Chapter 21 : competition
I went to a man who was standing there, waiting for someone. He might be able to clear my doubts.
"Hello, brother… do you know what's going on over there? Is there any festival going on?" I asked.
"Didn't you know, child?" he replied. "You didn't hear the announcements made by the man who was beating the drum today?"
Then he looked at me and asked.
"No…" I shook my head and replied, "My house is near the forest, and I don't live in a crowded area, so I didn't hear any of those announcements."
"You are lucky, child. Now everyone is going that way, and no one has time to answer anyone. But you met me. I am waiting for someone that is why I am still standing here. Since I have time, I will tell you about that announcement."
That man started talking about the announcement…
A few hours ago, there was an announcement that there would be a competition to celebrate the return of the five sons of Prince Pandu, i.e., the five princes.
This competition is to be held on the Rath, in which the prince and princess of every state can participate.
There is a strange thing about this any prince or princess will choose any man as their companion. In this, even if you do not win, you will still get a reward.
That's why everyone is going in that direction. There is going to be a competition there. I also want to go quickly, but one of my friends has not come yet.
The man finally explained his reason for not going.
I thanked him for telling me all this, and I also started going in the same direction. That man was still standing there, waiting.
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After some time, I reached the place where the competition was to be held. There were many soldiers deployed there for this big stadium.
A big, secret door of this stadium was open, and people were going inside in a line through this gate. To go inside, people were giving a silver coin.
Which, according to me, was neither more nor less.
According to me, this was neither too much nor too little. I also joined the queue there.
I also wanted to see how this Rath competition was conducted. In my past life, I had seen it only on TV and never in real life.
Just like that, time passed… and my turn came.
A soldier was checking everyone who entered, to see if anyone was carrying a lethal weapon.
When my turn came, he checked me and did not find any such weapon, so he let me go ahead.
After going a little further, I took out a silver coin from my pocket and put it inside the box kept on the side. Then the man sitting there gave me a ticket to go inside.
The ticket was nothing special it was just a plain piece of paper with a number written on it.
I stepped inside.
The moment I entered the stadium, the sound of the people welcomed me first.
I looked around the stadium. The spectator seats were more than half full, and people were eagerly waiting for the upcoming competition.
I went and sat on the seat number given on my ticket. Here, I noticed that every parent had brought their children with them. Seeing this, I realized that all those parents had brought their children for the reward.
The age of their children was between 7 to 10 years, because the age of the prince and princess participating in this competition was almost around this.
It would not be wrong to say that this was a competition between children.
The reason behind bringing their children was very simple
The prince and princess would choose someone as their companion, and it would definitely be a boy around their age.
I had come only to see the competition, and I had no interest in the games of these children. This was the first time I was seeing a game like this, which is why I had come here.
The competition had not started yet, due to which the ground below was completely empty.
Dhum! Dhum!
The sound of the drum started echoing throughout the stadium. Due to this sound, the field trembled for some time.
The stadium is divided into four parts, meaning it is connected like a quadrilateral, in three parts the people who have come to watch the competition sit and in one part there is a seat for the royal family members.
"Raja-dhi-Maharaj!
King of Kings!
Rajadhiraj, worthy successor of the Kuru lineage, powerful and valiant
Maharaj Dhritarashtra is arriving.
Two soldiers were standing there and announced the arrival of the Maharaja by beating the drum with two sticks.
When the two Dasi present there heard this, they both removed the red curtain in front of them and as soon as the curtain was removed, a man came out from inside.
This man wore a golden crown on his head and was blind in both his eyes.He was wearing gold ornaments all over his body and gold bangles on the wrists of both his hands And he was wearing an orange colored dhoti. He wore a shawl over his left arm, and held a sword at his waist.
As soon as this man came out, all the people sitting there started shouting loudly,
"Long live the Maharaja!"
"long live the Maharaja!"
"Oh this King is dark, looking at him it seems that King is around 30 years old and still has black hair. Looking at him I feel that he is no less than a great man.
God blinded them from birth, but whenever God closes one path, He opens another. What if they don't have eyes, they still have ears.
Due to not having eyes, he focused on his ears, due to which his vision power is 10 times more than that of a normal person.
Sitting on my seat, I could not help but praise him in my mind.
Silent!
King Dhritarashtra raised his hands and looked at his subjects.
To be continued...