Twoshot: Love Abandoned Autumn

OS: Love Abandoned Autumn

Blue, orange and brown, I was counting fallen leaves on the ground. So lost on a deserted track that my only hope was my tired heart finding its way back to me on a winded current. Times like this, it wasn't easy for me to step outside without getting noticed by one maid or the other. They would come running down, placing their palms on the floor I walked on, lacing their fingers around my shoulders for support, curling me round their circle of protection for I carried a thing so delicate inside my belly, its existence took precedence before mine.

A little over a mile away, I could see the blurry image of my favourite horse tied to the tall birch tree. This tame mate of mine was a quiet partner in every crime I committed these days. She would help me sneak out of the view of the palace guards with her slow gallops. Saddling her and running off into the wild was a task made easy by her love for me. No fuss, no demands, she obeyed me. She was so unlike the others; she worried for me before the round bump on my stomach.

When satisfied with the length of path we'd come away from the palace, I took command of her reigns and brought her to a steady halt. I loosely tied her a lone banyan to give her ample space to explore the green pastures. As I settled down underneath the shade of the forest canopy nearby, rustling leaves startled me back upright. I sent a prayer to Lord Krishna upstairs.

"Dear God please do not let this be a snake or a tiger or any other animal. Please let it be a human for I can fend those off in my sleep. Please let me get out of this unscratched. Rather this nuisance of a thing unscratched, because I would not want to know what wrath befalls me when the emperor learns of my outing".

I finished the final mumbling of my one-sided conversation with the heavens. And lo and behold! There he was standing tall, strong, and ready to explode. Explode he did!

"Jodha Begum!"

I swear if I weren't holding on to a tree branch that second, I would have been carried all the way to Delhi by the wind in his words.

"I am not deaf mister! Whatever it is, lower your voice".

He huffed and he puffed like a cauldron was flaming inside his throat. Again I asked, "what brings you here?"

"ME? I should be asking you this question".

Did this man take me for a meek prisoner who would lay her life at his command? Or a slave who was ready at his beck and call?

"I was not the one who approached you so if you have no work with me, I would ask that you leave me to myself".

His anger was visible in his twitching limbs but I chose to pay no heed. There was no way he could lay a finger on me and I planned on using this fact to my advantage.

"What are you still doing here? Shoo now! I haven't got all day".

For both Jalal and Jodha this pregnancy had been unexpected (given it was a result of a drunken one night stand, if you can even call it that in a legal marriage) but never unwanted. Jodha hadn't taken a second to inform Jalal of the news as she found out.

(Part 2: coming soon)