NOVEL~*Hiding behind a Stranger*~Thread 10 - Chapter 15 - UPD 11th SEP - Page 12

Originally posted by: .AkDhian.

Lashy Akka..can you pls tell me which chapter had the Ustaad-Khalil part? Yes,it would be entirely different feel to read it now.

Your Bond kanna will definitely try to post a detailed comment,Akka..😆

Since you assured of a happy ending..you're excused😆 and completely agree with ur definition of EPIC love.

Congrats for the successful completion of 15 chapters..one quarter of HBAS journey 🤗

Originally posted by: Sandhya.A

Chapter 8. Just read it before I started off with chapter 15.😊

BTW Lashy UAMK calls Heera by her name in chapter 8 too during their meeting in his study, not for the first time in the stables.🤓

Originally posted by: luvuyuvi

so sweet of you to say that! Manasi
First year or second year?

Originally posted by: luvuyuvi

When u will come , please come with something that can cure my never-ending pain

When u will come, just wrap your hands around me, for I've been brave enough in front of the world.

When u will come, don't come with lots of emeralds, your smile is enough to lit my world.

When u will come, please hold my hand and guide me through this dangerous path.

When u will come, please promise me to stay forever, because I can't stay alone anymore.

I'm alone in this cruel world. Unprotected and defenseless against very powerful and brutal enemy, with the responsibility to protect my people, my lands. I need you. Please come for sure.

Chapter 15: A coup de maitre!!

Lashykanna,

Did I not say that you were a little witch? So now you have proved it anew, with a shocker of a twist that is beyond anything my imagination could have thought of. Or anyone else's here, I would imagine. Oh, what an unfair advantage the author enjoys! She can turn anything on its head any time she chooses.

But to be fair to you. my pet, you have not turned anything on its head. You have simply shaken the kaleidoscope, and the whole pattern has changed, though the pieces are the same. There is not the slightest cheating, for there were no misleading passages at all. In fact, there was actually very little that dealt directly with Akbar and his mission, so there was nothing that could be exasperatedly labelled a red herring or red herrings by those of your readers who can look beyond the Akbar-Heera angle to affairs of state and political intrigues.

Now I shall have to go back to that chapter about the European weapons and re-read that passage of arms between the Ustaad and Khalil, with the Shehzaade as the audience and the exasperated referee. But even before I do that, I am sure there were no telltale hints there, nothing like the cigarette ash- footprints kind of clues that Sandhya had collected re: Mahendar.

It was all fair and square, only so ingeniously, devilishly clever. Truly a coup de maitre, a masterstroke. Something worthy of the specialists of spy fiction genre, Le Carre for choice, for in his smoke and mirrors world, no one and nothing is what he or it seems to be.

Lashykanna, for that, you get as many standing ovations and curtain calls as Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn did for their iconic Romeo and Juliet ballet! That was a record number, 27, if my memory does not fail me. I cannot even begin to tell you how delighted I am with you, child! Delighted, and proud too.

I was in fact surprised that you opened up your cards - not ganjifa cards!😉 - so soon, but then I realised that without your doing so, the terrible dilemmas that are going to confront Akbar could hardly have been raised and discussed at all.

But what a wicked little wretch you are, my pet! When I read the passage below, and came to the last line, my brain just froze as the true implication of that last little sentence sank in.

ANY thoughts on her? Well, he had plenty. Plenty of news and updates too that he could convey if he wanted to, as part of idle talk. After all, he'd stumbled across quite a few small facts about her over the past two weeks, which they hadn't known about at the start...

'I am blind... actually, partially blind!'

Marvellous, mischievous, but NOT misleading. 👏👏👏

But then you left me dangling, with deliberate, maddening cunning, while you went on and on about that stupidly treacherous Mahendar. If he actually thought that Khalil would have even tried to persuade the Shehzaade to go halves with him, Mahendar, from the revenues from the iron ore mines, he must be a fool or worse. Even Tej Raj is smarter. Enough of him; I do not want to wear my fingers out on such creatures. 😡

The whole session between the Shehzaade and Akbar needs a separate post in itself. It is so beautifully scripted, like a close fought game of chess, not ganjifa, without a single false note, psychological or mental, that I was moved to abundant admiration.

Plus it is written even more beautifully, as the Shehzaade and the Ustaad both vie for the mental edge over the other - the former at times overtly, at times covertly, the latter diplomatically masking his advantage in the passage of arms, for that is what it really is, with a deliberate show of humility and loyalty. Lashykanna, you have hidden depths, and each time I check, the depth is only greater!

Now as the knife edge on which Akbar is walking has become all too clear - and who could have guessed that it would be so murderously dangerous? - I can see that my heart is, from now on, going to be more often than not in my mouth, ever on the lookout for the slightest misstep on his part that might prove fatal. No wonder Akbar 2 was so vociferous as he ranted at Akbar 1 the other night.

And Akbar 2 was not far wrong either, for the stakes are too high, and the consequences of what would be seen by the Shehzaade as betrayal by Akbar would be horrendous. Already, when Akbar, almost involuntarily, hides from his master the information about Heera's letters seeking support from fellow Rajput aristocrats and royals, he has taken a long stride closer to the edge of the precipice.

But then, as the French, who are so wise in matters of the heart, say, Le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connait pas. The heart has its reasons, of which the mind has no knowledge. (It reads better in the original, because of the punning on raison, which can mean ;reason' and ;good sense' or 'intelligence' as well).

Lashykanna, it is very late, 1:11 am to be precise, and I am very tired. I have never before commented on any of your chapters as soon as it came out, all hot and steaming, from the oven, so to speak. But this time, it was different. I loved this one so much more than anything that had gone before, especially because its real triumph lies in what could be called the non-romance department, that I just had to do this take straightaway.

I loved the latter part as well, and normally I would have been delighted with my favourite Heera's conquest of my other favourite, Bahadur. Moreover, after the dizzying revelations and the coiled tensions of Part 1, the change of tone in Part 2 was perhaps necessary. But the impact of the earlier part lingers, and so the Akbar-Heera segment did not, for once, charm me as much as usual.

That, my pet, is not a failing on your part. It is in fact a major compliment to you for your coup de maitre in Part 1.

Shyamala Periyamma

Thank you so so so so so much... Shyamala Periyamma... 🤗

OMG! Lashy!!! What a kahani mein twist... Very well written and portrayed... I am sure it will only get more interesting and romantic from here on

Originally posted by: karkuzhali

<font face="Comic Sans MS, Times, serif" size="3"> Good Morning!</font>

<font face="Comic Sans MS, Times, serif" size="3">Enjoying the morning with the delicious breakfast, <font color="#ff3300">C</font><font color="#ff6600">hapter 15,</font> served by Lashy!</font>

<font face="Comic Sans MS, Times, serif" size="3">1.The Suspenseful UAMK...</font>

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<font face="Comic Sans MS, Times, serif" size="3">2. The Immaculate Heera...</font>

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<font face="Comic Sans MS, Times, serif" size="3"> .</font>

<font face="Comic Sans MS, Times, serif" size="3">3. Shyamala's Review...</font>

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<font face="Comic Sans MS, Times, serif" size="3">4... and my coffee..</font>

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Good morning aunty

Writer-e-khaas,

A game of cards ... was not only what the Shehzaade and Ustaad were playing, it was what you were playing with us my writer-e-khaas and what a hand you revealed today. From my perspective, a writer playing mind games with the reader is a good thing ... after all it sharpens all of us, like how the Shehzaade made all his men play cards to sharpen theirs.

I felt the narrative style itself reflected the story and how the reader experienced the content and that is a hunar in itself ... a game of cards and the amazing hand that was revealed. A full house, sweep- at least swept me off in surprise. And there goes my take ...

1. The card game was set ... between the two most elusive minds of our story ... Shehzaade and Ustaad. From Chapter 8, we had no idea what they had planned for Harka after Khalil was banished to Kabul. But planned they had something indeed. And just as Shehzaade and Ustaad were trying to understand the cards in front of them, you started revealing the cards in front of us ...

2. 'I am blind... actually, partially blind!'

A sneak peak of the first card. Wait, what ... that was revealed by Harka to only one person ... oh no, it could not be!

At that moment you shifted to Mahendar, maybe trying to distract us like Shehzaade tried to distract Ustaad by talking about the Northen tribes ... But, I could care less about Mahender at that moment ... I came back to him later.

'Most days, are good... and I can use my sight to get by... on those days that are bad, I use my senses to get by...'

And in your sheer literary genius, that one moment revealed the truth ... Our Akbar was Ustaad.

3. With the conversation that unfolded everything slowly fell into place ... Akbar was not only Ustaad but the spy as well ...

- The Ustaad - was experienced, a mentor, retired, and respected - not because he was old but because he was held in high regard by Shehzaade (your choice of words was perfect to give the image of an older man)
- The gruff voice that had guided an entourage to Aidabad, was not because it was the closest, but by another design
- The swordsmanship that held every opponent at bay and didn't miss a mark, was the same skilled hands that created Harka's ladder to help her out of the water
- The sharp eyes that followed Harka's every move, was not only out of admiration, but to spy on that every move
- Chota Faijan was not killed by an enemy unknown to us ... in fact it was the same as Harka's enemy- Khalil. It was for a very different reason though- Akbar and his spy were attacked due to a rivalry and animosity to get to the farmaan and stop Akbar from finding out who had helped Khalil in his attempt to get the Farmaan from Durga

By the time the Shehzaade called out his name- 'Ustad Akbar Mahmoud Khan!' No doubt remained in our minds. But by then, we were just as shaken by the revelation as Akbar was from his thoughts.

4. And if that was not enough, everyone was playing their own hand in this game,

- Khalil for dominance and to win back the Shehzaade's favor
- Mahendar to win power in the court with the farmaan and Parnagarh

And perhaps, Shehzaade was playing the biggest game of all,

- He had observed Ustaad's different demeanor when it came to his latest case ... and he had his own ways of finding what was happening (I wonder who his spy will be)
- While he enjoyed what the rivalry between Khalil and Ustaad meant to his power, he still claimed to be on Ustaad's side as he sang his praises (let's see how long that lasts)
- And he knew how to hit Akbar where he was raw, bringing back memories of his childhood and how Shehzaade had seen his potential and lifted him to a position of power

And just as the Shehzaade felt he had won, a few differences in the design of the cards, tilted the game to Akbar's favor ... I am assuming this will be the case not only for their game of cards but the game of their lives as well.

5. And that is why Akbar is our trump card and still will be. What is unknown about him is what truly his heart feels ...

- What made him silent on her beauty
- What made him silent about her eyesight
- What made him silent about the plans outlined in her scrolls

and upon his return to Aidabad

- What made him drawn to the appealing sight of Sahiba playing with Bahadur
- What was the slight sound of relief when he asked Ibrahm why Sahiba and entourage had not left yet (and Ibrahim looks to be equally sharp in noticing this ... and this could be a problem ...)

Likely Akbar doesn't fully understand the answer to all those questions.

What will truly emerge from Akbar's heart is the trump card that will change the shape of this entire game. Shehzaade had called Akbar a Protector and that is what he will be to Harka, at least in the near term.

Maybe I found it symbolic- how Bahadur stayed firmly on Heera's side even as Akbar called to him and despite a loyalty of three years ... it seems to reflect how Akbar will shift further towards her as well despite his loyalties to the Shehzaade.

And what to say for Harka, her giggles did not realize that whose presence she felt brought life back to Aidabad was actually bringing back Shehzaade's spy against her and her homeland. But for now, Aidabad is the best place for her- safe from Khalil and Mahendar.

Writer-e-khaas, I was never good at cards, so I hope I did justice to your chapter ... and feel free to call out any errors. But what wonderful writing ... played a game with me every second of the way and I loved it!