Seeta Ram

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Class 1 - Ram

‘My name is Shakuntala and I will be teaching you Sanskrit’, she said as she addressed the 7^th class students.

‘Last year I got a feedback that the students find this course very boring’, she started. ‘So this year I will try and make it a tad interesting’

‘In every class I will spend 10 minutes telling you some interesting stories from our Indian mythology: The Ramayana and The Mahabharata’, she gave a pause as she assessed the reaction of the class.

‘The Ramayana is a story which teaches how one should lead a life, The Mahabharata, on the other hand, teaches how one actually leads a life’, she said quoting the scriptures.

‘So today let’s start with the Ramayana, the legend of prince Ram’

A long time ago in the lands of Ayodhya, there was a prince who went by the name Rama. He was a man of values. An embodiment of a perfect man. He was revered by one and all, not only for his values but also for his skill at bow and arrow which was unmatched. It is said that once Ram let his arrow loose, no force on earth can stop it from hitting its target.

***

‘Checkmate’, Raghav declared his victory with a half-smile.

‘This is insanely awesome. Calling Raghav a prodigy, is an understatement. It took him only 7 minutes, 23 seconds to defeat John. This is the fastest victory recorded in the history of this chess tournament’, the announcer had claimed.

Raghav paid no heed to the announcement. John had Raghav’s undivided attention.

John didn’t know what hit him. The game was over even before he could set up the stage for his attack. This was a very humiliating defeat for a man of his stature. He started walking back in shame. 

He was received by an English women who threw her arms around him.

‘You gave your best. I am proud of you’, she said with a teary eye.

This sight brought a smile on Raghav’s lips. As he started walking back he realized how lonely he felt. He realized there was no one, he could celebrate his victory with. For the first time, he felt he needed someone who could hug him and say that he did a good job.

‘Congratulations, bro’, Maruti shouted from the other end of the room. ‘It looked as if you always knew what his next move would be’

‘As a matter of fact, I did know it. In fact, I kind of predicted his entire game plan’, Raghav smiled.

‘How, on earth, do you do that?’

‘A little bit of Math (read Probability) and a lot of human psychology’ he winked.

‘Enlighten me a little more’

‘A good player studies the game; a great player studies his opponent’, he quoted a Chinese proverb.

‘I don’t care. I just know that you won, and the next match is not until 5 days. So, what next?’

‘Maruti, remember the time when Mom wanted me to see a girl’ he started. ‘I had said I was not ready, back then’

‘If you are talking about the arranged marriage thing; then yes, I remember’, Maruti said with a suspicious tone.

‘Tell Mom that I am willing to see her now’

‘Aye, Aye Captain’, he said making no effort to hide his excitement.

***

Class 2 - Seeta 

Ramayana was not about Rama alone. It had another pivotal character, in the absence of whom, we wouldn’t be talking about Rama in the first place.  She is Seeta, the consort of Rama. She is esteemed as a paragon of spousal and feminine virtues.

***

She swayed in the dark street like the wind. Silence prevailed in the deserted street. The pounding of her heart was the only sound she could hear. She thought she was being followed, but she didn’t look back.

‘The streets, after sunset, are too dangerous for girls to be traveling alone’, they had said.

‘The streets are harmless, it’s some of the people who walk them that are dangerous’, she thought.

When she walked past the town hall, she heard footsteps from behind her. The intensity of the sound was increasing with every passing second. They were closing in on her.

She knew she couldn’t outrun them.

‘Give me strength’, she prayed aloud and turned back to face them.

‘Hey, sweetheart; where have you been? I was looking for you’, she heard a voice from behind her.

The two men, having noticed that she was not alone, retreated.

She took a deep breath and turned to see her savior.

‘Who the hell are you? And how dare you address me like that!’ she said.

‘I just wanted to help’, Raghav said lifting his hands signifying that he meant no harm.

‘I am sorry’, he continued.

‘No, I am sorry. I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did’, she said.

‘I am Raghav’, he said extending his hand.

'Ohh…so it’s you’

‘My name is…’, she started.

‘Let me guess…You are Siri’

***

Class 3 - SeetaRam 

It is widely believed that Rama and Seeta first met at Seeta’s Swayamwar, but that’s not true. They met for the first time in a garden in Seeta’s palace. Their eyes met for mere seconds, but that was all it took. Seeta was immediately love-stuck, and Rama was captivated by her beauty and elegance.  It had only taken a few seconds, but the spell was cast.  They were hopelessly in love!

***

‘So, how do we start?’ Raghav said, having parked themselves in the corner table which had been reserved for them.

‘Let’s start with the food? I am famished, thanks to all the running around on the streets’, she said picking up the menu card.

She placed the order for both of them.

‘I was implying at the situation we are in’ he started.

‘You do realize that our parents are planning to get us married, don’t you? And we know absolutely nothing about each other’

‘I mean, for all you know I could be a psychopath who, if you get married to, can torture you for the rest of your life’.

She smiled. ‘This is your first time, isn’t it?’

‘Meeting a prospective bride?’ he completed the statement for her.

‘No. Meeting any girl’, she corrected.

‘You have no clue how to initiate a conversation with a girl’, she smiled a little harder.

Raghav made an attempt to retort but her smile distracted him.

‘Boy! You look beautiful!’ he thought aloud.

‘I mean your smile…you have a good smile’

‘See, now we are talking’, she blushed.

‘On a serious note, how do we go about deciding if we are a perfect match’ she asked.

‘A perfect match is a myth’, he thought.

‘As a matter of fact, I do have a simple plan’

‘We shall ask each other questions and expect an honest answer’, he started.

‘The question can be personal but one has the liberty to choose not to answer it’

‘Sounds good. And let’s not fall into the pit of trying to impress each other. Let’s just stay true to ourselves’, she added.

‘So, what’s your story?’ she started first.

‘Well, I am a psychology student. I like reading people; inferring about what they are thinking based on their expressions’, he started.

‘Wow, that’s interesting. So, what am I thinking right now?’ she asked biting her lips.

‘Hmm…let me see’, he looked intently at her smiling face, attempting to read her.

‘Your eyes are very expressive; but your smile… it is distracting me’, he confessed.

‘Should I stop smiling?’ she suggested innocently. ‘No, please don’t’, he gave voice to his reflexes.

‘So, what’s your story?’ he returned her questions.

‘I am Siri. I am the heiress of the royal family of Janakpur. Since I am a girl, my parents were over protective about me. In our family everyone opines that a girl is a treasure which needs to be protected’, she started.

‘The girls in our family are seldom allowed outside the premises of the haveli. So I found solace in royal library where I used to spend hours together reading about the stories from around the world. And whenever I am not the library I spend time with my uncle who teaches me some stuff’, she stopped as the food had arrived.

Siri closed her eyes and started her food-prayer. Raghav put the spoon down and decided to wait for her.

He couldn’t take his eyes off her, as she prayed. Her waist length hair was neatly tied and her flawless face was shining gold. Her mehendi clad hands lay motionless on the table. 

She finished her prayer in 2 minutes and sprung back to life.

‘So, where were we’, she said even as they closed in on the feast.

***

After finishing the meal they started walking on the street. The Q&A session proved to be very effective. Both of them started feeling comfortable in each other’s company. They discussed about their dreams, their views on life and their expectations from their life partner. The answers helped them appreciate and empathize with each other.

‘She seems like a perfect girl’ Raghav thought. ‘But I am still not sure if I can spend the rest of my life with her’ he introspected.

***

Class 4 - The battle 

During their exile, Seeta was abducted by Ravana, the king of Lanka. Rama, along with Lakshmana and Hanuman set out on a journey to find and save Seeta from Ravana.

Meanwhile in Lanka, Seeta warned Ravana. ‘Ravana, I could burn you alive, but I choose not to’, she started.

‘Because the revenge is not mine, it’s my husband’s. Your death will come in the form of Rama. ’He shall save me from you, and in the process you shall be killed’, she proclaimed.

‘If that is the case, I shall wait for him’, Ravana laughed.

***

‘I wish my parents could appreciate me, just like they appreciate my brother’, she said.

‘My father was an avid chess player and he aspires to see my brother grow into great chess player like him. He has no such expectations from me’, she said sadly and looked ahead.

‘Raghav, I want to ask you one last question’, Siri said.

The smile had vanished from her face, which probably implied she was dead serious.

‘Let’s just assume that we are married and are walking back home after a dinner date. And on the street you see two prowlers who are waiting to tease me; what would you do?’

Raghav looked Siri in the eye. ‘Nothing will happen to you when I am around’, he said.

She was not convinced. Her eyes were fixed onto something behind Raghav.

‘What if one of them had a knife and was ready to attack us?’ she asked.

Raghav turned and looked what she was looking at. He saw the two men who were following her before the dinner. Only this time one for them had a knife.

The men started walking towards them, with an air of wolves closing in on their prey.

Raghav’s mind started formulating an escape route.

‘Forget about them Raghav, answer my question’, she said, her eyes still fixed on the two men.

Raghav looked at her.

Siri’s face was shining in the moonlight. It seemed as if her skin tone was golden; now he knew why they named her Siri. He started reading her big expressive eyes. He saw no fear in them. He saw aggression. She was tired of running. She had been running her entire life; not any more. Now, she wanted to fight back.

None of them spoke anything for the next 30 seconds but their minds were doing the talking.

‘You want to fight’, he thought. ‘I can’t let you fight two armed men. What if you get hurt?’

‘I was taught self-defense by my uncle. I can handle them. Trust me’, she gave him a mental retort.

‘I am waiting for your answer’, she finally broke the silence, her eyes still on the two men.

‘We will fight them together’, he wanted to say, but he didn’t.

‘I will let you fight them’, he said.

‘It’s your battle. I might not be around all the time to protect you. You will have to learn to save yourself. I believe in you. Go get them’

His answer moved her. He gave her something which she never got from her parents.

‘He believes in me’, the smile came back on her face, only this time it was accompanied by a couple of tear drops which rolled down her cheeks.

She threw her arms around him and hugged him tight.

‘It is the right answer. Thank you for trusting me. I promise I will keep myself safe for you’, she whispered in his ears and moved forward against the wind with an air of a warrior going for his first fight.

Next day, two of the most wanted fugitives of the city were found unconscious in front of the police station.

***

In the Battle of Lanka, Rama stood victorious. Ravana fell. Ravana’s brother was made the king of Lanka. Rama along with Seeta, Lakshmana and hanuman left for Ayodhya.

No sooner did the teacher finish the sentence than a student raised her hand.

‘Mam, I have a doubt’, she said.

‘Ramayana portrays Rama as the warrior prince and Seeta as an embodiment of womanhood, right?’

‘Yes, it does’

‘So when Seeta said that she could burn Ravana alive, did she really mean it?’ she continued.  ‘Was she really powerful enough to defeat Ravana all by herself?’

‘Seeta is believed to be the avatar of Lakshmi, the Goddess of wealth. Lakshmi was, in turn, a manifestation of Durga, the demon slayer. So technically Seeta did possess the power to kill Ravana, but as I mentioned earlier, she choose not to’, the teacher clarified.

***

Maruti came running towards them. He stopped only when he was a couple of feet away from Raghav and Siri.

‘Raghav, I been trying to find you’, he said looking at Siri.

‘I am little busy right now. Cant it wait?’

‘I am afraid it can’t’, Maruti said, not sounding happy.

***

Another student raised his hand.

‘So, both Rama and Seeta were powerful. Who, of the two, was more powerful?’

‘What do you mean?’

Let’s assume a hypothetical situation were in Rama and Seeta were on opposite sides, and they had to fight; not for each other, but against each other’

‘Rama vs. Seeta. Who would win?‘ he summarized his question.

***

‘Yesterday night, the jury selected your next opponent’, Maruti started

‘Raghav, your next chess match…it is against Siri!’

Both Raghav and Siri were out of words. They couldn’t digest the fact that they had to fight each other.

Once the situation had synced in, they zeroed in on their respective decisions.

None of them spoke a word, their thoughts did the talking for them; again.

‘As much as I like you; I am not going easy on this one’, Raghav thought.  

‘I love you too, sweety’, Siri started.

‘You can try as hard as you might, but I am the one who is winning this’, she continued.

‘I will defeat you so fast, you won’t know what hit you!’

‘I’d love to see you try’, she smiled.

***

Class 5 – Kings and Queens

‘You see this?’ Raghav asked Maruti, showing him one of the chess pieces.

‘Queen; she is the most powerful and the most important piece on the board...’ Raghav started.

‘King, on the other hand, is the weakest of them all. He always needs to be protected by other pieces’

‘Raghav, do we really need to do this?’ he asked.

‘See, if you want to be a master, you will have to learn to appreciate the powers of each piece’

‘I am talking about your next match against Siri’, he started. ‘Both of us know who is going to win, 

you need not prove it to anybody’, he said.

‘So what do you suggest?’

‘Quit’, a monosyllabic answer was all Maruti could afford.

‘And how will that make me look?’ Raghav asked.

‘Do it for her, not for you’, Maruti said.

‘I am playing this match for her’, he started. ‘You were not there to see her reaction when I said that I believed in her. I was; I cannot take that away from her. She needs this battle to prove to her father that she is no less than her brother. She needs to win back the respect which she deserves. She needs an opportunity to prove herself. And I am just providing her just that’

‘This is not an opportunity, this is an assault. You are a prodigy, she won’t survive more than a couple of minutes; unless, you go easy on her’, Maruti said.

‘I agree this is not going to be a walk in the park for her. But she won’t get respect for nothing; she will have to earn it’, Raghav said.

‘You do love her, don’t you?’

Raghav paused to search for the right words.

‘Siri is strong enough to fight armed fugitives, yet humble enough to pray before she eats; she is determined enough to go against her own family, only in order to earn the respect she deserves from them.  She is honest and a disarmingly beautiful person’, he started.

‘I have a thousand reasons to love her, but I still feel there is something missing’, Raghav started.

‘She is a perfect girl, but…’

‘If there’s a “but” in your answer then it is a wrong answer’, Maruti exclaimed as he left the room.

***

Class 6 – Siri Alone

‘Ok, so you ask me to come here because you have something to talk to me’, Siri started. ‘Yet, all you have done so far is sit there silently’  

‘Is everything fine?’

‘Raghav thinks that Queen is the most important piece on the chess board’, Maruti said.

‘But I beg to differ. According to me, this is the most important piece on the board’, he said revealing a King in his hand.

‘He says so because the Queen is the most powerful piece on the board, that’s a good enough reason for her to be important, but…’, he paused as if he wanted to stress on his next words.

‘When the King dies, the game ends; and that makes him the most important piece’, he said.

‘You didn’t call me here to talk about this’, Siri said.

‘No I didn’t. I came here because I want you to drop out from the match’, Maruti said. ‘I know you will be mad at me for asking you to do this, but it’s for your own good. You are allowed to be mad at me’.

‘I am not mad at you, Maruti’, Siri smiled. ‘In fact I am happy that you cared enough to come and confront me’, she said. ‘But I am going ahead with this, anyways’

‘You love him Siri, I saw it in your eyes when I broke the news about your match. I didn’t see it in his eyes, but I saw it in yours’ he started.

‘You were not ready to fight initially but then something changed your mind’, Maruti said.

‘Yes I do love him, and that’s exactly why I changed my mind’

‘He believed in me and that means a lot for me. Raghav gave me the strength to fight anyone and everyone to get what I deserve, I just cannot throw it away by dropping out. This is my opportunity to prove myself both to my family and to him’, she said.

‘Wow, they are indeed a perfect match; there thoughts are resonating in the same frequency’, Maruti thought.

‘He is too big, an opponent, for you, Siri’, Maruti started.

‘The bigger he is, the harder he will fall’, she said with determination.

'He is perfect; he wont fall'

'Every Achilles has a heel', she smiled.

‘By the way; what did you mean when you said you didn’t see it in his eyes, but saw it in mine?’ she asked.

‘You wouldn’t want to know. Trust me, ignorance is bliss’ he said.

The 1000 watt smile vanished from her face, she had inferred the answer.

                                                                            ***

Class 7 – And the game begins

Siri, made her first move on the chess board my moving the pawn which was initially placed ahead of the left bishop.

‘She wants to attack with her queen. Looking for an aggressive game, huh! I will give you exactly that!’ Raghav thought even as he made his move.

Siri didn’t disturb the queen from her original position for her next 3 moves. She brought out one of her knights and moved another pawn. He looked at her face. She was not smiling.

‘She is not touching the queen. She is just trying to buy some time by distracting me with other unimportant moves. I like her. But this game will finish faster than she can imagine. As I had warned earlier, she won’t know what hit her’, he thought even as he brought his queen into the attack.

Raghav’s strategy was working like magic. He started attacking her Queen with full force. ‘Take out the best player from the opposition and she’ll get defensive. That is a good time to go after the king’, he thought. Raghav sacrificed some of the pieces in the process, Siri lost many.

‘She is doing a good job by shielding her queen with other less important pieces. But it won’t save her for long’

After what seemed like a wild goose chase, Raghav finally got her Queen trapped by with the help of two Rooks, one Knight, and his queen.

‘I will show your queen some respect by killing her with my best’, he thought even as he killed Siri’s queen with his queen. He looked up at her trying to read what she was thinking.

‘That was so considerate of you. But I am sorry I won’t return the favor’, she smiled for the first time during the match.

‘It was a trap! She sacrificed her Queen to distract me from my King’ he realized, but it was too late.

All the “less important” moves she had made till now were aimed to silently launch a direct attack on his king. Two minutes later Siri made her last move and said, ‘Checkmate’.

***

‘Siri just proved to us that she isn’t just a pretty face after all, she’s got some serious skills’, the announcer had claimed.

Raghav’s world was falling apart. It was as if all the life had been sucked out of his face. Siri, having noticed it, ran up to him and hugged him tight. ‘Thanks a lot for inspiring me to fight. You are the greatest chess player for me. I am proud of you; and I will never forget you. Good bye, Raghav’, she whispered in his ears as she started to leave.

Before he could realize what she had done to him, she was lost in the crowd.

***

Class 8 – The Closure

‘Do you remember you had asked me if I loved Siri’, Raghav asked.

‘I didn’t love her, back then’

‘But, now I do’, he said.

‘When I had been winning all the matches, I was alone, but nevertheless. I was on the zenith. Today, after losing my first match, I won her support’, he said.

‘I always thought I was perfect and as long as I kept winning matches, I didn’t need anyone. But today after losing, I realized how wrong I was. I felt vulnerable. I wanted someone to support me and like me for my imperfections. And she did exactly that’, Raghav said.

‘And that’s when I realized that she completes me’ he paused.

‘I love her’, he finally confessed.

‘I am glad you realized it bro, but you are a tad too late’, Maruti said.

‘She is gone, Raghav. You cannot do anything now’

Raghav let a smile escape his lips.

‘This is not the smile of his defeat; it is the smile of his victory. Raghav is up to something’

‘You are going to find her, aren’t you?’ Maruti asked narrowing his eyes.

‘Nope’, Raghav said.

‘Just out of curiosity; what does your name mean, Maruti?’ he asked.

‘Maruti, is another name for Lord Hanuman’, he said with confusion.

‘So, Hanuman…you are going to find my Seeta for me’, Raghav started.

‘And when you do; tell her that I am coming for her’, he said, still smiling.

‘Aye, Aye Captain’, Maruti said, making no efforts to hide is excitement.

***

‘Ok, as you guys are suggesting; let us consider a hypothetical situation where Seeta and Rama had to fight each other’, Ms. Shakuntala paused as if she wanted to emphasize on the next words she was about speak.  

‘In that case…both of them would win’, she smiled.

***

An art, by
Shashank