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 Thirty Two

Bondita got down from the local train with a duffle bag and her hoodie tied around the waist of her dark green Kurti, which she teamed with white leggings and a white dupatta. The weather at Canning seemed hotter and humid than Chandannagar, and at first glance, Bondita spotted the spring blooms of Krishnachura painting the tree at the station red. She picked up her bag and looked around the crowded station. Someone was supposed to come and get her. She dragged her bag through the crowd and finally reached the gates. The rickshaws, vans and small autos were shouting out names of different places, names that appeared like images in her memories. “Bondita Malkin?” She turned to see a woman in a checked printed saree worn above the ankle with a Ghomta over her head and the Anchol tied to her waist. Bondita nodded as the woman in her forties surprised her by touching her feet. Bondita jolted away in shock. “What are you doing?” She asked with raised brows as the woman took her duffel bag. ...

My Everything

Kunwar Pratap stormed into the Mahal at Gogunda amidst uncertainty and chaos. Happy faces of the chieftains and soldiers welcomed him as Rawat Chundawat, and some other chieftains stopped the ongoing Raj Tilak. A visibly scared Kunwar Jagmal looked clueless at a visibly angry Kunwar Pratap. Rani Dheerbai Bhatiyani hadn't expected Kunwar Pratap to show up, that too, despite her conveying to him his father's last wish of crowning Kunwar Jagmal. Twenty-one days after Udai Singh's death, she was finally close to a dream she had dared to dream since Jagmal was born. He was not informed about the Raj Tilak as per Dheerbai's instructions. She eyed Rawat Ji. He must have assembled the chiefs to this revolt against her son, against the dead king. No one except them knew where Kunwar Pratap was staying. It was for the safety of his family. " What are you doing, Chotima?" A disappointed voice was directed at her. She could stoop down so low? For the first time, an anger...

Purnota: Chapter Thirty Three

Aniruddha stepped out of his room, in a wrinkled Kurta, with a towel and toothbrush, to almost bump into Bondita, who was hurrying out of her room, trying to wear her watch on the go. He stopped before she barged into him and spotted her in one of Thamma’s Dhakai sarees. It was a white-on-white saree she had worn with a quarter-sleeved black blouse. Her hair was bunned with a claw clip, and she wore a small black Teep complementing her Kajol-drawn eyes. She looked slightly startled as she stopped at his dishevelled appearance and looked away at his stare. “Why are you…” He cleared his throat to do away with his morning groggy voice, “Dressed up?” Bondita shook her head at his words. “Because I have camp today, the NGO representative is waiting downstairs.” At her words, Aniruddha nodded and promptly held her wrist to check her watch. Bondita eyed his index finger and thumb, briefly brushing around her wrist as he suppressed a yawn. “But… It's 7 AM.” Bondita smiled, amused at his wo...

Purnota: Chapter Thirty Six

Bondita opened her door in the usual hours of the morning and found Thamma and Jyatha Moshai on the couch in their living room, sipping tea. She had half sat on her bed, leaning against the pillow all night, imagining her plight when she faced Aniruddha in the morning. What if he did not think of it as much as she thought of his actions? What if that was his uncomfortable way of comforting her because she was upset? But what about his eyes, his gestures? Had she misread all of it? Bondita blushed to herself the moment she remembered how his eyes followed her around for the past two days. Bondita was hurrying through her daily chores, eyeing the clock, for she would be late for work and overheard Trilochon lament about things not changing since Binoy left. He thought that things were getting better at home, but as soon as Aniruddha had left for Sunderban, Binoy informed him that he had changed the attorney in charge of his case. Bondita frowned slightly as her hand stopped at wearing th...

Purnota: Chapter Thirty Five

“The bride is older than the groom.” Aniruddha heard one of the older villagers speak in a judgmental tone. “No wonder the higher castes don’t attend such atrocities.” He eyed the younger man he was talking to, who smiled. Aniruddha was sitting beside them on a bench in the open courtyard of a house where the wedding rituals were taking place. Tirio and Tumdak were playing rhythmically in a corner as some women danced to the tunes surrounding the new bride and groom. The men sat on the other side of the courtyard. “Forget about the Brahmins, we don’t expect them to come.” The younger man shook his head. “As for traditions, what is wrong if the bride is older?” He smiled sheepishly at the older man. “What’s wrong? Everything. Master Moshai, you can be educated, but our ancient traditions have reasons. The groom must be older than the bride. It has some reason.” He shook his head. The teacher, in turn, educated the man that it was a perfectly normal Santhali ritual to marry older wo...

Purnota: Chapter Thirty One

“Please, Sir, we were going to show the evacuation notice to the lawyer.” The older man with a salt and pepper beard and a bald head pleaded with the Judiciary official, who handed him a paper of illegal occupancy. The NGO stood on the ground of the property that belonged to the Bhowmicks. Their lawyer, Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury, had sent a notice of warning and evacuation that the NGO did not pay heed to. The man in charge looked least concerned at the plea of the older man. His hands were folded, eyes teary, as the men who came with the Bull Dozer to knock down the one-storey house with thatched roof broke down the board of the NGO. “Why did you not show the notice then?” The man rebuked in a gruff voice. “Because we thought it was some mistake.” Another man, relatively younger and calmer, came forward from the crowd that stood there watching as he spoke. “We got the land as a gift from Mr. Bhowmick some eleven years back to make the school for the orphans.” “Then where is the dee...

Purnota: Chapter Thirty Seven

“Why will Bondita not come for Holi?” Asha asked as she inspected the colours, Abir, Pichkiri and balloons Somnath had ordered from Baro Bazaar. He shrugged. “She is scared of colours, I think.” Asha smiled, a little amused at her clueless husband. “She is not ten anymore.” He looked up at her words with a sheepish smile, “Well, I never saw her play Holi, perhaps Dadabhai knows the reason.” Asha contemplated her husband’s words. She did not share a relationship with Aniruddha frank enough for him to share things about Bondita. It would be easier for her to ask Bondita instead. “If you wish for her to come,” Som said, like he could almost read her mind, “Perhaps you can invite her. She won’t say no to you.” Asha nodded. “It will be good to have the whole family together. It's not been so since the wedding.” She smiled. Som agreed as he matched the list with the things. “Yes, and Baba will be coming too, he told me not to tell Jethu, but I was surprised by that.” “Maybe because he an...

Scheme of Things

The ousting of Shams Khan and his troops from Chittorgarh earned Kunwar Partap Singh overnight fame across the land as tales of his bravery made their way through the dunes and hills, across rivers and borders to lands far and beyond. At thirteen, he had commanded an army troop to take over the fort of Chittorgarh and restore Mewar’s borders to their former glory. People started comparing him to his forefathers, the great Rana Kumbha, who built forts across Mewar and his grandfather, Rana Sanga, who had united all Rajputs against external threats. As bards sang praises of the prince, gossip soon followed. Gossip was the most entertaining one could get in the mundane city lives and village gatherings, and it often travelled faster than the fastest Marwadi horse. So alongside the tales of his absolute bravery and how he hoisted the Mewari flag on the fort, were the stories of how his life was in danger, the king and queen did not quite get along and how he was made to live in poverty by ...

Purnota: Chapter Thirty Four

“You are cheating, he can’t play!” Bondita was attracted by the commotion downstairs as she opened the window of her room. She walked out to the balcony to inspect it. It was Sunday, and Padma had promised to make Chicken Curry, knowing Bondita had invited Tapur to join them for lunch. In the courtyard was a group of boys, probably Sidhu’s friends, with a broken pipe for a bat, a wooden plank for a wicket kept between two bricks and a rubber ball, arguing over a game of cricket. Bondita’s eyes stopped at Aniruddha, marking a line with chalk and then measuring feet using steps to mark the boundaries. Bondita looked amused at the sight. “Batuk. You went out fair and square; give me the bat.” Bondita put her hands on her waist as she commanded. Batuk refused to part with his new bat. Som frowned at his brother. “She is right; it was a clean bowl. Give her the bat!” Som commanded. “I was not ready.” Batuk shook his head. “She knew that.” “It's still out.” Bondita frowned. Aniruddha wal...

The Difficulties

“The best of our characters are often reflected in our children.” Kunwar Shakta had visited the court at Udaipur after a Turk marriage offer was turned down by Rana Udai Singh for the third time for one of his Princesses. The Ranimahal at Chittorgarh buzzed with rumours of him warning his father about the consequences of enemity with the Turks and also about the impending doom of Mewar. He had apparently irked Kunwar Partap by suggesting a peace alliance with the Timurids was beneficial to Mewar. Rana Udai Singh, in his anger, had banished him from his court. Kunwar Shakta had sworn not to be associated with the royal family any further and to join allies with the Turks. Rawat Chundawat was calm enough to pacify the angry prince and offer him to shift to Bassi and give his decision a second thought. However, Kunwar Partap had refused to abandon Chittor, defying his father’s orders for a shift to the newly founded capital with his Ranimahal. He wanted to stay at Chittorgarh, which...

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