Week 10 Storytelling: Drona and Drupada

The two boys chased each other through the field, twisting and turning and zigzagging through the grass, laughing all the while. When one boy would get too close, the one in front would put on a burst of speed, usually avoiding his friend, but this time, it wasn't enough. Drona tapped his shoulder, shouting gleefully and immediately turning to run in the other direction.

"I'm going to get you, Drona!" Drupada shouted. "You aren't going to win this time!"

Drona, without slowing or turning back, said, "I wouldn't bet on it! I win every time and you know it!"

The game went on like this, one boy catching up to the other, declaring his prowess at the simple game of tag, and getting tagged yet again, until the sun began to set and the boys' limbs were heavy with exhaustion.

They were laying in the field, watching the final rays of sunlight dance across the sky, waiting for Drona's parents to call him in, for Drupada's nanny to come pick him up.

"Drupada?" Drona asked.

"Yeah, Drona?" he responded.

"We are going to be friends forever, right? No matter what happens, we'll always be friends?" Drona asked.

Drupada turned to face his friend. He smiled widely before he said, "Of course! There is nothing that could tear us apart."

Just then, Drupada's nanny called out from the car, Drona's mother called out from the house in the middle of the field and the boys hugged before parting ways.

****

"Wait, who?" Drupada asked incredulously into his phone. "I don't have time for anyone, I have a meeting in ten minutes and I have to prepare."

Before he could hang up, though, his office doors opened, revealing a strange man. He was well-groomed, but his clothes showed evidence of multiple patches and places that had been previously mended. 

"Drupada," the man said. "My old friend!" 

He walked forward, arms outstretched as though he were going to hug Drupada. Noticing this, Drupada stepped behind his desk to create a barrier between the two.

"I think you must be mistaken, sir," Drupada said, straightening the cuffs on his obviously expensive shirt and smoothing his jacket. "I don't think we run in the, uh, same circles, you could say."

He chuckled a little at the thought of it. 

"Do you not recognize me?" the stranger asked. "It is me! Drona!"

Drupada looked up, for he did recognize the name and held fond memories of him from childhood. Fortune had not been kind to Drona, obviously, but who's fault was that?

"Ah, of course. You can see why I did not recognize you," Drupada said, gesturing towards Drona. "Anyway, why are you here?"

Drona looked down at his feet at this question. Without raising his head he said, "It's my child. We do not have-"

Drupada's eyebrows shot up and he interrupted him before he had a chance to finish. "Ah, so you NEED something do you? Life treats some people differently and I am obviously very successful," he said, gesturing to his office. "Friendship between us now will just not work. Someone like you cannot associate with someone like me. It's just not natural."

At this he pressed a button on his office phone. The secretary picked up and Drupada said, "Please send security. A strange man barged into my office and now he refuses to leave."

Photo of office buildings in Chicago found on Wikimedia Commons

Author's Note

This story in the Mahabharata was very interesting to me. I wanted to experiment with putting it into a more modern business world, but I did not want to change the story much more than that. It definitely explains why Drona wanted to have Drupada's kingdom attacked, because it was such a humiliating way to be treated and I wanted to experiment with that in this version of the story. The original was take from RK Narayan's version of the Mahabharata.