Pearls Of Friendship

He was in quite a fix. She had nailed him. Looks like he was going to lose. God it felt bad losing to her.I mean how many games had he won. This was his game. His turf.People had lost to him in hordes and vowed never to play the game with him ever gain.He knew every rule of the game. He knew how to bend every rule of the game to to emerge as a winner. But here he was losing out to her.

He had to agree that she was good. Too good. She gave him a run for his money. In what was always touted to be a man’s game she was beating him and she was beating him to shame.He had to agree she played with her mind and she calculated everyone one of her moves. He had underestimated her ,grossly.And now he was paying for it.

Oh but wait a minute, he had found a loophole. He had not been playing this game all along for losing to a woman did he? His friend Duriyodhan and Shakuni uncle ‘s influence was indeed not lost on him.There he had her cornered. There was no way she could win now. How he enjoyed her company. He was so glad that they had this beautiful friendship. The purity of it was what made him so proud.He respected her so much. She carried with her the aplomb of a queen and shared an amazing friendship with him. He respected friendship more than anything ,he had given up everything including the strong sense of morale that he had for his friend Duriyodhan.To him it was atop everything else. To him friendship was sacrament,above anything ,any god.It only made him feel happier that she ,the wife of his greatest friend was such a great friend to him herself.

He found her leaving the game. “Where are you going, afraid you are losing out?”. he cried out, when she started moving away . “Ofcourse not, I just think this game is such a waste of my time “, she said twisting her lips in a way that cried out loud that she was unabashedly lying and was smiling about it too. “Well,not so fast” he said, stretching out his hand and tried to stop her. He did not quite realise what he did at that instant, in his anxious moment to stop her from moving away he caught the ornament that embellished her waist . Notwithstanding his sudden movement and the strength of it the ornament fell apart and the pearls that made up the ornament dropped to the ground . The sound echoed throughout the halls and it never seemed to end. If this was not shocking enough , his friend ,his alter ego walked in through the queens chambers at the same moment.

He was shattered. What had he done? How could he have committed such an act? He stood so low in his friend’s eyes now. Duriyodhan who had given him respect in front of people’s eyes , he who had changed him from a mere chariot rider’s son to a king , he who trusted him with his life will now abhor him. He will disown him and rightfully so after what he had done. She was his friend and it was an involuntary moment to stop her, nothing more, but how would it have looked to the outside world, to his friend’s eyes. He could not bear to imagine it.His whole world came crashing down . And so did hers when he shot a glance at her. She was mortified.It was written all over her face. He could understand her feelings , a women‘s feelings.

He then saw Duriyodhan‘s lips move. He thought he dint hear it right for a moment

” Shall I pick them up or braid them toghether“

The next moment he was embracing him. This he thought was friendship.THis he thought was worth giving up everything he had got. His mother, his brothers, his very own life.

p.s : I am pasting the quote in Tamil below. One of the most beautiful lines i have ever read. Its the translated version that u see above

சிதறிய முத்துக்களை எடுக்கவா கோர்க்கவா ?

“Sidhariya Mutthukalai Edukkava Korkkava”

p.s :Adapted from Mahabharata. One of the many millions of short stories found in Mahabharata.