PART -1 : CITY TRAVEL
Throughout the journey Rani was constantly remembering her family. It is both a sad and scary experience for her, leaving her family behind.😭 She does not know what to expect, what was going to happen in her life. The car in which Rani is travelling reaches the palace first. Pradhan gets down and so does Rani. Her luggage is also brought out. Rani looks up at the palace in awe!!! She is completely unprepared for the magnificience that was in front of her!!! It was in every way beyond anything she had seen in story books or imagined in her mind!!! The palace will be ten times bigger than the the village haveli. Made of whitestone, it is beautifully scultptured and perfectly maintained!!!
Pradhan : Rani, RANI!
Rani jumps and comes back to reality. Pradhan pointing to a servant
Pradhan : Yeh Nandu hai. Yeh tumhe Taayee ke paas le jaayega. Samaan lekar chalo.
Pradhan (talking to Nandu ) : Nandu, isse taayee ke pass le jaa. Mei thodi der mei aata hun.
Nandu picks her bag up and Rani follows Nandu. Nandu takes her around the palace to the back. The servant quarters will be built at the back of the palace. They walk into the quarters and Nandu takes her to the kitchen. As they are nearing the kitchen, they hear loud shouting and somebody rushes out of the kitchen and crashes into Rani. Rani holds the person from falling. It will be a young boy of 7-8 years. The boy will quickly brush off Rani's hands and run off.
"Naaspeete.....Phir iss taraf aaya toh, haath - pair todh ke rakh doongi!!!!" 😡 😡
Rani turns around to see a overweight elderly woman standing at the door with a broom stick in her hand. Her face is mad with anger and she is huffing and puffing. After a moment she looks at Nandu and Rani and yells at Nandu
"Tu yahaan kya kar rahaa hai? Tujhe toh Rani sahibaa ke swaagat ke liye bheja tha na, maine??" 😡
Nandu : Taayee, mujhe Pradhanji ne iss didi ko aapke paas laane ko kahaa hai.
Taayee (looking at Rani) : Kaun hai yeh?
Nandu : Nahi maaloom, Pradhanji ne kahaa ke woh thodi der mei aake tumse milenge. Ab mai jaau?
Taayee shakes her head in affirmative and is still staring at Rani. Rani feels uncomfortable. She looks at taayee and slowly joins her hands and says
Rani : Namaste Taayeeji
Taayee (yells) : Ab din bhar yahin khadi rahegi yaa andar bhi aayegi??
Rani quickly grabs her bag and gets ready to enter the kitchen. She follows taayee who turns and walks into the kitchen.
Taayee : Woh samaan uss kone mei rakh, aur haath muh dhoke aa (pointing to a rest room outside the kitchen).
Rani : Ji.
Rani keeps her bag in a corner and goes out to the restroom.
Meanwhile the Royal family has also reached the palace and as soon as they get down, the servants will do aarthi and welcome them. They all enter the palace. Rani Maa and the King will be sitting in the living room awaiting them. They all go in and one by one touch the Rani Maa and King's feet. Rani Maa blesses them all and kisses the forehead of Yudi and the princess. They all sit.
Rani Maa (with a smile) : Accha hua tum log aa gaye. Badaa khali khali lag rahaa tha, bacchon ke binaa.
King : Kaisi rahi yaatra? Kul devi ki pooja mei koi baadha toh nahi aayi?
Queen : Ji nahi, Yatra aur pooja, donon bhi bahut acche se hui. Aur sab logon ko Kunwar ji se milne ka mauka bhi mila.
King (looking at Yudi) : Kunwar ji.........kaisa lagaa aapko, purkhon ki haveli mei? Kahin aap bore tho nahi ho gaye?
Yudi : Bahut mazaa aayaa, Raaja saahab. Do din kaise beet gaye, pataa hi nahi chala.
King : Good! Mei toh darr rahaa tha ke kahin woh dhoop, dhool aur mitti se aap ko pareshaani na ho jaaye.
Yudi : Jee nahi, gaanv bahut sundar tha. Aur gaanv ke log bahut seedhe aur mann ke saaf hai.
Queen : Yeh aapne sahi kahaa, kunwar ji. (Looking at Rani maa) Aur isiliye mei gaanv se ek ladhki leke aayi hun, Rani maa ki sewa ke liye.
Rani Maa : Gaanv se ladki??
Queen : Haan, Rani Maa. Gaanv ke bhole-bhaale log mei niswarth sevaa bhav hotaa hai jo sheher ke logon mei milnaa asambhav hai. Isiliye meine wahaan se ek naukarani ka prabhandh kiya hai aapke liye. Aap milnaa chahengi usse?
Rani Maa : Haan.
Queen : Pradhanji!
Pradhan who has been standing respectfully in a corner, comes forward.
Queen : Usse bulvaiye.
Pradhan : Jo angya, Rani sahibaa.
Pradhan starts towards the servant quarters.
In the servant Quarters
Rani washes her face, hands and feet and drying herself up with her dupatta, comes into the kitchen. She walks up to taayee, who is sitting near the stove. There are 2 more women in the kitchen working furiously.
Taayee (moving 20 onions towards her) : Le, yeh pyaaz kaat.
Rani (surprised) : Ji??
Taayee : Arre, yeh ji ji kya lagaa rakha hai. Ladki nahi hai kya? Chulah Chauka kabhi nahi samhaala kya? Phataa phat pyaaz kaat. Waise hi aaj bahut der ho gayi hai. Ek ghante mei raaj parivaar ka khaana tayyar hona hai!
Rani is staring at the onions when taayee yells at her
Taayee : Arre baatien samajh mei nahi aa rahi hai kya??? Jaldi kaat!!
Rani trembles and quickly goes to the cutting board and picks up the knife.
Taayee : Aur yaad rakh, pyaaz ekdum baarik kaatna. Agar baarik nahi kaati, toh aur bees katvaungi.
Rani starts cutting the onions. She cuts them as thin as possible. By the third onion her eyes start to sting and water. With great difficulty she will cut 2 more onions. Her eyes are in a really bad shape and she is constantly closing her hands and wiping her eyes off with her dupatta.
Taayee who was supervising one of the other woman, comes to her and notices that only 5 onions are done.
Taayee (yelling) : Arre, kitni der lagaayegi?? Kabhi ghar mei pyaaz nahi kaata kya? Aaj kal ki choriyaan, koi kaam ki nahi hai!! Bas ban-than ke baithne ke liye kaho, toh fauran tayaar ho jaayegi, lekin ek bhi kaam bolo toh ghanton lagaa degi. Hamaare zamaane mei thodi aisa hota tha. Arre dus saal ki umr se hi hum toh poora khaana banaana seekh gaye the.............
She goes on and on while Rani is trying very hard to quickly cut the onions. By the 10th onion, Rani cannot open her eyes any longer and while cutting with her eyes closed, she cuts her finger.
Rani : Aah!!!!
She quickly pulls her hand off the board and puts it in her mouth.
Taayee : Kya hua??
Rani (hesitantly) : Ji, ungli.......ungli kat gayi.
Taayee is getting ready to yell at her again when she hears an order.
Pradhan : Kisne kahaa tumse, ke tum Rani se kaam karvao??
Rani slowly tries to open her eyes and see who it is.
Taayee : Woh........woh meine socha yeh nayi naukraani hai........
Pradhan (cuts her) : Tumne galat socha.....hamesha ki tarah!!. Sochna un logon ka kaam hai, jinke paas dimaag hota hai. Isiliye mei hamesha kehta hun ke tum sochna band karo, aur kaam karna shuru karo. (looking at Rani) Rani, Haath dholo aur mere saath chalo.
Rani wipes her eyes with her dupatta and goes to wash her hands and then follows Pradhan out of the kitchen.
Taayee (seething with anger at Pradhan's comments, thinks) : Ek din aisa aayega jab tumhe meri dimaag ki hi wajah se, muh ke bal girnaa hoga!
Pradhan : Abhi tum Raja saahab aur Rani maa se milogi. Jaise hi tumhaara naam liyaa jaaye, unke paanv ko chukar pranaam karna. Samjhi? Aur jo prashn poocha jaaye, sirf usika uttar do. Koi aur baat mat karna. Raja saahab ko adhik prasang pasand nahi hai. Samjhi?
Rani shakes her head in the affirmative.
In the palace, the royal family will be conversing. When there is a lull in the conversation...
Yudi : Raja Saahab, ab mei angya chahta hun.
King : Haan haan, aap jaake aaraam keejiye. Yatra mei thak gaye honge. Kal subah mei aapse milna chahunga. Dus baje, mere Study mei haazir ho jaiye.
Yudi : Jo angya, Raja saahab.
The princess also gets up. They both touch their father, grandmother and the Queen's feet and retire to their rooms.
Yudi enters his room and heaves a sigh of relief. He has always disliked the formal relationship that he and his father shared. He yearned for more love and affection from his father and he also wanted more freedom in his life. He slowly removes his headgear and unbuttons his coat. He pulls out Rani's dupatta that he has been carrying throughout. He looks at it for a long time and is lost in thoughts about the singer...."Itni sureeli awaaz maine aaj tak nahi suni! Tum kaun ho? Kaisa pataa lagaa sakunga? Kya hum kabhi mil sakenge?"
He heaves a deep sigh staring at the dupataa. Then he folds it up and stores it in the almirah.
Back to Rani.
Rani follows Pradhan. He will take her through a myriad of corridors and steps, through beautiful rooms filled with exquisite portraits, breath-taking decorations and expensive furniture. She sees all the rooms maintained in a spic and span condition. Rani will be mesmerized by the aura of the palace!!! She will drink it all up with her eyes!! It will be a long walk and they will finally reach the living room. They both enter the room. Pradhan goes closer to Rani Maa and Rani comes and stands next to him, her eyes downcast. Pradhan folds his hands and says
Pradhan : Rani Maa, yehi hai woh ladki.
Rani Maa and the King and Queen all look at Rani. Rani is trembling inside, she does not dare lift her eyes. Pradhan nudges her slightly. Rani looks up to him. He signals with his eyes to do pranaam. Rani realizes her mistake and quickly goes and touches Rani Maa's feet and says in a whisper
Rani : Pranaam Rani Maa
Then she goes to the king, touches his feet and says
Rani : Pranaam Maharaj
And comes back to her place. Pradhan nudges her again. She looks at him confused and he directs her with his eyes towards Rani sahibaa who is sitting on the side and in her trepidation had not seen her. She turns to see the Rani sahibaa giving her a cold stare. Rani quickly walks to her and bends and touches her feet and says
Rani : Pranaam Rani sahibaa.
Rani's hands and voice are trembling with fear. Rani maa is watching all this and a slight smile spreads on her face. She says
Rani maa : Mere paas aao.
Rani looks up to Pradhan. Pradhan nods his head. Rani goes closer to Rani Maa and stands with her hands clasped tight and looking down.
Rani maa : Meri oor dekho.
Rani slowly lifts her head and looks up at Rani maa. Rani maa stares at her for a few minutes looking into Rani's eyes. She sees that Rani is very scared and is trembling inside. She thinks how innocent and cute this girl is!! Rani cannot take her stare anymore and so quickly lowers her eyes.
Rani maa : Tumhaara naam kya hai?
Rani (whispers) : Rani
Rani maa : Sunayi nahi diya.
Rani clears her throat and says a little more loudly
Rani : Rani!
Rani maa (surprised) : Tumhaara naam Raani hai?
Rani : Ji
Rani maa (laughing) : Agar tumhaara naam Rani hai toh tum bilkul sahi jagah pahunchi ho!! 😆 😆
Everyone laughs at her joke. Rani slowly looks at Rani maa for a moment and quickly lowers her eyes.
Rani maa : Bahut acchi baat hai. Ab tum jaake aaraam karo. Kal se ek Rani doosri Rani ki seva karegi. 😆
Everyone laugh again and Rani looks at Rani maa who is smiling at her. Rani is confused and does not understand that statement.
Rani maa (Looking at Pradhan) : Ise kaam samjha dena aur kal subah mere saamne upasthith hona.
Pradhan : Ji, Rani Maa
Rani once again bends down and does pranaam to all 3 of them and then slowly walks out with Pradhan. As soon as they come out, they are accosted by another woman.
Pradhan : Lakshmi, isska naam Raani hai, yeh Rani maa ki sewa ke liye aayi hai. Isse ek kamraa de do rehne ke liye. Mei subah aake isse le jaunga.(Looking at Rani) Subah saat baje tak tayaar ho jaana.
Rani musters courage and opens her mouth : Chacha ji, ek....ek baat poochna chahti thi.
Pradhan : Jaldi kaho.
Rani (with fear and confusion): Woh Rani maa kya....kya keh rahi thi? Mujhe yahaan pe kaam karna hoga? Kaun....kaun sa kaam??
Pradhan : Kya matlab? Tumhaare ghar waalon ne tumhe kuch bataaya nahi?
Rani looks at him innocently.
Pradhan : Arre tum Rani maa ki dekhbhaal ke liye laayi gayi ho. Unki tabiyat aaj kal kharaab rehti hai. Tum unki seva karogi.
Rani (looking very confused) : Ji....Ji mei kuch samjhi nahi!!
Pradhan (loudly) : Arre, tum unki nayi naukraani ho!!!
Rani (shocked) : Nauk.......Naukrani?????
Pradhan : Aur nahi toh kya?? Itni door, gaanv se sheher tumhe kyun laayenge? Iss mahal ki Rani banaane??
Lakshmi and Pradhan burst out laughing while Rani looks at them shocked, confused, scared and horrified!! 😲 😲
Edited by pragalbha - 17 years ago
Hindi TV Shows
Kumkum Bhagya
Cricket
