The Promise

1 years ago

proteeti

@sambhavami

Krishna jolted awake in the middle of the night, his throat parched. His eyes settled on the painted ceiling; the beautiful apsaras adorning the illustration stared back at him with their alluring, lifeless eyes. Krishna laughed to himself. He had been dreaming about the gopis again. It had been a happy dream, but Krishna found himself inexplicably sad. Life had been so simple back then! His only worry then was how to sneak into the house after a night's exploits without tipping off his mother. Shaking his head, he approached the large window overlooking the royal garden. A golden jug stood by the window. Krishna poured the liquid into a tall glass and immediately gasped upon taking a sip. Scrunching his nose, he held up the glass in the glistening moonlight- pomegranate juice. Krishna sighed. Even after twenty years, he had failed to convince his staff that even royalty sometimes needs just plain water.

As he cradled his juice, his eyes were drawn to a shaded corner of the garden. Surrounded by servants and decorated wine crates sat Balarama. He was laughing uproariously. Someone was sitting beside him. Krishna squinted his eyes- it was Vasudeva. Krishna felt a strange pang of jealousy. Krishna had never gotten a chance to bond with his father. The wars had kept him busy. He hadn't realized that in the same time, Balarama had managed to forge such an informal relationship with their father. Carrying the jar of juice, Krishna walked down to them. "What? Having a party without me?" He asked them, forcing a smile.

Balarama vigorously shook his head, looking almost guilty, "We're only talking." Krishna chuckled at the sight of the two grown men reaching to find an explanation to give to him. 

"I'm just kidding," Krishna said as he sat on the glistening grass. 

Balarama cleared his throat, "Honestly, I didn't think you drank anymore."

"He used to drink?" Vasudeva chuckled, as he patted Krishna's cheek affectionately.

"Like a fish!" Balarama nodded as Krishna desperately shushed, "We both used to get drunk and dance with the gopis all night!"

"It's alright," said Vasudeva with a grin, "We're all adults here! But, why'd you quit?"

Krishna sighed, "For the war, Father. I figured one of us needed to stay sober for safety and security of our army-men."

"Was that a jab at me, Kanha?" Balarama pouted as he poured out another glass for Krishna.

Krishna shrugged, "You have tried to murder Satrajit twice! Kritavarma, once, and the envoy from Matsya, thrice!"

Balarama scrunched up his nose as he tried to recollect, "Yeah, I remember that guy. What happened to him? I haven't seen him in a year!"

"Yes, Dau. He has been turning up exclusively in your absence!" Krishna laughed as he took a sip. His mind raced back to the beautiful groves of Vrindavan, where the gopi maidens would nearly corner him. They would each offer him a glass of their finest home-brewed liquor and wait for him as he downed each glass. He chuckled as he remembered how the maidens wouldn't allow him to leave unless he'd offered a judgement.

"You're no better than me, Krishna! Remember Shankhachooda? We were dead drunk when we went after him!" Balarama chuckled, "I am wearing that gem we got from him now!" Balarama excitedly pointed to his crown, breaking Krishna out of his reverie.

"Ah," Krishna exclaimed as he reached out to touch the gem, "That's where I know that from! I kept thinking it was from the Kurus or something!"

"Yeah! Do you remember how cross the gopis were when we stopped the guy? They were enjoying the breeze on the guy's shoulder and were annoyed we rescued them too soon!" Balarama chuckled, "They complained to me for an hour while you went to kill the man!"

"Yes!" Krishna laughed fondly, "They were so sure I'd save them that they just took Shankhachooda for a joyride along the beach! The poor lad was so confused when they kept thanking and wishing him a safe journey to the afterlife!"

Balarama grinned, "You don't know anything. Getting rescued by you was more like an item on their bucket list! The next day, they bragged to the village so much that I thought I might barf! Father, you should've been there!"

Not receiving a response, the brothers turned to find Vasudeva staring somberly into the distance. After some coaxing, he spoke in a hoarse voice, "You two, my sons, are so well accomplished, and I am just a useless accessory! You have saved countless lives, and me?! I don't even deserve to call myself your father!"

"No!" Krishna said, gently caressing his father's feet, "You have done so much with such a cruel hand that destiny has dealt you. You are one of the strongest people we know!"

"Yes, Father!" Balarama continued with a kind smile, "Kanha and I wouldn't even be alive if you had not saved us from Kamsa!"

"No," Vasudeva lamented, "I killed innocent children! Devaki's children, Nanda's daughter! I have their blood on my hands. Krishna, I have let down every single person in my life! I could save no one!"

"That is not true, Father." Krishna whispered, "You kept the resistance alive. All the dissidents for those seventeen years gathered under your name. They fought under your flag! The same resistance that brought me to Mathura and enabled me to end Kamsa's cursed reign. You and Mother did that!"

"My sister!" Vasudeva cried, "I did nothing for her!"

Krishna looked at Balarama quizzically. Kunti. The five brothers. Balarama mouthed to him. Krishna nodded, "You were imprisoned, Father. I'm sure no one blames you for not helping Aunt Kunti and her sons when her husband died!"

"What Kunti?" Vasudev sneered, "She is and will always be Pritha! My father, he got rid of her the first chance he got! Helping Kuntibhoja, my foot! He knew where he sent his daughter, and I could do nothing! They changed her name and identity and cut her from her home!"

"You were a child, Father!" Balarama said.

"Yeah, so was she! You know we used to exchange letters for a couple of years, in secret. Father didn't want us to mention her in front of anyone you see. He always said I was his firstborn! Then, one month, even the letters stopped. No matter what I wrote, she wouldn't reply! Then, a year later, she married Pandu. Why?! Everyone knows that the Kuru family is cursed! Ever since the old King Shantanu's time! No worthy king born in their family ever survives their youth! That Bhishma guy has been coercing families into doomed marriages with his brothers and nephews for generations! Even Pandu's so-called father died mysteriously. Who would willingly marry their daughter into such a family? They said the wedding was intimate. Why was she married off to him all of a sudden? Why was none of the family invited? I know he did something or didn't do something, I don't know! He failed my Pritha! I failed my Pritha! Then that dastard didn't even have the decency to take the kids when Pandu died! no one looked out for her, not even my so-called friends! All of us, we left her all alone to fight her way through this unforgiving world!" Vasudeva's eyes blazed with emotions. 

He grasped Krishna's hands and peered into his eyes, "You two! Couldn't you do something?" Vasudeva finished, breathing heavily.

Krishna cleared his throat. He looked into his father's desperate eyes. He felt an overwhelming sadness engulf him. "I will, Father," he squeezed Vasudeva's palms, taking them into his own, "I promise. Now that I know, no harm will befall them. I will gladly give my life if that spares them even an inconvenience. I will protect Aunt Pritha and her family from every enemy of theirs and mine until my last breath."

"You're not a god, Krishna," Balarama sighed.

"Then I will become one." Krishna continued seriously, "I will fight Indra, and Agni and Varuna. I will subjugate the world and place it at Aunt Pritha's feet. The throne of Hastinapura is too little compensation for what she has faced, Father. I will make her sons the Kings of the world! I will happily take on any curse threatening them and suffer it myself. I will give my life, happiness and ideals to their cause! Will you be happy if they are, Father?"

---

Once the morning sun touched his eyes, Krishna woke up to find himself lying under a kadamba tree. Satyabhama was seated beside him, gently pruning a bush nearby. As Krishna sat up with a smile, the princess turned and shot him a knowing look. "I wasn't drinking. It was-" Krishna tried to interject, but Satyabhama stopped him mid-sentence, holding a glass of pomegranate juice up to his lips. Krishna started laughing heartily as his wife stared at him, confused. Krishna threw his arms around the princess, pulling her close, "Honey, this juice might change the world!" He whispered. Satyabhama shook her head, "You need to sleep in a proper bed, my raja-gopala! My room tonight," she whispered conspiratorially with a smirk and wink.

"Quite a tall promise you made yesterday. Are you even sure they're worth it?" Balarama asked once the brothers were settled in Krishna's office. 

"I just have a feeling," Krishna stopped mid-sentence as he turned to greet a man who had just walked in the doors. "Uncle Akroora, you came!" Krishna exclaimed as he embraced the man.

"It has been too long, Krishna!" Akroora smiled, "Both of you! Your Aunt is talking my ear off about inviting you two!"

Krishna laughed and agreed before seating the older man down with a glass of soma.

"I have called you for a sensitive mission today." Krishna continued, his face grim and his voice almost a whisper, "Go to Hastinapura! Find the Queen Mother Kunti and her sons. I need you to know everything that there is to know about them, and I want names. Anyone who has hurt them, anyone who has talked ill of them, anyone who has even looked at them wrong! You once brought two sons of this family home, uncle. Now it's time to bring a daughter home."