Lekha (Completed)

Lekha 2

I could hear people talking in a different dialect around me, even before I opened my eyes. I thought that some locals must have found me. I slowly opened my eyes to two pairs of eyes looking down on me. I was right. They were dressed up in proper Rajasthani poshak (dress).

"Have you seen the other girls who had come with me... I mean didn't anyone come for me?" I asked hesitatingly in whatever rajasthani dialect I could manage, as I was still feeling a bit disoriented.

Their eyes widened." Are there others too with you?".

"Ah...the girls and I have come from the orphanage," I said as I wondered why they still stared at me with odd expressions.

While they seemed to be contemplating the answer, I sat up, and as my eyes roamed around to observe the place they nearly popped out. It seemed that they had done a marvelous job of restoration in the palace. It all looked quite authentic.

"Is this the Jaipur city palace?" I asked because I knew that all the furniture had already been removed from the fort a long time ago, but this room was fully furnished that too with classic antique pieces. Why they had moved me here from the fort I had to still figure out.

They looked at each other confused and one of them asked "Which place is that? We have never heard of it".

I felt even more confused by their answer, so further elaborating on my query I asked "Am I in Rajasthan ...I mean am I in Jaipur?".

"You are in Amber qila(fort). Didn't you know this when you entered?" one of the girls asked surprised.

"I know its Amber qila where I fainted but it seems so new. Is it a newly renovated section?" I asked still a bit awed by the grandeur.    

I could feel that they did not understand what I was saying. My first thought was that these people were illiterates from the nearby villages and had come for the first time to the city and therefore were unable to understand the changes that had taken place. I asked again and this time paced out my words using pure Hindi terminology but got stuck on the right term for the word renovation in Hindi. I started gesturing trying to explain to them what I meant. 

The red dress girl finally said, " It has always been like this, but they have refurbished the furniture because jija sa hukum is getting married".

I understood jija sa meant elder sister considering the fact that I had read lots of books on Rajasthani culture. I guessed that some local royalty might have hired the fort for a royal wedding but what did she mean by saying it was always like this.

"Can I move around a bit, I want to see what kind of preparations are being made, since I have never seen a royal wedding before" I requested.

She smiled at me and said, " Come along I will show you but then you have to tell us all about yourself".

"You have to change your dress. How come you are wearing this... What is it called? I have never seen this kind of dress before" she said as she walked around me appraising my salwar kameez (an Indian outfit but unlike the one worn in those times).