RAABTA

Kunwar Partap entered the relatively quiet stable premises at the break of dawn checking on Bijli who was asleep, when he heard the sound of anklets near the cow shed. He walked up to the entrance of the stable, from where he could see her, her dupatta placed loosely over her wet hair, devoid of jewellery the way he never saw a royal lady, with a basket of flowers in one hand and a plate of sweets on the other. She was distributing sweets to the cow keepers, veterinarians and everyone who came by on the occasion of Lakshmi giving birth to her calf. “What will you name her, Hukum?” an old man asked. She smiled shyly, pressing her lips together. “Mandakini, Kakasa.” The old man smiled at her suggestion. “Like the kund? Very nice.” Kunwar Partap walked up to Lakshmi’s shed only after most people had dispersed to their work. Ajbante Kanwar heard footsteps behind her and turned with the plate that now had one sweetmeat left. Alarmed at his sight and at the lack of options she could offer fr...

  “Jija, I want to go to the stables too.” Ajbante was stopped in the corridor of the inner palace by Ratan Kanwar, followed by their half-brother, Akhil who was three. “We do.” Ratan corrected herself. The dawn had just set on the horizon and the birds were chirping in the gardens. Ajbante Kanwar had just taken a bath in the private pool and managed to grab her empty flower basket to go to the gardens still before that, she would visit the stables and cowshed, check how Lakshmi was doing with her newborn, and if Bijli was okay with the sudden changes her father made. Ratan Kanwar’s nagging made her sigh and nod. “Don’t make so much noise so early in the morning.” She scolded them as they followed her, giggling and skipping down the hall behind her. “Don’t touch the newborn Kunwar Akhil, you will scare Lakshmi.” The familiar alarmed voice made Kunwar Partap stop gathering hay as he placed them down, wiped his forehead and glanced over his shoulder at the cowshed. There was some gig...