Promises

Pratap was in the arena at dawn, and he was surprised as the sun was high in the sky, yet there was no sign of Kunwar Shakti in the arena. He was religiously there following his elder brother. Today was different. Kunwar Pratap was swinging his sword and thinking about what Ajabde had told him about Shakti the previous night. He glanced across the garden to the Palace corridor, and still no sign of his brother. He kept his sword and decided to go look for him. Through the corridor, he took a turn and stopped. Ajabde was at the cow shed feeding Laxmi. A smile appeared as he stopped to look if someone was spotting him from the roof or Jharokhas. Then he moved towards the cow shed.

" You know, Laxmi, Ratan has become so responsible nowadays. It's like she is all grown up. Yesterday she told me to stop worrying about Maa sa and Balwant because she will take care...." Ajabde stopped at his footsteps.
" Kunwarsaa? You need something?"
"No ... I... Came to see Sarang. " He stopped. " Where is Bhai Shakti?"
A smile broke on Ajabde's face.
" You won't believe it. At dawn, he was up with Ranima and Heer Baisa making garlands."
" What? My Bhai Shakti??" He looked at her face as if she wanted to say I told you!
" Dadabhai...." Kunwar Shakti came up behind him. "Am I interrupting?" He smiled.
" No! We were talking about you only. "Ajabde smiled.
" Where were you?" Kunwar Pratap sounded displeased. " I was waiting at the Arena..."
" Wohh...." Shakti looked away, red.
" Are you hiding something?" Kunwar Pratap was straight with his question.
" No, Dadabhai, why will I hide...."
" Follow me to the Arena then..."
" Ha...." As Kunwar Pratap moved away, Shakti whispered to Ajabde.
" Bhabisa!"
" Ji?"
" Help me, please!" Ajabde acted clueless.
" Heer... " He was embarrassed as Ajabde smiled, amused. She nodded a yes as he smiled.
" Are you coming or not?" Kunwar Pratap's voice made him run as Ajabde went inside.

Kunwar Pratap noticed his brother's unmindfulness at the Arena. Ajabde is never wrong at reading people; maybe she is right. He smiled unmindfully.
" Baojiraj, smile as much as you can now! Once you are married, this smile won't come back!" Chakrapani's words made Shakti laugh.
" Look at me, she orders I follow!" He pointed at the bag full of clothes and jewellery Saubhagyawati had asked him to bring from her home.
"Ajabde is not like that! She doesn't order me!"
" Well, not now... let the marr...."
" Kunwarsa Kunwar Shakti has been called by Maharani sa." A daasi declared as Kunwar Shakti almost ran with a smile. Pratap followed eagerly.

Jaivanta Bai was sitting with Sajja Bai and Ajabde, discussing a list of things. Heer and Ratan were making garlands, and Shakti was standing in all smiles, at Heer, then at Ajabde.
"Kunwar Shakti, tomorrow Chakrapani and Bhagwati will accompany Ajabde and Heer Kanwar to the Eklingji temple at dawn. Can you go with them?"
" Surely Badima," He said, eyeing Heer, who smiled at him.
" Anything for Bhabisa."
Ajabde and Shakti shared a secret smile.
Pratap interrupted, " I can go too, you don't need to...."
Ajabde's glare stopped him. She indicated towards Heer. Sajjabai laughed.
" Yes, yes, take him also!"
"That will be good, you two pray together to Eklinji." Jaivanta Bai was happy.
Ajabde followed him out in the corridor.
" Why do you want to go?"
" Aree..."
" Kunwar Shakti was going na... You didn't need to..."
" He can go now also... Besides, I am going to the temple, you can not tell me not to go " She is already ordering like a wife!
" Kunwarsa, you ruined our plan."
" What Plan?" she bit her lips.
" Nothing, Dadabhai."
Kunwar Shakti interrupted. Kunwar Pratap looked at his brother and then at Ajabde, who were looking at each other, both hoping the other would explain to Pratap.
" Wah... now you are a team!"
Kunwar Pratap was surely not amused as he walked off. Two of his closest people were keeping secrets now. He turned around to say, " All of you be ready by dawn."

The next day, two palanquins and a procession left Bijolia for the temple. Heer shared a palanquin with Ajabde, who spotted her looking at Shakti riding ahead and smiled.
" Rajkumari sa...."
" Please, Bhabisa, call me Heer."
" You like someone? As in, with whom can you get married?"
" Me?" She looked a little surprised.
" No, no, I'm not easily impressed! Has to be someone brave and handsome to impress me. Has to be someone Dadabhai would approve!"
" Kunwar Shakti is a lot like him, don't you think?" Ajabde's question made Heer look up and blush.
" Bhabisaa...." The Palanquins stopped as a Daasi informed them they had stopped at a garden near the temple to rest for a while before the Pujas.

Ajabde stepped out, followed by Heer, and Kunwar Shakti looked at his Bhabisa, who smiled and nodded.
With a smile, he said to Heer, " Rajkumari sa, may I have the honour to show you around the garden?" Heer nodded as the duo left a smiling Ajabde behind. Pratap walked up to her.
" Heer Baisa likes him!" She gushed.
" You asked her?" He was shocked.
" Well. Not directly!"
They walked together into the garden.
"I want to talk about something."
" What's wrong?"She looked at his serious face!
" Woh... Whatever Chotima told you about marriage alliances and princesses..."
" How do you know about that?"
" Saubhagyabati Bhabisa heard it and told Chakrapani."
"Oh, you are worried about...."
He held her hand, making her stop.
" I promise you, Ajabde, no alliances, no women, I will always be yours."
" Kunwarsa, alliances are a necessary part of a Royal life, a part you can not deny."
" But Ajabde... I don't want to hurt you."
" Our responsibilities to our motherland come first!" Her words made him look into her eyes and beam with pride.
" Ajabde but..."
" Kunwar Pratap, you are thinking too much! Don't forget you are Mewar's son first...then my..." She stopped.

Meanwhile, in another part of the Garden, Heer Kanwar was offered a red flower by Shakti.
" I like yellow ones better." He brought her yellow wildflowers.
" White flowers are so useful, they can also be worn...." He went looking for white ones as Heer giggled to herself.

" Your?" Kunwar Pratap had a teasing smile as a nervous Ajabde looked away.
" Am sorry."
" For what?"
" I was angry and I took your name."She looked at him, scared.
" It's not the first time, is it? Last time you ran away... anyways..."
He stepped an inch closer, holding her hands in his.
" You can call me Kunwar Pratap when we are alone."
" Ji? No... No..."
" Why Not? I would like it more than what people call me. You are my friend, my..." She looked up at him, smiling as a sound interrupted their conversation.
" Panditji, you can't remember the simplest of things! You forgot the holy water."
" You order too much Bhago, why don't you take things yourself?"
Ajabde smiled at the newlyweds, amused as Pratap looked at her and back at them, and a worry crept in. This is my future!
" You said something?"
" No, no, gather everyone, we will go to the temple." He left Ajabde wondering.

As they stepped into the temple, Kunwar Pratap and Ajabde looked at each other and smiled. They remembered their first meeting there... How destiny plays its game! Smiling, they lit a diya together and prayed for a happy future.

" Get the procession ready to go back to the Mahel!" He ordered. She looked at his face; he seemed to be preoccupied with thoughts she couldn't read. As eyes met, he smiled at her, indicating for her to get into her Palanquin for the journey.

Purnota: Chapter Eleven

Bondita opened her window to find Thamma and Jyatha Moshai missing from the lawn. The chairs were empty. Was she sleeping till late? She checked the clock and shook her head. Taking the towel, she hurried towards the bathroom, countering Kalindi on the way. She was reading the newspaper with her rimless reading glasses on. “Umm… why are you here? Where is Jyatha Moshai?” Kalindi raised her eyes briefly and sighed without putting the paper away. Her lack of response puzzled Bondita as she made her way to take a bath. When she came out in a pair of jeans and a shirt, rolling her sleeves up, Kalindi observed her keenly. “Will you be going somewhere?” She enquired. Bondita nodded. “Ah, yes, the District Office, some of my paperwork for the Bar Membership needs to be signed by a Gazetted Officer. Jyatha Moshai knows someone…” “Don’t go by their house… he is in a bad mood.” Kalindi placed some Chirer Polao in front of her and spoke as Bondita rubbed her wet hair with a frown. “Why?” “Oh...

Purnota: Chapter Thirteen

Aniruddha eyed Trilochon, sitting at the desk in his room, attending to some paperwork. His reading glasses were on his nose, and he appeared engrossed in a financial document. He stood at the threshold, a bit unsure and glanced over his shoulder at Somnath, Batuk and Bondita. She gestured at him to go on. Aniruddha cleared his throat. That prompted Trilochon to look away from his document at his nephew. “Jethu, if you are busy, I can come back…” He suggested unsurely. “Come in and close the door.” Trilochon glanced over Aniruddha’s shoulder at the others who walked away hurriedly. Aniruddha closed the door, and Bondita tiptoed to place her ears on it. Batuk and Somnath stood at a distance. “So you met her?” Trilochon spoke while cleaning his glasses. Aniruddha nodded. Somnath had introduced them to Ashalata. Bondita, Batuk, and he had met them in a Dhaba off the highway. Although Bondita did most of the talking, initiating a friendly gesture to put the nervous Ashalata at ease, he had...

Purnota: Chapter Twelve

Bondita woke up to the alarm clock ringing as she struggled to get her hand out of the quilt wrapped around her. She sat inside the mosquito net, rubbing her eyes and staring at the clock, trying to remember why she had set the alarm at 3.45 AM. Then her eyes shone in delight. It was Mahalaya. She remembered that during her days in Dehra, she had educated her roommate on the tradition of starting pujo with the voice of Birendra Krishna Bhadra echoing through the air. She was uninterested, and Bondita had borrowed her headphones to hear the program and deeply missed home. She remembered that as a child, while her father was still alive, he would gently wake her up, and take her on his lap to the huge Banyan tree near the Panchayat where people gathered near the Pradhan’s radio, putting flower garlands and lamps around it and folding their hands as they heard Mahishashur Mardini killing the Asura. When she arrived in Kolkata to get her law degree, she thought things would be different. B...

You Deserve More

Ajabdeh woke up with the song of birds as she felt something warm on her hand. Her eyes went wide. Her hand was on the pillow in between them, between his hands, clasped as he slept. She thought of removing it slowly, but he was holding on to it so tightly. Ajabdeh's heart beat faster and faster. What do I do now? How do I not wake him? What if... why is my hand in his? She was utterly confused. " Am I...In love?" Pratap was staring at the sleeping figure on the bed as he stared back at the rain. Then he frowned as he noticed that she shivered. He closed the windows of the room to make it cosy, then sat on his side of the bed. A lamp flickered on her side like always, and he stared at her sleeping figure as he put his blanket over her as well. She shifted a little in her sleep to make herself cosy again. Her payals and bangles made a rhythmic sound, breaking the silence of the room. Her hand was out of her blanket and on the pillow in between. He tried to slowly put it ...

Purnota: Chapter Ten

The rain clouds gave way to the scorching sun the following day as Bondita woke up as the first rays of the sun hit her face and disturbed her sleep. She cursed herself for keeping the window open and sat inside the mosquito net with a sleepy yawn. She eyed the alarm clock on her desk that said 6.30. Bondita scratched her head and pulled the mosquito net up to search for her slippers. She heard the bell ringing from Thamma’s room and the chanting of mantras. A smile came involuntarily to her lips as she realised that she might have come after ages, but everything in Chandannagar seemed to have been at a standstill. She grabbed the Kurti from the chair to change from the top she was wearing and wondered what she could do for the day. For the first time in a long time, she was free from the routine of boarding houses. Her eyes fell on the mess around her room since she had not unpacked the day before. Bondita decided to spend the morning unpacking her belongings. She opened the door of h...

Dreams and Wishes

At dawn, the Bhil women took the girls to the Kalika Mata Temple and the Jal Kund. Dressed in white, a nervous Heer followed everything Ajabde knew and did, trying to explain the significance of the rituals to her. They prayed to Lord Ganesh. Kunwar Shakti and Kunwar Pratap were staying at Punja Ji's place, as they were not supposed to see the brides before the wedding. Ajabde was dressed in her mother's lehenga, a mang tika Jaivanta Bai gave her as a family heirloom and the simple nosering Pratap had gifted. They made their hair into a simple bun with wildflowers before putting on their dupatta. Heer was dressed in traditional Bhil jewellery of silver and beads that the women had gifted her. They made her wear a red and white saree draped as a lehenga and a red chunri with it. She looked like a pretty, colourful Bhil bride. Kunwar Shakti was a nervous groom dressed in a traditional bhil dhoti, kurta and cap. The bhil shawl hung from a side, making the white attire colourf...

Purnota: Chapter Sixteen

It had been a month since Bondita had started working in the firm. With Somnath’s wedding date being set for winter, many things were keeping Trilochon and Kalindi busy as they took charge of the smooth running of things leading up to the wedding. They needed to shop for everyone, buy gifts and choose jewellery and sarees for the bride. Despite his attempts, Trilochon found Binoy reluctant to participate in his son’s wedding arrangements. Somnath took him and Kalindi to places they wanted to go, especially Kolkata for shopping, and Trilochon made arrangements to make sure that the first wedding of the generation was grand enough. Bondita tried to help as much as she could as she noticed Aniruddha being oddly aloof from the entire thing. She assumed it was due to Trilochon’s reactions to his lack of interest in marriage. Trilochon kept pestering her to enquire into his reasons while she kept stalling him with excuses. Bondita also failed to know more about Kalindi and Trilochon’s past, ...

Towards You

The Afghans, after Sher Shah Suri's untimely demise, were at loggerheads for power. Their troops near Mewar were now led by Mehmood Shah. They secretly captured territories in the forests and waited to attack Mewari camps when the time was right. Rawat Chundawat and his spies had confirmed the news, and Udai Singh sent a warning to Mehmood Shah to withdraw his troops from Mewar in vain. Now that it was out in the open, it was time they declared war. Mehmood Shah had limited resources in Mewar. His internal rebellion against his commander did not help his cause. His spies clearly suggested that in no way could he win, especially with Kunwar Pratap leading his troops. He was having second thoughts about the war. It was then that one of his aides suggested a perfect plan. Maharani Jaivanta Bai had decided to go to the Mahakaleshwar Temple near the outskirts of Chittorgarh, in the forestlands of Bhilwara. They had travelled a long way and across the Gambhiri river that meandered during...

Confrontation

Maine kahan tha saath rahunga Banunga main tera saaya Par tere saath kuch kadam bhi Main nahi chal paya Bondita got out of bed and left the room before Aniruddha woke up. She went about her chores and decided to ignore his presence until she found herself a logical explanation for her impulsive behaviour, good enough for him to forgive her mistake. She made breakfast and told the cook to note down who preferred what for when she would leave. She waited in the kitchen long enough for the breakfast to be served by the house help and eaten. His routine was fixed. He would go to the study room and leave for work in half an hour. Then, she wouldn’t have to put up with this hide-and-seek till late afternoon or evening. But things rarely go as planned in life. “Bondita? Bouma!” Trilochan’s call made her shake her head. She pulled the ghomta above her head and walked out to the dining area. Eyes met briefly as she looked away and spoke to Trilochan as if dismissing his presence altogether....

Purnota: Chapter Fifteen

A week was all it took for Bondita to get used to work and the new routine. She would wake up early and hurry through her chores, helping Kalindi prepare a tiffin of either Chirer Polao or bread jam and then proceeding to the Roy Chowdhury house. She would arrange the day’s paperwork before Aniruddha arrived at the study room. Occasionally, she would hear him call out to Koeli for breakfast and pack her things, knowing he was almost ready to leave. He would walk into the chamber, check his list, and they would go to work. She would follow him from courtroom to courtroom. She would be sitting in the audience and learning. She would follow him to conferences and client meetings and take notes. They would discuss complicated cases. She would share the tiffin she brought from home. He would at first take a reluctant bite, then eat more than her. She often gave him her share of food discreetly. They usually stayed back after everyone was gone and ordered food for dinner. Some days, he woul...

RAABTA

Search This Blog