The Gift

After their marriage, Sivakarna, the king of Amritapura, and Dakshayani, the princess of Ragangad, had 7 children, 3 boys and 4 girls. The oldest of them was Aparajit and the youngest was Avyukta. Avyukta was 8 years younger to Aparajit. 

The 2^nd oldest child was Adrika, who was 1 year younger to Aparajit. The 3^rd oldest was Abhaiydeva, who was 3 years younger to Aparajit. The 4^th child of Sivakarna and Dakshayani was Hemendra, he was 5 years younger to Aparajit. The 5^th and 6^th were twins, Savitri and Swarnalata, who were 6 years younger to Aparajit.

These siblings always formed teams to play, fight with each other, play pranks on each other and so on. Aparajit and Avyukta were a team, the twins were one team and Adrika and Abhaiydeva formed a team. Poor 

Hemendra was always left out and therefore lost many of the fights or games they played. He was generally the victim of many pranks, because of which he was generally scolded by his parents.

The Aparajit-Avyukta group was the naughtiest of them all, they could prank anyone with anything that was around them.

Adrika and Abhaiydeva were very calm and composed siblings, they never argued, never declared themselves as smart , never hesitated to help anyone and always eased the situation before even taking a single step. In all ways they were the strongest group of all.

This was the royal family. Sivakarna and Dakshayani were proud of their children. All of them excelled at everything one could think of (though each of them had their own specialities).

When Hemendra was 13, Sivakarna and Dakshayani’s 20^th wedding anniversary was approaching. Hemendra was planning a surprise for them, a handmade gift. He had been preparing the gift for 2 years now. He actually wanted to give it to his parents on their 18^th anniversary, but he couldn’t complete it. Then he tried to give it on their 19^th anniversary but he could not because of some reasons. Now he was determined to complete it and present it to his parents. 

He had hidden the gift in a secret place in the palace itself which was seldom visited. He had started making the gift there 2 years ago and continued. That year, he went to that secret place after lunch to complete the project and returned only before dinner.

The gift had been secret and even his siblings did not know that he was making a gift. That year, Adrika and Abhaiydeva noticed that Hemendra vanished after lunch, once a week, every week and only came back at dinner. No one seemed to care about Hemendra’s disappearance except Adrika and Abhaiydeva. They really wanted to know where he was going and what he was doing.

One day, they decided to follow him. When they found out what he was doing, they decided not to tell anybody about it and to keep it a secret, just as Hemendra wished it to be. Adrika and Abhaiydeva were very happy that Hemendra was making a gift for their parents. 

3 days before his parents’ anniversary, Hemendra finished the present. He excitedly waited for the special day. Adrika and Abhaiydeva saw the completed gift and were mesmerized by its beauty. It was a handcrafted wooden sculpture. 

On the anniversary day, Hemendra held the sculpture and was about to present it to his parents, when suddenly, he stepped on a string which made a bucket of water fall on him. Due to the wet floor, he slipped and the sculpture in his hand slipped and broke.

All this happened because of Aparajit and Avyukta’s prank. They watched as Hemendra fell. This is what they wanted, but they never thought that Hemendra would be carrying a wedding gift at that time. They were horrified. 

Hemendra stood up and looked at the broken wood. 

At the same time, Sivakarna and Dakshayani entered that corridor. They saw Hemendra standing amid a puddle of water and big sheards of wood. Sivakarna thought that Hemendra was preparing a prank for his brothers or sisters. He scolded Hemendra, and then told him to clean the mess as a punishment.

Aparajit did not like all this. This exact situation would’ve seemed comic on any other day but that day, it was like a disaster because the gift was destroyed.

Hemendra, in anger, ran as fast as he could out of the palace. Aparajit and Avyukta followed him to tell him the truth and apologize. But Hemendra ran faster than them, and they lost track. Hemendra ran and ran and reached the outskirts of the village.

He slowed down and looked around him (he did not know that he was being followed by his siblings). All he saw was a thin kuccha road. On either side of the road were trees, tall and thick. The road was laid out through a forest! 

Hemendra was starting to get a little tense, but he did not want to return the way he came from as he was very annoyed with his parents. As per him they always scolded him for every little thing. He also felt that his siblings never loved him or supported him, now, even their thoughts irritated him. 

Due to the anger, he did not see where he was walking to, he was now walking on a cliff. The cliff was on the tallest mountain in Amritapura. The mountain was known for its thin path, because of which many people fell off the cliff and died horribly. He thought that he was still on the jungle road and was leisurely walking as if he was strolling in his backyard.

Hemendra stepped on the wrong rock, because of which he tripped and fell on to the edge of the thin road. While he was standing up, he held the edge which, due to the pressure of his body, broke. Hemendra slipped off the cliff, but luckily caught hold of the brink and managed to stay in that position. He did not dare to move, because he thought that this too would break. 

While all this happened, Aparajit and Avyukta searched everywhere for their lost brother. After a while, they found footsteps of Hemendra on the forest road. They followed the steps and eventually reached the mountain. They slowly and steadily climbed the cliff and reached the place where Hemendra was hanging. They could not see him. Hemendra heard the noises and started shouting for help. Aparajit looked down into the valley below the cliff and spotted Hemendra hanging on to his life. 

Aparajit and Avyukta helped Hemendra come up. Hemendra hugged them for saving him. They slowly went back to the palace. On the way, Aparajit apologized for the prank, this did not irritate Hemendra. 

When they reached the palace, to Hemendra’s surprise, the sculptor was back to normal. Adrika, Abhaiydeva, Savitri and Swarnalata had collected all the broken pieces of the sculptor, and then stuck it together. It now looked as good as new. 

Hemendra, along with all his brothers and sisters, presented the gift to his parents as a wedding gift. Sivakarna and Dakshayani liked it very much.

THE END