Jaise milte nahee kisi dariya ke do kinaare
Pass hain phir bhi paas nahee, humko yeh gum raas nahee
Seeshe ki ik diwaar hai jaise darmiyaan' -Jashn-E-Bahaara, Jodhaa Akbar
The wedding had been tiring. The rituals before and after, although, were exciting.
Jodha had been happy that her sister's wedding had been successful. Too many problems had marred it from the beginning.
However, Jodha could not get her mind over Jalal's behavior. It had been going up and down like the waves of the ocean.
At first, he had acted like a true emperor by refusing to give in his durg because of some stupid reasons. Suddenly next thing when she managed to apologize to him for being rude, he agreed to give the durg. Immediately after that, his soldiers attacked the durg and won it back. Again, after the wedding he acted like a big brother of Sukanya, her sister, and gave it to her as a wedding gift.
Jodha put a hand to her head and sat down. She was dizzy. Jalal had again managed to stun her with the politics he played and the thoughts that went on in his complex mind.
Moreover, daadisa kept on asking her to thank him for the durg. The headstrong Jodha did not comply with her requests and now after such a long time, the pangs of guilt attacked her.
I should thank him. However, why should I? It is polite to do so. But...,'
Many thoughts arose in her mind and she absently broke her bangle in the train of thoughts.
"Do you want help Begum Saahiba?" the bandhis asked.
"I will manage. "
Jodha dismissed them with her hand and turned to the ornate mirror.
She looked tired and weak. Sighing, she started to remove her heavy ornaments and piled them in a heap.
Jalal loved to tease her. He knew her weak spots and always irritated her to no end. Today he again, in a sign of impudence, clutched her hand possessively, nearly causing her to scream in pain during the wedding ceremony in front of everyone but she couldn't do anything but just bear it with a smile.
Why am I thinking of Shenshah repeatedly?' Jodha asked herself irritably.
In her anger, she pulled at the tikka in her hair, which caused her to cry in pain.
"Kiski itni jurat hui ki usne humari Jodha begum ko takleef di? Only I have this right." Jalal said in mock anger, walking in.
"Now can't even I give myself pain?" Jodha asked, exasperated.
"No that right is with me only as I am your shohar."
Jodha looked into his eyes. Those deep brown eyes only conveyed message of an over possessive nature to her. She could not see the love. Even so, something caused her to blush and lower her eyes and that broke the spell of the special moment.
The guilt of not thanking him kept hankering her. She wanted to thank him. However, he again managed to annoy her so it slipped out of her mind.
"I want to change. I request you to go out Shenshah."
"That's a rather polite way of kicking me out of my own room."
Jalal smirked and added, "Better not take too long or I'll walk in like last time."
Even the memory of it caused her mortification and to top it, Jalal gave her an unabashed look and walked out.
Jodha let out an exasperated sigh and she closed her eyes to gain her composure. She quickly let her long tresses free from their stiff plait and changed into a light dress.
A man of his word, Jalal walked in after ten minutes just as she was fastening her dupatta firmly to her waist.
"You leave no opportunity to trouble me, don't you Shenshah?" Jodha asked, flustered.
"Aapko takleef dene ka moqah hum kabhi nahi chodenge. It is like hunting which is my passion."
Jodha tossed her hair back in an aggravated manner and started arranging the pillows in a manner that the bed was divided into two.
"I am sure that it must have been very embarrassing for you to ask your mother for a pardaa like in the khemas we had to stay together in, isn't it Jodha begum?"
He again touched her raw nerve but she chose to ignore him and climbed onto the bed to sleep.
Jalal smiled and shook his head in amusement.
Her long hairs lay strewn across the pillow, her face looked simplistically beautiful without the usual jewelry, her long lashes curled making her large, and doe like eyes look stunning even while being shut. She looked more like a begum in these simple clothes without the finery.
Jodha opened her eyes and saw him looking at her.
"Well I think we are going to leave Amer tomorrow morning early so you should have some sleep Shenshah." She remarked.
"Thank-you for the concern, Begum Saahiba,"
Jalal smiled and climbed onto the bed.
Jodha pursed her lips and turned her back towards him, pulling up the covers as up they could go.
She could never care for Jalal, could she?
In the morning, Jalal got up very early and got ready. Jodha was still asleep. She looked enchanting to him.
"Jodha begum, wake up. We must leave."
She got up abruptly. Her sleep had been full of dreams in which her daadisa kept on telling her to thank Jalal for the durg. She had not done so yesterday when daadisa asked her in reality. The guiltiness was now eating her.
"Shenshah,"
"Yes?"
Jalal turned around expectantly.
"I,"
"Yes what do you want to say, Jodha begum?"
"I,"
"Speak Jodha begum,"
"I,"
"I am listening, my dear begum,"
"Will you stop it Shenshah!" she thundered.
He was doing this purposely she knew it. He loved to make her awkward.
She wrung her hands. Words were just not coming to her. The situation was embarrassing her.
Normally when Jodha wanted to ask Jalal questions or when she was angry with him or when she wanted to taunt him, she could endlessly go into a stream of words. However, when she wanted to talk to him in a normal manner, the prospect made her squirm with discomfiture. This showed that there was practically no existence of the relationship of a normal husband and wife between them. They were in the same boat as they shared the same worries. Nevertheless, Jalal was at one end of the boat, Jodha at the other end, and there was a huge gap between them though traveling together.
"I wanted to thank...thank you...thank you for helping us with Sukanya's wedding. Hum aapko humare parivar ke taraf se sukriya karna caahti hu Ratanpur ke durg ke liye."
Jodha said all this in a single breath.
Jalal looked taken aback for a moment but he gained his self-control back.
"So Jodha begum you can thank and apologize to people also? I am very surprised and thankful to Allah that He gave you this hunar."
He gave his trademark smirk, asked the speechless Jodha to get dressed and hurry, and walked out.
Jalal had started to build the bridge of love between him and Jodha. All he needed was support from her side to complete the rest of the bridge. Once bridge would be complete, the chasm between them both would close. Jalal would easily walk to the middle of the bridge. However, it would require Jodha to trust him and vigilantly step on their bridge of love to meet him in the middle and complete their love story.
P.S This is an apology to all for posting that idiotic post I posted earlier on. I never intended to write anything here in the Forum. But I guess this is a better sorry from me 😊
Anupamaa
