When Sam's eyes opened again, she was staring at the same ceiling she had seen previously. This time she had no difficulty in remembering what happened. She had TIME TRAVELLED. She was screaming in her mind at herself. When she had enough, she got up and looked around. She found a young girl of her age sitting on the floor with her head on the bed. She seemed to be sleeping. Sam gently shook her to wake her up.
The girl got up and blinked a few times. She looked at Sam and smiled. "You are awake. Forgive me. I was supposed to look after you but I fell asleep." The girl said.
"It's okay." Sam said in English. The girl looked confused. Then Sam remembered that these people didn't know English. And her Hindi was not as good as theirs. This was going to be a pain in her a***.
"It's okay." Sam said again in Hindi. This time the girl understood and nodded. "What's your name?" Sam asked the girl.
"Lakshmi. And yours?" The newly dubbed Lakshmi asked. "Sameera." Sam answered.
The girl frowned. "Sameera? That's an unusual name." She said.
"Well it's a very popular name from where I come." Sam said.
"Where are you from?" The girl was curious, Sam could see. She wanted to answer her question truthfully. But she couldn't exactly tell her where or rather when she was from. But she didn't want to lie either. So she opted for something in the middle.
"I am from a land far away. You haven't heard of it." The best lie is the one that had a grain of truth in it. Sam knew the girl was still curious. But she just nodded.
"You need to clean up, Sameera." Lakshmi said.
"Sam. Call me Sam." It was an automatic response. Whenever someone called her Sameera, she corrected them. Because no one except her dad called her that. Her mom used to call her Meera.
"It's my nickname." Sam said to Lakshmi's confused frown. "My friends call me that." Lakshmi's eyes widened at the word 'friends'. But then she smiled and nodded. Seemed like Sam made a new friend.
"As I said, you need to clean up. And then we will go the bazaar." Sam became confused at Lakshmi's words. Why would they go to the market? Lakshmi seemed to have understood her confusion, because she said, " You need new clothes. Is that how girls
wear clothes in your land?"
Sam looked down at herself. Her half sleeved white T-shirt that showed her hips and black skin jeans. She looked around for her jacket and her leather boots and found them in the corner of her room. She smiled and looked at Lakshmi.
Sam nodded. "Well not all of them. But it is quite popular." Lakshmi nodded and went outside. She came back after sometime with some clothes and handed them to Sam.
"Here wear these after you take a bath." She told Sam. Sam turned the clothes over. It was the same clothes that the women here wore. A yellow blouse and skirt with a red sari. Sam gaped at them. She didn't know how to wear a sari.
"What happened, Samee ... Sam?" She quickly corrected herself. Sam smiled and answered, "No, I don't. I have never even touched a sari in my life. The blouse and the skirt ... I can near myself, but the sari ..." Sam trailed off.
Lakshmi smiled. "Let's do this. After bath, you wear the blouse and the skirt. I'll help you wear the sari. Then we'll go to the market." Sam breathed a sigh of relief. Now she wasn't one of those who didn't believe on God. But she wasn't one of those who believed in God's goodness ardently either. But right now she thanked whoever was upstairs that she got Lakshmi as a friend here.
She nodded and asked for the bathroom. Lakshmi led her to another door and opened it. Inside was a small bench with a bucket full of water in front of it. There was a small pot floating on the water of the bucket. Sam guessed this is how they bathed. She sighed and took her iPod and iPhone 6 out of her pocket. She looked at her iPhone in remembrance. Her father had got it for her as soon as it came to the market. Sameera Roy always got the best of everything.
She gave the iPod and iPhone to Lakshmi. "These are very important things of mine. Please take care of them." Again, Lakshmi was curious. But she just nodded and kept them on the bed carefully. Sam smiled and went inside the bathroom.
It took Sam all of 15 minutes to take a quick bath and wear her blouse and skirt. Then she took er previous clothes from where she hung them and came out of the bathroom. Lakshmi was waiting for her. She took the clothes from Sam and kept them on the bed beside the phone. Then she helped Sam wear the sari. Sam's eyes followed her every movement, memorising how to wear it. She was gonna need it here in the future ... or the past ... or whatever. Finally it was time to leave for the market.
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They were in the market. Well ... This market wasn't like those Sam was used to. Rather it looked like a fair that was held in villages. Stalls were set up under the open sky and people were running around under the scorching sun to buy and sell their necessary things.
Lakshmi had done a lot of buying. Apparently, the fever of shopping was prominent among the girls of this time as well. Sam didn't mind. She liked shopping. After all she was a girl.
Lakshmi bought a couple of saris for her as well as skirts and blouses. And also some bangles and necklace and ear rings and ... Well, you get the drill. Finally shopping was done. At least that's what Sam thought. But Lakshmi still had some shopping left. She had to buy some flowers for puja. Little did Sam know that going to buy some flowers would change her life forever and help make history.
Sam was talking to Lakshmi when someone smashed into her ... A strong someone. That hurt. Rubbing her arm she looked at the man. He was a handsome man with a a height of 5'10 and abroad chest and well built body. He had moustache and a beard. Even with that, Sam could tell that this man was in his early twenties. She analyzed all these in one second. Genius, remember?
But this was in the back of her mind. In the front of her mind though, she was very very irritated. "Watch where you are going, man." She said irritatedly. But the man didn't answer. Rather he kept looking on emotionlessly. What a weird man! Sam shrugged it off and turned around. Then it happened. She felt a weight on her back and hand on her shoulder. She turned around and saw the same man holding her.
Sam did what any 21st century girl would do. She pushed the man and slapped him hard. "Bloody characterless pervert." She said in English. Then she took hold of Lakshmi's hand and tugged it, "Let's go, Lakshmi." Lakshmi couldn't believe that Sam slapped someone. Seriously the girls of this time were too shy. Sam didn't know what kind of storm that one slap was going to bring to her life.
Sam and Lakshmi went to the flower stalls. Lakshmi took the flowers and Sam payed the shopkeeper. When she gave the money to the shopkeeper, his eyes went to the lightning shaped birthmark on her hand. His eyes widened. He took hold of her hand and began screaming, "The princess. The lost princess has come back."
Sam panicked and tried to free her hand. She looked at Lakshmi for help. But Lakshmi's eyes were fixed upon her birthmark. Hearing the man, many people came there and started saying the same. Sam freed her hand and turned towards Lakshmi. Lakshmi was still lost. Sam screamed at her face. "Lakshmi, what is happening?"
Lakshmi blinked and looked at her. "Sam, you are the princess. The lost princess." Sam didn't have time to ask what she meant. Because screaming had started outside the market. "Mughals. Mughals have come. Run. Run." Several people screamed. Everyone panicked and started running.
Lakshmi grabbed Sam and started running. "Sam, we need to get out of here. Its the Mughals." Sam turned around to see about 10 to 15 people clad in black and red uniform with swords in their hands. The Mutual soldiers. That were taking everything they could get their hands on and also hurting some of the running people. That couldn't go on for long. Soon other soldiers came. The Rajput soldiers. It was a bloody sight. Soldiers fighting soldiers.
Suddenly Lakshmi stopped running. All this time, Sam was turned around. Now she turned to look in front of her. A Mughal soldier was standing in front of them. Sam pulled Lakshmi behind her. Right now it was fight or flight. But there was no way to run. Fight was the only option now. Sam had a better chance for that. She was sure Lakshmi couldn't fight. Sam could. She had taken many extra classes in school. Classes that included self defence, martial arts, fencing and many others. If it came down to fight, Sam was the more capable one now.
The soldier looked at them with an evil smile. He grabbed his sword tightly and attacked. Sam pushed Lakshmi out of the way and dodged the blow only to find another blow coming her way. This time, she caught his hand and twisted it making the sword fall. The soldier grabbed her neck with her other hand. Sam grabbed that hand and tried to push it away. But her tries didn't work. So she opted for another way. She aimed a kick and landed it right on target. The place between his legs. He released Sam and grabbed the place dropping on his knees. Sam couldn't resist it. She landed a punch right on his face. He fell down on the ground, unconscious.
Sam turned around to see Lakshmi gaping at her. She shrugged and grabbed hold of Lakshmi to take her out of the market. When they came out of the market, they saw the Mughals taking their injured soldiers and going away on horseback. The soldier that fought Sam was one of the injured ones. The Rajputs drove away the Mughals. Everything was alright, for now. But it won't be for long. This was just the calm before the storm.
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A/N : So guess who the man was. I'll change some things. You'll know what later.
Mangal Lakshmi
Hindi TV Shows
Ishaani
52