After our narrow escape with life from the deadly house built of lac in Varanavat, we proceeded towards the dense forests in the southern direction to avoid detection from the spies of Duryodhan. All of us were totally exhausted, thirsty for water and feeling sleepy. After travelling for several hours, finally we set foot into the deep forests and were now confident that we will be safe from the spies of Duryodhan. For much part of our push towards the deep forests, Bhim bhai the gentle giant had carried all of us on his mighty body, and even after our persistent insistence was adamant to let us walk on our own. But, after a while, Yudhi bhai and I requested him to allow us walk on our own as we knew even for such a mighty and strong person as Bhim bhai, it would not be easy to carry all our family members continuously on his body and walk for such long distances. Finally, the gruelling events of the day took their toll on us, and we no longer had any more energy to go on further, and decided to take some rest and halt there for the night. Even though all of us were very hungry and thirsty, but seemed like some sound sleep was the first priority for everyone of us.

Even though, we were now in the middle of the thick forest, the forest environment did not scare us or was unfamiliar, as we spent much of our early childhood with our father Maharaj Pandu in the forests. Tears rolled from my eyes looking at my mother who was resting under the tree, she was totally exhausted and was resting on the bare ground which we covered with large soft leaves to give her body at least some soft cushion. My heart was bleeding looking at her hapless condition, when at this stage in her life, she should have been resting on a comfortable bed in a palace and with peace but unfortunately had to endure this difficult situation due to the insecurity and jealousy on part of our cousin Duryodhan.

Kunti maa was one strong and inspiring woman, who despite enduring enormous difficulties, never gave up and taught us how to overcome problems and handle tough situations. She was a real fighter and that quality of hers did really rub on all of us brothers. Bhim bhai sensing that we all were very thirsty, went in search of water and luckily for us returned shortly with several large cups of water and various fruits like guava, berries and so on, and he made those very useful looking cups so delicately by wrapping several large leaves together. I had a smile seeing the ingenuity of this gentle giant, who was much more than just a physically imposing man.

We woke up our mother and brothers who were resting under the tree and quenched our thirst by drinking the water and satisfied our bellies by eating those delicious fruits brought by Bhim bhai. Finally, it was time to sleep after the whole day of ordeal we had to endure starting from escaping from the house of lac in Varanavat and to the move into the deep forests. Usually, I was active even during the nights as well thanks to my habit of practising archery in the night at the Guru Dron's ashram, but that night I slept like a baby due to the earlier events which took a tremendous toll on us both mentally and physically. We were resting on the ground under the huge shala tree and the cool breeze flowing across did soothe our tired body and mind, and helped us get a quick and much needed sleep.

As I narrated earlier, Bhim bhai from a very young age had tremendous protective instincts for his family and was always ready to fight against anyone who would try to bully or intimidate us. So, he refused to sleep and said he will be awake all night and will be keeping a watch over us. Around midnight, my sleep got disturbed due to the constant murmurs I was hearing and woke up to see all my family members sleeping peacefully but found Bhim bhai was missing. The curiosity in me heightened listening to the murmurs which now grew more and more and turned into louder noise, so I went to the source of it and was shocked to find Bhim bhai there conversing with a woman who looked pretty tall and strong and in a way she seemed to be a perfect match for my gentle giant brother. Seeing me, Bhim bhai stopped the conversation with the woman and revealed to me what was going on, he mentioned that the woman in front of us was called Hidimbi who belonged to one of the prominent clans of the rakshasas and she was sent by her brother named Hidimba, the king of the rakshasa clan inhabiting that forest area to find humans in the area so he could devour them. The woman looked very unlike the rakshasas not only in physical appearance but in her demeanour as well.

As soon as Bhim bhai finished his talk, we heard a loud roar and saw a giant figure approaching us, who was terrible to look at, he was physically huge and with large eyes, protruding teeth, and unkempt hair. He was seething with anger and demanded an explanation from his sister on why she delayed in killing us and instead was talking to us. He tried to grab her hair and attack her, but was intercepted by Bhim bhai who challenged him to the duel. Hidimba was a ferocious rakshasa who had great physical strength and experienced in fighting against various kinds of opponents and after hearing the challenge from Bhim bhai, he scanned Bhim bhai from top to bottom and burst into laughter. Hidimba proudly declared it will not be a contest at all and will finish Bhim bhai in the twinkling of an eye. Bhim bhai then asked the rakshasa to fight in the open ground away from the place where still our mother and brothers were sleeping blissfully. Hidimba agreed to it and said that after finishing off Bhim bhai, he would devour all of us and after that will punish his sister Hidimbi as well.

The duel initially started at a slow pace where both the fighters were gauging strengths of one another, and gradually gained momentum and turned more and more violent wherein both of them started to uproot large trees and flung at each other. Bhim bhai had amazing reflexes and was able to dodge all those trees expertly, but Hidimba was not as athletic as Bhim bhai and due to his slow reflexes had to endure some terrible hits from those large trees on his huge body. After a while, both of them decided to go for the kill and started to wrestle powerfully and kept on attacking one another with thunderous blows. Some of the blows from Bhim bhai were very well directed which resulted in the oozing of blood from Hidimba's mouth. He was enraged at this and upped his ante and started to fight ferociously now, and was now matching Bhim bhai blow for blow. All along this fight I felt Bhim bhai somehow was subdued and not showing his full strength, I was not sure why he was doing it, he was trying to play with Hidimba rather than finish him off soon. I started to become anxious now seeing the growing strength of Hidimba as usually rakshasas gained strength and momentum in the fights during the night time, I thought it was now time to finish off rather than waste any more time. So, to goad Bhim bhai, I announced loudly, 'Bhim bhai, looks like you are tired now, your strength has waned and you are now struggling against Hidimba. Please hand him over to me and I will finish him off quickly'. As I expected this provocation did have it's desired results, and Bhim bhai glared at me and angrily told me to back off and he will take care of Hidimba.

After that, Bhim bhai showed his true fighting potential and started to pound Hidimba black and blue and with his sharp wrestling reflexes threw Hidimba to the ground and finished him off with a deadly blow to his head and finally the dangerous rakshasa was lying lifeless on the ground. Seeing her lifeless brother's body lying on the ground, the rakshasa woman was weeping profusely, it was a painful sight to watch. The ever gentle Bhim bhai approached her and lent his support and calmed her down and she embraced him in return, little did I expect that this public display of affection between them would turn into a more substantial one pretty soon.

After the dust had settled down, Bhim bhai explained all the events to Kunti maa and the rest of the brothers and Kunti maa sensing the unease on the face of the woman, approached her and spoke softly and asked her not to worry and they were there to support her. She bowed to Kunti maa and told maa about her wish to get married to Bhim bhai, and hearing it Nakul our ever mischievous brother burst into laughter and commented that Bhim bhai and Hidimbi bhabhi would make an awesome pair, earning a glare from Bhim bhai who looked embarrassed at the sudden turn of events. The marriage ceremony was conducted with minimum of fuss and it seemed to me like both Bhim bhai and Hidimbi bhabi were made for each other.

We decided to dwell in that forest for some more time and during this time we lived in the modest house that we built in the forests with the available forest materials like wood, gum, rubber and so on. After a year or so, Bhim bhai and Hidimbi bhabhi welcomed their child into the world, who was a cute looking and a chubby one and already looked quite big for his age and was like a three year old boy. The boy virtually had no hair at all on his head and hence was fondly named as Ghatotkach. We used to call the little baby as Ghato and he brought much joy into our lives. Only after a few years had gone by, the little Ghato baby developed into a well built boy thanks to the fantastic genes of his parents. And, each of us brothers taught him wielding different kinds of weapons but Ghato was more interested in learning archery, and I was so happy to teach him all those techniques and the boy was very smart and picked up the techniques very quickly. I knew the boy would bring great glory to our lineage in the coming years and always had a soft spot for my little baby Ghato.

Finally, it was time to say good bye to Hidimbi bhabhi and Ghato baby and it was an emotional farewell and the atmosphere turned very sombre. Kunti maa blessed bhabhi and Ghato and Ghato promised us, he would be by our side whenever we needed his help. During our parting talk, he asked me to teach him advanced archery techniques when we meet the next time, I hugged him tightly and said I would teach him all there was to be taught and gave him my blessings. Thus our life at the forests ended, and we started for a new place named Ekachakra Nagari which was supposed to be a prosperous place where plenty of Brahmanas were living and thus we disguised ourselves as Brahmanas and entered the town of Ekachakra Nagari, and the events from here on were roller coaster whose impact was deep and felt all through Aryavart.