A week! A week now, since he'd left Aidabad. The duo had reached Parnagarh two days ago, him donning the guise of a Rajput messenger 'Samarth Singh', Azeez accompanying him as 'Charanjith'
...
Thus Akbar had infiltrated Parnagarh to pursue his mission of finding the missing Farmaan - having left behind a whole lot of himself, including his identity, to do so.
Bansi.
'By the way...' kakisa hummed, a short while later 'I have been meaning to tell you something... but I wanted the time to be right...'
'Go on Kakisa...'
'Your kakasa has found a solution for a lot of our issues... an excellent solution...'
'Yes?'
'Take a guess...'
'A groom for you...'
'A groom?' the young lady swallowed softly. And she swallowed again, but that didn't seem to stop her throat from becoming dry 'Marriage?'
Kaki beamed 'You've already met him, bitiya...'
'What?'
'It's the illustrious Kunwarsa Mahendar... of Manswar...'
Chapter 21..In Pursuit of the Farmaan
Parnagarh
The sick house.
Pappu might not have too long, after all.
...
It was a phenomenon that Akbar knew all too well - he had suffered the same disease as a child. And just like this spirited fatherless boy, he used to smile through his anguish too.
Pappu had a mother, who loved him. A mother, who sat beside him and cared for him through thick and thin - unlike that poor little child who woke up on his sick bed, many years ago, to find that his ammi had left.
She had packed her bags and left - forever abandoning a son, who she presumed was destined to die anyway!
'Foolish boy... your ammi has run away with her lover... get that in your thick head! You have two choices - stop fighting the disease and give up your life, so it'll save me the medical expenses... or get well soon, get off that bed and make yourself useful in the house! I am NOT going to sit here and care for you... understood?'...
...
'Samarth banna... he is referring to the celebrations that were going on here...' the mother spoke up for her son 'we just heard that our Harka baisa's wedding has been fixed...'
'Kunwarsa Mahendar...a messenger from Manswar had arrived, delivering this news to Vaid kakasa only a short while ago...'
Bansi.
'I am not in the right frame of mind for this... please try and understand kakisa...'
'At least give me time... I beg you...'
She had tried everything she could, made every point she could make. But all her requests had fallen on deaf ears, all her efforts thwarted.
Next day...
Parnagarh
...
Suddenly, and almost out of nowhere, Akbar spoke up - interrupting the very rule-of-silence that he had imposed a few moments ago 'What do we know about the kingdom of Manswar? About the Kunwar of Manswar?'
'I'm just a bit sceptical about this Kunwar.. and his.. intentions.."
'I learnt last evening that...' he exhaled sharply 'that he is going to be wedded to Harka Sahiba...'
'Of what I've heard, the Kunwar was positively smitten by Durga Sahiba... barely 4 weeks since she's passed and preparations are underway for him to get married to the younger sister? Doesn't that seem odd?'
...
The royal gardens
'Jijasa... I am not ready for this marriage...' she pleaded with her eyes 'these developments must have caused you a lot of trouble and I apologise for all of it... I shall apologise to your parents for the difficulties this has caused them too...' she glimpsed down at the fingers that she was toying with 'unfortunately, all these decisions were taken in my absence... had I the slightest idea that kakasa would put forth such a proposal, I would have been able to advise him against it...'
'I don't want this wedding either... but I am going through with it, because I'd given your sister my word... I'd promised her that I would take care of Parnagarh, and take care of you!'
'Then you must remember that you'd given her TWO promises, jijasa! And if you remember the first, you surely wouldn't haven't forgotten the second promise... would you?'
'I'm bound forever by two precious aspects of my life that a marriage cannot change...one, Parnagarh... two and more importantly, my sister...'
'I wish that my lands and my people continue to remain under our joint charge'
'And when my sister weds, it would be to a man of her choice, much like I am following my own preferences.'
Parnagarh
... the young man went back to silently reciting the only clue he knew - Durga's final message.
He recalled the rhyme for the umpteenth time, racking his brains for an alternate interpretation of its contents. And it was sometime during this exercise that a few 'telling' words in each line gradually started standing out.
Jiji ran around the Haveli, with her eyes opened wide
Every trick uncanny, she may have tried
Every nook and cranny, she may have spied
But never did she find me, because I know how to hide!
Focussing on these new words as fresh cues, he tried to work a new angle to the entire mystifying puzzle
'A place where BOTH sisters RAN AROUND... a place which is probably NOT a nook or cranny... a place you can look around, with your eyes opened wide...'
It WAS a place where both sisters could run around.
It WAS a place that had no nook or cranny.
And it WAS a place from where you could look all around, with eyes opened wide.
It was also the only place they hadn't searched yet - the Hallways!
( Continued in P9. )
Karkuzhali.
Vanshaj
Love Friendship Dating and Relationships
Udne Ki Aasha
CID
