C for Crush

No one can delve into the depths of another’s mind. Everyone has secrets, and revealing our secrets is not something that comes easy to us. Secretly harboring love for someone or having a crush on someone is not uncommon. And most of the times, it is neither possible nor appropriate to even reveal this secret to the object of our desire, much less to anyone else, for the fear of toppling the apple cart, as they say.

Here’s another tale of crush, of undercurrents and under thoughts in the lives of two unlikely protagonists.            

                                                                                **********

Draupadi was strolling in the garden when she saw a ripe jambul fruit hanging low on the branch of the tree.  The juicy purple fruit was tempting and as soon as she plucked it and was about to put it into her mouth, the tree spoke, “Draupadi, what have you done? This was no ordinary fruit. A great Rishi has been meditating nearby for the past twelve years and he was supposed to have eaten this fruit and satiated his hunger later today. But by plucking this fruit, you have deprived him of his food and he will have to go hungry.”

Draupadi was grief stricken. What could she do now? Letting a Rishi go hungry was a sin and she did not want to be earn demerit on account of it.

“Tell me a way out of it, o great tree,” she begged it.

“Well, you can attach it back if you have been chaste all your life,” said the tree.

Draupadi was sure she had been utterly faithful to her five husbands and tries to fix the fruit back on the tree. But it keeps falling off and she is taken aback.

“Think Draupadi. Have you ever been in love with anyone other than your five husbands?” A confession will absolve you of your demerit.”

“Yes,” confessed Draupadi, her cheeks turning the darkest shade of crimson, “I have secretly harbored a crush on Karna.”

She remembered falling in love with the portrait of Karna as she sorted through the prospective grooms on the day of her Swayamvar. She had been impressed with his skills as a great archer and it was him that she secretly harbored a wish to wed.

“Karna does not befit you my sister”, her brother Drishtyudyumna had told her, “he belongs to a lowly caste.”

“Your brother is right, Sakhi,” her eternal friend and companion, Lord Krishna had emphasized, “I hope Arjuna will win the contest and your heart today. There is no greater Archer than him.”

And together they ensured that Draupadi was wed to Arjuna the great Archer and Karna was thoroughly humiliated.

She remembered the number of times she had encountered Karna, and each time she had vowed to forget him and push her regrets about not marrying him aside. She knew it was an unfaithful thought to nurture but had not been able to rinse herself of his thoughts.

The tree smiled. “Attach the fruit back on me Draupadi. Now that you have confessed, you will forget about your feelings for Karna. Your mind is cleansed.”

Having confessed about her crush, Draupadi was able to attach the fruit back on the tree.

                                                                    **************

The human mind is rational, but the heart is devoid of logic. It flutters freely in search of love and settles where it wants to find it. And when it finds a companion, it secretly harbors a crush in the hope that this crush will someday turn into love and happiness. 

Do you remember your first crush?

 Linking back to the A to Z challenge.

                                                            *************

This day...Last year...C for Courage