Samanth Putri

Part 5 : Companionship

Ajabde, was in a good mood as she entered the treasury office along with Sakku. Last night Ranasa had agreed to their proposal of inviting all Rajput Kingdoms to Parvati Baisa's wedding. Although today Kunwarsa was busy with some work so could not have breakfast with them Ranima and Ajabde were ecstatic.
Treasury office was part of Administrative block  and included  in addition to the treasury office had revenue handling revenue input from all the subsidiaries, finance department which handled minting coins, domestic security department etc. . She had to walk a mile or so from the inner palace to the administrative block. She came earlier than expected today so she walked slowly inside.

When Kunwarsa had first taken reins as crown prince he had made it mandatory for all office workers  in administrative block to follow a strict schedule else repercussions was losing the job irrespective of the position or status the person has. He himself followed it when he was sort of interning with various departments to understand its nuances.

It has been 3 years since she started working under the guidance of Ishvar Kaka, head of treasury department. She started at 15 and now at the age of 17 she knew in and out of how the whole process works. At the age of 11 she was trained with other princesses on basic skills of literature , art , self defence and horse riding. Training was all within the palace walls unlike princes who were sent to Gurukul for a more focused training. She would keenly learn whatever was taught by the teachers . While other princesses enjoyed the rest of the day she would end up reading on various subjects in her Ranimas chamber. Her Ranima always encouraged her by supplying her books herself. Ranima even started teaching in her own ways by discussing various subjects , questioning her on possible real life scenarios when she realised Ajabde was genuinely interested in learning. Although Ajabde was keen and inquisitive about anything and everything that was taught she found herself drawn to maths and numbers. She was quick in grasping the concepts while others struggled. When Ranima also realised that her grasp on numbers is way above most people she decided Ajabde should focus on this than another year of continuing on the basic education like others. She did not have to think much about the right person under whom Ajabde could learn more. Ishvar Kaka was a very sharp, honest and hardworking person. Being the queen she had to interact with him a lot and over the years she had recognised his worth. But it was not just that but he was also a person who valued talented people irrespective of status or gender. Her intuition proved right when Ishvar Kaka did not even blink an eye when she had requested Ajabde to be taken under his wings. He had just asked a few questions to Ajabde and after being satisfied with her answers had asked her to start coming to his office the next day.

That's how Ajabde had ended up in the treasury office 3 years ago. After her Ranima's chamber this was her favourite place. Apart from Ishvar Kaka there was Mohan Bhaiyya and Manu Chacha working in the treasury office apart from the 3 assistants which included Sakkus Husband Kanhaji. All of them adored her. She had even started visiting their houses after a few months. Even their families adored her. There were a lot of days when either Ishvar Kaka's wife or Mohan bhaiyya's wife sent her lunch whenever they prepared something special. No one would forget to invite her if there were functions or festivals. Unlike princesses she did not have any restriction visiting or having food in their home although being a Samanth's daughter her status was higher than them. Infact Ranima would urge her to visit more often as she knew very well how much Ajabde craved affection although she never expressed it.

She entered the office where only assistant Brij Lal was present. "Arey Baisa you came early today" Brij Lal got up greeting Ajabde.

"Yes Bhaiyya, I thought it would rain so I started early" she smiled.

She went ahead towards her place which had a wooden table with a soft cushion placed for her to sit while Sakku helped clean the surroundings. Sakku would come in the early morning, clean her chamber, help her get ready and accompany her to the office. She would leave to her home after that and come back when it was time for Ajabde to go back to the palace. Unless it was a war or days of revenue collection work would be minimal so she would go back post lunch in the afternoon.