Chapter 13 - What is Kayuta?!

With a broad smile plastered on his face as he reminisced about that day, Vāsu reached home.

His father was all set for their journey, and his mother had woken up early to prepare food for their travels. It might not be enough for the entire journey, but it would certainly help.

"You ready to go?" Adhirath asked.

"Yes, father," Vāsusen answered, his excitement evident in his voice.

Smiling Rādhā asked, "Did you meet your friends one last time? You won't be able to meet them again for a long time."

Rādhā's smile started fading as she finished the sentence. She realized that this applied to her as well.

"Uh, I haven't talked with Vṛuṣalī today. But it's fine." Vāsu tried to brush it off, his excitement for Hastināpur overriding any other emotions. More than anything he was eager to…

"What fine? Who knows when you will come back again? Who knows when we will get to see you again?" Rādhā's voice quivered with anger.

It would be more accurate to describe her state as 'emotional' rather than 'angry' because it seemed like she was on the verge of tears. The pent-up emotions of worry and sadness of his child leaving her were crying out to be released. 

Worried and scared, Vāsu dismounted from his horse, said, "I'll go immediately," and ran towards Vṛuṣalī's house.

"You would have been faster with horse though," Adhirath remarked as Vāsu sprinted, too far to hear it.

***

"Grandma, where is Vṛuṣalī?" Vāsusen asked.

"Oh Rādhey! Come, come here." Grandma Shānti called out.

Vāsusen ran to her, finding her sitting on the ground outside the house.

"I'm here, grandma," Vāsusen said.

"Good kid," Grandma instructed, "Do you see that tree? Now go and fetch some mangoes from it for me."

"Grandmaaa~" Vāsu felt cheated. He thought she was going to tell him about where Vṛuṣalī was, but instead, he got assigned some work.

"Can't even help this poor grandma. Sigh~" Grandma was no novice. She knew how to emotionally blackmail someone.

"Alright, alright. Don't act now," Vāsu bargained, "But first, tell me where Vṛuṣalī is."

"She's probably wandering around the riverbank. Happy?" Grandma replied with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. 

Vāsu grinned. "Thank you, grandma. Now, how many fruits do you need?"

"Get me 10 or so? Hurry and climb."

"Ugh! It will take too long to climb and bring them!" Vāsu exclaimed in exasperation.

Vāsu looked around and saw a few interesting-looking small stones near Grandma. With those stones having flat surfaces, they were perfect for the task at hand. 

Picking them up, he said, "Alright, just tell me which mango you want." 

"You better not throw them, those were collected by Vṛuṣalī," Grandma cautioned him.

'Sigh… Why does that girl keep collecting them?' Grandma wondered.

"Don't worry, Vṛuṣalī wouldn't mind me using them. You should just point out the mangoes."

"Fine! Then I want that one, and that one, and.." Grandma pointed to the mango on the tree.

Vāsu nodded and took the stones from the bunch one by one. With each mango Grandma pointed out, he swiftly threw a stone before Grandma Shānti could properly point out the next one.

Surprisingly — not so much for Vāsusen — every stone hit its mark and a mango fell from the tree each time the stone left his hand.

"That one, that one, and lastly that one," Grandma said, "Go, get me those."

"Is that all?" Vāsu asked.

"Yeah. Only those," Grandma confirmed.

Vāsu went and picked up the fallen mango from the ground.

Grandma was baffled to see mangoes on the ground.

"Mangoes were on the ground?"

"Haha! These are the mangoes you pointed out, Grandma."

"So fast?!" Grandma's brain couldn't comprehend how good Vāsu's aim must be to take down all those mangoes so quickly.

After placing the mangoes beside Grandma, Vāsu ran towards the river.

'What incredible aim! That too at such a young age. Is he an avatar of Lord Rām or what?'

***

Vṛuṣalī was a busy, energetic girl, using all her energy for a very important job.

One might ask, what was she doing?

Well, she was collecting stones.

She was collecting no ordinary stones. Instead, she was filtering out ordinary stones and collecting stones with flat surfaces to experiment.

She would throw them on the river and see which went the farthest and made the most jumps.

[On a side note, she would sometimes pick a stone just because it looks very beautiful or interesting :p]

This was VERY important. She needed to find the best kind of stones so that she could skip them on the water better than Vāsu.

"Next time, I'll defeat Vāsu," she declared aloud.

"You are gonna defeat me?" Vāsu's voice came from behind her back.

"That's right! I'll defe- ĀĀĀĀĀĀĀ??!!!!"

"Vāsu, what are you doing? You scared me," She scolded him.

Vāsu chuckled seeing her freaked out, which ticked off Vṛuṣalī. She playfully swatted his shoulder with her tiny arms. 

"What were you talking about? You want to defeat me?"

"Defeat? Oh, yes. I am going to defeat you in skipping stones," proclaimed Vṛuṣalī.

"Skipping stones?! Really?!!"

"Yes," said Vṛuṣalī proudly. "I have been collecting the best stones for this."

Vāsu looked at her hand. He saw that those were colorful, beautiful stones; but not optimal for skipping them on the water.

"Were you collecting these for skipping them on the river? You are not going to defeat them me with these, you know."

"I collected them only because they were pretty," Vṛuṣalī chuckled. "The stones I'm talking about are kept at home."

"Oh, those stones!!!"

"You know about them?"

"Yes, I threw them."

"WHAT?!" Vṛuṣalī was astonished.

"Well, it doesn't matter anyway. I'm going to Hastināpur. I had just come here to tell you that. You are gonna have to defeat me in skipping the stones some other day."

Vṛuṣalī was taken aback hearing this, her mouth agape for a few seconds. 

"But… but… I-I was gonna defeat y-you…" Tears started pouring out of her big fish-like eyes, her voice trembling.

"Hey, hey, hey," Vāsu tried to calm her down. "It's not like we are never gonna meet again. Maybe I'll come back very soon. Then we can play all we want. Okay?"

"I-I-I… I wanted to… play…" Vṛuṣalī's tears showed no sign of stopping anytime soon. 

Vāsu knew that the best way to make her stop crying was to distract her with something else

Vāsu's mind raced for a way to shift her focus. Then, he just smiled and chuckled softly.

Seeing this, Vṛuṣalī grew angry. "Why are you laughing?"

Vāsu shook his head. "Nothing. I'm just thinking, even when you are crying, you look very 'cute.'"

Every girl likes a compliment, whether she is young or old. 

'Maybe this would distract her,' was what went through Vāsu's mind.

It seemed to have worked. She stopped crying for a second and asked, 

"What is kayuta?!"

It seemed something else had distracted her.

Vāsu blinked, caught off guard. "What?" 

"K-kayuta. The word you said I look like."

"Oh, cute."

"Ka, yu, ta."

"Speak it like 'Kyuṭ.' 'Kyu', 'ṭ.'"

"Kayuta."

"Sigh. Yes, speak it like kayuta. You look kayuta."

"But, but, what does it mean?"

"Hmm… how do I explain it? I guess it's something that is pretty and makes us happy to look at," Vāsu pondered, searching for the right words to convey the meaning of the word.

Suddenly, he recalled his mother's words. "Ah! Like, something that would just melt your heart. Yes, that's how looking at cute things feels."

Vṛuṣalī's tears had ceased entirely by this point. In fact, a faint blush colored her cheeks. 

To counter this situation, she just said, "What a weird word. Did you just make it up?"

"No, silly. It's used by..." Vāsu paused, realizing he couldn't complete his sentence. It was not a word he had heard before. He had never learned it from anywhere, yet he knew the word and its meaning.

He was also inexplicably certain that nobody around him knew this word. Yet he knew.

'Why? Why do I know this word?' he wondered, feeling a sense of unease creeping over him.

But now wasn't the time to dwell on it. 'A question to ponder for another time.'

Not wanting to think much about it, he refocused on the conversation. "Does it matter whether the word is made up or not? What matters is the meaning. And I mean what I said." 

Vāsu gently wiped the remaining tears from Vṛuṣalī's face and pulled her in a bear hug.

"Don't worry. When I come back, we will talk and play all we want. But be chirpy, happy, and beautiful, till then — like the Vṛuṣalī I know. Can you do this for me?"

"En," Vṛuṣalī managed to nod, her voice barely a whisper and her face deep crimson.

"Then, I'll be going," said Vāsu.

Two friends parted ways on this fateful day. Little did they know then, they wouldn't be able to meet each other for a long, long time. 

***

Adhirath put his hand on Rādhā's shoulder as he consoled her, "Don't worry, it's just basic study for now. He can still come back with me from time to time."

"I know him better than you. He's not someone who will take a break until he's done with what he is doing," Rādhā sighed.

"Couldn't his primary education be done here in the village?" Though Rādhā asked this, she knew it was the best decision for him.

"He will get the best teaching at Hastināpur. Not to mention," Adhirath said with a knowing smile, "it seems he is more eager to go there and see Lord Bhīshma."

"Yeah, I think so too," Rādhā agreed.

While they were talking, Vāsu came running back to them.

"Ready?" Adhirath asked.

"Yes, father. I'm ready to go." Enthusiasm was pouring out of Vāsu's voice.

Then get a final blessing from your mother," Adhirath instructed.

Vāsu nodded and approached his mother. With excitement and a tinge of sorrow in his heart, he knelt before her. With his head bowed with love and respect, he gently touched his mother's feet as a sign of reverence and sought her blessing. 

A whirlwind of emotions swirled within Rādhā. Pride swelled within her, knowing her son was embarking on a journey of knowledge and growth. Yet, there was also worry and sadness at sending him so far away.

Trying to keep her emotions bound in her heart, she stroked his head with all her love and gave her blessing, "May you have a long and healthy life. May you excel in all that you do."

With her hands gently on his cheeks, she pulled him up and enveloped him in a tight, trademarked bear hug, a long one at that.

"If you have said so," Vāsu promised his mother, "then, I will be the best, mother, and make you proud. I promise."

Hearing this, the tears that Rādhā had struggled to keep in check slipped out.

With a tearful smile, Rādhā said, "No matter what, you will always be the best for me, my child."

With the blessing of his mother, Vāsu left for Hastināpur, now more determined than ever. 

As he embarked on his journey, one thought echoed in his mind:

'I'll make sure that history remembers Rādhey, the son of Rādhā, as the best because he had the best mother in the world. I'll be so great that even if history wants to forget this name, it won't be able to.'