Mira - VI War

WAR

In the darkness, the blare of a trumpet, and the incessant beat of drums herald a clash of armed forces. We hear the sound of elephants and horses, arrows whizzing through the air, and the clashing of sharp steel; the shouts and roar of soldiers engaged in bloodshed and death. And above the din, a hoarse voice coming from the distance, "Jey Rajasthan... Jey Rajasthan... Jey Rajasthan..." but as he comes closer, there is a sharp whoosh and a thud; a groan and he is stopped dead in his tracks. The music rises as the battle cry is magnified many times. The sounds of the battle diminish quickly, as the music rushes towards a dramatic opening of the scene, and we hear urgent voices: "Quick, hurry, hurry, this way. Bring him here..."

Lights come on to reveal four or five soldiers, war torn, putting Bhojraj on the ground. The captain of the troop stuffs a rag into Bhojraj's shirt to stem a bleeding wound. The looks on their faces tell us that the prince is mortally wounded. There is deep tension. Will the battle come to an end?

The music picks up all of a sudden; and Mira comes running in and the soldiers make way for her as she kneels near Bhojraj. He opens his eyes to look at her, takes in a breath as if to say something but... Mira looks at him, sobs and holds him close to her and weeps. The captain gently extricates Mira from the corpse. Mira stands aside staring at them and then up into the light, as if looking for an answer. The soldiers pick up Bhojraj as in a funeral, three on each side holding his stiff body, and each turn towards Mira. The captain gestures to her, and she slowly turns. It has become a funeral procession, with Mira following the captain in front and the bearers behind her. The music is slow and solemn, but beautiful, and the procession marches elegantly upstage. Midway, the last two bearers holding Bhojraj's legs get down smoothly to their haunches and Bhojraj is released from the bearers. He comes towards us, now Jayadeva with the smile, as the funeral procession continues upstage into the darkness. Jayadeva begins to remove his bloodstained jacket...

Jayadeva: I told you it was a short part... short and sweet. Most of us don't realize that life, as we know it, is fraught with unexpected events and circumstances beyond our control. But being only human, we delude ourselves thinking that we can last forever. We live our lives not giving Death a single thought until one day he stands right in front of us, with that smile of his, welcoming us with a subtle nod as if we are about to enter the hottest restaurant in town. He knows that we cannot turn back, and even as the moment of truth dawns upon us, we are already sucked into darkness. Well, life is short. No matter how long you have lived, life is short when you have not given your soul a chance to speak; when you allow your mind and your senses to tell you that there is only this, and nothing else.

For Mira, the death of her husband, whom she had begun to love, awoke in her the same awareness of that same mysterious truth she first felt when her mother died. This was yet another awakening; a reminder that life is very soon followed by death, and joy can only give way to sorrow. And Mira would turn more and more into the cave of her heart in search of answers. Unlike most of us, she knew that there was one person whom she loved who could give her the answers, and who would never die - Krishna! But then, more was in store for Mira. Her husband's brother, the Rana Vikramaditya, who always thought Mira headstrong and uncaring of their family's name, had ascended the throne. Now as the Rana, it irked him even more to note that his brother's widow continued to behave as before, to receive all and sundry into the palace, the dirty and dust-covered poor, to join her as she shamelessly displayed herself and her voice.

BLACK OUT - in the darkness we hear singing in the distance.