Short Stories - A Series of Tales Frozen in Time

Modernistic Storyteller- Abhijñānaśākuntalam

Authors note: This is a story I wrote for an competition a few days ago... the aim of the competition was to retell an ancient classic in modernistic setting within 800 words. I chose to go with 'Abhijñānaśākuntalam' or 'The recognition of Sakuntala', a classic play by Kalidas. If you wish to see the original -and obviously much more interesting- there is a link in the in line comments of this paragraph. At any rate, the competition is long over (I did win second place!) so I thought I'd post it out here too.

Please note that though I tried to keep things accurate there has been considerable creative liberty taken and there are a few events whose sequence has been altered. This is a cheesy, short and rough retelling.

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Amidst the vast forests of bits and bytes lay a tiny corner that belonged to Sakuntala alone; well, hers and Dushyant’s. Teeming with life from the birds she was named after, the ring shaped island marked everything they were.

Theirs was a meeting straight out of the pages of an epic. A young girl with a passion for gaming met a man in an RPG and love blossomed. Trapped between cyber safety and emotions their characters consorted and quested, discovering more of each other every day. Anonymity concealed the identity of Dushyant, one of the core developers of the game, and Sakuntala, a young orphan girl who grew up among the trees in a family of priests. Together they scoured Dungeons and slayed Dragons, as a team they were invincible.

Sakuntala soon turned to stream, and with Dushyant as her partner, she launched into her career as a gaming live streamer.

Between the thrill of battles and the excitement of shared hobbies, they formed an unshakable bond. But as their relationship blossomed, so did their lives; the call of duty pulled Dushyant away from the tiny island they built together.

For weeks all Sakuntala had in memory of him were the spoils of their quests and his digital signature.

And one fine morning as Sakuntala lost herself to memories of her digital companion once again her father arrived, grumpy at his once lively daughter who now spent more hours staring at the screen than beyond it. “That is more than enough,” he frowned, “go out and get some air. At this rate, you’ll get glasses thicker than your grandfathers.” He stretched out a grumpy hand and as their hands fought for the possession of the gaming tablet the slim piece of technology slipped out of their sweaty fingers and zoomed straight to the water jug sitting on a table.

With a splash of water shimmering in the sunlight, the tablet breathe its last and took away with it the only copy of the exclusive key to the communication channel between her and Dushyant.

As father and daughter stared aghast at the wreckage, Sakuntala’s brother, Pramiti took it upon himself to rescue the device.

While the tablet was shipped off to a repair facility, Sakuntala discovered that contacting the man who haunted her mind without the key was harder than she could have ever imagined.
After a rather irate and cruel reply stating that she to never contact him again, Dushyant heartlessly blocked the unknown seeker of his and returned to his job.

With no reply and no means of communication, Sakuntala could only soothe her wounded heart with the hopes of her data surviving. Alas, it did not…

As the days piled on, Dushyant found himself without contact with Sakuntala. Messages piled on all without replies. Both of them immersed themselves in their own lives, every now and then recalling each other. With the bitter draught of desire encroaching on their minds, they each found themselves questioning where it all went wrong and if it would ever return.

Sakuntala moved on to new games and Dushyant found himself reactivating his old gaming account once he realized that he was messaging a dead account.

More messages were piled on without a receiver to read them, and it would be weeks before Sakuntala revisited the memories of her lost relationship with Dushyant. But she did return, once again, to the game that had launched her gaming career.
With her heart hardened and a resolve to delete her account Sakuntala logged in again and there she saw the mountain of messages Dushyant had sent her, right below the mountain she herself had piled telling him of her device's misadventure. As she read through them, Sakuntala found that her heart had not
hardened after all.

She replied. The old flames rekindled.

Two people brought together by fate found each other again in the vast jungle of encrypted messages and fake identities. And this time, there was no overworked and irritated Dushyant and neither were there any broken devices. Safe within the clouds, they chatted to their hearts' content again. And having learned from the misadventure they decided to meet – In real life.
Crossing the river – both metaphorical and real - that separated them, they found each other again. Digital companionship turned real and the two lovers married.

Time flew on and their son, Bharath, went on to establish his own online empire, and deep within it lay preserved a memento of his own parents' meeting: the in-game island they built together with bits and bytes and memories and passion. And within it resided numerous birds who protected it from harm.

With chirrups filling the sky, Sakuntala's love was recognized and Dushyant's promises were fulfilled.

-----The End----