Nicknames

Sajja Bai sat working on the preparations for the upcoming ceremonies in the living hall. She had a blank paper in front of her divided in two sections Praja and Heerti under which she kept writing the required things such as clothes, jewellery, accessories for the events. Kunwar Shakti came with tea and placed it on the table

“Majhli Maa thoda rest you have been working non-stop since morning.”  Sajja smiled as she graciously accepted the cup and took a sip.

“Aap chai acchi bana lete hai Shakti” she lied, making the younger prince smile.

“Aapko yaad hai bacchpan mein aap aur Kunwar Pratap kitchen take-over
kiya karte the. Aaj hum khaana banayenge” she laughed at the memories.

“Haan aur dadabhai would make khichdi and main baitha rehta tha counter par. Dadabhai bolte the dekho aur seekho. Ranimaa khush hoti thi jab hum present karte the the annual Pratap-Shakti khichdi and
salad….”

His voice seemed distant at his mother’s memories. Ranima’s smile was something both brothers always wanted to see. They kept surprising her with their skills.

“Haan aur khaati bhi thi aap dono ke haath se…” Sajja smiled putting
her hand gently on Shakti’s shoulder.

Both of them fell silent realising they were talking of the happier times when the family was together. When Maharani Jaiwanta Bai was still present with them and they could talk to her, hug her, and see her smile and her eyes that shone with pride when any one of them performed a task well. Shakti decided to rearrange the study just to take his mind off the fact that this was the time he would miss Ranima most, Heer, The Wedding. He smiled to himself. She would have run about the house, ordering, making things perfect, just the way she liked. She would have hugged Heer making her feel at home. She would have loved Ajabde too in fact. He smiled at his thoughts as he sorted the papers on the centre table. Shakti’s gaze landed on the sheet of paper and he read out loud,

“Heerti….yeh kya hai Majhli Maa?” He picked it up narrowing his eyes.

“Aap aur Heer” Sajja smiled. “ Shakti +Heer = Heerti”

“And” She turned the paper over smiling more.  “Praja. Pratap + Ajabde = Praja”

“Praja” Shakti smiled. “hmmmm I like…. Kyaa aap bhi na.”

 Sajja patted his hand smiling “Thoda sa bachpana hum mein bhi bacha hai kyun?”

Rajkumari Phool Kanwar was surfing through the catalogues for the best bridal wear while her fiancée Kunwar Jagmal seemed busy on his laptop. She closed the booklets only to stare outside the window of the luxury suite. Dark clouds loomed with occasional flashes of thunder reflecting on the window pane as the rain drops fell on the parched earth, in a rhythmic noise. She stared blankly at the falling droplets trickling down the glass panes.

 “Stop it I’m not going out as I have no intention of getting drenched…Pratap” she was pleading in vain as he held her by the wrist adamantly.

  “Phool don’t be a fool…” He chuckled charmingly. “it’s just rain. Bheegna is actually good for the soul you know…”

 “Haan haan tum bheego…am staying inside where it’s cozy and warm” She pointed at the couch near the fireplace.

 “As you wish madam!” he laughed at her scared face.

 His laughter reached his eyes as they sparkled with so much of happiness and excitement and seeing him happy made her happy too. Somewhere deep down Phool Kanwar wished she was not a Rathore anymore. She stared at the huge rock on her ring finger that now felt like a chain to her freedom and sighed looking back at the raindrops.

 “Pyaar se kuch nahi hota. Agar money nahi toh kuch nahi…. Paesa dunia mein sab kuch khareed sakta hai.” She closed her eyes as the voice of her family echoed in her head.

 Jagmal was surfing the net under the pretence of work when his gaze landed on the picture on one of the gossip websites. It was of Kunwar Pratap Songara and his would be fiancée. 

“She’s hot” he murmured.

“Kuch bola aapne?” Phool asked suddenly jolting out of her thoughts at his voice.

“Haan, I saw you speaking to that girl jo Pratap ke saath aayi thi on the gala nights. 

Who was she?” He was making sure she hadn’t heard him.

“His fiancé… bada hi ajeeb sa name tha” Phool tried in vain to sound indifferent.

“Hmmm…” He stared at her face once. Calm, expresiionless, unreadable. 

“She’s nice” Phool smiled back faintly.

 “Haan mast item hai” He smiled to himself.

 “woh Boli ki they are in love…” Phool’s voice seemed distant.

 “Hmmm… accha suno yeh jo upcoming hotel project hai usmein….” Jagmal was least bothered about what some girls had gossiped.

 “Jagmal?”

 “Hmm?” He stopped as she called out staring at him. Her eyes twinkled a little.

 “Do you love me?” Her voice was unsure low and pleading.

 Pratap stared at his fake fiance in irritation as she took another mouthful of the milk rusk while browsing through the images gallery on his MacBook, not caring about the crumbs that were falling on it.

 “Umm… excuse me…Pehle you finish eating uske baad use the MacBook…” He at last could not control his irritation.

 “Main khaana thode hi na khaa rahi hoon. It’s just rusk!” She shrugged smiling.

 Pratap shut down the system in his laptop and snatched the MacBook.

 “New rule! Pehle you eat then you use mera MacBook!” He pointed his finger at the known stranger warning.

“Tum Amitabh Bacchan ke bade waale fan ho kya? Parampara, pratistha aur anushashan!” she giggled at his annoyed face.

 “Dekho jo rules hain unko follow karo.” He shook his head ignoring how her eyes smiled when she giggled.

 “Rules rules and more rules aaj se tumhaare name Mr Ruler hua!” Ajabde was now holding her tummy laughing. “Ruler!”

 “What?” Pratap frowned at her throwing her feet up on the couch laughing.

 “Mr Ruler bilkul perfectly match karta tumhaari personality ke saath!”

 “Accha?” A faint smile appeared watching her laugh as he asked “aur tum kya ho?”

 “Main cheez badi hoon mast mast

Main cheez badi hoon mast!!”

 She showed him the tongue as she snatched the MacBook and ran away from the studying singing at top of the voice!

 “Aaj main upar

Mr Ruler reh gaya peeche,

Ab dekhenge aaram se

Gala nights ki tasveere!”

 “Pagal Ladki!” Pratap shook his head smiling as he suddenly saw his own reflection on the antic mirror of the hallway and stopped alarmed. He was smiling and she was the reason. Shaking his head he walked away towards his room, praying his Macbook is alive and well.

 “What?” Jagmal stared at Phool in shock like he was seeing a ghost.

“Do you love me Jagmal? Simple sa sawaal hai with a very simple answer – Yes or No?” She sat stiffening her back, her eyes fixed on him.

 “Ummmm…Yes?” He frowned.

 “The answer is No Jagmal.” Phool gave a cold smile. “You don’t love neither do I love you! we have a business deal and that is fine with me…” She got up as he frowned some more.

 “Hmm… but why are you asking or rather telling me this?” He seemed confused as suddenly his face showed some anger.  “Ohh I get it …Pratap moved on and ab you are nothing to him….”

 He got up facing Phool who looked away. “That’s it huh?”

 “Aisa kuch nahi hai.” Phool’s voice shook scared.

 “Really? then why are you so angry Rajkumarisa?…Kya hua phir se pyaar jaag utha uske liye??” Jagmal held Phool’s upper arm so tightly that it hurt her forcing her to stare back at his angry eyes.

 “Shut up Jagmal! Just Shut up!” She said as her eyes blurred.

 “What did you say to me?” Jagmal’s temper got the best of him as he walked towards her angrily making her fall back and pushed her hard against the wall.

 “Don’t you dare ever talk to me like that ever. I’m not one of your servant!” Phool closed her eyes in fear. Jagmal in his fit pushed her away making her land on the carpet as her head hit the corner of the centre table.

 Phool touched her forehead only to see blood on her fingers. She stood up covering the injury with a scarf while Jagmal stood glaring at her. Without uttering a word of protest she wiped away the tears and walked to her room and shut herself in.