Here's the second update for the weekend. This is the last weekend of #NaNoWriMo.
I tried to do my best by posting multiple updates. I will try to continue the same for the coming weekends as well but cannot promise that.
Once again thank you for the warm response. 🤗
It was 8am in the morning. Despite the pleasant month of October, the heat from the Sun had already started springing up. Geet smiled politely as long as the car was within the limits of the ruined fort of Samaypur. But then she shifted restlessly as the silver Jaguar slowly crossed the rough roads of the village and she realised they were heading towards the borderlands of Samaypur. That was it, her polite bridal manners could no longer hold their front and out came the sherni, "Dev, what is this? Where are we going?"
Dev smiled seeing her so tensed. Her antics entertained him. There was something adorable about this lady, thought Dev. "Relax Geet, it's just a drive."
"To where exactly?", she inquired clearly not hiding her irritation.
"Well, to our roots basically", Dev said with that charming smile of his.
Geet had to calm down. If not anything, Dev Khurana definitely knew how to make people feel at ease. Geet understood that for sure.
"I thought your roots were here in Samaypur", Geet taunted.
Dev knew she was in the game now. He continued with child like enthusiasm, "Yes ma'm, but our ancestors were far more than these ruins that we see. Khuranas were the best traders back in the 18th and 19th centuries during the Mughal empire before it collapsed, even after until the British invasion"
Inside the forts, she saw the remnants of a step well(Baoli) and at the corners, there were a few strategic watch towers.
"What did they trade?", she asked curiously.
"Everything beneath the sky!", she saw his eyes gleam when he proudly declared that. "There was nothing the Khuranas couldn't trade. Grains, clothes, artworks, jewelry, precious gems, you name it and they traded it. You see none of the other clans could do that. Khuranas knew where to procure their goods, which routes to trade and where to sell"
Geet held on to her seat as the jaguar took a steep turn leaving behind the small houses and even the huts as they approached the exit gates of Samaypur.
"Why no one else could do it?" she asked puzzled.
"Because of you!", he chuckled looking at a bewildered Geet. "I mean Handas."
Geet teased him, "So we are the bad guys in this story too"
Dev knitted his brows as if he was thinking how to put it in the right words without offending Geet or her ancestors, "Well, the Handas are a fiercely protective clan!"
Geet smiled, "Yeah, that I know!"
Dev laughed. "They were fierce warriors. You see they had this policy of killing anyone who trespassed their lands. And their lands were so vast that any trade route through the kingdom of Marwar was possible only by passing their borders."
Geet nodded investing her complete attention to Dev and also looking around to find some specific historical landmarks that were posted on their way.
As her eyes fell on the dark red sandstone statues of warriors a few kilometres outside the borderlands she asked, "Dev, what is that?"
Dev smiled and slowed the Jaguar to the road side. The engine came to a halt and Dev unfastened his seat belt. Geet followed his suit. It was when she stepped out of the vehicle Geet felt the scorching heat of the Sun hitting her eyes and at the same time the sand in which her sandals dug deep. The muddy road was left behind and now it was a desert land.
"I have never been this way before", Geet said surprised.
"I know. Everyone wonders. Some say these deserts were artificially created and now they remain so."
They started walking towards the statues.
"You planning to explain those?", Geet asked one hand on her temple covering her eyes from the Sun and the other pointing towards the statues.
Dev stretched and asked casually, "Do you know the significance of this place?"
Geet rolled her eyes, bloody history professor pay attention! She blurted, "Didn't I tell you I have never been here before"
Dev replied in the same baritone, "And didn't I tell you, you know nothing about your ancestors."
Geet sighed and followed him. They reached near the statues and that's when Geet saw the inscriptions on a granite funeral slab raised on a black stone.
In it was written, "Here we buried our brave warriors of seven clans Arnasen, Madanveer, Khurana, Krishnavansh, Handa, Ranbangaj, Veersarkar. Thousands of them honored the land with their death against the invaders who wanted to loot our lands and rule them. Our brave men fought them till their last breath for honour and courage drove them to make a stand against the canons and bombs with mere arrows, spikes and swords. They are buried here but there stories don't end here for the generations who come after ages will hear their glory and will fight with honour for the safety of their homeland"
"It's a grave?", Geet's tone was melancholic. The mere idea of so many men dying for freedom, for their land. It was overwhelming standing there realising that it was a brutal reality. Geet was glad she wasn't born at that time at least.
"Amazing, isn't it? This was the place where the kingdom of Marwar took it's last stand against British in 1818. History doesn't even mention this very often, but here it is, as bold as the daylight. It was the end of everything, their way of life, their culture everything ended here", Dev said in a grave tone. The place did that to everyone it seemed. They stood there silently for a few seconds and then Geet lightened up. A cool wind passed through them as Geet inquired, "How come only the Khuranas were the only ones who passed these routes?"
They were walking back and Dev was back to his jovial tone, "You mean why they didn't kill our men? Obviously because we were smart and rich!"
Geet rolled her eyes, "Just say you don't know that."
"I do unlike you I love to read about where I came from" he teased her and continued, "Handas needed the tradesmen for their weapon trade. That was one of their capital income apart from their farmlands. At the same time the Handa warriors couldn't let Khurana men loose on their lands. That's why they made a pact."
As Jaguar scurried through the desert sand, Dev pointed out to the mountain ranges on their way. The road was narrow now with mountains on either side. "Khauf pass", said Dev. "They named it so because the Handas had a brilliant watch point here." He slowed their vehicle and pointed to a tree house shaped structure amidst the mountain ranges.
"You know, back in those days, there used to be more trees there. So the men could hide and attack any trespassers. The enemies won't know what hit them."
"So the Handa men knew the rich and smart Khuranas when they hid there?", Geet mocked. Either Dev didn't know his history or he was making things up, she thought.
Dev nodded for a no, "Naah..lots of Khurana men have been attacked too. Apparently Khuranas had managed to make a pact with Handas. If they didn't trespass their borders and stuck to their trade routes, they will be spared."
"And why are we tresspassing now?", Geet inquired.
Dev looked at her with a bright smile, "Like I said, to get you back to your roots! Besides, techncially these are still Khurana trade routes. No trespassing your lands yet ma'm"
Geet was surprised, "You are taking me to Veerpur?"
"Yep, finally you got me!", he chuckled. Geet looked outside happily and saw the dense forest lands.
"A forest after a desert?", she questioned.
"That's why they say the deserts are manmade", Dev replied as they approached the other side of the forest. They drove in silence for a few more kilometers when Geet saw the ruined towers of Veerpur. The Handa forts were even more damaged than the Khuranas. Veerpur was comparatively raw compared to the sophisticated Khuranas and Samaypur. The art and sculptures here were more savage than the eloquent Khuranas.
No one could miss the grand Durga temple at the center of the village. The Kali here looked fierce with many moats and heads in her various hands, her tongue hanging out and her feet on the chest of a calm Shiva. A shiver ran through her body as she looked at the grand platform where the temple was raised.
Dev walked in front clicking pictures of the temple and the arts inscribed on the stone walls when he got a call from work. He excused himself and walked away.
Geet looked around trying to take in as much as she could of her ancestral village when an elderly lady dressed in a black and white polka dotted lehenga and choli with heavy mirror work and a dupatta on her head approached Geet. Geet looked at the woman and her wrinkled face. She was old but her eyes had a shine that made her years younger thought Geet. She took care to dress up it seemed. She wore silver jewelry and her bindi when had a closer view was a work of art itself with a curled up snake with its head facing upward and tail spiraling down adorned with two small dots on either side of its body. The woman waved a colorfully decorated wooden stick in front of Geet and said in a thick voice with heavy Rajasthani accent, "Ohh fair young maiden, give me your hand and I will tell what might become of you!!"
Geet smiled and nodded for a no politely. Geet knew her hands were powerful but she believed it was her hard work that made them powerful enough to decide the fate of another human being. There was no way the lines in her palms would decide her future.
As if reading her eyes the elderly lady raised her eye brows and told her in an assertive voice,"Hear me young lady eh, this day might not come again, but you will remember this day for life!! If not to believe, then let Panna amuse you today, and one day you will be amazed when you look back and find me!"
*************************
PRECAP : A dare? 😲
Again no Maan 🥱 Please let me know if it felt like a boring history rant!!
I hope it wasn't much of an overdose. As you know, if it weren't necessary I wouldn't have included it either 😳
Give me your detiled reviews plss...
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