Not a Routine Love Story

Check out the theme here: A Retelling of Valli and Karttikeya’s Love Story

This post is a part of BlogchatterA2Z Challenge 2026.

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Skanda, disguised as an ascetic, watched Valli and her friend Nila sit and sew the blanket. Since he was also sitting nearby, they didn’t speak most of the time. Once in a while, they whispered so that he wouldn’t hear. But of course, he did. It looked like another love story was brewing, one between Nila and Valli’s youngest brother. Skanda smiled to himself. If only he, too, could enjoy such love with Valli.

“Svami, please tell us about the Himalayas,” Valli asked after a while.

Skanda obliged, happy to converse with them. He described the snowy mountain range, the dense forests, the hill slopes with invisible and divine medicinal herbs, the sounds of animal cries, and the stillness of silence.

He painted a picture with his words, talking about the ice-cold River Ganga, whose froth was whiter than milk, the shimmer of celestial beings who went this way and that, the constant hum of music from gandharva instruments that could only be heard if one were allowed to, and the many rishi ashrams tucked into small corners and gaps in the mountains. Skanda also listed the flowers and trees that grew in the region, and how some of them were favorites of Shiva and Parvati.

Valli and Nila listened to him with wonder, their eyes wide with excitement, the needles long forgotten in the blanket.

“It is so beautiful! I feel as if I am there!” Nila said with a slight shiver. Valli nodded in agreement. They grinned at him with so much happiness that Skanda realized this was what made humans alive. Little things that meant something to them. Neither of them expressed regret for not being able to go there. They were happy to hear about the place and enjoyed someone’s experience as their own. Of course, not every human was like this. As a deva, he had seen enough to know it took all kinds to be a person, be it a human, deva, or asura.

“Svami, did you go to Shiva’s home? Was Parvati devi sitting beside him, or was she half of him? Is Nandi really whiter than snow and large the mountain?” Valli asked.

“Tomorrow. I’ll answer your questions and describe Kailasa,” he promised.

They thanked him and left the field as the sun sank below the horizon. Skanda went to Ceruttani to spend the night there. He had been staying on the hill since he met Valli.

The next few days passed in the same manner. Every morning, Valli brought some food and milk for the old ascetic, and her brothers brought them lunch. Nila arrived afterward to listen to more descriptions of his travels and stories of Shiva, Parvati, and Skanda.

“Can you please tell me the story of Skanda and Devasena’s wedding, Svami?” Valli asked.

Skanda smiled at her. “You say you want to marry him and ask me to share the story of his wedding to someone else?”

Valli laughed at the question. “Svami! You are a learned man who knows everything. You should know that my feelings for my deva don’t have any place for jealousy toward others who love him or others he loves.”

Nothing could have made him happier than this answer from her. She was truly a beautiful woman. Devasena was right when she said her sister would never be jealous of her. Their thoughts were similar, even though Valli didn’t know the truth of their current birth or her true form.

“Devasena will be beyond delighted when she finally meets you!” he said.

Valli blushed and looked down. “May your words come true soon, Svami.”

The words were a mere whisper, but he heard them anyway. Forgetting his disguise as an ascetic, Skanda assured her that his words would indeed come true. “You only have to say yes to my love if you want my words to be true,” he declared.

Valli’s shocked expression made him realize the mistake. However, before he could say anything to cover it up, she jumped to her feet in anger.

“You are a sadhu! Such words are not befitting your age or knowledge.” Valli retorted and left the field, fuming. She was miffed to have random strangers professing their love for her when she clearly said she belonged only to her Skanda.