Yayati excerpt

From Yayati by Girish Karnad

 POORU: Do as Mother suggests. YAYATI: Mother? What Mother POORU: Sharmishtha. Take her advice. Accept the inevitable YAYATI: Don't. Don't please go on as though you cannot understand. It is the crushing suddenness of it - not being given a chance. Don't you see the arbitrariness of it all? To be hurled into an unchangeable future - without warning, without a chance to redeem one's pledges to life? You can stumble down a road without lights, Pooru. But to go on where there is ho hope. That's unthinkable. (He bursts into sobs. Pooru watches him with immense compassion. Then in a matter-of-fact voice) POORU: There is one person who is willing to take on the curse. YAYATI: There is? Why didn't you say so? Who is it? POORU: A worm, aspiring to outdo the eagles. (For a moment, Yayati stares incomprehending. Then as the import of Pooru's remark strikes home) YAYATI: Shut up, fool. I ... I refuse to talk to you. (Rushes out. Pooru stands, staring in his direction. Sharmishtha comes in.) - - -     SWARNALATA: There should be no lights on the first night in the nuptial chamber. - - -     POORU: Chitra ...      CHITRALEKHA: Yes, I am here. POORU: Forgive me, please. CHITRALEKHA: But why? POORU: I didn't consult you. CHITRALEKHA: Hush now. I was a fool, blind to your greatness. I didn't realize my good fortune. POORU: This is no ordinary old age, devi. This is decreptitude. The sum total of my father's transgressions. The burden of the whold dynasty, perhaps. I couldn't take it on without your help. CHITRALEKHA: Of course I am there with you. I have no life apart from you. I want none. POORU: I feel empty. Shrivelled. CHITRALEKHA: You don't have to explain anything. I am so privileged. (She goes up and picks up a lamp and brings it to him.) POORU: No light, please. It hurts my eyes. I can't ...     CHITRALEKHA: I want to perform the arati. May I? Just once? Only for a moment. Please. To welcome into my heart ...     POORU: All right ... Make it quick, please. (Heaves an exhausted sigh. Chitralekha takes the lamp to his face and moves it in a circle in front of it, performing an arati. The flame casts its light upon his face. His withered features look even more terrifying in the dim light. Chitralekha screams and drops the lamp to the floor.) POORU: Devi, devi ...     CHITRALEKHA (screaming):Please don't come near me. Go out. Please, please. Don't touch me. POORU: But you said ...     CHITRALEKHA: I don't know anything. Don't ask me. Forgive me, but please ... please, get out of here. At once. Swaru ... (Swarnalata comes in running. Pooru gets up slowly.) 

© Girish Karnad