Raman
Jalota's Stories
| |
2. Havan - Traditional Hindy ceremony involving a sacred fire. 3. Nahin - No (Hindi) 4. Sari - Traditional Indian dress worn by women 5. Rakhail - Mistress 6. Special - The prince occasionally smoked a cigarette that had hashish mixed in with tobacco 7. Kundali - Astrological charts 8. Bhagwan - God |
Katto
By Raman Jalota Swayam Narayan Dighe walked slowly across the bank of the Bhagwati River. A few tourists stopped and stared at this thinly clad priest walking barefoot towards the ice-cold river. He disrobed as he walked into the river. His saffron colored dhoti barely touched the water as he took it off and placed it on a dry spot. He cupped his hands and filled them with water. He offered the first fistful in the direction of the sun and started reciting his daily prayers as he bathed. He walked back to the temple at the foot of the city, just a few hundred yards from the river. The sun broke cleanly through the clouds and he thanked the Sun God for its warmth as he walked into his room at the back of the temple and started the fire in a three-sided clay oven using some coals and gobar1 patties. He placed a pot of water on it to boil and threw in some tealeaves, herbs and goat milk that he had gathered earlier. He took a small bottle of mustard oil and massaged his scalp with the pungent oil. He bowed to the holy book and changed his clothes, to go serve God in the Bhuwanesh temple for the next twelve hours or till the crowds thinned. …..
The high priest
arrived at the temple early. He joined his hands and greeted
Swayam, "It is an auspicious day today.""Yes your holiness, I had almost forgotten. The last day of Kumari's reign." "Yes, I have to perform the ritual to bring her back from goddess-hood to humanity and give her back to her family." "Will you require me to do the ceremony?" "Yes, I will do the ritual in the darkened palace room before you begin. After the havan2, I will transform her back to human." "Any news about the new Kumari?" "No son, the search goes on. We have a few candidates and we hope the new Kumari will be installed very soon." "The kingdom will be under an ominous cloud till that happens." "We must start prayers blessing the kingdom from now on. Twice a day, morning and evenings … May God bless the kingdom and it's king, queen and prince." Narayan's face broke into a smile as he thought of the prince. His heart was full of emotions as he silently prayed for his well-being. …..
Finally at noon she
couldn’t wait any longer. “Ramlal, go wake the prince up, he has
missed his breakfast. He must have a full lunch. Poor
child.”Ramlal dutifully bowed and walked towards the prince's bed chambers. He opened the door to the chambers and nodded to Tulsi Godse who was keeping vigil. “Is the prince up yet?” Tulsi nodded, “He is barely up. He was throwing up earlier but didn’t want me to call the royal physician. I gave him some tea and he slept after that. He is in the bathroom.” “Good, the queen mother is anxious to see him at lunch. Please bring him as soon as he is ready. If he’s not feeling well, you must tell me and I will get the royal physician.” “Don’t worry. He is fit as a horse. He just had a little too much English whiskey last night. I will bring him over in fifteen minutes.” "Tulsi, bring me a triple five." The prince yelled from the bathroom. Tulsi hurried over to the dining room and grabbed a packet of State Express cigarettes. He opened the bathroom door and handed over the packet to the prince. The prince stood dripping in front of the large mirror, "Ho ho." He yelled. He lit up a cigarette and with the towel draped around his head he looked at his face in the mirror, "Everything seems fine. Prince Dipendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, how are you today?" He replied to himself, "I am fine sir. When do I get to become King Dipendra Bir?" "Yes yes. You are at that age. I can see that you are ready." "Right you are. My subjects ….nahin3, my people love me. My people adore me and are waiting for me to sit on the throne. The king of Nepal … King Dipendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev." Tulsi rolled his eyes as he heard the monologue from the bathroom. He rushed laying out the prince's clothes. "Sir, should I layout the yellow tie with your blue suit or something else?" "Did my mother say she wanted me to wear a yellow tie?" "No." "Then I want the red tie with the dragons." …..
Bhakti yelled at
his wife, "No don't open the door yet.""But she is crying. She is scared. For heaven's sake she is only two and a half years old. Let her out." Laxmi stopped crying, hoping her dad would open the door and let her out of the dark room. She didn't understand why her father had suddenly asked her to go to this room that he had been working on for days. The moment she stepped in, he closed the door. She couldn't get out and the darkness scared her. The bad smell inside was what finally got to her and she started crying. Bhakti finally opened the door and let her out, "I tell you. There's no hope for ever getting a living Goddess out of our family now. She is scared of a dark room, how would she ever handle people yelling in the darkness and severed heads of buffaloes with blood oozing out all over the floor." "She will be my daughter. That's all. She will go to school and work with me. I do not want a living Goddess. If you want one so badly …" She bit her lip as she realized the impact of what she had almost said. She gathered the little girl in her arms and wiped her face with a part of her sari4. …..
Prince Dipendra
jumped into his jeep and started driving as fast as he
could. His bodyguards and personal servant piled into their
military car and started following him with lights flashing. He
drove to Indra Chowk and stopped just before Durbar square. He
jumped out of his jeep and walked into the Everest hotel. The
hotel staff bowed as they saw him and one of them held doors open for
him as he walked to the presidential suite.An armed guard saluted him and opened the door for him. Dipendra walked into the bedroom, "Devi where are you?" Devyani Rana walked into the bedroom from the kitchen. Her face lit up with a smile when she saw the prince. She rushed to him and hugged him. He kissed her and waved to the guard to leave. "Are you going to stay for a while?" She asked as he undid her dress. She helped him take off her top, unhooked her bra and brought his head down to her breasts. He murmured, "I love you so much Devi! I need you badly." Their lovemaking was hurried as always and when finally they lay in each other's arms he said it again. "You are my queen. You are the only queen of Nepal. We will rule together." She smiled knowing he loved her and also knowing of what lay behind those words. …..
The queen mother frowned at the prince, "You were with her again, weren't you?" "Yes mother, I love Devi." "You can use her if you want to, but she is not going to marry the prince. You can not marry a Rana, you must marry a Shah." "Mother, you are a Rana! For heaven's sake, why won't you let me marry the most wonderful woman on the earth? She is a perfect woman, she will make a perfect wife; and a perfect queen; and a perfect Goddess." Dipendra stood before her, trembling with rage, tears blinding his eyes. He pursed his lips together and didn't let a single tear roll out of his eyes. He stared at his mother with love, fear and finally with hatred, "You will not stop me mother." "Do not raise your voice in my chambers. If you insist on marrying that Rana, then you will lose the throne." "But I am the prince, the oldest son, the chosen one …. The people love me." "That may be true, but I decide who sits on the throne next." "Only the king can deny me the throne, and father has always loved me." She smiled, "Birendra loves me more. Don't you know that? He agrees with me. That Rana has too many bad connections … both her family and her family's associations with India. You will marry a nice Shah girl and will be the best king ever my dear Dipendra. You can always keep her as a rakhail5." He walked out of her chambers muttering, the queen didn't hear him say, "Over your dead body, dear ma." …..
"This maybe the
last time I speak to you, my love.""What's wrong Dipendra? Are you drunk again? I told you I don't like you to drink so much, dear love." "Devi, my mother will not let me marry you. We had a huge family discussion; first it was just she and I and then we had a formal meeting with everyone. My father, the bastard loves her more than me. He even told me that the throne would not be mine if I marry you. The assholes!" "Hush dear. Don't be so angry. Everything will be fine in the end. Just wait and see. Don't let them torture you like this." "But I am 35 years old," he shouted, "I can't wait anymore. I need to be with you every night and every day, every moment of my living life." "I want that too. But don't be so harsh, you can see me any time you want me. I will stay here in Kathmandu for you for as long as you wish." "No, no no. I don't want to run to you like we are having a sordid affair. I love you Devi. I want you to have my sons, the future kings of Nepal. I want to start it now, before I start getting old and useless." There was a long moment of silence then Dipendra whispered, "Bye my love. I will see you soon." …..
The traditional
family gathering was beginning at Narayanhitty Royal Palace as preset
by the queen, this being the first Friday of June. Members of the
royal family along with 24 guests gathered slowly at the Palace as dark
clouds descended on Kathmandu. Prince Dipendra arrived first and welcomed some of the first invitees. After half an hour Dipendra drove to Mahendra-Manzil and took the queen mother Laxmi Shah to Tribhuvan Sadan. He proceeded to the billiards room and started drinking his favorite whiskey. By the time he had finished his fourth double of Grouse he was stumbling. He had also smoked his 'special'6 cigarette. He tried to talk to Devi but his speech was slurred and she called his personal assistant to take care of him. Four attendants took him to his bed chamber inside Tribhuvan sadan. The other royals arrived and finally king Birendra walked across from his office. As the king went to greet his wife the queen, he walked past the empty billiards room. Prince Dipendra awoke shortly after 9.00 P.M. and called Devi, "What's wrong dear? Why did you hang up on me?" "You don't sound well my love. I called ADC Gajenda earlier to help you. Hold on, I will call him again." "I don’t need anybody. I am …" Devi heard him heaving and quickly dialed Gajanda. Gajenda walked into the bed chambers with another assistant and found Dipendra lying on the floor. They picked him up and took him to the bathroom. Amazingly he recovered quickly, smoking and joking as they dried him off and got him ready. He insisted they both go to their rooms and dressed himself. As he stepped out of the bathroom he called Devi, "I am feeling fine now. I am going to bed shortly. Good night love. We will talk tomorrow." He sat on his bed for a moment, nodded his head at some unseen figure. He put on his army combat uniform along with army boots and loaded himself with his guns including his 9 mm MP-5K automatic sub-machine gun. …..
Prince Dipendra
walked into the billiards room and fired at the ceiling and into the
west hall with his French SPA gun. He pointed his MP-5K at King
Birendra who was standing by the billiards table talking to others and
squeezed the trigger for a hail of automatic shots. He stepped
out of the billiards room and threw his gun near the north stairs.He immediately stepped back into the billiards room and fired his Colt M-16 rifle at the king and three others surrounding him. He took two steps back and advanced again firing now at the whole crowd including the females gathered at the other end. He stepped out of the billiards room and started walking east towards the inner garden. Queen Aishwarya wearing a red sari emerged from the billiards room screaming and running after Dipendra. Several others followed her. Dipendra heard the shouts, stopped, turned around and started firing again at his mother and others that were coming towards him. As sirens sounded and screams of the dying and scared filled the palace, Dipendra saw his hand turn the gun to his head and his fingers slowly squeezed the trigger for the final kill. …..
Laxmi sat in her
mother's lap confused by the commotion, "Why are you crying ma?""It is a very bad day for us .. for all of Nepal. The crown prince is dead …. They say he killed the king and queen along with several others. And he was our only hope." "So, we won't have a king then?" "No, we have a king … the king's brother is king now, but we all loved Dipendra. He's dead … and they say he's the one who killed them all." Her dad walked into the room, "This is what was predicted. Prince Dipendra and that woman Devyani Rana (he spat) were not a good match. Their kundali7 did not match, yet he insisted … the fool. And now Nepal is under this evil cloud. Who will deliver us from this?" …..
Swayam Narayan
Dighe walked into his room at the back of the temple from his morning
bath. He was shivering, not from the cold, but from fright.
The royal prince, the future
king of Nepal has massacred the royal
family. How could this be? Our protectors are dead and
gone! King Birendra - dead. Queen Aishwarya - dead.
Prince Dipendra - also dead! You could have been kind to us
Bhagwan8, why did you
have no mercy on your servants?And what will happen to the temple? We were not able to prevent this misfortune. What will we do to get back to normal? Will we get back to normal? The high priest walked in and broke his thought process, "We have a catastrophe and only you can help us Narayan."
"Me?" He closed his eyes and his heart stopped
beating for a few seconds. His mind screamed. No .. no ..
no! Not me Bhagwan! Please no ... no …no!
There were tears in his eyes as he looked into the high priest's eyes and whispered, "Is this your will?" The high priest's eyes were also moist as he folded his hands. "This is God's will Narayan. You are the instrument of God." He folded his hands and bowed his head, "If it's God's will, then I will do it." "You understand what you must do?" "Yes." "You don't have to worry the rest of your life. You will be taken care of." But I won't be allowed to set foot in Nepal. Tears were running down his cheeks uncontrollably, "For God and Nepal, I will do it." "I am eternally grateful Narayan." The high priest held Narayan's hands in his, then touched his shoulders and with tears running down his cheeks he embraced Narayan for the first and the last time in his life. …..
Swayam Narayan
Dighe walked slowly across the bank of the Bhagwati River. A few
tourists stopped and stared at this thinly clad priest walking barefoot
towards the ice-cold river. He disrobed as he walked into the
river. His saffron colored dhoti barely touched the water as he
took it off and placed it on a dry spot. He cupped his hands and
filled them with water. He offered the first fistful in the
direction of the sun and started reciting his daily prayers as he
bathed.He walked back to the temple at the foot of the city, just a few hundred yards from the river. The sun broke cleanly through the clouds and he thanked the Sun God for its warmth as he walked into his room at the back of the temple and started the fire in a three-sided clay oven using some coals and gobar patties. He placed a pot of water on it to boil and threw in some tealeaves, herbs and goat milk that he had gathered earlier. He took a small bottle of mustard oil and massaged his scalp with the pungent oil. He bowed to the holy book and changed his clothes, to go serve God in the Bhuwanesh temple for the last time in his life. As he walked into the courtyard the voices died down. He walked slowly to the center of the empty space and facing east he stood with folded hands. Kartar Singh received the signal and slowly walked towards the priest. He placed the pot of lamb curry that he was carrying three feet in front of the priest. He folded his hands and bent as low as he could, "Please forgive me priest. And please bless me if you can." Narayan's eyes were focused into far space as he nodded his head and folded his hands, "I bless you my son. I also forgive you. This I do as my last act as a Hindu priest." Narayan took the stainless steel plate and the pots of food and sat down on the coarse black cotton carpet. He scooped some rice out of one of the pots and put it in the plate. He hesitated before touching the pot with the lamb curry. He said a prayer and folded his hands towards the dignitaries watching the ceremony. The high priest stepped forward and raised his hand in blessing. Narayan tilted the pot with the lamb curry and poured the curry over the rice. Some small pieces of lamb also fell into the plate. He pursed his lips and said another prayer. With his right hand he picked a scoop of rice laden with the unholy meat and placed it in his mouth. He gulped it down and proceeded to do that several more times to constitute a full meal. With his insides churning and his mind exploding at this act of defiling, he slowly stood up. Two attendants escorted him to the decorated elephant waiting at the edge of the courtyard. He was helped on top of the elephant and set off towards the river and the forest beyond with people chanting and urging the elephant on and away. "I am no longer a priest. I am no longer a Hindu. I am the evil that descended on the king, the queen, the prince and the kingdom of Nepal. I take this evil and banish it from Nepal." …..
Laxmi sat in her
mother's lap. Her mother stroked her head and said, "Dear Laxmi,
Katto has been performed and the evil that had settled on the kingdom
is now gone."Laxmi didn't understand what that meant but she liked the tone of her mother's voice. The demons that had haunted her in the dark room slowly lifted as she looked at the deep blue sky and smiled. The
End 3385 words
|
||||
| |
|
|
|
|
||
| |
Copyright © 2004 Raman Jalota. All rights reserved. No part of this electronic publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the author. |
|||||
