Love Unbound (Ram - Leela)

Chapter 2

The silence of the night was disturbed by shooting of rifles. The guards at Leela’s house were hurrying around the house to chase the intruders. Guards informed Rana that three masked men had entered the stable where horses were kept but the only missing animal in there was the prized camel of Durga. It was the same camel that was to race next day in the upcoming camel race at Rann Utsav. The intruders had secured the camel at the back of a large truck and already speeded off into the desert.

Rann grabbed in his rifle and ran out of the house. He barked at the guards to get the jeep out.  His father stopped him. Durga said, “We do not know who came and how many have come. I do not care what they have taken but I will not let you entry Rann at night.” Rana was furious, “Baba, I know exactly who have done this. I know it can be only those Jadeja’s would have stolen our camel to stop was from winning tomorrow. I will go into their territory and teach them a lesson. Only such cheap cowards can pull off such acts.”

Durga put the hand on his son’s shoulder and said, “I will speak to the police chief in the morning. But right now I will not let you go out. Rann is open field and those Jadejawalla’s would have already crossed the border and entered their territory. If they decide to shoot at you, you will be an open target. Please son calm down for now. We are not even sure if they were the ones who stole the camel. I promise tomorrow we will sort this out.” In the meantime whole household had come out to see what the collusion was about.

Rana’s elder brother Arjun held him back and said “Hold back your anger we will take care of this later. We should not go after them when they expect us to follow them. We will get them just not yet” he said sternly. Still fuming Rana walked into the house seeing he got no support from his family.

The next day their house hold was full of activities as everyone were getting ready to go to Rann Utsav. A tent city was setup for the utsav. It was a self-sufficient city with all the basic amenities in place. For the next three days the entire family was to stay at the tents set up in Rann. All the ladies and kids had one tent and all the men of the family were to stay in another.  They all set off in their SUV’s towards the tent city.

All the family members arrived at the tent city and were lead to their respective tents. There were almost 8000 people gathered there for the utsav already. The tents were spacious with separate beds and lounge chairs available. The kids were very excited and run outside to explore the city.

There was a huge tent setup at the center for the indoor cultural activities such as music and dance. Outside areas were marked for activities such as camel race, hand to hand wrestling arena etc. A separate tent was setup as common diner area for all the families coming for utsav with many Gujarati delicacies prepared.

Pratap Leela’s elder brother called out for his wife Charu. Pratap was not as tall as Rana but still good looking. He was a patient person among brothers in their household, who was considered less violent person. His wife Charu was short and slim with a pretty face. They had been married for 3 years and had a cute little girl Navya. Their marriage was arranged between by their respective parents.

Pratap said, “Charu get everyone to dining hall. We can get some refreshments and we men will head out.” Charu looking warningly at her husband, “And where do you men intent to head out? This is supposed to be family outing you cannot just leave us here by ourselves. We have beautiful shops here at market street I thought you will buy me few things there.” She pouted. Pratap just smiled at her and said, “It’s impossible we have other things to do here. You take Leela and go out, buy things to your heart content but I cannot join you. Besides I need to accompany Arjun and Rana also so that they do not get into any trouble, knowing their hot headedness it’s a very difficult task.” Charu left to fetch other members of family.