CN:Story - The Day Before Yesterday

Hi Friends🤗

This is based on some random thought came to my mind that I have tried to develop in to a story. Thought I am not so good in writing, I tried to scribble down whatever came to mind. This was supposed to be a short story, but I just finished writing the whole story as I thought I may get demotivated to continue with the story if I were to update this in parts as the current track of the show is concerned.

I am not so well versed with the language but still thought post this story here on the light of the encouragement I got on my previous DS DS - Hatred Redefined

Hope you will like reading this story. Please do read and express your opinion in your comments. Both your appreciations and criticisms are equally welcomed.😳

Yesterday
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Yesterday was the day, a crucial day for them, the day of final judgement regarding their life.

After the 6 months trial period, finally the day had arrived.The day that decided their fate.


It was pin drop silence every where; The whole court is waiting for the king.But everyone's eyes were filled with anxiety and were pointed at just one person, Maharani Nandini, whereas Nandini seemed to be quite oblivious to the surroundings, void of any expression, staring at some point below her eye level.

Suddenly breaking her trance, killing the deadly silence the loud announcement of the royal arrival broke into the air.

'Magad Naresh Chakravarti Samrat Chandra Gupt Maurya Padhaar rahein hein'

The Great Samrat walked in with a royal air, and adorned his simhasan.

He turned a bit to have a glimpse of Nandini, who instead chose to hide her face from him. She sat numb before the rest of the court; but he could clearly see the tension on her face, he could sense the audacity of her heart beat within him.On any further thought a thin layer of concern covered his eyes in the form of tears. He suddenly closed his eyes to hold the tears, to hide himself before the court. A samrat's stone heart is not supposed to go weak.

He recollected himself and in his stern voice he ordered:
Kaarvayi shuru kar diya jaaye.

The Minister came forward with an urolled scroll, and began to read out loud explaining the 6 months old law regarding the right of a woman to get divorced from her husband in case she is not happy with the life and that she is free to move on in her life with whom she thinks to be right for her.He also read out the pre condition of the law that demands the couple to stay together for a period of 6 months for seeking any probability to solve the differences between them before getting into any ultimate decision of parting their ways

Unfortunately the first case to consider on this regard was of none other than the royal couple, the case of Great Chandra Gupt Maurya himself with Maharani Nandini.

The fate of their future solely depends on her only decision. She was the one to decide. The Great Samrat had no other choice than to approve her decision. No matter whatever it may be. Whether it is in his favor or not. The Samrat is helpless but the sole person who is responsible, whatever may be the consequences, for he only made the law. Yes, he is a Samrat but also he is a mighty King. He is abide to law.

Granting a momentary rest to all his concerns, Samrat Chandra Gupt Maurya invited Maharani Nandini to the court in his kingly voice:'Mein chaahunga ki Maharani Nandini sabha ke madhya aakar apna 'nirnay'sunaye' , he himself didnt know, why he stressed the word 'Nirnay', he only realised the seriousness of the word when he completed his sentence. Her decision, now whatever it may be, the only person who have to face its consequences will be not even Nandini, but he himself.

With much anticipations he stared at her, waiting for those words coming from her.

Nandini took calculative steps towards the center of the court and stood by facing him. She slowly raised her eyes and finally decided to face him. After all this was to happen someday. She was fearing this day of judgement since the day the law came into effect. She was nervous till the last moment.But as she looked into his eyes, an unknown courage enveloped her.Is that the sense of security she could find in his eyes for her? a sense of assurance? or something else? something entirely different? something above all these? she certainly didnt know. But one thing she is certain with, she is no more nervous, she is no more afraid of anyone. With a gathered confidence she straightly looked into his eyes and to everyone's astonishment she asked him:

Kya aap apka vachan nibhayenge?

A glimpse of shock shadowed him as her last words from their previous day's confrontation echoed in his ears:

[ 'Kya mera nirnay aapko sweekar hein?' to which he had chosen to remain silent.]

But now she is again standing before him with the same challenge but with a different question, to which he can't escape but is obliged to answer.

He regained himself from his trail of thoughts and learnt the confidence on her face and said in a stern but calm voice:
Avashya...

and he added with a hidden smirk as an affirmative:

Samrat jo hun.Aakhir vachan diya hein toh nibhaunga bhi... Avashya.

The court was filled with concerns and confusions, despite trying hard no one could decode the riddles of the royal couple and none could raise voice asking for a clarification.

And there came the much awaited reply from her :

Samrat Chandra Gupt Maurya se apna vivah ko mein tyag dena chahthi hun.

The entire court was filled with shocked expressions.

At last the most anticipated words came from her, and he just heard from her. On hearing which he felt like his heart skipped a beat, though he was preparing for this particular moment since the previous night and as a result he just survived the moment.

To mention the least in the very next moment came another order from the Samrat:

'Vivah ki tayaariyan shuru kar diya jaaye',

to which everyone were left shocked out of their wits while he continued in his most declarative tone to Nandini

'Kal hi kal aap ka vivah uss vyakthi se kar diya jaayega, jisse aap chahthi hein'

and came the last phrase from him

'Sabha Samaamth'

and he hastily walked past those questioning glares raised at him, Rajmata Moora, DaadiMa and Chaya were some of them to mention. But on the way he didn't forget to pause a moment before Maharani Nandini and pass a glare of assurance at her, to which she acknowledged.

Today (Morning at Magad Mehal)
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The Mandap looked elegant but not as grant as that of a royal wedding for the bridegroom had formerly made a request to the king that his bride believes in minimalism and her tobe husband is a commoner and not a king and their life ahead will be void of any royal luxuries, though their wedding is happening in the Mehal only due to the greatness of the kind Samrat.

Yes, the bridegroom was none other than the same rajdrohi, the same traitor soldier who got caught in trying to harm the King straight in his room.But before anyone could raise a concern, if there was anything to be more surprising or rather shocking was the pleasant and content look of the Samrat and there came the bride in veil. She sat by her bridegroom's side and the Pandit started the vidhi.The whole confusions came to a hault when the Pandit asked for some one to come forward for the gatbandhan. The Samrat's smile widened as she entered. There came she in her princess attire, Maharani Nandini or simply Raj Nandini, revealing the secret behind the Samrat's pleasant face. She came forward and stood by his side, while he requested Chaya to do the gatbandhan.

To realise that Nandini was not the bride was a sigh of relief for Dadima while it invoked sudden strain on the Chief Queen's face who was the only one standing much relaxed all these time.

Raj Nandini was watching the wedding rituals with a smile and her mind travelled to time back when 'some one' in the disguise of a vanar-faced man came with a friendship proposal to her.
She felt a sudden familiar pat on her shoulder and she turned to look the otherside and with some momentary enlightment she turned to look at ChandraGupt, her friend with a questioning look who was standing by her side with a naive expression as cute as he could and in a pretended shocked expression he defended himself and laughed:

Nahin Nahin ...

and she urged and nodded her face Nahin??

and he continued in an innocent voice:

Nahin Nahin mein soch raha tha ki..(corrected his throat) yeh ki..yeh toh ek saadhaaran sa sainik hein, mera ardh hein ki yeh Magad sainik hein (and a progressive confidence crept in his voice as he continued)

aur yeh sathya hein ki yeh ek saccha sainik hein aur Magad ke prathi nishtavan bhi, isse apne praan se bhi adhik Magad ki mitti priya bhi hein, paranthu...

(he slowly started walking to the other side of her and also made sure that every others are engrossed in the marriage rituals and he continued)

iss bechare main ithna sahas kahan hoga ki woh ek prethathma se prem karein?

he paused and side stared her to see the offended look on her face.Before she could say anything he surpassed her :

Ab agar aisa koi hein bhi toh, woh mathr keval ek veer yodha hi nahin abhi toh... woh 'swayam' Samrat Chandra Gupt Maurya ki virudh jaakar unhein chunauthi dene ki maathra main saahasi hona chaahiye?

she looked at him with a sparkle in her eyes and she almost whispered:

Uchith hein

The wedding rituals are over and the newly wedded couple stepped towards the Samrat with joined hands. Chandra Gupt held by the shoulders of the soldier (who was standing their in gratitude) and smiled at him. Then the Samrat turned to address the people gathered over there and cleared the mystery of why Samrat arranged the marriage of a rajdrohi in the rajmahal. He explained that on the day he got attacked, such a conspiracy was a need of time , to catch the real culprit and that this soldier was infact innocent and expressed his gratitude towards the soldier for being the part of the conspiracy and for his immense honesty and loyality towards Magad and offers him to rejoin the Magad Army in a higher rank and he continued his words in explaining the mystery behind conducting such a wedding:

Mein jaantha hun ki aap sab log yahan Raj Nandini ke vivah mein bhaag lene keliye prasthuth hein aur aap sab ko ithni der aisi ek bhram main rakhne ki kshama chahunga, paranthu yeh bhi avashyak tha kyunki inko sammaan sahith waapas sena main bharthi dene ke saath saath kisi aur ko

(he side stared at Helena) unke kiye huye 'bhool' ki ehsas dilana bhi athi avasyak tha. Aur mein asha kartha hun ki woh aage se sahi aur galath ki parakh rakhne mein saavdhan rahenge aur khaaskar tab jab woh ek unche padh sambhalthe aa rahe hein

(his look at her turned to an intense accusing stare and it reflected in his voice too)
aur dhyaan rahe ki kabhi aise bhool na dohraye aur apna padh ko sambhalne ki kshamatha rakhe 'anyadha ' agli baar aise bhool ko dhandniya aparadh maana jaayega

(he completed his words with an intended smirk).

Though his words were only meant to warn Helena, though his words indeed shocked her,it seemed Rajmatha and Chaaya to be more affected.

Those words coming from Chandra Gupt Maurya was totally unexpected for Helena. The sharpness in his words, his accusing stare, did he just warn her for the crime of dishonouring Nandini? (his words echoed in her mind like a sharp knife: agli baar aise bhool ko dhandniya aparadh maana jaayega) what he actually meant by 'punishable offense'? His words definitely had more to it.His words hadn't raised any thought of regret in her but it certainly raised havoc in her mind thinking whether he came to know about her crimes.

The Samrat continued with his words to make the biggest announcement of the day:

Iss shubh karya ke poorthi ke saath mein aap sab ko soochith karna chahungan ki sheekhr hi samasth raj parivar Patalgram ki aur prastan karenge.

Yes, he had informed the royal family the previous night itself to be prepared for a journey to Patalgram, but the reason was not known to anyone. Moora did'nt had the courage to face him since she realised her mistake in trusting Malaykethu while Helena's quests went either unanswered or were crossed by another questions that certainly silenced her, where as Dadi chose to not question him as she trusted him on his decisions.

And his next words recalled the dilemma in their minds :

Mein , Samrat Chandra Gupt Maurya yahan sammelith sabhi sadasyon ko Raj Nandini ki shubh vivah ke avasar par Patalgram aamanthrith kartha hun .

Having said these words he turned at Nandini with a determined look in his eyes and Nandini looked at him with the same concern he had in his eyes for her, the previous day when the court proceedings were about to begin.

Today (Evening at Patalgram)
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Around four to five chariots stopped by the side and the Patalgram natives were gathered over there to welcome the royal family. The entire Patalgram was filled in a festive ambience and including an open Mandap every required arrangements were done by Kanika (Chandra's foster mother)as per the Samrat's instructions.

Kanika came there and happily did the arthi of the royal guests. Her eyes were at the brim of tears as she extented her hands to do the tilak at the Samrat, when the Samrat politely thanked her. Nandini stepped forward to seek blessings from Kanika, when Kanika hugged her and blessed : Sada khush raho meri puthri.By then a few women approached her and intented to take her with them. Nandini hesitated a bit and looked at him, while he gestered her to go with them. Nandini acknowledged him and went with them. Samrat Chandra Gupt stood there with a contented smile on his face. The people were praising the greatness of the King among them. Suddenly Madhav came near Samrat and said something serious on his ears and the Samrat followed him.

In the whole scene Moora looked herself irritated who was standing beside Dadima. Moora in an irritated tone expressed her concern to Dadi: Ma, muje lagtha hein ki Nandini par vishwas karke meine phirse koi galathi ki hein.

Dadi asked: Kyun? Tumhe aisa kyun lagtha hein?

Moora continued: Ab dekhona Ma, mera puthr ne kya kuch nahin kiya Nandini ke liye. Uss se aseem prem kartha hein woh, phir bhi Nandini ne aisa kyun kiya? Aur ek aur mere puthr hein, uss keliye kithna khush ho raha hein.Muje kuch samach main nahin aa raha hein Ma.

While Nandini came there in the village outfits embellishing herself with the floral ornaments.

Dadi looked straight and smiled: Woh khush hein Moora, aur tumhara prashn main hi tumhara uttar hein

Moora in a confused state looked at her: Aap ka tatparya?
Dadi gestered her to look forward: Mera tatparya tum khud hi dekhlo

Moora looked forward to find herself surprised to see the great Samrat Chandra Gupt in a common villager outfit. Many a times the Samrat had gone in disguise of a commoner due to political reasons,

but this time it is different.Without his head gear or any of his royal accessories he wore as a King. Golden arm rings giving way for the copper ones. Metal beeds adorned round his neck instead of the royal abhushan.

Moora looked perplexed .But Kanika could see the same old Chandra in him. He has not changed a bit. Despite turning a Samrat, he still cherishes to be the same old village lad of this land where he spent his childhood.Kanika's eyes filled with tears of joy and uttered: Mera puthr Chandra and smiled to herself.

Chandra and Nandini stood at the Mandap facing each other.

They both were indeed present here , but their minds traveled back to 'The Day Before Yesterday',.. the day they decided their fate, even a day before appearing at the court for an official declaration.

[Nandini had clearly stated her decision on that day : Do varsh purv mera vivah mere shathru se hua tha, jisne mere pita aur mere parivar ka anth apne jeevan ka udhyesh bana diya tha. Samrat Chandra Gupt Maurya se mere uss vivah ka keval ek hi udhesh tha.. Prathishodh.

Phir khabhi apne jeevan main uss samrat ki andhar ek aam vyakthi ka parichay hua, (tears had started falling over her cheeks, but she continued further and managed to pass a smile through her tears as she said his name) jiska naam Chandra tha.Jab jab uss Samrat ne meri astitv par prashn udhaya tha tab tab meine Chandra ke ankhon main apne liye aansu dekha, jab jab uss Samrat ki muh se apneliye grina sabdh nikla, tab tab meine Chandra ki aankhon apne liye prem dekha.Jab uss samrat ne muje uss aparadh keliye dandh diya jo aparadh meine kabhi kiya hi nahi tha aur uske pashchat bhi mera nirdosh hone ki pramaan manga,tab iss Chandra ne saari kadtin paristitiyon ka saamna karke, uss Samrat se ladkar muje nirdhosh staapith kiya, muje sammaan diya, mera sahaara bana.(and she declared further with confidence sparkling both on her eyes and words): Mein kisi Samrat ki durbalatha nahin balki uss Chandra ki taakad ban na chahthi hun, jo apni prem ki sammaan keliye uss Samrat se ladhne ki saahas .rakhthe hein,Mein uss Chandra se vivah karna chahthi hun, jo ek hriday heen samrat ko bhi hriday ki peedta ka aabhaas dilaathe hein (and at last came her question:

Kya aapko mera nirnay sweekar hein?)]

Chandra's thoughts came back to present. It was her decision to break her marriage with Samrat Chandra Gupt Maurya. Yes, she had all the rights to do so. He certainly respected her decision. He had made the law and he is abide to the law. Now it is his decision to keep his promise towards her.He is now thus standing before Nandini as the Chandra whom she wished him to be and today is the wedding of Chandra and Nandini. Their wedding rituals were followed as per the Patalgram tradition and at the end the Pandit declared

'Vivah Sampann Hua'

Chandra looked at Nandini and smiled while in his mind he spoke to her:

Aaj meine tumse apna vachan nibhaaya hein Nandini. Tumhare vivah aaj ussi se hua hein jis se tum chahthe ho. Samrat Chandra Gupt apne jeevan main bahut si yudh lade hein, bahut bade samraajy shakthiyon ka saamna kiya hein , unhe haraaya bhi hein. Lekin apne jeevan ka sabse badha yudh usne Chandra bankar kiya hein, aur karthe aaraha hein , jabse usko yeh ehsaas hua hein ki uske andhar ek hriday hein, woh apne prem keliye, tumhaare liy khud se yudh ladthe aaya hein. Aur muje poora vishwas hein ki tum apne iss Chandra ko Samrat Chandra Gupt ke aage kabhi haarne nahin doge, hamesha mera saath doge.

Nandini could read those unspoken words from him as she replied him in her mind:

Avashya mein tumhara saath dungi Chandra.

The newly wedded couple set back to Magad with their entire family.

The day was not less than a grant festival for the entire Magad as the news of the wedding of their King and their ever favourite Queen reached them. The royal chariots approched the palace gate, where the Magad people were waiting to welcome their King and Queen. The air filled with loud Jayjaykars for their Samrat and Maharani. In the midst of all these they entered the palace, the same old life of responsibilities, traitors, enemies and hidden threats and conspiracies were waiting for them but they welcomed it with a whole new perspective .

Waiting to read your valuable comments😳

Amazing and refreshing alanta👏

Originally posted by: abiariel

Amazing and refreshing alanta👏

Very beautiful and glad you kept it simple and sweet 👍🏼 Loved that you had kept the mannerism of Chandra and Nandni throughout .Moora was irritating even here . 😆 She was in character . Wish Chandra had warned Helena at least once .Wish he had knew about her activities and given her that one stare😡 Kanika mother is someone I have liked always .As an audience I was never been able to connect to Moora.