A Royal Disaster

Chapter 2

As soon as she saw her guest out, the Rani Ma of Mirpur began rummaging through her desk for one of her old letters.

"Now, when was it that I'd heard that bit of gossip? Arre, Sannata! Kahaan mar gayi?"

At Rani Ma's bellow, her maid of forty years came running into the room. The Rani Ma had a peculiar sense of humour and had bestowed this nickname on her maid because she was so noisy. No one in Mirpur Palace even remembered her real name anymore. She was Sannata to one and all. Silence. The very opposite of everything that she stood for. She spoke loudly, laughed loudly and on occasion, cried loud enough to put the rudaalis to shame. And these days, even her joints creaked loudly.

"Aayi, Rani Ma," she bellowed back standing right behind the Rani Ma, who winced at the loudness.

"Help me find an old letter. Was it nine years ago, or ten?"

"Whose letter are you looking for, Rani Ma? Didn't we burn a big lot of them last year?"

"Bite your tongue, you fool. We didn't burn anything. We just moved them to the attic because there was no place in my cupboards anymore. Letters are precious, Sannata. Even more so because no one writes them anymore. This was from my daughter-in-law. It was one of her last letters before she was thrown from her horse. If I remember right, she had attended a grand party at Jadhwal Palace and the letter was bursting with gossip."

"You moved all of Rani Sa's letters to that little drawer, don't you remember?"

Sannata sighed sadly.

"She wrote in such a pretty hand."

"Well, her handwriting might have been beautiful, but she had a very vicious way with words," the Rani Ma reminded her. "From what I remember, she was agog about some scandal at Jadhwal, involving the princess. Now, where is the darned letter?"

Sannata pulled Rani Ma's glasses down on her face from where she had stuck them on top of her head and was rewarded with a sweet smile.

"What would I do without you, my child? Now, bend down and pull out those letters for me. The ones tied up with that pink ribbon."

Sannata did as she was bid and the Rani Ma began to scan the letters. After shaking her head in disapproval at a few of the gossipy missives, she finally found what she was looking for.

"Aha! Here it is," she murmured, skimming through the letter. "Dear Rani Ma, hope you're doing well... blah blah blah. Clothes... more clothes... jewellery... some more clothes. Was that all the bewakoof could think of?"

Sannata smiled at her grumpiness.

"Rani Sa was very fashionable. Itna toh banta hai na, Rani Ma."

"Hmph. Much good it did her! Anyway, here it is."

Her lips moved silently as she read the letter. According to her daughter-in-law, the Sisodias had been preparing for a betrothal announcement. The Maharani claimed that a marriage was imminent between her young daughter and the handsome, newly-minted Maharaja of Trikhera. The Rani Ma pursed her lips in disapproval at the thought of the couple being forced to marry at such a young age. Raji had always been a bit of a fool. But then, something went wrong. Randheer Shekhawat who was supposed to have a very promising career in the foreign service suddenly took up the reins of his father's business and announced his engagement to someone else.

The vicious Rani of Mirpur devoted three whole paragraphs describing the scene where he introduced his fiancée to the woman he was supposed to marry. The poor princess was sadly humiliated and heartbroken. Very badly done, mused the Rani Ma. She'd have to find someone wonderful for the poor girl to make up for the unhappiness she had suffered.

The Goel boy might be a good match. So what if he had a weak chin?

"Bring me the phone, Sannata. I want to talk to Alka Goel."

"Haye haye! Why do you want to call that chudail, Rani Ma? I've heard she does kaala jaadu," said Sannata ominously.

"I'll give you a jhaadu on the head if you don't do as you're told," threatened Rani Ma, who had no patience for the superstitions of her servants.

"She goes out into the desert on moonless nights, Rani Ma. I swear on your head. My brother's behnoi's chacha has seen her with his own eyes. What do you think she does there?"

"Probably begs the desert gods to send her better servants. Now do as you're told," snapped the Rani Ma, banging her walking stick on the marble floor.

Three weeks later, she smiled with satisfaction at the young royals gathered in the grand ballroom of her Mumbai mansion.

"Why couldn't we do this in Mirpur, Didi Sa? I hate the weather in Mumbai," whined the Maharani of Jadhwal.

"Get over it, Raji. This was the best I could do. You try forcing a bunch of spoiled royals to schlep it out to the desert," snarled the Rani Ma, already tired of the whole exercise.

Theirs was such a small world that everyone knew everyone, and it was very difficult to throw a party for such unwilling and ungrateful guests. If it wasn't scheduling issues, it was personality clashes, family feuds and past romantic histories. You'd think they really didn't want to get married, she huffed indignantly.

"I've tricked Diya into attending the party, but I don't know how to convince her to meet Ayush Goel. You don't know my daughter, Didi Sa. She's very headstrong," cried the Maharani.

"You don't worry about all that. I know just how to deal with these Reluctant Royals," replied the Rani Ma soothingly, but her companion was clearly distracted by the man who had just walked into the party.

"Didi Sa! What is he doing here?" she spat.

The Rani Ma leaned over her shoulder and grinned widely at the sight of His Highness Randheer Singh Shekhawat.

"That's my secret weapon - my Brahmastra," she said gleefully.

"We're done for," wailed the Maharani. "Diya will walk out if she sees him."

"Hush, Raji! She will do nothing of the sort. We are simply reopening some old wounds and offering a salve at the same time. When she sees the man who discarded her so cruelly, she will jump at the flattering attention offered by Ayush Goel, trust me."

"Hmph! I'll believe that only when I see it with my own eyes," said the Maharani grumpily. "Right now, this just looks like a disaster in the making."

"It's nothing of the sort," retorted the Rani Ma. "I'll keep an eye on him. And you keep an eye on your daughter."

She was true to her word. She kept a keen eye on Randheer Shekhawat, which wasn't such a difficult task because the boy was very easy on the eyes. She had last seen him when he was a teenager and had no idea that he had turned into such a handsome man. How old was he anyway? Must be in his thirties. The same age as her grandson, Ranvijay.

She could see why Diya had fallen in love with him. It wasn't just his looks, although he was very good-looking. It was his air of danger. Take a walk on the dark side if you dare, it seemed to say.

Just then, he caught sight of Diya and the Rani Ma had a foreboding of disaster. Randheer stopped in his tracks and the Rani Ma averted her eyes at the look in his as he stared at the girl. It felt wrong to intrude on the moment.

Damn it! Raji was right. This was a disaster in the making!