Page 99

— AVANTIKA —

Dev Diwali. That day was chosen for their wedding.

It was not too far away now, all of four weeks away.

The muhurat would be at night, post Tulsi Vivah celebrations would conclude across the kingdom and the season would open for weddings.

Theirs would be the first for this year.

Horoscopes had been studied, matched and before nightfall, her life had changed.

“Where is Brahmi?” Bade Rawal asked as they sat down for dinner.

“Eating with Sharan in his room,” his wife replied, coming around the table and placing a bowl of angry-looking red potato gravy by his plate. Avantika didn’t understand why that bowl was different from the big serving bowl filled with the same gravy until Bade Rawal looked at it with distaste.

“It’s temporary,” she chided.

“What is temporary?” Avantika asked Samarth softly.

“Torturing me,” Bade Rawal answered. She whirled her face, only to find him smirking at her. “Would you like to share in my torture?” He offered her his bowl.

“Put it back, Sid,” his wife threatened. To her, she smiled — “Bade Rawal has been going around with BP floating at 160-90.”

“Oh… are you ok?”

“I am not. I am being fed food without salt.”

His wife spooned some from his bowl and took a bite — “Perfectly seasoned with the right amount of salt. Now eat.”

“Where’s my puri?”

“Rotli today.”

“Is your father’s BP high because of us?” She asked Samarth softly again.

“Because of him,” Bade Rawal replied again before Samarth could open his mouth. He shook his head, his hair flopping over his forehead. It wasn’t as long as it used to be but had begun to move again with his movements.

“I am sorry…” Avantika began but Bade Rawal cut her off with a wave of his hand.

“You are the last person to be sorry, Kumari. You are the reason my BP is going down despite that one and this one,” he pointed first to Samarth and then to his wife with his brows. In spite of herself she found her mouth spitting out a snort. She stopped, biting the insides of her cheeks.

“What are you doing tomorrow evening?” He asked, breaking a piece of his roti.

“Umm… nothing much…”

“Then would you like to come with me to our cricket club? We can take Brahmi and show her the stadium and Nawanagar’s cricket history.”

“Yes!” She exclaimed. “I mean, that would be fun for her.”

“I have called the jewellers to the palace,” Rajmata interjected. “No way, Sid. Hold your horses. Besides, the press release will have just gone out tomorrow morning…”

“So what? The rumours are already rife,” her husband argued. “They will see for themselves.”

She glared at him.

“Alright. We’ll go the day after then. Don’t call anybody, I am booking both Ava and Brahmi.”

“We have one month to prep for the wedding. There is no time. I am having the saree atelier here tomorrow, then the rangara, then angarkha for Samarth… did you speak to Kamal bhai?”

“I did.”

“Kamal bhai has worked ancestrally for us,” Samarth enlightened her. “His father, grandfather, great grandfather tailored angarkha and jamawar for us.”

“My Mummy wanted to go shopping to Indore and Benares,” Avantika added. “Brahmi and I will be going with them this weekend.”

“Alright then,” Rajmata decreed. “I’ll schedule all of Samarth’s trials on the weekend and finish it off. Ava, we can sit down tomorrow and go through the mockups that are being sent over for your wedding apparel. Do you want to do a pink theme for you both?”

“Oh…” she glanced at her. “I thought Gujaratis do white and red?”

“That’s right. White is the base of the paanetar that you wear when you leave your parent’s house, signifying that you are starting your life with a blank canvas.

Red is the colour of the saree that your in-laws bring to the wedding when they bring the groom.

It’s wrapped over your white saree, to signify the colour of your new life.

But since you like pink, we can bring a pink gharchola. ”

“How do you know I like pink?”

Rajmata’s eyebrows shot up before her eyes pointed to the man sitting and eating quietly beside her.

“You like pink and Brahmi is apparently sold on white and lavender. But hers we’ll see after we lock yours.”

“Thank you,” Avantika smiled. “Yes, pink is a good start.”

“Good. All shades of pink or something specific?”

“Anything is fi…”

“Fuchsia,” Samarth’s voice sounded firm. “She is shy right now so she won’t say it. But call for stuff in fuchsia.”

Rajmata chuckled — “Ok.”

Their dinner was then a lively affair of more wedding conversation.

Avantika was pleasantly surprised at the ease with which she gelled with them.

She was even more surprised by how naturally Samarth talked with his stepmother, almost like she wasn’t his stepmother.

They ribbed each other, joked, ganged up on his father and…

sometimes acted like they had their own secrets going on.

Was this woman really this good or was it a nice act? Did she know Samarth was abandoning the throne after marrying her and moving away? Was that why she was behaving nice?

“Samarth, Ava,” Bade Rawal addressed them solemnly once dinner was over, their plates were cleared and the staff had retreated. From the jokester who had kept the table lively, his eyes suddenly turned impassive.

“Tomorrow the press release about your history will go out along with the wedding date. The rumours are already swirling and after the decade Nawanagar has spent waiting for their Rawal to marry, it’s being received positively. The final seal on this will be the DNA declaration of…”

“No.”

Avantika startled at Samarth’s solid, commanding voice.

“Brahmi’s parentage must be…”

“No.”

“Is this Brahmi’s father talking or Nawanagar’s king talking, Rawal? Because I cannot talk to two people,” his father sat back. Their eyes seared into each other and Avantika felt the tension between them that had simmered since Loire come to a boil.

“This is Avantika’s fiancé talking. I do not question her word as her partner, nobody else should.”

Her legs quivered. She wasn’t one to take these to heart. She had lived as a single mother too long to squirm at these. And yet… Samarth’s father questioning her openly about this was disgusting.

“Brahmi is my granddaughter. Even if she did not ride horses like a pro or walk with an attitude like mine, I would know that. Moreover, I would believe that because Ava said it.”

Her impulsive feelings began to subside.

“But I, or even you, Samarth, will not be around in 30, 40, 50 years. Brahmi will still be around. In your reign, nobody might question her out of fear or respect. After we are gone, who is to say what will be thrown at her?”

“It’s an insult to Ava and I will not agree to it.”

“We spoke about this, Samarth, but I am bringing it up in front of both of you together again so that Ava knows that I put it forth, not you,” Bade Rawal’s eyes came to her.

“I am asking this, not Samarth. I am pushing for this because I can see Brahmi’s life a few decades later, her rights, her repute, her persona in Nawanagar.

And if I have to be the bad cop for that to be seamless then I will. ”

“Your father is right, Samarth…” Avantika nodded, feeling the gumption of his words convince her.

“No.”

“Then you leave me no choice but to introduce an official motion in the council.”

“Papa.”

“No, I cannot sacrifice my granddaughter’s standing in her kingdom to satisfy your sense of temporary righteousness…”

“Sharan Kaka sends a meeeessaaaage!” Brahmi came skipping into the room, bringing the heated exchange to a pause. Avantika gaped in silence as she skipped right to Rajmata, wound her arms around her neck until she had bent sideways to her mouth and pressed a noisy kiss to her cheek.

“Sharan Kaka asked to give you this.”

Rajmata’s face split into a grudging smile and then she burst into a chuckle, pushing her chair back to lift Brahmi up on her lap.

“He is not getting any back but you are getting a hundred,” she squeezed her between her arms and pressed an equally noisy kiss to her cheek, then her temple, then the top of her head.

“Alright, enough,” Bade Rawal held his hand out and Brahmi clapped it.

“What is this? Where are my kisses?”

“Sharan Kaka only asked to give it to Dadi Sarkar.”

“Why?”

“Because he made her mad when our dinner came to his room. He wanted to play PS4 and Dadi Sarkar yelled at him that what will he play with? One hand and one foot?” Brahmi giggled, looking at Rajmata like they had shared a secret.

Rajmata dropped another kiss to her forehead.

“Then he asked me to become his second hand and Dadi Sarkar yelled again at him to eat quietly and let me eat in peace,” she rolled her eyes and another kiss came atop her brow.

She preened. “So now he wanted me to give you this,” Brahmi pushed her pouted mouth up and Rajmata lowered her face until she smacked her mouth on her chin.

“Now I am getting really jealous,” Bade Rawal warned. “If I don’t get my kisses, I will…”

“You will what?” Rajmata’s brows rose.

“I will take Ava and Brahmi to the cricket club with me tomorrow .”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Try me.”

“He wouldn’t dare,” Rajmata whispered loudly into Brahmi’s ears, making her giggle louder, climbing higher into her lap.

“You promised me my own pony, Dada Sarkar!” Brahmi, the opportunist bargained.

“When?” Samarth intervened.

“Relax. We are anyway re-populating the stables at the palace. I have placed an order for a pony that matches Brahmi’s height.”

“Papa…”

“That is too much, Bade Rawal,” Avantika cut in.

“Samarth had his own pony since he was five. You want me to have it any different for my granddaughter?”

Brahmi lunged down from Rajmata’s lap and ran to her Dada Sarkar, his arms opening and throwing her up and into his chest. She grabbed his face and kissed his cheek, then pulled back as she hit his beard — “This is tickly.”