Wednesday, February 15, 2012

The Sultan's Jewels (Final Part)


Photo credits jewelvalley.blogspot.in

PART 1 / PART 2 / PART 3

On the ride back home, Karthu was transported back into her childhood home.

Karthu did not know when she had started seeing Kumaran as an enemy. She had remembered snippets of her life when they would play together under the mango tree, study together when the tutor came home to teach her, and eat delicious sweetmeats prepared by Dechchu for them. There were times when Kumaran had stolen money from Dechchu to buy her ice candy. There had been times when she had hidden the tutor’s rod for fear of Kumaran being hit for not answering correctly.

But gradually, she felt envious of him. He seemed to get all the attention from her mother. Her mother was more interested in his progress from the tutor. She would give him more money every festival. “He is a growing boy,” she would say “he needs money. What will you do with the money? Your father gets you everything you ask for, even if you have just whispered it in your sleep!”

When she was old enough to understand the kitchen gossip, young Karthyayani learnt that Dechchu had accompanied her mother as part of the dowry, along with a son whose father no one knew about. There were stories of Dechchu being an unwed mother, and yet others of the father being killed by the British soldiers. Armed with this knowledge, young, rebellious Karthu had once called him a bastard. Kumaran had not responded, but Karthu’s mother had slapped her hard. She refused to speak with Karthu till she apologized.

A little later, Kumaran moved into the city with a government job; Karthu got married and that was the last she had seen him.

It was a few years later, Karthu, already widowed, was called home to meet her dying mother. Her mother had been saving up energy to tell her the truth. “Karthu, you need to know something…. I would have preferred to let this go to the grave with me, but I can’t bear to see you alone your entire life, dear.”

"I have always loved you more than anyone else, and you know that. I can understand why you got angry with Kumaran – you were jealous, weren’t you? You were also right in calling him what you did - his father died before he could get married to Kumaran’s mother ……. But Karthu, Dechchu is not his mother – I am! Dechchu was just the solution to keep my son close to me even after I was married – I had refused to get married otherwise…….. Now, you have to tell me if you can forgive me – so that I die in peace……”

Karthu had forgiven her, and had also vowed to keep the secret close to her heart, so she never sought out Kumaran to mend bridges. She had, however, cried into Dechchu’s bosom when her mother had died, the tears from both women washing away all the past misgivings……

And today, she thought of Shambhavi’s smile again. She now knew where she had seen the same smile before. It is said that genes skipped a generation – it couldn’t have held truer for Shambhavi, as she was a splitting image of Karthu’s gentle mother…….

Karthu had wanted to kiss Shambhavi one more time before leaving. She had also wanted to bless her with many more gifts than the one thing she had given her. But she couldn’t let tongues wag again, so she had let the moment pass. But Karthu had done enough to make her mother proud…..

Karthu did not have any dreams that night, not even of the little girl with the little arms.

She died peacefully in her sleep.

* * *

Shambhavi was overwhelmed when Karthyayani had parted with the bottle of coconut oil that she so possessively guarded all her life, and that too, after she had conspired with the family to meet Karthu…

She remembered Karthu’s instructions only when the telephone call from Nisha had come - Karthyayani had died the night before.

Shambhavi was shocked for a while. Later, she decided she would do what the old lady had wanted her to. She took out the bottle of lovingly prepared oil, now opaque and solid, out of the fridge. She melted it with care, so that the bottle did not crack.

When the oil had melted, she saw a little plastic pouch at the bottom. She poured out the oil and carefully extricated the plastic pouch. Opening it was a difficult task, as it had been carefully sealed. Her hands shaking with exhaustion and concentration, Shambhavi finally opened the little packet, and overturned it on to her palm.

Over a dozen little spots of brilliant colors touched her skin now shaking for different reasons. The stories about the Sultan’s heirlooms were true, apparently….

*END*

25 comments:

  1. This is fact enough that you don't kid when you say you were writing a story with a gasp factor in it.

    Enjoyed reading all the parts. Brilliant stuff.

    Keep 'em coming Madame Nirvana.

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    1. Thank you so much, even though I do presume that you are just being nice :-) !! But thanks for the patience to read through!

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  2. :) oh wowo.. in the last part it was right when the character said to be shhhhhhhhhhh else she might give something from the will away and she did ...

    so many characters in the story all interlinked with each other .. veyr nice .. it was great reading the story ..

    now i shud go and check out the coconut oil bottle that is lying in my house , who knows :) my nani gave it to me for my hair tooooo :)

    Bikram's

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    1. Yeah, Bikram.... maybe you should just check.. who knows :-). Thanks for reading!

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  3. Wonderful, moving...was like watching a movie.

    Just one question (I could be wrong and there could be various explanations for it, but just so...) - If Shambhavi is Kumaran's daughter (who I presume is maybe older to Karthu herself because her mother couldn't have gotten him after Karthu; then she'd (Karthu) have known).

    So...wouldn't Shambhavi be around Nisha's age, not karuna's?

    But it was woven beautifully, and all those moments of apprehension were palpable.

    Now...when are you starting with the book? ;-)

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  4. Your question is just proof that you have read the story with terrific concentration. Thank you for that! Yes, Shambhavi is much older to Karuna, as was established when she sais she TAUGHT in the college Karuna studied in......

    And just to add reality to agelines - men tend to get married much later than women do, right? They then, would have kids later too.... which explains why Shambhavi is older to Karuna, but not as old as Nisha ;-) ......

    (Lived in a huuuuuuuge family myself ... :-) )

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  5. Wow wow wow!!

    This was a fantastically woven story. It had me smiling through all the parts and I kept wondering why it is called "The Sultan's Jewels". Now I know.

    Loved each work and I have complete respect for Karthu. Even though she is a fictional character.

    Keep writing Nirvana ji :)

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  6. Wow read the full series now and I must say I had the doubt which Phatichar had but the explanation satisfied it :D A great read and yes you did not give away what the title was about until the very last line! Clever :D

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    1. I know... that was something that i did think would cause some confusion ... but drawing from large families, this happens quite often. ... And yes, the intention was to connect to the title in the end ...

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  7. Nice work, it helped reading all the parts in one go.The parts are evenly paced,the narrative moves on,and the climax is nicely built.Keeping the key element of the story for long requires skill,and you have done a good job. A suggestion: every part ending could have two elements , one which teases the reader to go on the next part,and the second, a mini climax of the current part which ends in a high.Refer Milestones series in my blog. There are other styles one could excplore since there is really no right or wrong to it.
    Overall, this was a nice read,and final part stands out in the series.

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    1. Thank you so much for taking the time to go over the whole story - i know, it is a little longer than the normal short-story genre .... but i couldn't cut it down further without taking some of the kick out :-) .... and yes, I agree with your suggestion.. will ckeck out milestones ....

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  8. I liked the end! It was so sweet of Karthu :) Nicely woven together, and as I said before, the story transported me back to Kerala :D Looking forward to more!

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    1. Thank you so much Krishna - and yes, some of the old timers had hearts bigger than I could have ever imagined.

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  9. Beautiful, Nirvana.. absolutely beautiful!!!

    Loved the story.. simply superb!!! :)

    Following u. :)

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    1. Thank you R-A-J , you are generous with praise - and you have absolutely made my day!!

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  10. That was nicely done. Kind of the stuff that meaningful cinema is made of. I could so imagine actors like Nandita Das in one of the roles. The writing could probably be fined tuned a bit more, but still, I would say that it was a really great read. I actually picked up the parts from the ever-piling list on my Reader and read them first :)

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    1. Hmmmm ... now that you mention it, Nandita Das would make a wonderful Karthu :-) ..... And thank you for picking up this from all the other one waiting for your attention - am honored!

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  11. wow, loved the story! a very good flow to it and a brilliant narrative.

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  12. Hats Off to you girl...You Rock!!! Loved the story...

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  13. This story reminds me of my own legacy....
    A bejeweled ring passed down through the generations from my great grandmother, who hailed from Srirangapatna near Mysore. Seems her family was part of Tipu's army or something and they had escaped to Kannur during the war. Interesting right! I never tire of hearing my grandmother relive those stories from the past.

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    1. And this is picked up from stories I heard as a child from MY grandmother... she hails from the royal family in Kannur.......... the world is round.. :-)

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