Lekha is an orphan who has quite a fascination for all things connected with Rajasthan(India). The fascination comes to life as she is pulled into the century when the Mughals and Rajputs are in a tussle over Rajwara (Rajasthan of today). The story...
No excuses guys ... just a simple SORRY for keeping all of you waiting for so long. :)
The village was another obstacle where stealth was absolutely necessary and I could not let even a small negligence become the reason behind the failure of my mission. If someone even hinted at a woman riding through the village at the middle of the night, the news would spread like wild fire throughout and some might even put two and two together. It would make people at the haveli who had trusted me loose face in public. I decided to skirt the village at a distance and then follow the road which I knew lead to my destination.
It was a bit tough skirting the village at night as I had been there only twice and that too had been preoccupied with other things both the times. It seemed to take me double the amount of time a local person would have taken. Walking on foot keeping myself in Pari's shadow as I lead her slowly through the uneven narrow path between the fields was definitely worth the trouble. I had to be careful not to enter anyone's field especially where the machan (a platform) had been erected. It could have easily been occupied by the villagers guarding their fields which were yet to be harvested from the thieves and nilgai (antelope).
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A machan
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Nilgai
I exhaled a big sigh of relief as I finally crossed my first hurdle. Although I stood by the road ready to begin my journey towards the AmberFort, I just couldn't stop myself from looking back once towards the haveli. A voice deep inside my heart which I had crushed under the heavy burden of being a good samaritan cried softly for someone to take me back and make things right.
I had to once again force myself to move forward as I climbed back on the horse. I closed my eyes to control the intolerable pain that shot through my heart as I jerked at the reins clenched in my hands asking Pari to move forward as I myself couldn't.
Soon I had Pari galloping on the road to save time and reach Chand Baori which I remembered had a good place to rest for both of us for the night. The most important thing it provided was water, considering the desert terrains I had to cross after that. I had stolen a kupi (leather bottle) hanging in the stable as an afterthought but it had only a little left over water and I had had no time to refill it.
