Is It Hate OR Love? Jodha Akbar

Chapter 16 Part 1

Chapter – 16

It was pitched dark, gloomy night; Six horses ran from the middle of the deep jungle at the speed of a ray. The roar of the tiger frighten Jalal; he knew time was slipping from his hand. He was not scared of a tiger, but every passing minute was scaring him. While riding his recalled her word, 'Many times, thoughts emerged in my mind to end my worthless life.' He cursed himself for not reading her silence. He wanted to reach as fast as possible.

Finally, they reached Pandit Raghavendra's Hermitage. Jalal carried Jodha in his arms; her pulses were dropping precariously. Even in her unconscious state, it was clearly visible that she was struggling to breathe. Her face turned ashen, and her lips turned white. He was losing his patience and senses with each passing second. Soon nervousness and panic captured his intellectual stability.

Jalal impatiently yelled at the top of his voice, "Open the door." He waited for an answer for a few seconds, but instantly he got aggravated. He was not ready to wait any longer for a response, so he kicked the door in an alarming thrust. It was the middle of the night; everyone in the Ashram was sleeping peacefully.

Jalal shouted once again with his piercing screech, "HELP... Can someone help?" his roar awakened every person with a sudden shock. The Hermitage's chief Pandit almost ran in horrified tremor towards the door and glowered at Jalal with little resentment, but soon he understood the situation when he saw Jodha in his arms. Fortunately, Jodha was one of his students; he recognized her immediately.

Jalal anxiously pleaded, "I have no time to explain the details panditji, she requires medical attention quickly. Do you have any Hakim (doctor) in your Hermitage? My wife has drunk poison, and she does not have much time left." He took a brief pause to see Pandit's reaction; when he didn't receive any response from him, he continued in a begging tone, "Please help me, I will give you anything you want, you can take my life, but please cure my queen." Pandit looked at Jalal with a confused expression. His tears and vulnerable condition was painful to see.

Pandit replied in composing tones, "Please calm down, child, put Jodha on the bed; I will try my best to save her." Jalal got surprised to hear her name, but at that moment, he had no interest in finding out how he knows her name or have any other conversation.

"Do you know how many hours ago she took poison and when she lost her consciousness?" Pandit inquired in a composed manner.

"About three hours ago," Promptly, he responded while staggering with anxiety; his entire body was shivering out of fear. For a while, he had forgotten that he was a king and acted like a common man trying to save his wife. At that moment, he did not care to mask his emotions.

First, Pandit checked her pulse and eyes to see how deeply poison has impacted; his calm and impassive face filled with fearful expressions after checking her vitals.

A graceful old lady Trishla, Pandit's wife, and some students stand near the door, watching Jalal and Jodha. Seeing Pandit's expression, she could tell that Jodha's condition was critical. She was shocked to see a strong man shivering and frightened, Lady Trishla instantly got a glass of water to calm him, but Jalal denied it.

Jalal could see she was sinking; her breathing was too short, and she was struggling to gulp air. She looked in terrible pain; he never felt this scared before in his life; he felt like everything had vanished. His heartbeats were so rapid that his ears began to ring with that. His hands were shaking, and unstoppable tears were flooding out. He did not care that he was crying in front of ordinary people. As always, when it comes to Jodha, he forgot his wits and lost senses; he never imagined, not even in his dreams, that she could take such a drastic step.

A few minutes later, he took a little control over himself, gradually his wisdom came back, and he skimmed through the people and surroundings. His eyes fall on a small Krishna temple in the corner of the room. Right away, he instructed Abdul to take off his shoes out, and he also went out of the room to take off his shoes.