A Child's Rage
(It is a summer evening. Drona is meditating and praying at his ashram, sitting at the bottom of a huge banyan tree, with a calm expression. The ashram is on top of the hill, besides the village named Ayodhya. Arjun arrives at the ashram, panting. Drona’s eyes are closed. A few birds are sitting on Drona’s arms and shoulders)
Drona – You seem troubled, Arjun.
Arjun – Master! I need you to come down to Ayodhya right now.
Drona (takes a deep breath) – I cannot leave my stance, I need to thank the universe ten thousand times more tonight, so that I do not succumb to my guilt of not appreciating this life given to me.
Arjun – Master! We don’t have much time. Our village is being attacked.
Drona – And how do you need my help?
Arjun – I’ve seen the weapon that you possess. And I have never seen anything like that.
(Drona’s expression changes to a disturbed one for a second, then he exhales deeply and restores the calm expression)
Drona – I possess no weapon. I don’t know what you are talking about. I’m afraid you’ve come to the wrong person.
Arjun – I did not expect that you would ever lie, master.
Drona – I did not lie. It is not a weapon.
Arjun – I’ve seen it, with my own eyes! I’ve seen you sending people flying into the air, the people that attacked this ashram. If that is not a weapon, then what is it?
Drona – It is a power that I just woke up with one day, after twenty years of meditation. It is a weapon only if it is used to inflict pain.
Arjun – You did inflict pain to those who attacked the ashram.
(Drona’s expression changes to being pissed, then he exhales deeply and restores the calm expression)
Drona – Why should I fight for the village?
Arjun (shocked) – Why?! Because innocent people are going to die if you don’t.
Drona – The same innocent people who summarily burnt my house down with my wife and son, and drove me out of the village for suspecting me to be a sorcerer?
Arjun – Do I sense revenge?
(Drona opens his eyes, and has an angry expression. All the birds sitting on his body fly away)
Drona (shouts) – Yes, I do seek vengeance on the ignorant cruel people who gave me a punishment disproportionate to my crimes!
(Arjun is taken aback. Drona closes his eyes, takes a deep breath and restores the calm expression. Drona starts to breathe a little heavier, but steadily)
Drona - A human cannot control the thoughts that come to his mind, but he can always control his actions and words. I assure you that my decision of not helping the village is not out of revenge.
Arjun – Then what is the matter? You were the one that taught me to find happiness in helping and giving to people.
Drona – This is not the same case. This is the cycle of revenge, which is the exact thing that I urged you to stay away from. If I agree to your demands right now, I know a time will come when you will ask for my assistance again, in similar matters I’m afraid. This cycle will not end.
Arjun – If you won’t do it, then give me the power, and I will do it myself. That way, you won’t be in the cycle.
Drona – I do not know how to pass this technique to my students. They will have to learn it the way I did, with thorough perseverance.
Arjun (angry) – Why don’t you understand? Ayodhya cannot fight the mafia, it will perish.
Drona – I offer you my sympathies. You have disturbed my balance enough for tonight. Sit beside me if you want to meditate, leave otherwise, or I will also have to apologize to the universe a thousand times for engaging in this meaningless conversation.
Arjun (angry) – You are a coward!
Drona – So be it.
Arjun (angry) – I cannot believe that I accepted you as my master. Unlike you, if I had the power of the gods, I would have helped the village, and many more. They do not deserve this fate.
Drona - You and I are not the ones to decide the fate of the villagers. Life is not fair. My wife and son were innocent.
Arjun – You were young and weak back then. That is why you accepted that fate.
(Drona opens his eyes, starts to think hard)
Arjun – Your students that you protected with your power, they are from the village itself. Why did you change their fate? They should have died that day.
(Drona looks at Arjun)
Drona – They were on the path of equanimity. They had their share of suffering that led them to this path!
Arjun (stern) – So the people who have not yet had their share of suffering, deserve to die?
Drona (angry) – I am not the one bestowing death to them! Mind you!
Arjun (angry) – Yes, you are! The upcoming massacre will all be on you. And because of your cowardly impotence, I will hold a grudge against you so bad that you will never escape the cycle of revenge until I am dead!
(Arjun is shaking with adrenaline. Drona closes his eyes and takes a while in calming himself down. Arjun is pissed)
Arjun – Master?! Drona?!
(Drona attains a meditation trance from which he cannot be disturbed. His expressions are the calmest. Arjun is intimidated by the sheer aura of his perfect transform)
Arjun – You coward!!
(Arjun goes inside the ashram and picks up a staff. He stands twelve feet away from Drona, takes his fighting stance. Arjun closes his eyes and calms himself down for a whole minute, then he opens his eyes)
Arjun – I apologize for letting my emotions go out of hand. But, it is very clear in my mind on what I have to do. I challenge you to a duel, which will only be a display of skills. If I win, you will have to come with me.
(Arjun leaps towards Drona swinging his staff towards him. Right before the staff is about to touch Drona, Arjun feels a sudden gust of wind on his body, and his pushed up 30 feet into the air and away from Drona. Drona does not move a muscle, or say a word, or even change his expressions. A bird comes and sits on his head)
The End
