12th January 1670
Vidyanagari (NT) Frontier, Suvarna Dwipa, Overseas territory, Akhand Bharatiya Empire
Sripuram is a small town located 50 km inland from the major port city of Vidya Nagar. The town is nestled on the banks of a large freshwater lake with dozens of boats tied to the harbour, where fishers can be seen untying the knots and casting the net. Sripuram may be a small town, but it has all the necessities that a large town would require. On the outer edges of the town, there is a post office; in the town centre, there is a police station. In fact, there is even a small school built by a college student who had studied in the Bharatiya Empire.
The prosperity of Sripuram is completely disproportional to its size. Almost every household in the town can be considered a middle-inco household, able to afford all the modern anities of the Bharatiya Empire. This is naturally because of the developnt that has been led by the entrepreneurs and immigrants who ca to Australia looking for opportunities from the Bharatiya Empire.
The daily life of Sripuram could be considered boring; it's not as spiritually fulfilling as it is in the Bharatiya Empire, but for the people in the town who were either from the aspirational class of this society or slaves who had been freed from their shackles, their current life is already very fulfilling and a thing that they could only hope for in their previous lifestyle. Husbands and fathers are packing their lunch boxes and leaving for work, either in the mines or on the farmland—both among the most profitable jobs in the town.
The won are quickly cleaning up after their husbands and heading out for their own work in the local cent and brick factories, which are employing a large number of both won and n. On their way, in so families, if there are children, the children are being left at school. Sotis the children are crying and causing trouble, not wanting to go to school, but the mothers are using their inherent skill of slipper teaching and are annoyedly leaving their kids at the school.
However, sothing unusual was happening at the corner of the town. A few townspeople had gathered around a house with smiles on their faces. What was even more amazing was it looked like the policen, who would rarely appear in the town unless there was a problem with public security, actually stood among the crowd in front of what looked like a clothes shop.
Soon, an unusual-looking young man stepped out of the shop with tears in his eyes. Anyone who looked at it would feel a hint of pity and sympathy from the bottom of their hearts. He wore a traditional Bharatiya Sherwani, but his hair was tied in a bun with a colourful feather attached to it.
Looking at the young man, the people who had gathered outside, all had kind smiles on their faces.
"You don't have to feel sad, Bhavanth. You are the only one who got this scholarship to study in the mainland."
"Unlike my brat who couldn't even clear the high school entrance examination, you are a genius, the first person in our town to enter the college with a full scholarship. Bah! Even thinking about my useless brat is making angry."
"Forget it, forget it. Anyway, rember, Bhavanth, this is a great honor. This is the chance for you to rise up to the sky."
The villagers ca forward and advised one by one. Feeling their sincere gazes and expectations, Bhavanth inexplicably felt a little touched. He had grown up without a father, and since he was a child, these villagers and fellow townsn had taken care of him a lot, especially after knowing that he only had his mother. But now he was going to a faraway place, away from the place that touched the softest part of his heart. His tears, which seed to have stopped, suddenly started to moisten once again.
Noticing this, a burly middle-aged man wearing khaki clothes with a kind face patted the young boy on his back with reassurance.
The young man looked at the police uncle, whom he was so afraid to look at before, and now he could only feel reluctance. He nodded with great difficulty and looked inside the shop one more ti only to look at a woman wearing a colorful sari as well as a lean middle-aged man who were looking at him with expressions mixed with both happiness, reluctance, expectation, and pain.
The young man felt a firm pat on his shoulder after which he heard the kind words of the police uncle, " Bhavanth, we have to set off or else we will miss the ship."
Bhavanth nodded reluctantly. He looked back at his mother, whom he wouldn't get to see for at least a year, the clothes shop where he grew up, the owner uncle who cared for him so much, and finally at the villagers who treated him kindly.
"I'm leaving now, everyone. I will co back next year," he said, choked up.
The villagers all felt touched.
"Haha," "Look at you acting like a child!" "Hey Wife, he is a child." "If you keep your mouth shut, no one would think you are a fool."
The atmosphere was bittersweet. Bhavanth could also see so aunts, whom he was particularly close to, wiping their eyes secretly.
"Hey, brat, how many tis should I say you should not use the phrase 'I am leaving now'; instead, say 'I will return'," an old grandpa scolded him, his face red.
"Ka haa aha, I forgot, chitti old man. I will return soon after my studies," he had finally cheered up.
A few monts later, Bhavanth loaded his luggage onto the back of the carriage, after which he himself sat down with the police uncle. The wheels slowly started to move with the neighing of the horses.
As ti passed, the image of the town beca smaller and smaller until it eventually disappeared from the sight of an Indigenous Native Arican young boy.
Bhavanth Xochipilli was his full na. He ca to the Suvarna Dwipa Frontier of the Bharatiya Empire six years ago with his mother. He was among the first batch of 30,000 people who ca to the island in 1664. He was 6 at that ti. At that ti, he didn't rember much; he only had a vague feeling that he had lived in so other place in his childhood, but the mories were not too clear. The only thing he rembered was a burly and tall man with a bare upper chest, muscular arms, waving a spear furiously, with feathers all over his head which looked like they were flas dancing to the rage in the man's heart, brave and majestic.
Apart from that, he couldn't think of anything else. His mother said that their ho was in a very faraway place called the Aricas. They ca to Suvarna Dwipa in a large ship that traversed the ocean for a whole month, but he did not rember any of it. The only thing he rembered was that he seed to have gone through a very long journey, and at that ti, he rembered that he was very sick. He rembered his mother crying a lot. He rembers feeling sad.
Fortunately, all of it is over now. Growing up in the Bharatiya Empire for the last six years and living with the Bharatiya people, he already considers himself a Bharatiya at heart.
---
Port Jalamarga
As soon as his foot stepped into the stronghold, the sadness and reluctance of leaving his hotown could no longer be seen. Instead, it was replaced by excitent and anticipation.
Bhavanth had co to Jalamarga Port quite a few tis in his childhood, especially since he would have to write all his tests and exams in the larger school in Jalamarga instead of the school back in town. But every ti he ca, he would get to witness sothing new and exciting. It was almost as if Jalamarga was the window that showed him the wider world.
He could see all sorts of people coming and going from the port. He could see large 2000-tonne ships that looked majestic and regal. One ti, he even got to see a 4000-tonne behemoth. He was only 9 years old at that ti. Looking at the giant ship, he almost hallucinated that a pirate ship as big as an island was attacking the port, but it was only after the supervisor, who was in charge of the kids who ca sightseeing at the ti, explained that he understood the ship was not a pirate ship but a vessel of the Bharatiya Empire—the vessel of his country.
Looking at those deep, dark muzzels that looked to be as deep as the abyss, those dark uncles on the ships wearing half clothes like bunions and headscarves, and a man wearing a suit whose right eye seed to be covered, who had a parrot as a pet, had left a deep impression in his mind.
"Every ti I co here, so much has changed," the words of the policeman reached his ear. Bhavanth ca back to his senses and quietly looked at the police uncle, who was looking around at the people and port with lancholy. "It seems like the airport city has expanded once again, Bhavanth. I think it won't be long before our town becos part of the city. But I don't know if, by then, the lively and peaceful atmosphere will it still be the sa." He let out a deep turbulent breath.
To Be Continued...
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