Kama: Liberation (Vol-I)

Chapter 40: I am in Love

To return home knowing your beloved is waiting for you is the best feeling ever.

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The crown of dawn proudly sat over the head of the hills that bordered Aryavarta, cradling Ishgar in its lap. Rays spread out like petals of a blooming sunflower. Golden and orange splashed across the sky in a game of Holi.

Indumala had not been able to sleep, although Rudra had. He was awake now, but hadn't spoken. She didn't force him either. She took his hands, the brightness of her face dimming when inspecting the wounds.

"I need to tell you about me," Rudra finally spoke up. "Don't scold me when I say I won't be able to share everything. Well, one day I will have to, and I am going to respect the flow of time."

"How will you know what is the right time and what isn't?"

"My heart will say. Last night I was itching to tell you what I am, and see how destiny unfolded when I refused to give in to the demand of the luminaries. What's in fate always happens. Willpower can't push it back for long."

Indumala exhaled. "I am ready."

Rudra cleared his throat. "When a child, I knew a woman by the name of Ranavato as my mother. She was actually from Gandhar, I suppose. She married Rajan Madhavan of Aryavarta, who accepted me as his own. I grew up with his other children and his first wife Mataraj Pushyaar, his main queen. Forgive me, I won't be able to give you the details of the royal family. Fast forward to many years in the future, the plague happened, and I lost many of my beloved family members. I had a deep bond with the Queen of Gandhar, Gandharvi, and her family. Alas, I lost them too."

Whether it was the dizzy, inebriated state of a morning or the good sleep he had, Rudra was feeling rejuvenated and collected enough to tell everything in an unshaken voice. He masked his sorrows and told only what was needed.

"It was during this time that me and Ranavato, whom I believed to be my biological mother, had a heated argument. Let it be kept aside for now. In order to hurt me, she finally revealed that I wasn't her son. She poured in all her hatred for me that she had stored over the years. I was devastated; in a fit of rage, I killed her."

"You killed her?"

"I did. And I have no regret. She had wronged many in her life, disrespected even my adoptive father. She had two other daughters of her own, both from different men. Them too she neglected."

"She cursed you because you lead her to death?"

"Yes."

"Do you remember her exact words?"

Rudra closed his eyes and thought. "O Pasha, son of a whore and a madman, half a pisacha, you jinx the name of a man who has done no crime against you. As the world misunderstands him, so shall be your fate too, I pronounce! You will be rejected by the wise and the fool. Fear and respect though you will command, love will not knock your door. Live to feel his pain, away from the shining beloved. With the third and final boon that I have received, I curse you Rudra, to be stuck in a web of immortality. Turn into a disgusting werewolf, hunting humans and animals alike. Only when the light returns in your life, and what has been left incomplete is brought to fruition, shall you attain liberation."

And thus, Indumala was made aware of the blackened jewels, invaluable words of a woman uttered on the verge of death. She memorised it like a verse out of a mahakavya. There was a solution to break the curse provided too, but at present it was vague to Indumala, as Rudra denied telling her every detail about his past.