The Brothers
(Kumbhakarna stirs. He hears his name being shouted and feels his body being poked, stomped on, and shaken. His eyes start to flutter open as he starts to come out of his long sleep.)
"Kumbhakarna! Kumbhakarna! Wake up!"
What is going on? Is this real? Have I finally awoken?
"Kumbhakarna! Finally! We have been trying to wake you for weeks. Your brother, Ravana, needs you. Let's go!"
Who is shouting at me? I cannot think straight. How is this possible?
The shouting continues. "Did you hear me?! We need to go. NOW!"
"ENOUGH! I have just awoken from what felt like an eternity's rest. Give me a moment to collect myself."
Who are all of these people around me? I recognize none of them. Where is Ravana? How long have I been asleep? I have so many questions. I need to find my brother.
"We do not have time, Kumbhakarna! Ravana needs your help in defeating Rama and his followers," says a tiny man who I have never seen before.
"Take me to my brother. I have many questions that need answers."
"Yes, yes. Follow us. We will take you to Lord Ravana," says a frail woman.
The hundreds of people who were once surrounding me now start heading out of the room. Who is this Rama they speak of and why does he need to be defeated? Ravana is still the same as before. Without me being around to start fights with, he needed to find someone else. There better be a good explanation for all of this.
"We are arriving, Kumbhakarna. Ravana is in this tent," says a voice that was lost among the large group of people.
"BROTHER! Is that you?! I have waited so long to see you. Come inside!"
There is no mistaking that voice. That is my brother. As I walk through the tent entrance the first thing I see is Ravana with a big smile on his face. This is not the face I expected to see from him.
"Come here, you," he says as he opens his arms and pulls me in for a hug. This is the first time since we were kids that he has hugged me. What is happening? "You must have so many questions. Sit down, sit down."
He looks at me, waiting for me to speak. I was expecting a long story from him about this Rama guy and why Ravana is so much better than him, but he just sat there, waiting for me to start.
"First of all, how long have I been asleep and why haven't you woken me up until now?"
Ravana takes a pause. "You have been sleeping for eight years. Well, almost eight years. I tried everything I could do to wake you, but you would never budge. I even asked Lord Brahma for help, but there was nothing he could do because you are the one who asked for sleep. I am sorry, brother. I truly am. Here you are now, however, and I could not be happier to see you."
Eight years... eight years of my life stuck in my dreams, in my nightmares. I can understand why I could not be awoken. Lord Brahma's powers are too great to challenge, but how was I able to be awoken now? I am still confused.
"You must be wondering how we were able to wake you now," says Ravana. "I prayed to Lord Brahma, saying you are the only one powerful enough to help me defeat the evil Rama, so he helped wake you. He knew that Rama must be stopped at all costs."
"Who is this Rama?"
"He is an evil man who has killed countless people and even kidnapped my wife, Sita. He will stop at nothing to take her and kill me. You cannot let this happen."
For once in my life, I actually believe my brother. He is the one who was finally able to wake me, even if it came eight years too late. I shall help him win his wife back.
"I will help you, brother. I do not know what happened to you in the last eight years, but you have changed. Let us go defeat this Rama."
(Kumbhakarna and Ravana take to the battlefield and defeat Rama and all of his men. Sita ends up with Ravana, and Kumbhakarna is gifted part of the land by his brother.)
"Brother, you and I have conquered the land and all is at peace. Our people are happy, I am happy, and surely, you are happy too," says my brother as he sits upon his throne.
"I am happy. I am awake and no longer sleeping and that is all I care about. I am glad that you finally came around, brother. I did not think this is who you were. Thank you. I must now get back home. It is getting late, and as much as I hate to say it, I am tired."
(Kumbhakarna returns home and lies in bed. Thoughts begin to flood his mind.)
Am I truly happy? Even after all of that, something does not feel right. Why am I so tired after eight years of sleep? I will ponder on it more tomorrow. My eyes are getting heavy.
(Kumbhakarna closes his eyes and falls asleep. As he begins to wake up, he hears shouting. He is being poked and stomped on.)
"Kumbhakarna! Kumbhakarna! Wake up!"
What is it now? I thought everything was handled.
"Kumbhakarna! Finally! We have been trying to wake you for weeks. Your brother, Ravana, needs you. Let's go!"
Wait, I have heard these words before.
"Did you hear me?! We need to go. NOW! We do not have time, Kumbhakarna! Ravana needs your help in defeating Rama and his followers."
I have experienced this before. Was all of that a dream? Was I tricked?
(Kumbhakarna awakens. This time, things are different. The events that follow play out with Rama defeating Ravana and Kumbhakarna. Rama takes back Sita and they live a happy life without the threat of Ravana.)
Author's note: For this story, I decided to add a bit of a twist. While I understand that Kumbhakarna could not dream about something that has not happened yet, there are a lot of things that happen in Indian Epics that do not always add up. A thought of mine is that Indra saw into the future and decided to trick Kumbhakarna one last time before he was finally awoken. The reason I made his dream be a good dream is that it would be ironic to make his dream greatly contrast the source story. I also decided to show Ravana be kind for once because it also contrasts how he treated his brother throughout my other two stories. I wanted this to be a big focus point of the story because Kumbhakarna would have dreamed of his brother being a good brother at times. This is also why I used to photo of the two hands shaking; to show that they found a common ground. There are many times that I dream about something that happened in my life except the dream turned out completely opposite with how it happened in real life. With this story I flipped it and had the dream happen first rather than the event.
I decided to stop the story where I did because the focus of my Storybook is about his dreams and not about Kumbhakarna life while he is awake. I went back and forth with this story for a long time, and it took me awhile to try and find a suitable ending for it. While some may not enjoy that I took the "it was all a dream" ending, I believe it fits perfectly as the concluding story for my Storybook.
Bibliography: The Ramayana, R.K. Narayan. Book
Kumbhakarna: The Sleeping Giant. Comic Book.
Kumbhakarna. Wikipedia. Website