A King size Love - vignettes - update on page 12

Even as he uttered the words, Ranaji could not help feeling secretly relieved! Thank God he was not going to be put through this ordeal! When she had sought him out that morning and demanded to be heard, he could not help but despise her for her brazenness! She had the audacity to don a mask of innocence even after the scheming and manipulating that she had done, ably assisted by her money lender father to whom the palace was unfortunately indebted.

Whatever had his family done, how could they have run up such a huge debt? The royal coffers had been full when he had left to fight the war! How did they manage to deplete all of it and then pile on a massive debt besides? Was it his mother's weakness for the finest of silks and champagne? Was it his uncle's gambling streak and his predilection for nautch girls? Was it his aunt's greed for jewellery by the kilo? Or was it Lakshvardhan? However or whoever, the fact was that the palace had run up a huge debt and he was the chip his mother had bargained away to secure a debt waiver. For all that he had ranted and raved against her decision, he knew he had not much of a choice left when he learnt that the summer palace had already been lost to the British. How was he to secure the kind of resources to pay off Seth ji and ward off a law suit? How else was he to secure the welfare of his people, who would be weighed down even further by double taxation if he refused to barter himself away? So he had gone ahead and laid his head on the block!

The identity of his intended had come as a nasty surprise though! When he had lifted the veil albeit reluctantly, he had been shocked beyond measure to see those innocent eyes looking up at him coyly. Surely it could not be! Not her, not the mystery girl! He had labeled her mystery girl because she seemed to have a knack of popping up in his life with alarming regularity ever since he had returned, although he had no real clue of her identity! In six years, his dreams had been filled with visions of Sulakshana and his nightmares with the horrible images of war! That night after he had rescued her from the river, she had surfaced once again in his dreams! She had been screaming out for him to rescue her, he had been swimming hard to get near her, all he could see were those haunting eyes but something kept him back, something made sure he did not reach her in time. She drowned right in front of him and he had watched helplessly and he had screamed in horror and woken up sweating profusely. He knew he had saved her and yet he could not help his sense of disquiet. Why was it her face that had surfaced in dreams that had never had anyone but Sulakshana grace them? He had put it down to stress and anxiety and gulped down a glass of water before forcing himself back to sleep!

He had not thought too much about her until he bumped into her again, at the temple this time! Seeing her brought back the memories of past encounters and the vision that he had seen in his dream! He had stood transfixed before he realized that she held on to Sulakshana's bracelet. He had been struck by the hopeful look in her eyes, the innocence in her face and decided impetuously to gift her the bracelet. That night again, he had dreamed of her! This time the dream involved her handing the bracelet back to him and then putting her hand out, as if asking him to put it on her wrist. He had been in a quandary, wondering how to refuse the plea in her eyes with a part of him wondering if he should just go ahead after all! Then he had heard Rajmata's voice pronouncing what was nothing short of a death sentence, that he was to be married to the Seth's daughter and he had reluctantly stepped back while she had looked at with him with a stricken expression. He had woken up sweating once again. Why had he dreamed of her a second time? As if it was not bad enough that he was betraying Sulakshana's memory by marrying the Seth's daughter, why did he have to dream of some nameless girl, why did he have to give her a place even in his dreams?

When he realized that his betrothed was none other than the vision that had haunted his dreams, he was appalled. That he had been fooled! That he had been taken in by a pair of innocent eyes! That he had let them slip into his dreams not once but twice. While in reality, they were anything but innocent. Behind the facade lay a mind that was replete with guile and avarice. She had fooled him, wormed her way into his subconscious even while her father had used the debt his family owed him to buy her a ticket to royalty! That he had betrayed Sula's memory even subconsciously with this woman who was nothing but a scheming witch! He had been filled with contempt and a burgeoning rage ever since. A rage that had hit its peak when he saw her in Sula's attire. He had exploded like a volcano and behaved in a manner that he was not quite proud of!

Was this her way of humiliating him, for punishing her with rough words and actions the previous night? Should he feel angry that she was humiliating him? Or should he feel grateful that she was sparing him the hypocrisy of going through a ritual that held no meaning for either? He wished he could stand up and tell the audience that it was a big sham but he could not! The world might think a King was all powerful, he could hardly tell them the King did not even have the right to express his emotions freely and frankly. He had a lineage, a tradition to uphold and to hell with things like personal emotions!

He came back to the present when he heard Swarna announce that the Queen had arrived. He looked up at her and she looked right back. She looked him directly in the eye as she walked down the grand staircase. Not once did she drop her gaze, her head held proudly high. Her face was wiped of all emotion, no hint of the angry and harsh exchanges of the previous night!

She came and took her place on the throne beside him and the royal priest announced that the bichiya ritual would be carried out. He steeled himself to the pain that it would cause him to go through with this. It symbolized a certain intimacy that he would never grant any other woman but Sulakshana. He felt like screaming that aloud but he knew he did not enjoy the luxury. He bent down and put his hand out for her foot.

For a second, nothing happened. Was she going to humiliate him in public after all? A heartbeat later, she lifted her dainty little foot and placed it on his palm.

He fitted the bichiya onto her second toe.

Wait, did he feel the wetness of a tear drop on his palm?

He looked up involuntarily only to be met by eyes as dry as the desert sand! Her face was an expressionless mask.

He rose and she did too!

She greeted the audience with folded hands, asked to be excused in a soft, polite tone and then left without another word!

She came, she did what she had to do and then she left!

Her reluctant husband could do nothing more than stare at her retreating back, wondering if he had been spared or indeed punished!

Was the old bat out of her mind!