A Special Day

The Yellow Rose

"I have landed, where are you?" asked Reyan upon calling Shivi.

"having breakfast, I'll leave in a jiffy. Where are we meeting?" she said,

"which hotel are you staying in?" Reyan asked,

"Ramada" she said,

"alright, let's meet directly at Sajjangarh palace?" he suggested,

"okay, is it the one on top of the hill?" she asked,

"yes" he said,

"I'll meet you there, leaving asap" she said, "hold on, how long until you reach there?"

"I don't think it should take more than an hour" Reyan said,

"okay, I'll be on time. how are you travelling?" she asked,

"I'll have to take a cab" he said,

"I should have sent my driver" she said, apologetic.

"It's not required bub, no point sending him all the way to the airport. Just be on time, longing to see you." he said, sweetly.

Reyan could feel the blush in her sound as she said, "me too, I'll be on time"

They cut the call after that.

Reyan took a cab straight to the palace, it cost him more than he'd thought. After all, tourism was the primary local income. On his way, he noticed a florist next to lake Fateh Sagar of Udaipur. He had the cab stop for five minutes so he could get some flowers for the lady he was to meet.

Sajjangarh palace is a fort converted to a historical tourist palace. Built on top of a hill next to the largest lake of Udaipur, the city of lakes; it has been famous for the most stunning views of the city. Making it the first place he would have liked to take Shivi to.

He reached there pretty early, significant crowd hadn't begun flooding in yet. They mostly came in to spectate the sunset but Reyan knew of a place that offered an even better sunset view. The standout place of that palace was the huge balcony with round stone rail that overlooked the city. Shivi was still to take another ten minutes to reach so he sat there, adoring the splendor of the city, it was not only full of lakes but also a town of the most magnificent palaces of the Rajput rulers of India. He could see them in their grandeur as the bright winter sun shone on them. He could feel a mild cool breeze but it was nothing like the cold of his city and so he took off the heavy jacket he wore, leaving on himself now only good blue pants and maroon shirt.

Reyan got a call from Shivi as soon as she arrived at the palace, asking him of his whereabouts; he guided her to the balcony from the gate where he was enjoying the fine view but not any longer for now he had his eyes stuck at the gate she was going to come from. A quick recap flashed through his eyes, he couldn't believe what was happening for whatever was happening, couldn't have been a part of even his most farfetched thoughts.
The few moments that followed, like typical cinematic drama had his heart beating like deep drums, his mind which had been totally confident until now had suddenly lost all its confidence as to how he would react to the woman's site.

She entered, tall as himself, fine fair woman with wavy hair dressed in a traveler's outfit of blue jeans and white short kurti, sandals at the bottom. He could see her smile as she saw him and at that site his own heart melted, his heart was jumping with joy, delighted to see the cute one he had come to meet.

He rises up from the corner rail he had been sitting on as she walked towards him. He could see that she wasn't wearing any heels for had she worn any, he'd become to shorter one; deep inside he appreciated that for both of them knew that they're of the same height.

"Hi" Reyan says, happier than ever. Bringing his hand forth thereafter to shake.

"Hi!" She smiled, shaking his hand while at the same time radiating an essence of discomfort at it.
Reyan wanted to hug her, she could see it in his eyes. Looking like the cute puppy who just saw his woman return from a distant trip.
She came forth, closed in on him and wrapped her arms around him and before one could say flower, the feeling of completion had taken them over.

He felt like standing there, like that, perpetually but then he had to move out, she felt the same and soon the thing was over.

"How long did i have you wait?" She asked
"Not much, barely ten minutes" he said, holding her hand and taking her close to the rail.
"Ain't this splendid?" He asked her, "the city."
She looked at him first, then in the direction his eyes were at. The delight of the view shown on her face, unable to take her eyes off the royal palaces turned resorts, the gigantic lakes and the green hills that surrounded the whole city.

She had no words to utter but admire what she saw there, she had travelled to many places including international destinations but this site was unique.
"This is the only place one can get the true essence of the strength of the Mewar dynasty, right?" She said.

Reyan nodded, telling her "they say Rajasthan is the only place on earth which hasn't lost its royalty under the tyranny of foreign rulers."

He pointed at the city palace right opposite to their location, at the level of the lake, right next to it. "That is where the royalty still lives, the prince of Udaipur"

She looked there, staring at the vivid details, the stone sculptures, so big that they could be clearly noticed from the nearly two-kilometer distance. "I wonder why the world only bothers about the British royalty!" She said, with a little sorrow in her tone which came from the sad history of India.

It was only when her phone rang that she realized that all this while they had both been holding hands.

The crowd had now started walking in. Reyan and Shivi both left their spot after taking a satisfying look at the whole city, with Reyan, who had been to Udaipur earlier too, being her guide.

Not even for a moment did they feel the age gap they had between themselves, it wasn't much, just four years, but that Reyan had been a full-fledged working businessman while Shivi was still pursuing her grads. What had them start talking over social media became the reason they were exploring the palace together today, the love for travelling and exploring.

They walked around silently through the various corridors and rooms of the fort, occasionally peeking out at the city through the windows. One moment Shivi, when she peaked out, she jumped with joy, calling Reyan immediately.
A pride of peacocks and hens was sitting under the sun on the slope of the hill under the fort. Never had they ever seen so many of them together in a single place. Neither could get comfortably done with clicking photos.

Reyan, occasionally as she went around, clicked her too without her knowledge, to save her visual memories.

They had been there for almost two hours when Reyan said, "let's get out of here, you don't want to spend the whole day here, do you?"

She turned around and said "I can easily do it but yes, you're right. Let's get something to eat first, i am very hungry"

"Didn't you have your breakfast?" He asked.
"No, I didn't wish to keep you waiting na" she sweetly said.
Reyan smiled.
"I know just the place to take you to next" he said, making Shivi feel good.

As they were walking out, Reyan brought his side bag forth, slided his hand into it and brought one of the flowers out.
He poked Shivi to stop her as he moved the yellow rose towards her.
"This is for you, for the good time we just had together." He said.

Shivi was surprised to see the flower, she took it immediately and gave it a good stare, tenderly keeping it inside her bag after that as they both walked out of the place.