" You should go and request him,
I am sure he will help us, after all he is your childhood friend, you both
learned under the same guru" she said in a low voice concealing her face
with torn saffron veil.
"He will not be familiar with me
as he used to be, all these years i never even came across him, and now asking
him a favour, how appalling is that, and besides how can I meet a king without
any endowment, why would he even bother to meet indigent Brahmin like
me." He lowered his face in hopelessness.
" They call him dwarkadish,
the ultimate king, the most righteous of all, I have heard how people in his
kingdom are full of life and health, I am sure he will have a little pity on
us" her voice sensed a little hope.
She went outside for a while and came
back with a handful of rice which were as little as dust of flowers, she cooked
that on slow flame and wrapped it in a tiny dirty cloth as gift for king and
handed it to her husband.
He embarked out on a strenuous
journey to the kingdom of dwarka, the couple had nothing left with them, except
broken house with shabby interiors, ragged clothes, even the rice which she
gave him was borrowed from neighbour, hunger accompanied many of their
sleepless nights.
She was a pious wife she never
complained about the condition of the house, clothes, nor she had any lust for
ornaments, her body was satisfied with what she wore, her hunger was satisfied
with what she ate, her mind refused to complain. This was first time she asked
something from him, so how could he refuse, this strong reason was what geared
up his journey.
His thoughts were occupied thinking
about his friend who was now a king. On his way he kept recounting incidents of
their bonding in adolescent age, how they played together, learned new things,
how their guru loved both of them equally and he remembered one such incident
where he cheated his beloved friend.
They were on their way back to gurukul
coming from their guru's home, guru's wife had given him fried chana as a snack for the journey
and asked him to share equally, they both had
to stop under a tree as the rains became ugly, he started to eat alone.
' what sound is that you are making sudama,
are you eating something? Please share with me i am feeling very Hungry...' His
friend requested.
' No no kanha these winds are very cold and making my teeth
crackle" he lied through his teeth
He always knew deep inside that to
satisfy his lust for hunger he spoke untruth to his friend who had always loved
him more than he loved himself.
Soon his senses brought him to the
mighty kingdom of dwarka, the city had a sight to behold, it was off shore and
yet connected to mainland, as if ocean purposely had created space for this
city, every house was nicely decorated, streets were as smooth as silk, cool
breeze from seaside along with little sunlight made every soul cheerful, all he
could see was smiling faces everywhere, soon he stopped outside the mammoth
gates of palace where the king lived.
" Who are you? never seen you here, whom you want to
meet?" Gatekeepers asked in a suspicious tone.
" I am sudama, childhood
friend of kanha, I came here to meet him" his voice barely reaching
to height of their ears.
" Hahaha, you think you can fool
us, we are here since years, we know every friend of king, why would our great
king ever befriend such a tentative personality" they joked sarcastically.
" Please just inform him once,
if he doesn't agree I will go away now itself."
" Ok just wait here."
One of them entered the royal hall
where all ministers and kings were seated and informed them...
" your highness a very timid and
weak Brahmin is waiting outside, his name is sudama he says......"
" SUDAMA...IS IT TRUE..."
king literally screaming, Interrupted the gatekeeper, jumped up from his chair
and started running towards the gate.
All the ministers stood up in
bewilderment, they saw their king running with only one footwear, he never
bothered about it. He forgot who he was, he pushed the guard and opened gate
himself and hugged sudama, crying inconsolably, no one could stop those
tears, they were finally released after so many years, sudama was shocked with
such gesture, so was everyone in the royal palace.
" Oh my dear friend sudama,
where have you been all these years, I worried about you every second of my
life, you became so selfish that you forgot me, you never cared about our
friendship?"
Sudama was speechless all he could
see with his moist eyes was beautiful face of his friend who was wiping off
tears from his face.
" Come with me my friend, I am
honoured that I have a Brahmin at my palace, come with me, my dearest."
He kept his hand on those tiny
shoulders and they walked the long way to the royal hall, astonishing everyone
one as none of them had seen their king like this, he offered sudama the royal
chair of king to seat.
" Rukimi, look sudama his
here, make the preparations for his meal" he ordered his queen
" Tell me o sudama will you have
meal with me, will you give me privilege to share my food with you, O sudama
you have become so weak, look at your feet they are so rough and hard, you
travelled so much, you felt so much pain just to meet me" king was weeping
inconsolably, tears were plunging from his eyes on to sudama's feet, he
cleaned that with his silk gown.
Sudama was still in disbelief about
this royal treatment and gesture, he still hadn't uttered word, the king
noticed something hidden and tied near his waist and he asked " What is it sudama have
you brought something for me, why are you hiding it?" He asked with
curiosity.
As sudama shrugged out of embracement
the tiny dirty cloth in which not even a handful of cooked rice were wrapped
was visible, and it looked more messy because of travelling.
" Is this for me?" He said
and moved his hand and picked up one grain of rice and started chewing it.
Every person including sudama was in disbelief and shock.
"This is one of the best rice I
ever had, I always missed this taste in this royal palace" he finished it
one by one. Everyone was still in qualm with the behaviour of their king, but
everyone started respecting sudama as much as the king' because by now they had
also sensed he was not a ordinary person.
He was given royal meal, silk cloths
to wear, ornaments, soft bed to rest, they walked across the royal garden and
talked about their childhood memories, king showed his city in his royal
chariot, but sudama couldn't speak about what he had came for as he felt
ashamed to ask for something more after he had received so much, he slept
peacefully at night and started his journey back home next morning. King had
offered him chariots and horses for journey but he refused as he felt they
would see his poor house and would inform the king about it, bringing him more
embracement.
He walked the long distance and kept
on thinking the reasons he would state to his wife, he would not lie about king
nor could he tell about his lost courage to ask favour from king. As he reached
home in evening he saw one house from
far distance which was hugely decorated and was glooming with lamps, smell of
delicious food being cooked played with his nostrils, he wondered who was
getting married in the village, as he went ahead he was shocked to see it was
the same house he lived in, his wife came marching towards him in excitement.
" Look what has your friend sent
us, so many bags of rice, pulses, clothes, just touch this gown how smooth it
is, this is enormous. Why you asked them so much, what will we do of so much
food, should I distribute it among villagers?"
Sudama was frozen where he was, words
refused to come out, he just nodded his head. Just for a handful of rice he was
awarded so much, his soul smiled knowing the eternal friendship he shared with
the supreme knower of all, the king of dwarka, his childhood friend 'Kanha'
