This is a story of the 14th-century Kunjalini kingdom. Kunjalini, for the longest time, had been a desert land. Agriculture struggled to be the staple food source for the people. Thankfully, in the 14th century, due to constant innovation, the people were slowly turning their homeland from yellow sands to green fields. The farms not only produced fruits, vegetables, and crops but also medicinal plants. There was a great innovation in the field of Ayurvedic medicine that prolonged the average life span by almost three decades. The person leading in the field of plant-based medicine production was a man named Dirghav Manchin.
Dirghav owned and ran a beautiful herb garden in a village called Gelari. The medicine he produced fulfilled the needs of the entire village. Not only that, the king of Kunjalini selected him to be one of the official suppliers of medicines to the royal family. This relaxed the taxation on him and provided him with funds to grow the garden. That moment changed Dirghav’s life for good. Those were the good days.
“They are dying and…” Dirghav breaks a few branches off a plant, “…and there is nothing I can do about it.”
One afternoon, a 36-years-old brown-skinned muscular but slightly obese man is crushing some leaves on a bowl-shaped rock. He is wearing a simple off-white dhoti and nothing else. He is sweating and has cuts on his palms and fingers but is not bothered. He puts some water to make the paste thin and continues to grind it with another cylindrical gray stone.
“I pray it still works,”
He says looking at the leaves he still has to crush. All the leaves appear to be irregularly eaten with a white border on the degraded part of the leaves. They seem to be infected by some sort of disease. Not just those leaves, but every big/small plant/tree surrounding him has that white outline. There’s sufficient water around them and yet the vegetation in the garden is degrading as if they are living through a prolonged dry season.
Once the crushing is done, Dirghav pours the dark-green liquid into an iron bowl and stands up. That’s when two guards wearing metallic armor bearing the king’s symbol walk to him. They hand him a letter with the king’s seal on it. Dirghav opens the letter to read,
‘This letter speaks on behalf of me, king Kulind III of Kunjalini kingdom. Addressed to Dirghav Manchin. The last three installments of medicines you supplied to the castle were tested to be substandard. Hence, I am canceling your contract and title as the official medicine supplier of the royal family. Result of that you will no longer receive funds from the king’s treasury.’
Reading this breaks Dirghav’s heart. He is in tears while reading this letter. Seeing him get emotional, one of the guards pats his back saying, “I’m sorry to hear that.”
Before he could say anything more a fair-skinned woman of about the same age as Dirghav comes running out of the beautiful house within the premises. She panics while asking, “Is it ready? Tell me… is it ready?”
As a quick reaction, Dirghav picks up the iron bowl and extends his arm to give it to her. But then he looks at the letter in his other hand and then throws the utensil on the ground.
“It’s not going to work,” he speaks in whispers. Realizing that the woman didn’t hear him, he repeats this time louder while showing her the letter in frustration, “It’s not going to work!”
Shakti, the woman in the white sari, reads this tragic letter while the green paste flows out of the bowl onto the ground rendering it useless.
“What are we going to do now?”
“I don’t know.”
“It has to work.” she says walking to that specific medicinal plant Dirghav was plucking leaves out of, “What if we avoid the white part?” she says while plucking the leaves herself.
“It’s not going to work,” says teary-eyed Dirghav.
“But we have to try! We have to… for Kamali.”
Hearing her act in desperation makes the guards emotional as well. Dirghav let Shakti make another batch of medicinal paste. Meanwhile, the guard tells Dirghav to walk him out.
“I’m sorry it came to this,” Says Rajas, the guard who is Dirghav’s friend, “I cannot change the order but if you need anything from me to fix this plant situation, I’m here. I’ll leave for the capital tomorrow so I’ll pay you a visit before leaving.”
The two guards walk away leaving Dirghav at the entrance of the garden.
“Baba!” he hears a girl’s cry.
“Kamali,” he whispers and runs inside the house.
“What are we going to do now?” says Dirghav while pacing back and forth in the room.
“We have to do something? Her fever is not going down…” says Shakti.
She speaks while applying the green paste on the forehead of a six-year-old girl. The little girl is restless in bed, struggling to sleep. The medicinal paste is to be swallowed for quick relief but she doesn’t. This is the right thing to do because they don’t know if the white disease is harmful to humans.
“Is it going down?” Dirghav touches Kamali’s arm but immediately withdraws his hand.
“She is… her fever is… bad… just like when… that night.”
Dirghav speaks in code but Shakti understands it. He tries to remember what he did that night to cure her.
“Vedji!” screams Dirghav, “He can help us. He will definitely know what to do…”
“Will he help us?” doubts Shakti.
“Why not? He is after all our village doctor. Vedji has treated Kamali’s illness before.”
“No, but… isn’t Vedji gone to some foreign land. For research?”
“He was but now he is back.”
“Then maybe you should go talk to Vedji.”
As Shakti speaks his name suddenly she feels a grip around her arm. It’s Kamali. She opens her eyes and tries to say something,
“Vedh.. veh… ve is…” little girl whispers.
Unfortunately, she is too weak to speak. Dirghav advises her to rest. “The magic paste is now applied. You will get better soon.”
It’s close to sunset when Dirghav finally arrives at Vedji’s house. Vedang Vardh is the village’s official doctor. He is a very intelligent man and knows everything about medicinal herbs, techniques, and cures at the tip of his tongue. Even though in his mid-sixties Vedang’s memory is as sharp as it has always been. As a matter of fact, Vedang Vardh, affectionately known as Vedji, was the sole reason for the villagers to survive every wave of seasonal disease that affected the villagers from time to time. Now he shares the credit of saving his people with Dirghav’s herb garden.
“Vedji, we need your help. Kamali, she is… she’s…”
“High fever again?” asks the doctor.
“Yes.” says Dirghav, “…but it’s not the usual one. Her condition is bad. As bad as it was that night, the night when I found her at my doorstep.”
“That bad?!” the doctor speaks showing concern, “How did this happen? Did she eat something she shouldn’t have?”
“Not that I know. Since she has fallen ill she is struggling to speak.”
“Okay… let’s go.” says the doctor while putting his stuff in a cloth bag, “Did you apply the green paste? Cold water to bring down the temperature? and the…”
“Everything! We’ve done everything,” says Dirghav. He is desperate. He picks up the doctor’s bag and walks ahead to exit the cottage.
“We?” asks Vedji.
“Yes, we. We tried everything. But nothing is helping Kamali recover.”
Suddenly the doctor sits down. He closes his eyes to utter some chants. Then opening them he looks and Dirghav and calmly asks, “Is that woman still in the house?”
“Shakti?”
“Please don’t utter her cursed name in my house.”
“Vedji, please… this is not the time for blind beliefs. Please, Kamali needs your help. Please come with me.”
Vedji says nothing. He sits in the meditation and starts chanting words that echo around the house. There is a sense of purity that can be felt hearing those chants.
“Vedji.” says Dirghav lifting his hand. “Please, sha-“
“Shh! Don’t. I’ve told you before and I will tell you again. That woman is cursed. She brings bad luck wherever she goes. I warned you when you wanted to marry her but you didn’t listen. Now, what is happening to you are the consequences of your actions. I cannot help you if you don’t want to help yourself.”
Saying this Vedji resumes his chanting while he meditates. Just before Dirghav steps out Vedji speaks, “If you want me to come to look at Kamali you know what you have to do first. Remember, not every abandoned female you provide refuge brings good luck.”
“I’ll go… I’ll leave this house and never return,” says Shakti. “I didn’t want to admit this before but now it’s clear…”
“It’s not your fault,” says Dirghav holding Shakti’s hand. “You are not bad luck. Don’t listen to Vedji. I respect him but sometimes that man speaks nonsense.”
It’s night time and they are having a conversation outside the house. They sit on the steps of the house with a dimly lit oil lamp nearby. Shakti is crying while Dirghav tries to convince her, “I don’t care what anyone says, you are not cursed.”
“But Vedji…”
“That man… I should not say this but ever since I started distributing free medicine in our village, his importance has reduced and he does not like that. Maybe he is the one who brought-.”
“No! Before you say anything more let me stop you right there. Vedji has been taking care of Gelari even before we were born. He is not a bad person. He might even be right about me. Look around I am bad luck.”
“You are not.”
Suddenly they hear footsteps stop abruptly. They look at the entrance. There is a woman, actually their neighbor, who came with food on a plate.
“I’ve brought this for Kamali. Her favorite. She’ll eat this if nothing else.” says the woman.
Shakti wipes her tears and goes to take the plate. But then she does not give it to her. She looks over Shakti’s shoulder and calls Dirghav to take the plate.
“Feed her while it is hot.” says the neighbor.
Shakti turns around as Dirghav accepts the plate from the neighbor, “There’s enough food for two people, and don’t hesitate to ask me if you need anything.”
The woman gives a disgusted look at Shakti and walks away. Dirghav turns and walks to Shakti. “I still don’t care…” says he gently pushing her with his arm, “…come. Let’s eat.”
It’s late at the night. After eating her favorite food and re-applying of the medicine to her forehead, Kamali is finally able to sleep. Dirghav is sleeping holding his daughter in his arms.
Meanwhile, Shakti simply watches them from far. She is sitting resting her back against a wall while preparing some more medicinal paste for the next day. Shakti is not putting water in the paste this time. The constant flow of her salty tears is doing the job of thinning of the paste. Once the paste is ready she quietly keeps it covered in a metallic cup. Then putting some clothes in a cloth bag she walks towards the sleeping father-daughter.
She has the urge to touch them. To wish them goodbye. To talk to them one last time. She does none of that. Wiping her tears she simply walks away. Shakti is unable to hold back her tears. More she wipes, more of it oozes out of her eyes and trickles down her cheeks. She keeps on wiping the tears so much that it obstructs her vision. Hence, she does not see who she bumps into.
Shakti falls to the ground while covering her mouth. Thankfully the bag full of soft clothes cushions her hard landing. Meanwhile the guy she bumps into lands hard giving out a loud scream.
“Ni… Nipun!” Shakti is shocked to see this man. She looks at him with horror as if she saw a ghost. She is not wrong.
“Yes. Shakti it’s me.” says the skinny guy with long black hair and a long beard. He unwraps the blanket covering his body and rubs his bottom to ease the pain of landing.
“Shakti!” says a male voice. This time it’s Dirghav. He came out hearing the loud scream. “What is happening here?”
“Hang on. I’ll tell you. Let me just…” Nipun tries to get up but he struggles. “Shakti and I will tell you everything.”
Dirghav is confused, “Who is he?”
Shakti speaks with horror not making eye contact with either of the men, “He is Nipun. My husband.”
“What? no!” reacts Dirghav.
“My first husband.”
“What? no!” reacts Nipun.
The situation calms down as the three have a conversation at the doorstep. Nipun is pacing back and forth trying to explain the situation. Shakti is sitting on the steps holding her head cursing her bad luck.
“I have two… two husbands now… from a widow to two husbands…why?!”
Meanwhile, Dirghav is confused. He stands at the door such that he can have a conversation while keeping an eye on his sleeping daughter through the window.
“Correct me if I am wrong here…” says confused Dirghav, “You married Shakti even though you didn’t want to. For many years, your family blamed her for not giving them a child. But you blamed yourself for not giving your family a child. You faked your death by jumping into a river. Then you traveled to the foreign land Arsa in search of a cure. You found the cure and so now you are back hoping things would go back to normal. You still don’t love Shakti but you want her back as your wife so as to fix the humiliation she had to suffer because of your family!”
“Yes.” says Nipun, “You got it right.”
“How could you even think that Shakti will come back with you?”
“She’s my wife.”
“She’s my wife, now.”
“She’s still my wife. We have not broken our vows.”
“Your vows broke when you fake died.”
“Yeah, but now I’ve returned.”
“That does not change anything.”
“Why don’t we ask her?” suggests Nipun.
“Yes, let’s ask Shakti. Who do you want to be with?” says Dirghav.
Both the guys stand in front looking at her, expecting a reply. Meanwhile, Shakti is looking at the ground. She is shaking, crying, and blaming her bad luck.
“I’m bad luck. I’m bad luck to everyone.”
Realizing that she is crying, Dirghav sits next to her. He hugs her to calm her down but then Shakti moves away from him. Nipun keeps his distance. He touches her hand but then she shakes it off.
“Listen to me,” says Nipun, “If you are happy with this new life then I will leave.”
He holds her hand and does not let it go this time.
“I came here to tell you this…” Shakti looks up at him, “You are not bad luck. The reasons everyone blames you for being bad luck are not true. Now you know. I came here to fix what my family did to you. Not to force you back into our marriage. It’s up to you to decide who you want you live the rest of your life with.”
“Yes. It’s your choice.” agrees Dirghav.
Shakti gets up. She moves away from both of them and then looks. She is thinking a lot. She is looking at both of them. Shakti loves Dirghav and she is happy with her new life but she is still considering leaving with her first husband. Why?
“If I am not bad luck then why is all this happening?”
“What is happening?”
“The plants… Kamali…”
Nipun has still no clue what she is talking about. Meanwhile, Dirghav and Shakti are in deep thought.
“Will anyone explain to me what is happening?” asks Nipun. But the other two ignore him and continue to think. Nipun is still troubled. Clearly, he is the villain of the story and so Shakti and Dirghav don’t want to talk to him. They just want him to leave.
“Go away.”
“Look, I can help. I was pretty much useless before but in the past few months, I’ve seen a lot. I know a lot. If you tell me what is happening, I might prove useful.”
Nipun is very loud when he says all this. Suddenly they hear Kamali cough. “Shush!” yells Shakti and then she runs inside to take care of the little girl.
Meanwhile, Dirghav goes close to Nipun. He places his muscular arm around skinny Nipun’s shoulder and walks him out of the house. “She has made her choice. Now it’s best if you leave,” says Dirghav gently pushing him out of the premises.
Nipun stumbles but then goes back to Dirghav saying, “I can help. Please let me help. At least give me a chance.”
He joins hands. He begs. He falls to his knees. He grabs Dirghav’s feet, not letting them go. Dirghav finally agrees to give him a chance. By the time the drama reaches this point the night is almost over and the place is getting brighter. Dirghav takes Nipun around the garden showing him the disease that has infected his entire garden.
“When I found Kamali as a baby abandoned at my doorstep I had no one else I would call my own. Just a barren piece of land and a lot of debt. I was nothing. Kamali became the reason for me to live. As a child she was weak. She used to be ill all the time. So I had only one goal, to make sure that Kamali leads a healthy life. For that, I gathered all the medicinal herbs of the world and created this beautiful garden. Then when my first love… Shakti came back in my life, I felt complete.”
Nipun quietly listens pretending to be a botany expert. He touches every leaf, closely observing the white portion. He rubs the white powder in between his fingers and then quickly sniffs a couple of times. Dirghav knows that he is acting but then he lets him go on with it.
“Kamali brought prosperity and happiness to me. Now the garden is dying, Kamali is dying and I am totally helpless.”
Dirghav breaks down while Nipun continues with his investigation. After sniffing the powder Nipun gives out three consecutive loud sneezes. Then as if an idea struck his head he says, “I know what this is!”
Dirghav is intrigued. Nipun continues, “When I was in Arsa. Beautiful foreign land. You should visit sometime. The city, its architecture, its people, and the performing arts there. I fell in love with the theater. They recognized my true potential that nobody did in my homeland. I might even get settled there someday.”
Dirghav gets bored hearing his chatter and starts walking away, but then Nipun stops him, “Anyway. These three consecutive sneezes are very unique. I heard this disease that affects plants as well as us. Primarily it affects plants, causing decay and this white paste but exposure to a concentrated amount of this disease can lead to high fever.”
Nipun gives Dirghav hope by saying this but then he takes a u-turn by following with, “But that can’t be this. The people of Arsa successfully contained that disease. It couldn’t have got out.”
“It could have! It must have, somehow.” says Dirghav, “Tell me the cure for it.”
Dirghav doesn’t entirely trust Nipun’s intellect but for his daughter, he is willing to believe anything that will cure her.
“Amm…” he thinks, “I don’t know.”
Dirghav is annoyed hearing that. Suddenly Shakti calls him saying Kamali is awake and she wants to say something. But then Nipun stops him.
“I heard the port authorities say that the disease micro-creatures multiply in the plants of Arsa only. Hence they strictly prohibited anyone to bring a plant from there so if somehow an Arsa plant reached your garden it might have… You didn’t get any, did you? Perhaps illegally?”
“No!” says Dirghav, “I’ve never been to this Arsa foreign land. I don’t even know where it is.”
“Dirghav!” calls Shakti again. “Please come fast.”
It’s morning time. A new fresh day has begun for the villagers of Gelari. Meanwhile, Dirghav is still continuing with the horrors of the previous night. Dirghav rushes into Vedji’s hut. “Vedji! Vedji! Please come with me. It’s Kamali, she’s dying.”
The doctor is sorting his stuff when Dirghav comes in. “I told you, I will not come until-“
Before he could complete his sentence Dirghav grabs Vedji’s hand and pulls. “You have to come. You have to…”
Vedji turns. He is scared looking at Dirghav’s red angry eyes. “Come with me now!” he cries joining his hands close to the doctor’s face, “Please come with me.”
Suddenly Vedji sees something. Dirghav’s hands are coated in some white stuff.
“Why are your hands white?”
“That’s why I came. Kamali is coughing out this white thing. We are all scared. Please come with us.” Dirghav says again grabbing the doctor’s arm and pulling him.
“Let go of me.” Vedji frees himself. He gets very scared. He tries to dust that white powder off his hand. Then he rushes out of the house to wash his hands with the water in a pot adjacent to his well.
“Are you mad? Walking around with white hands. You’ll kill everyone in the village. We don’t have a cure for this here!”
“How do you know that?” asks Dirghav. Suddenly his tone changes. He speaks with confidence and anger, “Do you know what this disease is?”
Suddenly the two king’s guards and Nipun barge into the doctor’s premises. The guard Rajas walks forward and speaks in his heavy voice, “Vedang Vardh. You have been accused of the following charges. Bringing an exotic disease-ridden plant from a foreign land. Giving it to Dirghav without complete disclosure of information. Causing damage to his property and…”
“…and he gave the box to my daughter. So that she would open it and she would get infected. Not him!” says Dirghav as he runs to the doctor and catches him by his collar. Dirghav is very angry. “You will pay for this. Open your mouth,” says Dirghav lifting his white-stained hand. He is about to slap him hard on his cheek when the guard stops him.
“He will be punished but not like this,” says Rajas.
Dirghav moves back.
“Are you guilty?” Rajas asks the doctor.
“No. I did no such thing.”
“Are you sure? The little girl said that you gave it to her. You also told her to not tell her parents about this plant.”
“She is lying. She is sick and so she is remembering things that didn’t happen.”
“Do you stand with your statement? Because if you are found guilty of the crimes. In addition to that, if you lie, your punishment will be more severe.”
“Yes. I’m sure.” Vedang puts two fingers on his forehead chanting some words, “I swear on my god. I did no such thing.”
When Vedang lifts his hand to pray his robe’s sleeve slips revealing the tattoo mark on his wrist.
“It’s him! It’s definitely him!” shouts Nipun, “We came here on the same boat. I saw him arguing with the port authorities when they told him to show what is in the box he brought.”
“No. I didn’t bring any box from Arsa.”
“He did. He was wearing a disguise. Probably giving them fake identity papers. But it’s the same tattoo. He must have needed the disguise to smuggle that plant into the kingdom.”
“You’re wrong!” shouts Vedang. “I’m not a petty smuggler! As a certified doctor, our king has given me the right to bring whatever I want without being checked. I was exercising that right. I brought that plant into our kingdom legally.”
“…and then gave it to Kamali,” says Rajas.
There is no point in denying now. The king’s guards arrest Vedang Vardh and then take him with them for a trial in the king’s court. Vedang still insists that he is not guilty. While this tiny man is dragged by two huge guards, Vedang looks at Dirghav and says, “You don’t know what big mistake you are making. Only I know the cure. If they take me away from here, that thing on your hand will kill everybody in the village. Everybody!”
“This thing…” says Dirghav showing him the white stain on his fingers. He smiles and then licks his finger, “Ammm… sweet. Just like sugar. Oh wait… it is sugar.”
As the evil doctor is dragged away, Dirghav and Nipun walk back home.
A week goes by. The fortunes of Dirghav Manchin have turned good again. Not only the herb garden has returned to green but his daughter Kamali has also recovered completely and is dancing around the garden as usual. Nipun stayed for a week to help until things were back to normal. Now that it’s time for him to return home, alone, he asks Dirghav what’s been bothering him for a while, “How did you know that your method will work?”
“It’s the first lesson of medicine,” says Dirghav, “Find the problem, fix it and the symptoms will go away.”
When the corrupt doctor was found guilty and imprisoned, the rest of the people stopped believing the rumor spread by him that Shakti is bad luck. Similarly, Dirghav burned that exotic plant and in just a couple of days, the rest of the plants healed themselves. Once all the infectious particles were gone from the garden’s air, Kamali’s high fever disappeared as well. Nipun is impressed by Dirghav’s intelligence and knowledge. Standing outside the premises, he waves Shakti and Kamali goodbye. Then looking at Dirghav he says,
“You are the husband Shakti deserves. Not me… Thank you.”
END
back to STORIES
P.S. If you like my writing style and if you want me to write a story for you, you can buy my services via Fiverr (click here). Also please support this website via Patreon (click here).
Rexal World Stories