The Only Kuru Princess

Drama Club Rehearsals

Suhana blinked her eyes open. Her vision was blurry, adjusting to the bright rays of the sun.

The first thing she noticed was the ceiling. She stared. Stared. And stared.

What kind of design is this? Hmm. It looks like the ceiling of some royal palace. Did they hire a really ambitious interior decorator?"

She slowly raised herself to a sitting position and then surveyed her surroundings.

The heck. I'm in a palace. Damn, it looks like a set straight out of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's movie. But what am I doing here? Did I accidentally stumble into a movie set of a period drama?

Endless questions bombarded her at once, making her head ache in pain.

She got her hand to massage her forehead and heard the jingling of bangles.

Bangles?

Confused she looked at her hand and gasped when she saw gold bangles around her wrist.

Wait, are these real? She curiously touched them in inspection.

They do look real... but it's impossible.

Her gaze then traveled down to the gown she was wearing.

Wait a minute.

Attempting to defy gravity, she rose, her legs wobbling like a newborn giraffe.

She carefully balanced herself, her eyes searching until they landed on a particular object, probably the script of this surreal play. But no, that was not what she was searching for.

She walked up to it.

Suhana's eyes widened at the sight she saw in the mirror. There, reflected back at her, was a girl wearing a blue lehenga, a light chunari draped around her waist and upper body, which exposed her beautiful skin. Her hair was long, very long, and it reached her hips. She looked so different yet the same.

What in the world happened to my hair? When did I sign up for a drama club? How did I end up here?

Memories of her aquatic misadventure resurfaced as she remembered drowning in the waters of the river Ganga, and death taking her away.

Am I dead? Did I survive? Where am I? Did I accidentally stumble into a parallel universe?

Haha, nice joke. Parallel universe? I must have hurt my head.

And the next moment, her head was aching again. She clutched her head and was ready to fall, but was immediately held by someone.

"Rajkumari," a girl appeared out of nowhere and caught her, like a hero rescuing the lead actress from a dramatic fall.

"Rajkumari, you woke up," the girl cried as she made Suhana sit on the bed.

"I was so scared. We thought we lost you." She hugged her in a bone-crushing hug.

The girl finally pulled back, and with tear-stricken eyes, she looked at Suhana and asked, "Why did you try to harm yourself? Why did you drown yourself in the waters of Ganga?".

Suhana's mind was processing the girl's words.

Rajkumari? Harm myself? Did I accidentally join an Indian version of a Shakespearean tragedy? To be or not to be, that is the question, but seriously, what's happening?

 I didn't harm myself. I drowned in the river due to my fantastic luck.

What is this girl blabbering about? Did she mistake me for Ophelia ?