...One Morning...
The cool morning breeze fluttered the curtains of the room as the sun began it's journey upwards in the sky of Agra. With the mild soft first rays of the sun, the eunuch sat up straight. The day had began. The sounds of opening doors in the servants quarter made Hoshiyaar jump out of the bed.
He was ready in no time, bathed and cleaned, to begin his day with the Chief Queen. Though he was still sleepy but there was no way he could sleep any more.
"Hoshiyaar", Resham's voice made him turn around. Resham was the chief aide of the ex-Wazir-e-Aaliya Mahamanga.
" I heard that yester night Shahenshah was with Jodha Begum".
This new piece of information was enough to throw away the last remaining traces of sleep from Hoshiyaar's eyes.
"What? Who told you this?"
"Two maids saw him enter Jodha Begum's tent late night but no one saw him leave". Resham provided the information with a evil wink while fixing the odhni on her shoulder.
" Ya Allah! I have to inform Ruquaiya Begum about this ". The last words came from outside the door as the eunuch ran out into the morning air to inform the Chief Queen about the latest happenings of the Palace.
~~~~
" How can he do that!", angry words directed at her husband, found their way out of her lips as her heart broke a million times over hearing the latest developments in the Palace.
"In spite of knowing that I'm the one who's pregnant with his child, he went over to spend his night with another Queen?", Ruquaiya clutched the ends of the Muslin bed spread tightly.
"Hoshiyaar, I don't believe it", Ruquaiya covered her head with the pallu and pinned it in place, "I'm going to see it with my own eyes".
" But Begum Saahiba, Shehenshah will be angry when he'll get to hear this", Hoshiyaar jumped up on hearing the words of his Mistress.
Stopping in her tracks, Ruquaiya Begum turned back, fury evident on her early morning make-up less face, "Are you going to dictate me now about what I have to do?"
Being the quiet, dedicated aide that he had always been, Hoshiyaar nodded in a negative and saluted his Chief Queen, before turning back and heading towards the bathing chamber to make it ready for the Queen's bath.
~~~~
"He can't do this", Ruquaiya Begum was furiously pacing through the soft sun ray covered open verandah, " Not when he knows that I'm pregnant with his child ".
Angry tears came in her eyes, filling them and slightly blinding her vision, but she cleared them away roughly.
The maids greeted her on her way, but she was not in a mood to listen to them. Soon she was in front of her husband's third wife's room, stopped in her track by two crossed swords in front of her.
" What's the meaning of this? ", Ruquaiya Begum hissed at the two armed guards protecting the privacy of the Queen's sleeping Chamber. " Are you two planning to stop me, Shehenshah' s Chief Queen, from entering? "
"Aadab Begum-e-Khaas".
The seething Ruquaiya Begum was greeted with a bow of two heads in response to her question.
"Begum Sahiba, Shehenshah is still inside and he has ordered us not to let anyone go inside".
" But I'm the Begum-e-Khass. How dare you stop me?", her red eyes shone with disgust as she looked at the guards.
"Begum-e-Khass", the guard lowered his head again, " We did what Shehenshah ordered us to do."
"Move at this moment", Ruquaiya hissed, "I'll enter".
At this the two guards moved away their swords and soon enough Ruquaiya Begum rushed inside the room, throwing away the curtains all together.
The room was quiet except for the soft rustling sound made by the soft tussore curtains hung around the king sized bed. The golden hued curtains blocked the elder queen's view. Entering the deadly still room, Ruquaiya Begum's steps faltered.
What if Hoshiyar's news is true? Was she ready to face it?
Questions gnawed inside the Chief Queen's mind, as she headed towards the bed.
The thick curtain hindered her view and she pulled it away after a moment's pause.
The view that greeted her made her steps falter and legs wobbly.
For there slept Jalaluddin Mohammed, the Shahenshah of Hindustan, with his head nestled in the crook of his youngest queen's neck. One of his legs was perched above her hips in a very intimate manner. His hands splayed on the vast expanse of her bare back.
The silken cover was spread on their naked entangled beings in a careless manner.
As if struck by lightning, Ruquaiya Begum retracted, her courage failing her inside her competitor's chamber.
It was not a Herculean task to understand what had happened inside the chamber last night.
Ruquaiya Begum drew in a laboured breath. The air inside still felt heavy with the passion of the entwined couple.
The images blurred in front of her eyes as two hot teardrops slid down the soft cheeks. Unable to stay unaffected, Ruquaiya Begum covered the bed again and wiped her eyes.
No matter how much broken she was, she wasn't going to let the world see that. For the others she would always be the mighty, hot-headed chief queen rather than the vulnerable one that she was now.
Making sure that not a trace of tear was left, Ruquaiya Begum left the younger queen's chamber, her head held high, back kept straight. She hurried down the passage ignoring the startled faces of her subordinates. The guards kept their heads low in order to avoid the wrath of the queen.
But who was she to fool? Even though she kept her physical body normal, her mental state was a mess. And that was proved when in spite of the precautions she took to hold herself steady, tears blurred her visions and her face contorted as a sudden feeling of pain and hollowness crept into her heart.
Not able to contain herself anymore and to avoid the curious glances thrown at her, Ruquaiya Begum broke into a run.
The journey to her chamber, her own peaceful heaven seemed to last till eternity. Suddenly the distance seemed like a thousand miles.
Wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand, Ruquaiya ran for herself, for her self control, for her own mental peace.
~~~~
The silky smooth drapes were flung sideways and harsh light of the sun entered the chamber as Hoshiyar looked up from his work. The hookah was almost prepared in the perfect way that his mistress wanted. He knew if there was even a bit of truth in Resham's words then he would need the hookah to lighten up his Queen's mood.
But the condition of his mistress left him surprised. The soft gorgeous curls disarrayed, eyes red and puffy with tears, his mistress was a walking mess.
"What happened Begum Sahiba?" He couldn't help asking as he left the hookah to join her.
"Just leave now". She said.
Hoshiyar knew that the best was to leave her alone but still he said, " I've prepared your hookah. Let me arrange that." He went back to the hookah.
"I said just leave now. Which part of it you didn't get?", her nose blew in barely controlled rage.
" Yes Begum Sahiba". Hoshiyar left the hookah and exited the chamber.
So that means Resham's words were true...
~~~~
Ruquaiya looked around the chamber. It was nothing like the room was when Hoshiyar left. The drapes all ripped apart forcefully, bed cover lying on the floor ripped at places. The covers of the furniture's barely recognisable. The furnitures here a mess too. The table lay with it's legs pointing up, the fruits and beverages lying around. Sofa sets on which she and Jalal had spent so many hours simply chitchatting was pushed out of its original place.
Tired and spent, after hurling her anger at the mere non living things, Ruquaiya fell down with a thump on the floor. She leaned back against the bed and took her time to see the devastation that she had wrecked.
A memory from a year earlier made it's way in her mind.
"If you really want to do anything for me, just keep your husband away from me."
It was what she had said. But it's not what she had done. The proof of it was seen by Ruquaiya.
That night, an year ago, Ruquaiya felt so secured hearing this from the fiery Rajpoot queen. She hadn't done anything to keep Jalal away from her. Because she knew that the other woman hated him with her full being. But Ruquaiya was wrong.
She had forgotten that there layed a very very thin line between love and hate. In her overconfidence, she had chose to ignore that, Jalal loved to posses that which was hard to get. And he had done exactly that with the Rajpoot queen. With his hatred for her, he had won her love. And now Ruquaiya feared that the man who claimed to have no heart, was head over heels in love with Jodha Begum.
Ruquaiya closed her eyes tightly feeling betrayed.
But wasn't she wrong? Jalal was as much her husband as she was Jodha's. So why was she feeling this way? And it's not the first time that Jalal had spent his night with someone else. His harem had over five thousand wives and Jalal had spent nights with many.
But she knew, there was a vast difference between them and Jodha.
Jodha was a special queen and the one capable of giving him his child. She was robbed off that ability.
Ruquaiya clutched her dress tightly as the pain of loss of her child came back.
The eyes on which she wanted to see herself, had Jodha in it.
At that time, the truth stroked her hard. She would always be his best friend but his love would be Jodha. In spite of loving him for all these years, she won't be on the receiving side of his love.
And she also knew, from this morning she will see a new Jalal. A Jalal who knew how to love, a Jalal whose eyes will always have Jodha in it. A Jalal who will no longer be same to her.
She had lost while Jodha had won. History will talk of their love while Ruquaiya will only be his best friend and first wife.
She closed her eyes tightly and welcomed another bout of pain at the loss of another loving person, and the pain engulfed her back.
*******
A sudden idea!
Stories have always been written on the love of Jodha and Jalal. But keep yourself in Ruquaiya Begum's place. Do you think you could have behaved in that way in which you wanted Ruquaiya to behave?
Well, for me the answer is no. I don't think it's easy to see the person you love, love someone else.
So here I present you with this Ruquaiya, who is stripped of her vamp nature and seen only as a woman mourning the loss of her husband's love.
I know this topic won't be attractive to the die-hard fans of JJ. But this time I couldn't help but feel sad for the real Ruquaiya Begum.
So let us just forget her vile nature for some time and give this story a read. Let us just see her as a common woman who had lost her unborn child, and now her husband's love.
Do tell me how was it. I'll be waiting...
Love,
Barnali š
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