had explained with a voice overflowing with enthusiasm. It was a masterpiece and it was indeed a bold attempt by the chief painter. It had taken him three and a half months to complete the painting, a month more than the estimate he had given the king initially. And since the huge piece of work had to be done exactly in the middle of the magnificently large court of the king, the king had to move his court temporarily to another palace of his. And after three and a half months of astonishing calculations and perfection in work, the painting had been completed. It was something that no painter had ever imagined before in pavazhanaadu and every moment somebody saw it, it reflected the painter's skill and execution and the amount of hard work and precision that had gone into it.

It was a royal painting.
The painting itself consisted of two parts which was the major reason that had made it different from any other painting. One part of it was painted on the floor exactly in front of the king’s throne. Another part was painted on the ceiling, exactly above the part painted on the floor. It was like two semicircles of a huge circle such that the lower semicircle was painted on the ground and the upper semicircle was painted on the ceiling. Ideally both the semicircles would seem to be a part of the same circle only when viewed from a considerable height above the ceiling which was not possible with the closed ceiling. Hence to achieve this effect, the painter had carefully pasted huge semicircular pieces of glass on the upper semicircle in the floor and the lower one on the ceiling. This way the corresponding portions got reflected and the entire painting could be seen both on the floor and the ceiling of the emperor's court.
The technique used to paint was special. But what was painted was even more special. The upper semicircle on the ceiling was painted with the shining crown that the king wore. And the lower semicircle on the floor was painted with the King's face. Thus when someone looked at it for the first time, he would not be able to figure out the fact that the painting was of two parts but could see the whole face of the king along with the crown.
It was a huge achievement by the painter and the accuracy of positioning the glass and the effort taken to provide an illusion were highly appreciated all across the kingdom. Common men who had never entered the king's palace before and who had only heard about this marvelous painting that the chief painter had created would listen in awe to stories of how much hard work was put in to create this excellent piece of art. It was also rumored that the king initially wanted to paint his queen rather than himself but later decided against it. Rumors about the land and gold that the king had offered the chief painter in appreciation of the work had also spread like wildfire. The painting was popularly known as 'kannadi oviyam' and there was not even a single day that passed without it's mention somehow or the other. A painting of the size of a huge tank was unimaginable for the common man and that too in two parts , one on the ceiling and one on the floor was just not comprehendible by the mind.
'How did the painter draw the painting on the ceiling father?' a boy would ask now and then his farmer father and every time the farmer father would reply something like this.
'It is god's gift to pavazhanaadu! People born here are born with extreme talent... and you must one day grow up like that’. And the boy would forget the logical reasoning behind his question but start dreaming about becoming a painter one day.

But then it was two long years ago.

The king was now sitting in his throne in silence surrounded by no one, not even the queen. Even the soldiers had been ordered to leave the palace. The king was staring at the stupendous piece of art that his chief painter had created two years back but it did not seem to give him as much pleasure it had given him then. He was deeply lost in thought and though his eyes were watching his own painting, brain seemed not to register anything at all. There was a stream of thoughts that had formed in his mind for sometime now and he was too involved in that, that he did not even sense that somebody had come in front of him.

Suddenly the silence was broken by somebody clearing the throat and the king looked up as if he had broken a spell. Maithreyan was standing in front bowing down.
"My sincere greetings to the Lord almighty. Hope I find him in best of spirits" He said in a voice which was hundred times softer than how he spoke to sembaruthi in the morning.
"Thanks a lot for your greetings dhalapadhi maitreyanaar...Hope you are in the best of spirits too “. The voice was dynamic, bold, clear and succinct. It had the right modulation and right stress on the right syllable.
"Oh...Yes My lord.... am as good as any other day....and as good as any other citizen under the almighty's rule... I heard that something important had come up and so almighty wanted to see me..."
"Dhalapadhi... I wonder if you got my message or not....You only heard that something important has come up?... didn't you get my message of what it was?" There was a bit of concern in the king's voice.
"I rarely see almighty , the king of pavazhanaadu, kunjidhapaadhanaar make mistakes... and the message that i had to receive was one among them" The dhalapadhi maithreyan looked straight into the king's eyes as he said this. The king was taken aback.
"Mistake... what was the mistake you found in my message dhalapadhi.... i know you never talk nonsense.... was there anything that was wrong in the message you received?"

"Well a number of things ayyaa.... first of all, I would not have expected such a message from you at all...especially when i was not in the capital"
This gave a shock to the king. He seemed to get angered a bit. His raised his voice and spoke "Dhalapadhi.... don't test my patience... this is not the time to play around.... we are in a very critical situation and i did not dare to go further without your advice....and when i tried to find you, i understood that you were out of the capital for reasons i don't know and don't wish to know....and so i had to send you the message"

the dhalapadhi's reply came in soft manner.
"ayya...I understand the situation that you were in.... but people tend to make mistakes only when they are nervous.... and you have just proved that the king is no exception to the rule..... When you wanted to send me an important message and wanted to send it immediately, you could have just send me a message asking me to meet you immediately ...and that would have been urgent enough for me to rush to ponvialyur... rather you insisted on sending the message of importance itself ...and that ayya is the mistake you made.... just imagine what would have happened if the messenger had run away with the message...."

"Aah...where could he escape at all.... he has to be somewhere in pavazhanaadu and most probably in ponvilayur.... i have full faith that your soldiers would have caught him in a matter of hours.... and once he gets caught, his future is as pathetic as the life of a mouse under the elephant's legs"

"Even i don't doubt the skills of my soldiers to the extent of the smallest of grains my lord....but... there is one assumption that you have made...that the messenger would be roaming somewhere in pavazhannadu....but the message you sent me suggests otherwise"

Maitryan gave a pause at this moment and it seemed to be deliberate. He watched the king's face change like a fear struck cat in the dark.The eyes of the king glowed like diamonds but the glow depicted more fear than flair.The king cleared his throat and spoke as if the words were coming from deep below his heart

"Maitreya.... i don't trust anybody on this account..... i don't even completely trust the message that i have received yesterday.... i only trust you.... " He paused for a second and continued with a slightly higher but more cautious tone
"Do you really think pavazhanaadu is safe from the outer world at all?"

There was silence in the room for a minute. The air in-between the two seemed to have taken a dense form and it was as if nobody had the guts to speak.Both the men present there had lost eye contact. It was either that none of them wanted to answer the question or that theydid not know the answer for it. Both of them were now starring down at the majestic painting of king kunjidhapaadhanaar and both their minds suggested that the king was not as majestic as he looked two years before.
Finally after two minutes, maithreyan broke the silence. The words came out slowly but with a sense of authority.
"Iam not sure my lord... but i have made arrangements to find out"

The Cloud Of The Princess Part I- Chapter 2

2006-10-24T22:27:00.000+05:30

Pavazhanadu was being ruled by kunjidhapaadhanar. Surrounded by mountains on all four sides, it was the safest place a king could ever rule. The kingdom spread over hundreds of miles and was inhabited by lakhs of common people most of whom were involved in agriculture. There were also artisans, painters, sculptors, doctors, astronomers, poets and people in almost all spheres of life. Group of men ploughing the field as they talked of the next harvest, Group of ladies carrying woods as they sang a rhythmic tune together, gang of girls playing with mud making imaginary figures, couple of children running around the huts with long pine sticks in their hands, old men and women sitting in front of the houses and teaching their grandchildren ethics and morals were common sights. But nobody claimed to be aborigines of this land. It was only some hundred and fifty years before which a prince called Aadhirayan from northern tamilnadu along with soldier friends successfully climbed up the so called highest mountain of tamilnadu-asuragiri on his third attempt after having sworn to his father that he would not return back to the kingdom without knowing what was on the other side of it. It had taken him almost three months to climb to the apex of the mountain and when he finally managed to do that his heart started to leap. What he saw when he reached the top of the mountain was a breathtaking sight. He saw a huge empty field spread out till his eyes could reach which appeared as if a beautiful brown blanket was spread over mother earth. He also saw an equally high mountain as that of asuragiri on the horizon and he could see that the empty field stretched till that. Right on the center of the huge empty field ran a slender curved blue twinkling line of water that nature had gifted to that place. The serene river was exactly dividing the empty landscape into two equal parts. There were no trees to be seen anywhere but only thorny bushes all along the river on either side.

Chill air hit aadhirayan's face and his hair started to float up and down as he majestically stood on the top of asuragiri witnessing this breathtaking scenery. Suddenly the clouds started to turn black and drops of rain fell on his face . The sun went down the skies swiftly and it looked as if it raced to an unknown place to inform somebody that one of the most guarded secret of her's had been found out. It was romantic and the brown landscape that opened up in infinite directions in front of him appeared like a virgin who could not control blushing because it was the first time a man had seen her. More clouds gathered together at tremendous pace and in a few seconds a roaring thunder accompanied with a bright lightning broke the eardrums of aadhirayan. It was that moment when he decided that he would rule from this god's own land and will name it pavazhanadu after his queen pavazhamozhiyaal .

The immediate problem he faced was to being people into pavazhanaadu. He thought hard and after discussing with a few handpicked men of astute political and architectural knowledge, laid a huge plan. A secret tunnel was made through the basement of mount asuragiri into pavazhanaadu with the help of ten thousand soldiers who worked tirelessly for a period of seven years. The whole process was kept in utmost secrecy and it was made sure that it did not spread through word of mouth into other kingdoms. After its successful completion, people were slowly asked to move to pavazhanaadu through the tunnel. Aadhirayan was not inclined towards war and so he wanted to rule this land that god had gifted him in isolation and wanted to develop it as one of the most advanced kingdom that mankind has ever seen - be it in architecture, science, engineering , medicine or astronomy. He did not want his enemies to know about this remarkable discovery he had made and so closed the secret tunnel that he had built after three years before which bulk of the population had already moved from his kingdom into pavazhanaadu. The public knew that there was no way now to go back to the other side of asuragiri but they did not have a need to. They had all their families here and this dream land their king had found was more fertile and prpsperous than where they came from. So they never complained- rather they sang kavi's in praise of their king and inscribed his excellence on stones. Aadhirayan did have a part of the tunnel open for over thirty years up till a few years before his death but this was known only to a bunch of politically closely knit people. Though pavazhanaadu had become self sufficient in almost everything, it lacked what aadhiryan dreamt of. 'A powerful knowledge base'. And Aadhirayan tactfully used this part of the tunnel to kidnap eminent scholars from other side of asuragiri into his land. The kidnapped men were handcuffed and their eyes tied tight and so they never realized where they were brought to. Aadhirayan did not believe that these scholars would really teach students of his kingdom anything useful. He knew they would oppose and would be stubborn not to teach and may even get to know about the tunnel that was closed years ago and start to doubt the fact that whole of pavazhanaadu believed. So he threw all these scholars into deadly dark prisons underground his palace and forced them to write down whatever they had learnt and when they were done, mercilessly killed them. Once he had gained expert knowledge on several branches of science that he hoped for, he called in the best guru's in his kingdom and asked them to read and understand what the kidnapped scholars had left behind and teach those to the students of his land. Some of the bunch of ministers who knew all these happenings would even ask aadhirayan why he was doing all this when he wanted to rule alone and who was he trying to prove greater than when he had no competition at all. All of aadhirayan's reply would be a gentle smile and the words 'ellam iraivan viruppam' which translates as 'Every happening is god almighty's desire'

Hundred and fifty years later , the seventh generation after aadhirayan, thiru kunjidhapaadhanaar took over as the king of pavazhanaadu and along with his climb to the throne came mysterious problems from various unexpected quarters.