For Better or For Worse

CHAPTER 7 - A Lifetime of Dreams

“Rampura! Hmmm! I think this is the place, let me check it out.” said Anita almost to herself.

“You are not making any sense. What place, what are you going to check out anyways?” asked Yosuf.

Anita however, did not bother to answer that or anyone else’s questioning looks. She reached inside the car, pulled out her handbag and brought out a little planner from inside it. She flipped the pages and finally found what she was looking for. She read it thoroughly and gave a knowing smile. Then she suddenly turned towards Adi and asked “How long will it take us to reach this village Rampura?”

Although Adi did not have a clue as to why she was asking it he said “well around 30 – 45 minutes at least, given the condition of the road.”

Without wasting any more time she opened the door of the car and planted herself promptly on the back seat and said “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s drive there. Please this time let Yosuf drive. I seriously don’t want to get lost.”

Everyone was surprised. What was Anita up to? No one understood. Hoiwever, she got the drift of their questioning looks and said “Just get in the car and drive I will explain on the way. Just keep your eyes on the road though Yosuf.” To that everyone agreed and they started for Rampura.

“Remember Yosuf I told you that daddy’s on a new project? It is a documentary on the small estates of the royal Rajputs that still exist. Well, daddy is making this documentary based on Jaigarh and Kishangarh and the villages nearby. The shooting is scheduled for Rampura for the weekend. They are camping here. It is like the role playing documentaries. He is doing this for the Discovery Channel and is a huge break. For the role playing characters I am the costume designer, but I am afraid daddy will need a lot more help than just a group of three historians provided by the channel for the research purpose. He did ask me to talk to you but with all this wedding fiasco I completely forgot” said Anita.

Nandini was shocked to hear that. She was getting a chance to work on a live project which would consist of research of her own ancestral history. She was more than excited and had no words to explain how wonderful it felt. She was proud that her friend’s father was aware of the dream that she just had the courage to dream of but never enough courage to execute.

“So you mean to say that Tarun uncle is camping at Rampura with his entire crew?” asked Yosuf.

“Yup that’s exactly what I meant” replied Anita.

“This is a great opportunity for you Nandu. Haven’t you always dreamt of researching your family history a little bit more than what is already known?” asked Adi. Nandini was too excited to answer; she just gave a huge smile.

“I have a question though. Is Tarun uncle going to pay her for her service or is it expected that she would volunteer?” asked Yosuf.

“So like a lawyer, always thinking of money and payment. Don’t you have any conscience?” teased Anita.

“Well money makes the world go round and round and round. Why do you think I chose to be a lawyer in the first place?” replied Yosuf.

“True” said Adi, “However, I am little more patriotic than that” he added.

“Well you should not worry about money. You have blue blood and a huge family estate and business to look after once you retire. Just like your daddy.” said Yosuf.

“Well, whatever it is, you being a lawyer and being filthy rich works perfectly well for me” Anita winked. “Besides, daddy isn’t going to pay, it’s the channel that will pay. I am being paid as well. Nandu, if you think that your services are not for free feel free to say that, I am sure daddy will arrange something. Besides personally I think you should charge for your services, after all it is your profession” Anita added.

“Yeah! I think I will” replied Nandini. Although she was more than eager to volunteer for this project, but she knew it would not look too good in her resume at this stage of her career.

“By the way if they are shooting a documentary of these two estates, where will they live? After all both the estates are busy preparing for the royal wedding.” Asked Yosuf.

“Oh the major part of the documentary will be shot with only the experts and they are the chief guests at the wedding.” piped in Anita.

“WHAT? We are having celebs living in the estate house with us and we plan to screw the wedding?” asked Nandini incredulously.

“Pretty much” replied Anita nonchalantly.

“Don’t you think you should have warned us about it earlier? I mean with celebs attending the wedding, it would not look very good if the groom elopes with another girl” said Nandini.

“It is not going to look good with or without the celebs attending it, period. So stop being so paranoid.” supplied Adi.

“Precisely” said Yosuf. “By the way who is voicing it over?” he further asked.

“Henry Grant” replied Anita.

To this everyone looked at her in surprise and the car came to a screeching halt.

“HENRY GRANT! You mean THE HENRY GRANT! The super hot British actor HENRY GRANT!” Sampoorna exclaimed for the first time.

“The same” replied Anita in a small voice.

“We better get married ASAP” suggested Adi, “before you decide to run away with him and leave Nandu and myself at the hands of fate, which may I remind you had not been treating us very well off late.”

“Well in that case, let me remind you that you are unfortunately the only option for me, because I am already duty bound to serve the nation and cannot afford to marry out of the country and take up foreign citizenship” teased Sampoorna.

“Whew! Thank God!” exclaimed Adi.

To this everyone laughed as they drove into the village of Rampura.

Nandini looked a little tensed before meeting Tarun Juneja. A master film maker of his time Tarun Juneja is extremely professional. Losing his wife to a fatal accident when Anita was still small, he left no stones unturned to make Anita the female version of him. Nandini knew him as a close family friend. After all her father were friends with him from his days at the university. Adi’s father was a different issue. Adi’s family was the close family friends of hers even before their fathers, but with Anita’s father and Yosuf’s father the royal duo struck up a strong bond during their days in Edinburgh. Being out of country, these four met and instantly bonded. They were proud that their children too kept up their tradition of friendship and bond. Ever since they were young their fathers have told them innumerable stories of their days in the UK together, of their life and their friendship. Perhaps that is the reason that they themselves grew so close to one another and bonded so well, because they found the inspiration in their respective fathers.